These Are the Voyages - TOS: Season Three by Marc Cushman & Susan Osborn

Author:Marc Cushman & Susan Osborn [Cushman, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw
Published: 2015-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

Roddenberry later said, “Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura’s kiss was an integral part of the story line, and it never occurred to me to question whether Kirk should kiss a black person or not. I had, by that time, achieved a certain clarity about those things.… As a matter of fact, long before Captain Kirk kissed Lieutenant Uhura, I kissed her many times.” (145-23)

Roddenberry suggested a compromise for the scene between his star (Shatner) and his former lover (Nichols). The scene could be shot two ways -- one with a kiss, one without, and a decision could later be made in editing.

Shatner remembered how the network men were on the sidelines, watching intently. The real kiss came first. Alexander was satisfied with the coverage. The blocking had Shatner pull Nichols to him and turn her away from camera just slightly. We see his eyes. We see the two faces come together. But we don’t see the lips actually touch, only an insinuation that they do.

Then the scene was shot again, with Kirk, as a show of defiance to the Platonians, fighting the telekinetic manipulation and struggling to keep his lips from connecting with those of Uhura.

Nichelle Nichols said, “Well, Bill Shatner, bless his heart, was determined the [real] kiss was going to be in, and so he bollixed up every take ... and used up all the time, because it was the last day of the shooting and it was the last scene being shot, and, if we did not get it that day, that scene would not have been in there. And it had to be in there. And, finally, they had about five minutes left, and they’re tearing their hair out. We’ve got to go for the one without the kiss, and [Bill’s] making me giggle, you know, and, when they’re finally shooting it, Bill crossed his eyes in the camera, so there was no way they could use that.” (127-4)

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