Star Trek: The Original Series
"Plato's Stepchildren"
Air date: 11/22/1968
Written by Meyer Dolinsky
Directed by David Alexander
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
As we all know, "Plato's Stepchildren" is most commonly remembered for providing television's first interracial kiss. All well and good, but how does the story stand up? Actually, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this fairly nondescript premise, in which Parmen (Liam Sullivan), a tyrannical leader of a small community of people with telekinetic abilities, decides he wants McCoy to stay against his will on this planet as their doctor. Story execution here is key.
After Kirk's initial defiance of Parmen comes a telekinetically induced humiliation brought to Kirk and Spock that is surprisingly well played. The degree of Parmen's villain factor is multiplied by tenfold when Uhura and Chapel are beamed down as players in a degrading entertainment spectacle alongside Kirk and Spock. What's particularly nice about this episode is that the plot falls together logically, and the characters' reactions to their predicament shows sensible thinking and quiet ingenuity. McCoy's way of fighting back makes sense and is applied with a cool head. Meanwhile, Alexander (Michael Dunn), the community's most often abused, turns out to be a deeper-than-expected source of sympathy—someone with a great deal of moral integrity.
The problem is that the episode lets its villain off way too easily. As Kirk says, Parmen is very good at making speeches, and given the extent of his cruelty, letting it all slide at the end lacks justice. A more satisfying ending would've found a way to strip Parmen of his telekinetic powers, thereby administering, without turning to vengeance or violence, a rational comeuppance.
Previous episode: The Tholian Web
Next episode: Wink of an Eye
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61 comments on this post
Thu, Jun 28, 2012, 1:54am (UTC -6)
Spock is all too aware that he could have been made by forces out of his control to kill Jim. He's already been there once--during the ponn farr. Add that to the humiliation of his own treatment and the misery of seeing Kirk degraded--that's about as close to an explosion from Spock that we've seen, at least while he's in his right mind. It was good writing, and stunningly well-played by Nimoy.
Mon, Dec 17, 2012, 2:15pm (UTC -6)
Totally agree. Shatner's good in this one, too. His dialog with Alexander is dead on and is more akin to Kirk from the first two seasons.
Agreed that Parmen was let off the hook too easily. But I had another thought: Couldn't Kirk and Spock retain their telekinetic abilities after they left (assuming they kept taking kironide)? The episode doesn't say that the powers are only usable on that planet.
Thu, May 30, 2013, 2:28am (UTC -6)
Hateful.
Hateful.
There aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe "Plato's Stepchildren". It is fifty minutes of pure, sadistic humiliation of our lead characters. The third season had its share of stinkers, but this is the only one of them that makes me wish the series had been yanked from the network schedule before the ep had a chance to air.
I can only imagine how many Trekkies who had worked so hard to get the show renewed sat in front of their televisions in slack-jawed horror that Friday night in November 1968, watching Kirk slap himself silly for thirty seconds and wondering what they had written all of those letters for.
Hateful.
(Even the interracial kiss this monstrous thing is known for isn't real. The shot is framed to obscure the fact that Shatner's and Nichols' lips don't actually touch.)
Wed, Mar 19, 2014, 3:10pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 10:35am (UTC -6)
I'm surprised that barely on-screen kiss gets so much recognition instead of the line about colour or shape or size aren't important and the depth and strength given to a perceived disabled character. That stood out the most for me, the kiss was too shy and self-conscious to really transcend the era imho.
I'll give this one a 2.5 stars for being unique and a well done adventure despite some OTT silliness along the way.
Wed, Oct 1, 2014, 11:51am (UTC -6)
On the other hand, Spock makes the point of distinguishing between the awful society that Parmen rules over and what Plato himself advocated -- with truth, beauty, and above all justice as founding principles, rather than this perpetual sadistic cruelty. And the episode could also be argued not so much to argue with Plato -- perhaps a wise decision, really -- as with those who would emulate Plato while ignoring his meaning. In particular, the trait that Parmen believes indicates intelligence, telekinesis, is actually completely unrelated to intelligence, and only related to petuitary hormones and, well, height. His mind powers basically are indistinguishable from any other form of strength, and his smug insistence that his powers make him the most intelligent is just a rationalization for his brutality. I think this also has some pretty far-reaching implications. It makes me think of the Dunning-Kruger effect, and other cognitive biases in which the strong seek to justify their strength as indicative of superior moral virtue rather than of some accident of circumstance. Along those lines, I really like the way McCoy is so highly prized by the Platonians because he has actual skill, knowledge, curiosity and intellectual acumen, which they have essentially abandoned; and that the away team beats the Platonians by using scientific investigation and, well, intellect to beat them. This is the application of intellect and intuition through work and curiosity -- rather than the decadent, lazy "intellect" of the "Philosopher-King" class that we see with Parmen, who has clearly left behind anything resembling valuable intellectual pursuits a few millennia ago.
