"nip/trek"?

Am I the only one who got a 'Star Trek' vibe from this week's episode of 'nip/tuck'?

Here are the pertinent points from the case file of "Faith Wolper, Ph.D.":

Burt Landau forced his wife Michelle and Dr. Christian Troy to continue their affair, even after they called it off. They had to have sex in his presence. They submitted, but Christian did it with defiance and he urged Michelle to ignore the presence of her husband in the room.

Burt used extortion on them, threatening Michelle with a divorce that would leave her "back in the gutter where I found you". And with Christian, Burt promised not only would he sell the practice and put him out of work, but he would also sue Christian until he couldn't even find a job as a veterinarian in some South American village.

By the way, Michelle Landau is black; Dr. Christian Troy is white.

Over four hundred years later, Captain James T. Kirk of hte Starship Enterprise and his communications officer Uhura were psychically forced to kiss by Parmen, leader of a group who called themselves "Plato's Stepchildren". But they fought against the mental command until Kirk's own psychokinetic powers kicked in and he was able to defeat Parmen.

Uhura is black and Kirk is white. (Or at least, they will be....)

That 'Star Trek' episode was broadcast about forty years ago. But it takes place over four hundred years after the 'nip/tuck' episode. And yet the times in which it aired shaped the attitudes in making that scene, and within the reality of Toobworld, it poisons the attitudes of that future era as well.

Like the song says, a kiss is just a kiss, but the late 1960s were a time of racial turmoil. So it was considered daring, even revolutionary.

Forty years later, and not only doesn't the concept of miscegenation fail to be an issue, but we actually see a simulated sex act! True, it's on a cable network, but still - the Great Bird of the Galaxy probably never foresaw the future as to what could be shown on Television.

Not that I'm complaining. Sanaa Lathan is a lovely woman.......

But the situation is one of the downsides to portraying the Future in Toobworld: eventually the Present Day surpasses it.

Just sayin', is all.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby