Wow I never knew this
I didn’t know this stuff either, and feel like that’s a good thing. Like this is what allies should be doing. Not taking parts and awards and saying how they should have or could have gone to the person that should have it. Also, one shouldn’t be yapping about it for credit all the time. You just do the shit because the shit is right.
The Original Series people weren’t fucking around.
I mean, let’s talk about this. TOS premiered in 1966. So that is during a) the Cold War b) the Civil Rights Movement and c) not all that long after WWII (and—importantly for this discussion—Japanese Internment)
Not only did they have a) a Russian on the bridge, b) a Black WOMAN as communications officer and c) a Japanese bridge officer (the actor playing whom was in a interment camp as a child.) But they also did episodes which specifically dealt with racism, prejudices, current events.
HELL, friggen MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. told Nichelle Nichols to stay on the show because it was so important for the Civil Rights movement. That this show showed a future when the movement was over. When Black people had achieved equality with their white peers. ALSO IT HAD THE FIRST INTERRACIAL KISS ON TV. And Shatner and Nichols deliberately ruined all the alternate takes where the kiss didn’t happen so that the producers were forced to air the kiss.
Whoppi Goldberg saw Nichelle Nichols on screen for the first time and went screaming to her mother about how there was a Black lady on tv who wasn’t a maid. And this is one of the pivotal moments that made her want to act.
Gene Roddenburry knew what he was doing. And he picked all the right people to play the parts in this.
