3x10 Plato's Stepchildren - Star Trek: The Original Series Episode Guide

Star Trek: The Original Series

- Episode 03x10

Episode: 03x10
Title: Plato's Stepchildren
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 60043-067
First Aired: Nov. 22, 1968

Season 3 » Episode #10 - Plato's Stepchildren

Star Trek: The Original Series - 03x10 Plato's Stepchildren

Summary: The Enterprise diverts from its current heading and answers a distress call asking for medical attention. When they arrive at the planet Kirk discovers a group of individuals who claim to have visited Earth during the time of the great Greek philosophers, Plato and Socrates. They plan to get McCoy to stay to lend his medical expertise... no matter what it takes.

Who appeared in this episode?

Mr. Spock

Guest Stars:

Captain James T. Kirk	played by William Shatner
Dr. McCoy	played by DeForest Kelley
Alexander	played by Michael Dunn
Parmen	played by Liam Sullivan
Philana	played by Barbara Babcock
Scott	played by James Doohan
Uhura	played by Nichelle Nichols
Nurse Chapel	played by Majel Barrett
Eraclitus	played by Ted Scott (V)

Season 3 / Episode 10: - Plato's Stepchildren

Spock: Doctor, you may yet cure the common cold.

Season 3 / Episode 10: - Plato's Stepchildren

Parmen: My illness was more profoundly disturbing than I myself realized. I am sure captain, that you too have been out of sorts and have been driven to fits of temper and rage. Unlike you, however, what I think and feel, whether for good or ill, is instantly translated into reality. So please, find it in your heart to forgive me.
Captain James T. Kirk: Sure.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FAKE: Leonard Nimoy's double is just visible as Mr. Spock loudly tap dances dangerously beside Captain Kirk's face.

TRIVIA

The first interracial kiss on American network television was in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren," which aired on 22 Nov 1968, when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) kissed Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). The studio expressed some concern, and it was suggested instead that Spock should kiss Uhura 'to make it less of a problem for the southern [US] audience'. Some stations in the South originally refused to air the episode. Kirk did not kiss Uhura *voluntarily*; they were forced to do it by aliens controlling their bodies. So the first interracial kiss, although between two of the good guys, was the moral equivalent of sexual assault.
Despite the controversy of the first interracial kiss of Kirk and Uhura on television in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren," they never actually kissed on-screen - Kirk turns away from the camera as they draw closer keeping Uhura in front of him, obscuring the fact that their lips stay an inch or so apart.
In the UK, the BBC dropped this episode and subsequent repeats on the grounds that the sadistic treatment of the Enterprise Crew was not suitable for its early evening time slot. It was first shown in the UK on satellite television some 25 years later and on the BBC in December 1993.