While Kirk and the others are waiting for the serum to take effect, Parmen forces the four to perform again. Alexander becomes angry after watching the humiliating tricks played upon the crew by his fellow Platonians, and he tries, unsuccessfully, to attack Parmen with a knife. Kirk uses his new-found telekinetic powers to defeat Parmen and save Alexander's life. Parmen then promises to mend his bullying ways, but Kirk doesn't believe him, and warns Parmen, should he go back on his word, the powers can be recreated by anyone whenever they wish to defeat him. Kirk promises to send appropriate medical technicians to the planet as long as the Platonians behave themselves, and Alexander requests to go with the Enterprise to start a new life elsewhere in the galaxy. With Alexander by his side, Kirk contacts the Enterprise and tells Scotty. "I have a little surprise for you. I'm bringing a visitor aboard." The kiss The episode features a kiss between James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) which for many years was described as the first interracial kiss on television. However, it was not the first interracial kiss on television. A Granada Play of the Week in 1962 featured a kiss and post-coital scene between actors Lloyd Reckord and Elizabeth MacLennan. Another example is the friendly cheek-to-cheek kiss between Sammy Davis, Jr. and Nancy Sinatra on Movin' with Nancy in 1967, a year before "Plato's Stepchildren" aired. Other instances include Adventures in Paradise (1960) - "The Big Surf", between Gardner McKay and Pilar Seurat, and Laramie (1961) - "Dragan at the Door" (Season 3, Episode 1), by Nobu McCarthy and Robert Fuller. Furthermore, the kiss was not the first interracial kiss on Star Trek itself. In the Season Two episode "Mirror, Mirror," first broadcast on October 6, 1967, Kirk and Lt. Marlena Moreau (played by BarBara Luna, an actress of Filipino-European ancestry) kiss on the lips, while Mirror-Sulu kisses Uhura's neck. Several takes of the Kirk/Uhura kiss were filmed, with different levels of contact between the actors, and many speculate on which version was used in the final cut of the episode. William Shatner recalls in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch (the technique of turning their heads away from the camera was used to conceal this). However, Nichelle Nichols insists in her autobiography Beyond Uhura (written in 1994 after Shatner's book)