… makes so-called followers of Plato’s ideals into dicks … or — you know — centuries-old telekinetics with some less-than-awesome atrophy and a penchant for not giving a fig about the free will of non-telekinetics. Just another day for everyone’s favorite landing party.
With this sonnet I tried to cover the varying aspects of anger felt by the non-telekinetic characters as they were being controlled, while also deriving a little inspiration from Shakespeare’s 57th sonnet which Kirk was forced to recite.
Sonnet 33
Being not free so long as my minding
is bent at a moment by whims
of another’s gross desiring,
I cannot trust my very limbs
not to chide me on the hour
nor my lips to buck thy power
as a bile within me rises;
such a hate defies all guises.
I envy not monstrosity.
Desire I not such feebleness.
How cruel I’d turn I dare not guess,
but leave the generosity
of choosing in hands small enough
to make good with such precious stuff.
Interesting fact about this episode: The Interracial Kiss, Uhura & Kirk
The censors were super nervous about having an interracial kiss, so they ordered a version of the scene be filmed with their lips not actually touching. According to Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), a lot of intentional malarkey went on that made using the censored scene completely unusable. The show got a lot of letters over that kiss, all of it positive.
However, Spock was originally scripted to kiss Uhura, but Shatner basically said, “umm, I’m Kirk!” and Spock was made to kiss Nurse Chapel in one of the most heart-wrenching moments of unrequited affections ever conceived of. I feel you, Nurse, you’re not the only one who wanted to “crawl away and die.”