As convention anecdotes go, being personally told by Martin Luther King Jr. not to quit your job because you're a positive role model surely beats "And when I turned around, everybody was wearing eyepatches!" into a cocked hat?
When I fell hopelessly in love with Nichelle Nichols at an early age, I never realised all the utterly groundbreaking stuff concerning her career that my modern adult brain now marvels at. And despite all the behind-the-scenes feet-of-clay personal failings of people like Gene Roddenberry, it's fairly safe to assume that I grew up happily mystified by racism, sexism and a few other -isms besides, as a result of shows like Proper Star Trek.
And Proper Doctor Who as well, let's be fair. But Nicholas Courtney's eyepatch still can't hold a candle to the Doctor King approved Ms. Nicholls and a William Ware Theiss miniskirt uniform astride a pushbike...