I also really agree (with Jammer and Jo Jo) that the depiction of Alexander is impressive -- not just because it's a good development of a supporting character, but because it's an unusual-for-the-time (and still for this time, frankly) depiction of a dwarf/little person as heroic while also pretty directly confronting the feelings of insecurity that come with having one's disability constantly thrown in his face as a weakness or even as stupidity. Alexander's arc over the course of the episode is good -- he starts off pretty much just accepting his lot in life, as is to be expected (had he not accepted it, had he rebelled, he likely would have been executed earlier, and he doesn't have the science kits that the crew have), feeling bad that the Enterprise crew are now condemned to his fate, but unwilling to step out and help them because of the inevitable consequences to himself, beginning to feel guilt and shame once the Enterprise crew shows him another path and Kirk immediately reassuring him that it's understandable in his circumstance, him refusing the power granted the others because he sees its corrupting influence, finally refusing to kill Parmen, refusing not just the Power-power of telekenesis but the power-over-life-and-death that is the "real" meaning of that Power-power. I think one could look upon some of these later developments less kindly, and say that perpetual-victim Alexander's refusal to take on power means that he has to be saved by Kirk et al.; that, indeed, it may be that the episode "sides" with Alexander, and views the power as corrupting in Alexander's hands but not in Kirk's, suggesting perhaps that oppressed people really do need some able-bodied guy to come in to save them. It's possible -- but I think that the episode is clear that Kirk trusts Alexander with the power, and Alexander himself makes the choice to refuse it. It's been so much a part of his life for years that Alexander cannot as easily as Kirk view the taking on of such power as a totally passing thing, specific to this planet. He demonstrates his moral superiority, confirms that it was not intellectual inferiority that kept him from having the telekenesis at all, and leaves.
So, okay, that's the Big Themes of the episode, such as they are: what do we make of the actual depiction? This is probably the longest depiction of pure sadism on TOS, with scene after scene of the crew helpless to stop being subjected to different humiliations. I can't really tell if they are "funny" or not: they are...funny to the Platonians, and maybe to the audience for sheer camp value. It's different watching Kirk et al. humiliate themselves to try to convince McCoy to stay for the Platonians and watching Shatner et al. "humiliate" themselves for a paycheck for the audience, because, well, the actors did sign on to this type of thing, I guess, and maybe don't mind it? But the story's basic point -- the Platonians are cruel and barbaric but believe themselves to be intellectually sophisticated -- doesn't really need scene after scene of proof. There is something kind of effective in the episode's repeating the humiliation again and again, though -- especially when we get glimpses of how awful the Platonians are, and what sense of intellectual superiority backs up their reasoning. When Kirk and Spock are made to court Uhura and Chapel and then switch and then switch back, and one of the Platonians yells out how fickle they are and laughs as if Kirk and Spock had any control over their situation, it's not just pure cruelty, but the shocking, disgusting idea that the Platonians seem on some level to believe their victims actually want to do what they are being forced to do, and deserve it. The fact that the last humiliation is actually some depiction of sexual violence -- Kirk and Spock forced first to kiss and then to get whips/hot pokers and presumably torture and maybe kill Uhura and Chapel -- makes this episode seem like something out of the Marquis de Sade rather than Star Trek.
In that sense, the episode is actually maybe more effective than the half dozen or so "Kirk/whoever has to fight in a gladiator combat against his will for entertainment!" episodes, because at least Kirk doesn't have to be forced to pretend to enjoy those gladiator fights, and at least he has control over his body even if he's being put in a kill-or-be-killed situation. When Spock is forced to laugh or cry, or to dance and nearly crush Kirk's skull, or when Chapel and Spock are forced to kiss and Chapel admits that this is exactly what she's wanted but not like this, and Kirk and Uhura kiss and Uhura talks about how Kirk is the person who made her less afraid, or when the whip comes out, there is the sense that the Platonians are aiming to control not just the body but the hearts of their victims as well, which is what real totalitarian savagery is -- not killing someone but tearing them apart from the inside, breaking their will. That the episode does this in a kind of light, fanciful tone is part of what makes it so strange and puzzling.
...which is, I guess, to say that the interracial kiss was maybe not such a television watershed in-story. That they got the image of a white man and a black woman kissing on American network TV is impressive and admirable. But they were forced to against their will, you know? And while the story was careful not to depict the problem as that they were different races -- the problem is that it's awkward because it's a captain and one of his officers, and, more to the point, that they are being telekinetically controlled. But everyone knew that. It just makes the moment weird to watch, and associates this big "THIS IS WRONG" emotion over the moment.
Anyway, uh...I do not really know what I think of the episode, to be honest. I think that enough elements of it work that I'm inclined to think favourably of it -- but it is a bit of a slog to get through and I'm not sure if the long depiction of sadism is clever enough to justify...itself. I guess 2.5 stars.
Sun, Oct 26, 2014, 6:27am (UTC -6)
Sat, Jan 24, 2015, 1:46am (UTC -6)
Thu, Mar 12, 2015, 10:24am (UTC -6)
The other episodes banned by the BBC was 'Whom Gods Destroy'. According to Memory Alpha, the broadcast of 'Miri' resulted in complaints, leading the Beeb to review all the other eps and decide 'Plato', 'Empath' and 'Gods' were unsuitable because they 'all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease'. 'Miri' wasn't shown again until the early 90s, and the three originally banned eps received their first UK air date around the same time.
Wed, Nov 11, 2015, 4:17pm (UTC -6)
The kiss is epic, incredibly important, and one of Trek's best ever radical and revolutionary moments.
