I totally admire how this Star Trek: TOS episode tackled the Kirk-Uhura controversy that raged for nearly 3 decades

While Star Trek: TOS was hailed as the pioneer of modern sci-fi television, it was always shrouded in controversy. Some themes explored in the original series were too much for the viewers and many episodes were even banned in the UK.

One such controversy, which remains prevalent even after three decades, was the kiss between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). While many fans rejoiced at the possibility of this romantic coupling, it was largely met with criticism as it was the first interracial kiss on American television.

While the small screen has come far from the original series and has crossed limitations created by race, class, caste and gender, Kirk-Uhura remains controversial.

However, while rewatching Season 3 episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, I realized the show had actually tackled this controversy and tried to provide a befitting counter by condemning racial hatred.

Here's how Star Trek: TOS tackled the Kirk-Uhura controversy.

---

Star Trek: TOS Episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" brilliantly tackled the Kirk-Uhura controversy

While the Star Trek: TOS cast and the show itself were controversial and some episodes were even banned in the UK, I admire how the show successfully tackled its controversies.

The Kirk-Uhura kiss in Plato's stepchildren was controversial and remains so even after decades but the show cunningly tackled the controversy in an episode from Season 3.

In Star Trek: TOS Season 3 episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Kirk and his crew meet two alien species, Bele and Lokai. Each has painted one side of their face black and the other starkly white. While Kirk and his crew find them precisely the same, even mirror images of each other, Bele and Lokai reveal that they are actually enemies.

They reveal that since they are 'different', their respective races are at war on their home planet of Cheron. Bele and Lokai reveal that each of them has the other side painted black. While Bele's left side is painted black, Lokai's right side is painted black, differentiating their race.

While Star Trek: TOS used the controversial practice of blackface, it used it to condemn the very issue it reiterates in society. While Bele and Lokai are both aliens with their faces painted half-black and half-white, their racial hatred for each other doesn't let them see their similarities.

Lokai and Bele do not realize the triviality of their differences and the absurdity of their racial hatred is loud and clear in this episode. Through Bele and Lokai, the episode highlights the futility of racial hatred and how it always ends in destruction, just like the two lone alien survivors, who eventually discover that their respective races have been wiped out in the war.

---

The Kirk-Uhura kiss on Star Trek: TOS was more than an interracial controversy

While many believed that Kirk and Uhura's kiss was so controversial and a topic of debate even after so many decades because of its interraciality, that is not the complete case.

While the kiss was interracial, that is not the sole reason people found it controversial. The audience found the kiss controversial because of its motivation: Kirk and Uhura did not kiss out of attraction or in a moment of passion but because they had no control over their bodies.

The planet's inhabitants had Kirk and his crew under a special spell with a mineral that gave them psycho-kinetic powers, allowing them to control others against their wishes. These psycho-kinetic alien villains compelled Kirk and Uhura, two mutually respecting co-workers and even friends, to kiss, which was unacceptable then.

The aliens even enjoyed this sadism. Seeing Kirk and his crew engage in pseudo-sexual behaviours with their co-workers against their wishes gave them perverted happiness. This sealed the fate of this episode and Kirk-Uhura's kiss became the most controversial event in Star Trek history.

---

For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.