10 Most Inappropriate Moments In Star Trek: The Original Series
5. The U.S.Aliens Defeat The Space Commies - The Omega Glory
Star Trek is set in the latter half of the 23rd Century, a time when human conflict and warfare is ancient history. The planet Earth is a shining example of a peaceful utopia, a place where all races, religions, creeds, and nationalities co-exist in perfect harmony.
With that in mind, it's not like the Enterprise crew would ever take sides in a war of American Capitalism versus Soviet Communism, right?
Wrong! Very, very wrong!
In The Omega Glory, the crew find themselves on a planet inhabited by two warring alien races: the Yangs and The Kohms. If that sounds weirdly familiar, it's because the Yangs used to be known as the "Yankees" while the Kohms were the "Commies". The Yangs are freedom-loving, blonde, Caucasian men who worship the US Constitution and the American flag. The Kohms are all played by Asian actors, wearing furry Russian hats and promoting communism.
Rather than come up with any plausible reasoning for how a planet that perfectly mirrors the 1960s Cold War exists, the show chalks it down to sheer coincidence. Someone mentions Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development, and that's apparently all the explanation we need.
Although the Prime Directive expressly forbids them from doing so, the Starfleet crew get involved with the conflict and side with the Yangs. In the world of the show, it is highly inappropriate for the multinational crew to side with either race, American allegory or not, especially since the USA hadn't existed for over 100 years in 2268.