But if you leave that kiss aside to judge the rest of this episode, it's not looking good. TOS has a history of shabby episodes, and this one's one of the worst even among those. I would call the script stupid worthless trash but that would be too generous. I can't even find any words for this catastrophe, I just don't know where to start, and every word wasted on this is at least one too many.
If it weren't for that kiss: on a scale of 1 - 4, this is a solid -3.
Fri, Dec 4, 2015, 2:11am (UTC -6)
Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 5:24pm (UTC -6)
The character arc of Alexander was brilliantly played and always felt real, maybe because it's still relevant today.
The interactions of the main three were on par with previous seasons, with each wanting to save the others and Spock finding the whole thing so loathsome that he can barely control himself. It was a good bit of character development.
The ending did lack any sort of comeuppance for the antagonists, which is always frustrating, but par for the course with TOS villains, who are almost always easily forgiven by Kirk no matter the atrocities they inflicted (Khan, those tentacle monsters in human form who turned everyone into giant dice in "By Any Other Name", the Gorn, etc). Oddly, minor villains usually are punished (Harry Mudd, Tyrano Jones).
Sat, Dec 17, 2016, 9:59pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Apr 14, 2017, 6:41am (UTC -6)
Mon, Jun 5, 2017, 1:15pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jun 27, 2017, 7:35am (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 30, 2017, 2:29pm (UTC -6)
As for the interracial kiss - may be a big deal in the 60s but obviously not now. Trek was known for being groundbreaking in many ways and I guess this interracial kiss is just another example.
On the bright side, Alexander's part was really well played. His facial expressions of distaste etc. as Kirk/Spock/Uhura/Chapel get humiliated is so well done. The episode really exemplifies some of 60s Trek's "higher morals" -- Alexander says he doesn't want to become like Parmen and Kirk talks about other worlds where there is no psychokinetic power and short/tall etc. people are all treated equally. Plenty of Trek's ideals come through in this episode despite some of the distasteful parts of the plot.
Like other commenters I would have liked to see some punishment dished out to Parmen - Kirk lets him off too easily. But this is not the first time we've seen this - "The Gamesters of Triskelion" is another example where it's hard to believe the antagonists will carry out their promises.
The sadistic humiliation/torture scenes were a bit too long - it is fine to make the point about Parmen's nature. I kind of think this episode could have been fit into a 1/2 hour.
I'd rate "Plato's Stepchildren" 2.5 stars - some important ideas in this episode but went on a bit much with the humiliation/torture -- can really see how some won't like this episode for those parts.
Mon, Aug 28, 2017, 4:35am (UTC -6)
Fri, Oct 6, 2017, 6:50pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 8:18am (UTC -6)
There's also something grotesque about the whole episode; the ludicrous, decadent, campy nature of the Platonian's utopia, makes their violence seem more arbitrary and so more twisted and sick. This is an utterly needless violence whose aim is purely for the pleasure of a very tiny (and themselves vulnerable) social class.
I thought Spock's song, "Maiden Wine", was also very touching. And for all the furor over Kirk kissing Uhura, it was his whipping of her - a black woman - which I found shocking. I hadn't remembered that scene taking place. Given the humiliation culture we currently live in - from state sanctioned torture, to the infamous Abu Ghraib photos, to torture porn, to people humiliating themselves just to be on TV - Kirk's arguments for dignity are also fitting.
Anyway, not a great episode, sure, and filled with laughable moments; but very twisted, disturbing and thematically interesting I thought.
Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 7:05am (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 5:54pm (UTC -6)
There's also the particularly strong sense of tension here, as the crew is genuinely tormented (rather than threatened by abstract countdowns to doom) by the villainous Parmen (the guest characters are especially vivid and strong here) and other "philosopher kings." And while Chekov and Sulu sit this episode out, Uhura and Chapel figure in the main plot as captives brought to enact humilitations for the Platonians, with clever continuity in the Chapel-Spock dynamic (a real Schroedinger's Cat relationship decades before Picard-Crusher) contrasted nicely against the Uhura-Kirk dynamic that is clearly forced in every way by contrast. Chapel has real feelings for Spock, but there's nothing between Kirk and Uhura, and the whole spectacle of their torment is riveting and edgy television even without the interracial kiss.
This one is fun to watch simply to see how the crew gets out of an impossible situation, with the Kirk-McCoy-Spock friendship bolstered by the addition of Chapel and Uhura to the mix. For philosophical debate, Spock has some great lines for Parmen in critique of his alleged paradise, and the sight of the Platonians laughing hysterically at people humiliate themselves at the end feels like a remarkably fresh social critique of the way our culture finds entertainment in the shaming of others. Spock's keen intellectual torment and the way McCoy, of all people, fiercely stands up for him really pushes their love-hate relationship further into the friendship zone as we'll see again later this season on shows like the brilliant "The Empath." Good character stuff here for the regulars, well-performed, and it's a high point for TOS.
