On the technical side, this was one of the lower quality episodes of Star Trek. And while the message is very overt, and even a bit campy in it's execution, I still look at this as one of the most influential Star Trek episodes I ever saw.
I first saw it as a third or fourth grader in afternoon reruns in the 70s. Having had absolutely no experience with any sort of racism that I was aware of at that point in my young life, the entire episode struck me as silly that people could or even would act that way for what was obviously so little of an actual difference. Further thinking about it, and discussions with my school teacher mother about the episode were very enlightening to my young mind.
I imagine that for adults at the time the episode aired (or even now), the episode really does come across as campy, preachy and overt. But for many of my peers who saw it as a child, it was, in it's own way, a positive message.
I first saw it as a third or fourth grader in afternoon reruns in the 70s. Having had absolutely no experience with any sort of racism that I was aware of at that point in my young life, the entire episode struck me as silly that people could or even would act that way for what was obviously so little of an actual difference. Further thinking about it, and discussions with my school teacher mother about the episode were very enlightening to my young mind.
I imagine that for adults at the time the episode aired (or even now), the episode really does come across as campy, preachy and overt. But for many of my peers who saw it as a child, it was, in it's own way, a positive message.