Star Trek fans always take immense pride in creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the future. The former military man felt that the future would have more professional environments, fewer interpersonal conflicts, and people would learn to live without biases like race, gender, and more. One can still hope for that.
However, the original series, while doing many revolutionary things on TV, did fumble quite a few times and really brings out the ‘it was made in the 60s’ flavor. One episode reportedly had a scene that felt too sexist for the network itself and they had Roddenberry delete it before airing.
An early episode of Star Trek: The Original Series had an extremely sexist ending that was cut
While the pinnacle of this idea of an inclusive future was reached in maybe Star Trek: Voyager or Deep Space Nine, the original series too did many things that were considered revolutionary for American TV at the time, unlike Star Wars. It depicted what is largely considered to be the first interracial kiss on TV and did many more in its three-season run.
However, the importance given to Uhura and Sulu aside, there were many instances where Star Trek felt dated and made it a product of its time. Be it the largely male-dominated upper management positions or its engendering of male and female roles, Gene Roddenberry’s inclusive view of the future was not as diverse as it could have been.
One episode reportedly faced cuts even before it made it to the air. The season 2 episode ‘Who Mourns for Adonais?’ reportedly had an original ending that was so sexist that the network made Roddenberry change it. According to Red Shirts Always Die, the episode saw the Greek God Apollo take one of the members of Starfleet, Carolyn Palamas, as a wife.
While the aired ending saw Palamas reluctantly lying to Apollo and aiding the Enterprise in destroying him, the removed ending reportedly had her actually pregnant with Apollo’s child. The episode already received flak for its treatment of female officers but this storyline seemed to be too much for even the network and ended up on the cutting room floor.
Controversial episode from Gene Roddenberry had many more sexist undertones
At its core, ‘Who Mourns for Adonais?’ is a commentary on Star Trek’s (and by extension Gene Roddenberry‘s) rejection of God. Apollo practically kidnaps members of the Enterprise and forces them to worship him but Kirk claims that Earth is in no need of a God and demands that he let them go.
While the theme is interesting to explore in the context of an exploratory pace opera, the treatment of the characters in the episode, especially Dr. Palamas, an archeologist who specializes in Greek mythology is extremely sexist. She is treated as an object not just by Apollo but also by the Enterprise men, especially Scott, who constantly hits on her.
Palamas, of course, falls in love with the object of her curiosity, the alpha male God, which is a common trope. She also becomes a doll to Apollo, with him dressing her up in pink-laden princess dresses just because she is a woman. The original ending aside, Dr. Palamas’ treatment by the Enterprise men really puts the date as the ‘60s instead of the 2200s.
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