"With all the weird surroundings of outer space the basic underlying theme of the show is a philosophical approach to man's relationship to woman. There are both sexes in the crew, in fact, the first officer is a woman"
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For an actor selling a sci-fi series in the mid-1960s, Jeffrey Hunter’s pitch is quietly radical: strip away the “weird surroundings of outer space” and you’ll find a show preoccupied with gender politics. He’s not describing lasers and planets; he’s reassuring audiences and gatekeepers that the future won’t just be gadgets, it’ll be a social argument. The phrase “basic underlying theme” is doing heavy PR labor, signaling seriousness and respectability at a time when genre TV was often treated as kiddie fare.
The subtext is even more telling. Hunter frames equality not as a slogan but as a premise baked into daily work: “There are both sexes in the crew.” It’s a small sentence with big implications, suggesting mixed-gender competence as normal, not exceptional. Then comes the real provocation, delivered almost casually: “the first officer is a woman.” In the context of 1960s American television - and a broader workplace culture that still treated leadership as male by default - this is meant to land like a plausible impossibility. He’s normalizing what viewers were trained to read as disruptive.
There’s also a faintly cautious, period-specific limitation in the wording: “man’s relationship to woman,” not mutual relationships, not women’s autonomy. Even in its progressiveness, the frame remains male-centered. That tension is the point: the future being marketed here is bold enough to imagine a woman second-in-command, but still careful about how it names power.
The subtext is even more telling. Hunter frames equality not as a slogan but as a premise baked into daily work: “There are both sexes in the crew.” It’s a small sentence with big implications, suggesting mixed-gender competence as normal, not exceptional. Then comes the real provocation, delivered almost casually: “the first officer is a woman.” In the context of 1960s American television - and a broader workplace culture that still treated leadership as male by default - this is meant to land like a plausible impossibility. He’s normalizing what viewers were trained to read as disruptive.
There’s also a faintly cautious, period-specific limitation in the wording: “man’s relationship to woman,” not mutual relationships, not women’s autonomy. Even in its progressiveness, the frame remains male-centered. That tension is the point: the future being marketed here is bold enough to imagine a woman second-in-command, but still careful about how it names power.
Quote Details
| Topic | Relationship |
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