This Is Only Star Trek Episode With No Female Speaking Parts

While most of the cast in "Star Trek: The Original Series" were men, there were also important and vital women characters. Of them was Nichelle Nichols, who played Nyota Uhura, and Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chapel. There would be various other female characters throughout the show's three-year run — some as recurring and others made a one-time appearance. "Star Trek" stood out because as a show it demonstrated the TV industry's ability to represent women and people of color during a time when diversity was far and few, and not the conversation that it is now. From the start and even to its revivals and films, "Star Trek" has always been a racially and multiculturally diverse series.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the famous space themed sci-fi show, heavily championed diversity and famously said that humanity needed to accept each other's differences on Earth if they wanted to explore other beings elsewhere (via Good Reads). The show was years ahead, says Space, but still there were some flaws here and there.

One of those flaws presented itself in the show's first season. In the show's 25th episode, titled "The Devil in the Dark," there were no female speaking parts. It was a shift from the show's norm. Despite having women in the main cast, none appeared, spoke, or were credited in this particular episode, shows IMDb. It originally aired on March 9, 1967, and just a few weeks after its air date, its creator quickly picked up on what was amiss and penned a letter noting the slip-up to one of the show's writers.

Per Trekkie directory site Memory Alpha, Gene Roddenberry was keenly aware of the error and challenged show screenwriter Gene Coon to be mindful of finding ways to be inclusive and creating instances where women could be employed. He also stated that in moving forward with writing more women into the show, the scenes needed to be logical and not cringeworthy.