> ahhh, *you* obviously never had a crush on yeoman rand. sigh. and what
> about uhura in the bizarro federation/empire uniform? admittedly, she
> didn't wear it but for that one episode, more's the pity . . . at
> least, from my teenage perspective . . .
>
> and spock needed that van dyke, too. imagine how he could have been a
> genuine sex symbol, if they'd just have let him keep the beard.
Not only Rand and Uhuru (spelling?). Even a lot of the "aliens" (I'm talking about the original Capt. Kirk (ugh!) series) were "gorgeous" blondes.
As for most of the cast being Americans, it's true that some of them were supposed to represent non-Americans (Asian, African, European), but since most if not all of them were played by American actors, I think the message of essential U.S.-ness got through to the viewers. Who were, of course, themselves Americans (before the series went into world-wide syndication).
Spock, though half-Vulcan, was also half-human (I was always a bit confused about the biology of this -- if H. sapiens and Neanderthals couldn't interbreed, according to yesterday's NY Times Science section, how do humans and Vulcans manage?). And that human half was undoubtedly American. (Most probably Jewish, as is Nimoy, thus bringing in another minority group.) Basically, I think, the multi-ethnic Enterprise crew was a continuation of the famous standard WW II movie platoon.
Most of the aliens -- even in the later series -- were clearly American actors dressed up in somewhat weird costumes and make-up. Except for that oil slick character in one of the original programs.
Even today, though, American TV audiences won't accept a series with non-American main characters, AFAIK. It's one of the last biases to fall (now that gays and lesbians are starting to show up). There has been the odd British character -- they are almost honorary Americans, after all, and their accents are so attractive -- and Jeannie in "I Dream of" same was a genie. But she was clearly an *American* genie!
We Americans are still, after all, most comfortable with ourselves in our continental splendid isolation.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A sympathetic Scot summed it all up very neatly in the remark, 'You should make a point of trying every experience once, excepting incest and folk-dancing.' -- Sir Arnold Bax