10 Most Groundbreaking TV Episodes Ever
3. Star Trek: The Original Series - "Plato's Stepchildren"
Historic Impact: TV's First Interracial Kiss
"Where I come from, size, shape, or color makes no difference." This line, spoken by Captain Kirk in Season 3's "Plato's Stepchildren" -- easily one of the most progressive pieces of television from the '60s -- also stands as a personal testament for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek was famously all about exploring uncharted territory, going where no man had ever gone before. So it's fitting that the series broadcast the very first interracial kiss, between Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura, in a moment that was almost, ahem, whitewashed from the show.
Story goes that some of the more "conservative" viewers were never meant to witness the kiss, as the executives had made the decision to shoot a separate, less passionate exchange between the two to broadcast in places that may have been outraged by the mere sight of a white man locking lips with a black woman.
Luckily, William Shatner was not about to have the moment censored, and foiled these additional, kiss-less takes by crossing his eyes during the scene, rendering it unusable. They had no choice but to show the kiss to all viewers, leaving behind a subtle but important moment for intergalactic and real life race relations.