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Notes -
Hah, I like how Uhura doesn't even take offense there.
These all feel like really good examples of doing it right, honestly. Yes, if you're pulling a character in from ancient times, they're going to have some confusion about a black woman serving on board the bridge, of course they are! But that doesn't need to be the thing the episode is about, and in fact probably shouldn't be. Allegory, not sledgehammer.
. . . also that's a pretty funny line in response to Sulu.
It's a great line, it's almost like an ad-lib, and it isn't a big point but they did manage to sneak in that, uh, Uhura isn't married and is sexually active, which would have been a Big Deal in the 60s for family TV show viewing.
Also the inter-racial kiss from what is a not-great episode (good idea, execution is a bit ropey, honestly the fanfiction of it is a lot better, it's a season three episode which explains a lot as the show was pretty much being wound down) Plato's Stepchildren which really was a Big Deal.
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