But the central arc of Alexander and his tormentors is especially touching, feeling real at every beat. Alexander is a remarkably sympathetic character and the story steadfastly refuses to demean him (Kirk's joke at one point is genuinely funny because it comes from a place of affection rather than the sadism Parmen displays) or reduce him to a revenge-driven cipher. He's one of the better-rounded and well-realized guest stars in the history of Trek. I really empathized with him and liked him; the story treats him as a real person deserving of respect whom the Federation values equally to others. Great Trekkian idealism here: In the face of barbarism, the crew works with Alexander to preserve their common dignity, and Alexander himself is so disgusted by the behavior of his tormentors that he can't bring himself to behave likewise when he gains the upper hand. In a word: Wow. Very rare depth and complexity here for a TV show of any era, even our own today.
Sun, Dec 10, 2017, 5:25pm (UTC -6)
Plodding, dull, and ridiculous in the extreme. The cast must've needed a strong drink after this one.
It is as described earlier a particularly hateful and wretched episode.
Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 7:43pm (UTC -6)
One thing I didn't find anyone cited: We finally get to see the full face of the Medical Tricorder (what McCoy sees) when he's comparing Alexander's blood to Parmen's, a sort of oscilliscope display with multi-colored tracings. It was brief. But cool.
Tue, Feb 6, 2018, 7:43am (UTC -6)
The episode contains the lines, 'colour, size, race isn't important'. But this episode is famous for, ironically, it being very important. Sad, really.
Sat, Jul 21, 2018, 9:24pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Nov 8, 2018, 4:36pm (UTC -6)
Maybe as a young trek fan it seemed too silly or juvenile with all of the horseplay to a mind too young to quite get the adult implications but feeling too mature for the surface ham of it, maybe I got it just enough to be deeply discomforted at the humiliation of my heroes. I honestly dont know how i experienced it before this night.
That viewing party had about a half-half ratio of full blown veteran trekkies and casual fans--some there for nostalgia who had probably seen a few episodes with daddy or come-with-a-friend types who had a general cultural awareness and were there to giggle at some shatner--all valid reasons to watch some trek, and we had been tuned in for hours at this point, commercials and all. The bloodwine I brought was long gone and the party had taken over the actual viewing by this point.
And then I saw this episode LITERALLY TRANSFIX the entire group, myself included. The two vets I was with were rolling their eyes and I was totally embarrassed that I couldn't remember what I should be eye-rolling about lol and they wanted to leave but I of course secretly wanted to stay because for me it was kind of like watching new trek for the first time in years. So i convinced them to stay by being like, guys, LOOK at how the rest of them are watching this! They've been giggling at shanter all night--even during the great episodes getting mad at us for shushing them and now look at them! they are silent, leaned forward, on the edges of their seats CARING about KIRK with lined serious faces, NOT laughing at shanter and nimoy crawl around and sing? Im pretty sure i actually said 'fascinating.'
Anyway, they stayed and I watched the episode right along with the newbies (also riveted myself) and after a while I saw my trek friends fall into the group mind tool--seeing it through their friends eyes and then feeling it differently than they had before. There were TEARS in that room when Alexander’s monologue was through. When Spock asked Kirk if he felt anger i HEARD people inhale sharp and then hold breath.
After the episode--by some silent agreement of groupthink the tv went off and the, like, 13ish of us talked trek for 4 more hours! None of the new fans left and today all of them are seen-every-episode-ENT-->VOY fans that I freak-tweet during discovery episodes. For most of them, this is their favorite episode. The group as a whole considers it brilliant, even the longest standing trekkies in the group eventually had to admit that night (3 hours to 3 years later) that if it could affect a whole room that way randomly, even if it wasn't their taste or on their top 10 list, that for some people it was doing what they also loved best about trek--making them think, reevaluate, explore, learn, grow, discuss, debate, synthesize, so many ideas all around a ridiculously campy backdrop, a made-up world etc.
In the end, it's a favorite for me too. In fact its on my personal introduce-a-friend-to-trek list now. I try not to tell them how "stupid" it is before they watch. Ive realized over the years that it is still polarizing. Some people ultimately find it TOO gratuitous or TOO exploitative or just TOO cheesy in its presentation though sound in concept--like many people above. But Trek as a whole is TOO everything at some point. It’s a giant, sprawling, unevenly gratuitous/exploitative/cheesy-in-practice-if-not-theory/goodadjectivestoo beast where there is room for other people to see brilliance differently. Some people like Janeway more than Picard because they think the erratic writing of her character makes her more interesting on repeat viewing--a pastiche of the developing StarTrekCaptain character like a dissection and meta-examination of the tropes of trek itself, or because they interpret her philosophical inconsistency as an exploration of her psychological trauma as a lone authority figure isolated from her command structure. Both are interesting reads that have made VOY more enjoyable to me over the years.
Some of the people who watched Plato’s Stepchildren that night say they never saw better acting in TOS ever again--one of them says this episode is the crown jewel of nimoy’s spock and makes the argument in detail as part of a thesis years later (it was her first introduction to trek). They have high praise for how WELL they think the director/actors/episode convey the depth and gravity of torture/sadism/control through classical performance styles like you might see on a stage with only the actors bodies to engage with and almost no reliance on TV magic.
Anyway, I've had a lot of conversations about this episode over the years at this point and my thoughts along with the thoughts of my friends and the internet have melted together so much that at this point I'm not sure what parts of the case I make for it are mine per say. It's still not my absolute favorite episode and I still know for some reason I skipped it for years but it has brought more richness to my experience of social fandom than any other single episode in the franchise. My advice is to try it again with someone farther outside the fandom and hear what they say without bombarding them with trek-dogmas first.
