How the boldly multi-racial Star Trek franchise featured a bald female Indian actor in the 1970s
It has been 49 years since Gene Roddenberry's science fiction television series Star Trek set in the 23rd century, took TV viewers on a ride to the "final frontier". Inspired by the western TV series Wagon Train, the idea was pitched by Roddenberry as a "Wagon Train to the Stars".
A multi-racial crew aboard Starfleet – the space-borne humanitarian and peacekeeping armada of the United Federation of Planets led us to "strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." In the 1960s most characters on American TV were white, with Blacks finding minor representation and that too, in mostly negative roles. In this environment Rodenberry cast a black woman to play the Chief Communications officer and even shared a kiss with the ship's captain Kirk.
Roddenberry was insistent on having a multi-racial crew aboard his spaceship, wanting to use the series also as a comment on racism, sexism and prejudice. The show was meant to be a morality drama as much as an adventure show. He wanted to cast a woman as second in command, to which NBC, the network hosting the series said a firm no.
That said, the diversity wasn't just limited to African Americans. George Takei, who played Mr Sulu, was one of the first Asian-Americans on screen and the Star Trek franchise would even end up featuring an Indian.
Persis Khambatta, an Indian model and actor, on the Star Trek crew starred in the original film version of the series Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Playing a bald Deltan navigator, Lieutenant Illia, she was required to shave off her hair for the role; one of the first times a female Indian actor would be seen with a fully bald head.
Deltans are a mysterious race, completely lacking in hair except eyebrows and lashes, extremely empathetic, and exude pheromones which arouse human males. Trained as a navigator, Lieutenant Ilia would eventually killed by an alien probe.
Khambatta broke down while preparing for her most famous role. The film starred most of the original cast of the TV show and came out on December 7, 1979.
