#trar trek tos

[countesspetofi]

More from The Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars: Nearly five years before James T. Kirk set off on his five-year mission into space, William Shatner guest-stars in "Portrait of a Painter," episode 14 of the third season of "Naked City" (original airdate January 10, 1962).

Roger Barmer (Shatner) is a disturbed young artist who believes he may have killed his wife during an epilepsy-related blackout. He confides in his doctor, who convinces him to turn himself in to the police. It is a very sensitive performance, nearly free of the swagger that we've come to expect. The physical resemblance between young Shatner and Merritt Butrick (David Marcus) is very noticeable here.

Given the 1960s medical establishment's belief in homosexuality as a mental illness, the discussion of Roger's issues with women and intimacy (and his mother, oh, you have so much to answer for, Dr. Freud), the physical clinginess he displays toward the doctor, and body language that I recognize as coded for femininity and submission from my own Shakespearian training, I don't think I'm reaching too awfully far when I see some queer subtext in the extended scene in the doctor's office. (He looks like he could be playing Desdemona or Ophelia on that couch.)

Other Trek connections: The doctor is portrayed by Theodore Bikel, who played Worf's adoptive father Sergei Rozhenko in the Star Trek: The Next Generation fourth-season episode "Family." I nearly didn't recognize him without his signature beard, but the voice was unmistakable.

#image heavy #william shatner #naked city #1960s tv #crime drama #police procedural #star trek #trar trek tos #star trek the original series #star trek tng #star trek the next generation #theodore bikel #tv sci fi #queer coding #epilepsy #emotional disturbance