LL&P
Thu, Nov 8, 2018, 4:54pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 5, 2018, 8:01pm (UTC -6)
Unfortunately, I disliked great parts of this episode, because it did not catch at all the spirit of the Ancient Greek culture or of Platos thoughts or philosophy. Parmen acts like a simpleminded sadistic tyrant, without honor or ethical values. The Platonians are flatly depicted as vile and sadistic because the episode just needed antagonists Kirk and his crew had to fight against.
I dont see a serious critique of Greek culture, and Platons philosopher-kings would have surely not acted in such a silly immature way. The problem is, the episode suggests exacty that to the audience and the Greek culture is shown in a very distorted way. They acted more like Romans than Greeks and looked like Americans dressed up on a Greek themed party. ;-)
2 of 4 stars because of some positive aspects (which mostly involve Spock)
Thu, Dec 6, 2018, 12:05am (UTC -6)
Nice catch with the Aristophanes. And I've been too derelict to ever read him I never would have known that.
However one thing I would point out is that the episode in no way has an intention to depict Ancient Greek society, or any type of society that's literally been on Earth. The Platonians specifically say that they developed their culture based on what they read in Plato's Republic. I happen to be doing a careful reading of the Republic right now, by coincidence, and if you take Socrates' arguments very literally what he describes is on its face basically a fascist state, not totally unlike that of Sparta at the time, where the entire culture is based on creating the most competent guardians (read: warriors). And if you think Parmen's sadistic manner is totally off-base, which I agree it is, I regret to say that most people I've met basically think Plato is advocating for exactly what Parmen demonstrates. I've seen and heard sophisticated academics quite confident that Plato's philosopher kings are basically evil tyrants. I personally do not believe his dialogue is really any kind of advocacy for that, but that takes deeper reading between the lines of what Socrates actually says. So while I agree it's off-base in that it misses Plato's intended point, it's an all-too-common reading of the Republic so in that sense is completely realistic and predictable. And also sadly predictable is a people with a new-found power that can be used for tyranny, finding some excuse to justify using it. From that standpoint I would call the premise of the episode 100% believable; actually not just believable, but probably the most likely result to happen all things being equal.
Tue, Mar 5, 2019, 7:05am (UTC -6)
I assume that the intent was to satirise Plato's own attitude; that a society eternally dedicated to a single, static ideal, without dynamism or adaptability, was believed to be acceptable, as long as said ethos was itself considered to be good. The tyranny of Parman offered a solid refutation of this; that unless compassion and sentient discernment are exercised, literally any law or stated ideal can be perverted into endorsing or justifying sadism.
Plato and his Utopia are good medicine for me, whenever I begin to fetishise archaism, and mentally condemn our own society as degenerate. It is not rules by themselves which will ensure humanity's survival, but compassionate understanding of why the rules themselves exist, practiced on a continual basis.
In hindsight, I also have no objection to Parman being left unpunished. Let him study the contrast between his treatment of the Enterprise crew, and their corresponding treatment of him. There are times when a pacifist response can generate almost equal agony through humiliation, to what might be experienced on the rack.
Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:32pm (UTC -6)
Michael Dunn thats dr. lovelace to all you wild wild west fans.
Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 12:26am (UTC -6)
- Like others, I too was surprised to hear the Greek quotation from Aristophanes "The Frogs." (I wonder if the writer had a background in Greek or Classical Lit?)
- Kirk gets a shield, Spock gets a kithara musical instrument, and Bones gets... a scroll of vastly outdated Greek medicine! Thanks a lot!
- I laughed out loud when I saw and heard horse-Kirk rearing up and whinnying. That would make an awesome meme.
- This episode was way dark and twisted for network TV. I can't believe the censors let them get away with showing a scene where two women are about to be tortured with a whip and a red hot poker! Yikes!
- The one bright spot for me in this whole mess is that Uhura gets a nice costume change into a very flattering dress, and her character gets to have a little more dialogue than what's usually allotted to her.
Mon, May 6, 2019, 6:18am (UTC -6)
Wed, May 15, 2019, 9:16am (UTC -6)
The ending, mind you, is laughable. After the grotesqueries inflicted on them by the Platonians, Kirk's admonishment of Parman and the others amounts to little more than a mild scolding. I know that the Federation doesn't make a practice of blowing up anyone that attacks them, but seriously? "see that you do!" That's it? It should be noted that Parman alone was so powerful that he could hold the Enterprise in orbit with just his mind!
Sun, May 26, 2019, 11:04pm (UTC -6)
The worst part was the gratuitous, repetitive scenes of humiliation and torture. The part where African Uhura's white "boss" whips her was most cringeworthy of all.
I think this was a story about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. So many years of luxury and power have left the powerful totally twisted and vile. Only the powerless Alexander retains his decency and humanity.
Ending is weak.
Overall, Alexander lifts this to above average.
Tue, Aug 6, 2019, 11:35pm (UTC -6)
It's almost as is each episode was put together by an entirely different team of producers, writers and directors who had never seen a previous episode. Mood, tone and everything gyrate wildly. (Although the obsession with historical Earth cultures sadly remained intact).
