S3E13 Elaan of Troyius

[Admin]

Original Air Date 12/20/68

The Enterprise must escort an alien princess to her marriage to seal an interplanetary alliance...but she becomes attracted to Kirk.

[Dizzle]

I think this episode, although there are many contenders, really takes the cake for sexism and racism.

I don't mean to imply that it is extreme in this episode. I just think episode more than any other really reaches towards the Sean Connery James Bond in the 60's level of sexism and racism. Kirk just slaps the shit out of the girl around the same time that he calls her savage, which she clearly is by her dark skin and accent (odd that universal translators give heavy accents only to dark skinned humanoids).

I think the best part is that the woman only begins to respect and fall for Kirk after he slaps her around a bit and treats her like the woman-child she is. I'm not being hyperbolic here, he actually tells her he's going to spank her. After she gains slight control of Kirk (by crying! a woman's second greatest power) she actually does invite her to spank him which we don't see but can only assume it leads to a woman using her greatest power over men.

In summation... I love this episode because it's everything that is terribly great about the 60's and it really explains what the feminist movement of the 70's was in response to. Also, Elaan is smoking hot.

PS-I think it's almost as interesting as the choice to have the big forced interracial kiss in S3E10 Plato's Step Children to have another slightly less forced interracial kiss just a few episodes later despite or perhaps in spite of the reaction to the first.