Little-known sci-fi fact: Uhura's famed Trek kiss wasn't meant to be with Kirk

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Apr 19, 2013

Back in November of 1968, the TV landscape was shaken to its core by the first interracial lip-lock between scantily clad Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on a third-season episode of Star Trek: TOS.

But did you know that it wasn’t the womanizing Kirk Uhura was supposed to lock lips with?

Maybe some of you already know this (and maybe some of you don’t), but Uhura was to have been kissing our favorite green-blooded Vulcan, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy).

In a Vancouver Sun interview, actress Nichelle Nichols recalled the story of that famous kiss, revealing that she had been practicing with Leonard Nimoy (not a bad way to spend the time) when Shatner saw them smooching.

"Bill Shatner saw what was going on and he said, 'Woah, woah, woah. If anybody is gonna get to kiss Lieutenant Uhura it's gonna be me.' And he had the whole thing changed so the first interracial kiss was with Lieutenant Uhura and Captain Kirk."

"Bill wanted to rehearse all the time. He said he wanted to get this right! I said to him, "It's right, it's right. I promise you, it's right." And the camera was shaking and the director was laughing his head off. We really had a good time."

We can't say we're surprised by Shatner's reaction. (We're actually truly amused by it, as was Nichols, who apparently laughed a lot at the recollection.)

And the rest, as we say, is history.

What do you guys think? Are you surprised that the first interracial kiss on TV was meant to be an interspecies one as well?

(via Calgary Herald)

And check out these other little-known sci-fi facts:

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