In hindsight, definitely the sickest episode of the 72 with the whip and hot poker, but not the worst episode of the series.
Micheal Dunn was really good as Alexander.
I think "The Tholian Web" is the next to last good episode, with "All Our Yesterdays" being the only good one remaining.
Sun, Dec 29, 2019, 5:21pm (UTC -6)
I had heard about the interracial kiss; I didn't know that the next five minutes featured Kirk literally whipping that same black woman. Holy shit.
Most of my thoughts on this episode have been covered above, but I thought that the exceptionally written and acted character of Alexander's refusal to claim the powers for himself was all the more powerful because it was instant and completely independent of anyone else's influence. The writers could have easily had Alexander be eager for revenge and the chance to lord power over his former tormentors until Kirk and company talk him down. Instead, Kirk tells him he could run this bitch and he's like hell no, that ain't me.
I was expecting hardcore camp, and I got it, but there was also a lot more going on here.
Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 3:54am (UTC -6)
However, reading some of the comments makes me wonder if I was being too impatient with "Plato's Stepchildren". Certainly I will have to return to this one some day and give it another shot.
But as for now,
I / IV
Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:41am (UTC -6)
Season 3 episode 10
"With smiling words and tender touch,
Man offers little and asks for so much;
He loves in the breathless excitement of night,
Then leaves with your treasure in cold morning light."
- Spock, singing beautifully
3 1/2 stars (out of 4)
The set up for this episode is very interesting. An alien race from the Sahndara star system was forced to flee their homeworld when their sun went nova three thousand years ago. A few of that race’s survivors came to Earth. It was a time when Greece was the center of civilization, and this alien race quickly adopted the Greeks' modes of living and philosophies.
This is the second time we’ve seen aliens on Star Trek closely associated with Greek culture. The first time was in season 2, in "Who Mourns for Adonais?” There the great Apollo and his compatriots had visited Earth five thousand years ago, but left when Earth’s culture changed, and humans stopped worshiping them as gods.
Here, the aliens fell in love with the Greek culture that we now know a different set of aliens, Apollo & Co., had inspired. And when that culture died, these aliens left Earth and brought Greek culture with them to a new and unknown planet. There they lived for more than two thousand years in relative stagnation, while back on Earth, mankind progressed, and themselves reach the stars.
And as was true when Kirk met Apollo, this meeting is also doomed almost from the start.
In the interim, these aliens have developed telekinetic abilities. It seems, there is something in the water.
For an idle life of the mind, probably few philosophers are as appropriate as Plato. Most of Plato's philosophy was ghastly, and no society has ever been based upon it. In his mangum opus on ruling a “utopia," Plato figures the only way he’d ever be able to put his theories into practice, is if he could brainwash the children without any interference from parents. So he proposed strict controls on breeding and population,
"We shall, then, ordain festivals in which we shall bring together the brides and the bridegrooms. But the number of the marriages we will leave to the discretion of the rulers, that they may keep the number of the citizens as nearly as may be the same, taking into account wars and diseases and all such considerations, and that, so far as possible, our city may not grow too great or too small.”
If you were a good little soldier, the rulers in Plato’s system would give you more chances to have sex,
"And on the young men, surely, who excel in war and other pursuits we must bestow honors and prizes, and, in particular, the opportunity of more frequent intercourse with the women, which will at the same time be a plausible pretext for having them beget as many of the children as possible.”
All kids are taken away by the government, and if the government thinks a kid is somehow defective, that kid should just be killed off,
“And the children thus born will be taken over by the officials appointed for this. The offspring of the good, they will take to the pen or créche, but the offspring of the inferior, and any of those of the other sort who are born defective, they will properly dispose of in secret, so that no one will know what has become of them.”
Is it any wonder then, how the aliens in "Plato’s Stepchildren" treat Alexander?
The Greeks were a wonderful culture - wine, food, song, theater, architecture and of course their Olympics are still a force for world-peace, even to this day. But they also had their monsters. And Plato’s ideas on how to run The Republic were monstrous.
It is that monstrous philosophy that attracted these aliens so much that they modeled their entire society on it. What’s that old saying? Takes one to know one.
I have seen very few critiques of Plato as devastating as Plato’s Stepchildren. I suspect most people haven’t even read The Republic (@Peter G., did you finish your careful reading?).
I don’t know much about the writer of this episode, Meyer Dolinsky, but I commend him on getting the fascist feel of Plato exactly right.
In addition to "Who Mourns for Adonais?”, this episode is also a good follow up to "The Gamesters of Triskelion”. Once again, pure intellectualism is a poor foundation for governance, and almost certainly leads to sadism in the pursuit of elite’s stimulation (h/t @Trent).
This is epic Trek. The actors are perfect. Kirk is top notch with Alexander, and maybe not till Tyrion Lannister decades later, do we get a more noble dwarf on TV. Barbara Babcock plays Philana perfectly - every gesture, every expression is worth your attention - she basically cums watching the fantasia performed by our four heroes.
https://i.imgur.com/c1TZa0z.png
Of course Trek is best when it is showing us the infinite possibilities for good that lay in our future. But it is also good to remember what can go very, very badly if we are led by evil philosophies from our own past.
Plus, I never tire of hearing Spock sing.
https://youtu.be/9nWE-aXaqms?t=16
Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 10:07am (UTC -6)
Sadly no, it's been difficult for the past couple of years to have any quiet time to continue the reading of The Republic. We're still in book 7 or something. However I will say by this point in the book I'm quite confident that Plato is not advocating for the society they are describing in the book. The reason I think this strange society is being depicted is because Socrates is asked what a society would look like that fills certain criteria, and he paints a picture to answer the question. Neither he, nor especially Plato (who speaks only through his dialogues) ever say that there's anything good about this place, only that it is an attempt to answer a question asked in a philosophical conversation about justice.
Aside from The Republican, Mal, why would you suggest that any of Plato's dialogues are "ghastly"? They are like the most polite and amusing examples of how to ask the right questions about important topics. None of them claims to answer anything (i.e. they are not dogmatic), and are generally understood to be thinking manuals.
Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 11:10am (UTC -6)
You have to see it in context. It is heavily influenced by the Spartan state to no small part because Socrates was sentenced to death by the Athenian democracy. Sure living in Plato's state doesn't sound appealing but his whole thinking was influenced by the constant warfare of the Greek States that is why he created this extremely static society model. No major inequalities are allowed. The children are taken away because the strongest reason for people to break rules apart from greed is to help their children.
And about philosophy from that time. Aristotle starts his major political work (politics) with a justification for slavery. Lots of messed up stuff from our viewpoint.
Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 7:53pm (UTC -6)
Who has the space any more to read with so many intrusions on our attention? Sometimes I plan a vacation just around a few good books. As long as the the place has no TV and no internet, I find I can really get into it. I read a couple wonderful novels over Christmas/New Years this year, and all it required was that I travel about 600 miles from my wifi :-)
I think Plato gets a lot of advantage from being sandwiched between two great thinkers, his teacher Socrates, and his student, Aristotle. I don't know that Plato himself contributed anywhere near what the other two did. But since Socrates was a little like Jesus, in that he didn't bother to write anything down, I suppose we'll have to take Plato as Saul: his scribe for the ages.
When you read Aristotle, you'll get a sense of the heights that Greek philosophy could reach, the philosophy upon which their vast civilization across the Mediterranean and till Persia, was based. Aristotle was Alexander the Great's teacher, and his student seems to have done something with his education.
You can find a lot of Aristotle online.
https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/files/Nicomachean_Ethics_0.pdf
I love that page 1, paragraph 1, starts with "The End" :-)
And the best part of it is the Table of Contents. You don't have to read the whole thing. You can just find a topic you like, and jump right in.
Aristotle of course has a lot of respect for his teacher Plato. He starts his criticism of Plato with saying how difficult it is "in view of our friendship". But, he says, Truth sometimes requires a sacrifice of what we hold nearest and dearest. The pursuit of Truth is a sacred duty. And then he tears into Plato, but very gently ;)
The great painter Raphael showed that Plato and Aristotle were pursuing opposite ends in his painting now hanging in the Vatican,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens#Central_figures_(14_and_15)
where Plato is pointing up, representing his pie-in-the-sky philosophy, while Aristotle's hand is grounded in the facts.
Most of what we know Plato for is often attributed to his teacher Socrates. For example, the Cave is told by Socrates.
But Plato - in contrast to an absolute devotion to the truth pursued by his teacher and student - was a proponent of the Noble Lie.
Plato's Noble Lie led to an insane amount of evil over the next few thousand years.
There are some fun short videos on Plato, made for our age when reading is not exactly a trivial task,
https://www.ted.com/talks/wisecrack_plato_s_best_and_worst_ideas
The videos are probably a better than slogging through The Republic.
There are so many better uses of our time. Like watching old Star Trek episodes!
Fri, May 7, 2021, 2:51am (UTC -6)
In all, a sort of Ancient Greek morality play - entertaining but not really Trek. As a one-off story it deserves 3 stars, but as a Trek episode, only 2.
An unpleasant moment at the end: Kirk has been good towards Alexander all the way through, but when beaming him up at the end, he grins and says “I’ve got a little surprise for you.” A wince-inducing moment.
Sun, May 9, 2021, 9:04am (UTC -6)
Mon, May 31, 2021, 6:24pm (UTC -6)
The leaps of logic to convince me that a telekinetic supergod can do all this sorts of thing it's astonishing. Even the famous kiss scene is bad, not only censored but also because Kirk is being forced to do it, which makes it even worse. It's a shame that a historical scene like this it's in this awful episode, should've been saved for a quality one.
Sun, Oct 17, 2021, 6:43pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 9:21pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 8:02am (UTC -6)
A giant shadow at the beginning is revealed as that society's most diminutive member ...is this a suggestion of Plato's allegory of the cave perhaps?
Michael Dunn (Alexander) puts in a great performance, which serves to say that the physically unprepossessing should not be discounted as a force in a society. Alexander at the end of it, is the one Platonian worth saving from this world.
Parmen and the other tall dudes are worthless. No republic of value there.
Last scene should have been a concert for the crew by Spock and Uhura in the Enterprise recreation room:
"Great Pan sounds his horn....marking time on the ground with his hoof...with his hoof. Forward, forward in our plan, We proceed as we began." "Alexander is the man."
Sun, Dec 26, 2021, 6:15pm (UTC -6)
Almost the definitive example of "classic Trek". Ridiculously overpowered aliens, making our crew look foolish. Shatner and Nimoy going from over the top camp one minute, to incredibly moving and heartfelt the next. A strong message about acceptance and judging people on their merit, not their colour or creed.
Quintessential Trek - 4 stars.
Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 1:07pm (UTC -6)
I mean, maybe the platonians would still want to torture the crew anyway, but c'mom, this "it's just because we need a doctor" justification sounded very cheap.
Tue, Nov 22, 2022, 2:26pm (UTC -6)
The inter racial kiss was never a problem - there had been quite a few on UK TV dating back to the fifties - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_interracial_kiss_on_television
It's very uncomfortable viewing for what is done to Kirk, Spock, Uhura and Chapel but it does make the strong point that the hypocrites running the show are sadists. Parman's wife in particular is practically salivating through the various scenes of torture. Possibly one bit could have been cut out as the horse neighing/acting is a bit OTT.
I can't really comment on whether Plato is being critiqued but Spock does point out early on that it isn't a Platonic society because justice is excluded, and the title indicates that they aren't really true children of Plato. The actor who plays Alexander is very sympathetic and convincing, and there's a touching relationship between him and Kirk who makes the important Trek point that where they come from there isn't discrimination on size or anything else.
As for whether the Platonists were really wanting Dr McCoy above other doctors - well, he had proved his credentials when he saved Parman's life. Plus they got their rocks off torturing people and to do all that to a man's friends to force him to stay gave an added savour they didn't usually experience from their routine mistreatment of Alexander. They certainly weren't going to let the Enterprise crew go, to warn the galaxy about these Platonians who were advertising for another doctor!
Thu, Dec 1, 2022, 8:15am (UTC -6)
Mon, Jan 9, 2023, 5:51pm (UTC -6)
FWIW, the first actual interracial kiss instead happens in What Are Little Girls Made Of? There the kiss between Uhura and Chapel is merely a cheek peck, but unlike in this ep, we see them touch, and even that was something new for TV.
Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 12:42am (UTC -6)
Michael Dunn’s fine performance is buried under 15 feet of year-old sewage.
0/4.
Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 4:39pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 3:07pm (UTC -6)
It’s been several years since I’ve read Plato’s Republic, so I’m a bit rusty, but if I remember correctly Socrates discusses multiple issues before even delving into the hypotheticals of social order, such as aging and the nature of justice. It’s the first discussion he has with cephanes(spelling?) about the cost/benefit of aging that came to mind for me in this rewatch, as philana brags about her youthfulness even after three millennia. I always wondered if Socrates/Plato was establishing a prerequisite for the proper “philosopher-king” through his reflections on age, laying the groundwork to imply that to have the necessary wisdom to rule in the fantasy utopia that gets constructed one must escape the world of desire that dominates youth. Age leads to contentedness through the diminishment of desires and passions, and thus provides less fertile soil for the corruption of power. The platonians essentially don’t age, and thus never truly achieve a state of contemplative serenity and remain corrupted by their petty wants. This is demonstrated every time poor Alexander is dragged from a room against his will to satisfy a platonian desire. They can’t achieve wisdom, and thus can never be the ideal rulers, because they never escape youth.
It’s possible that the episode’s writer didn’t actually intend such a thorough reading of The Republic to be infused into the episode, but given that Alexander essentially quotes Aristophanes, it seems like there might be a bunch of Greek philosophy Easter eggs jammed into this outing.
Then there’s the kiss. I’m rather taken aback by some of the above commenters minimizing the importance of a moment like that. I mean, who cares if the shot was blocked in such a way that we don’t actually see their lips touch, that’s not the point. It’s like criticizing Neil Armstrong for not busting out some breakdancing moves as he hit the moon’s surface. Get some perspective already.
A few other thoughts:
-to someone with no tech, even basic tech looks like magic. This episode could be going for an extrapolation of Plato’s republic into a technological social context. The idea being that as technology grants ever greater power, the corruptive potential of that power grows in proportion. Any top town social organization has that potential for power abuse, but that potential is multiplied if those in power have greater tools than those under the yoke. Not sure if there’s a lot in episode to support that, but I like the blending of sci-fi with ancient philosophy, so I’m running with it.
-there’s definitely a major theme about the corruptive nature of absolute power, with multiple angles of interpretation: Parmen as government/political establishment,
Parmen as culture/social pressure,
Parmen as corrupted individual. They all work great.
-between who mourns for Adonis and Plato’s stepchildren, Ancient Greece was a busy place.
-so to have superpowers all you have to do is eat some kironide? if it’s that easy to gain god-like powers it’s no wonder there are so many god-like jerks strolling around the galaxy. Kinda wreaks havoc with canon tho, why haven’t we ever run into this magic stuff again? This sort of thing has a tendency to irk my inner nerd.
-the humiliation scenes were a bit much, I think I got the idea after Parmen played “stop hitting yourself” with Kirk’s face. I’m not sure we needed so much extra.
2.75/4 tasty Vulcan power ballads.
Mon, Sep 4, 2023, 6:47am (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 10, 2023, 11:33am (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 3, 2023, 7:54pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 3, 2023, 8:06pm (UTC -6)
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