Uhura replacing McCoy/Bones?

[Franklin]

McCoy is not an action character. It would almost be silly to see him in action sequences. Can you imagine McCoy in Uhura's position on Kronos in the upcoming movie?

That said, McCoy does seem to have his "action" moment with Kirk in the first nine minutes. Dragged into it by Kirk, I'm sure, and not with the consequences intended, to be sure. I doubt McCoy signed up for cliff-jumping.

We have no idea what the McCoy-Spock interaction is like in the new movie.

The Kirk, Spock, McCoy scenes in most Trek that I can remember weren't action sequences, but had the three debating what a course of action should be or the merits/morals of a situation. They talked frankly like three officers who had served together for a number of years and were very comfortable with each other.

That social dynamic hasn't evolved in the new universe, yet. Kirk and McCoy are obviously friends. Probably good friends. A friendship is evolving between Kirk and Spock. But there probably isn't even mutual respect between McCoy and Spock, yet. The unfortunate thing about this three-way dynamic is there is no time for it to evolve to the TOS point in a series of short movies.

As far as that meaning Uhura has surplanted McCoy as the third of the "big three" goes, I doubt it.

[bbailey861]

The Wormhole wrote:

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I really don't see any issue here at all. If anything, it's good that Uhura is finally getting her moment. Hell, for the first 42 years of the franchise she didn't have a first name and the only thing memorable she did was force a guy into a closet at gun point.

Giving her a more significant role is one of the few things Abrams is doing correct since he's finally developing an underdeveloped character and he's actually doing something unique with his Star Trek.

Yeah, we all love Bones and Karl Urban is great in the role, but so what if these movies have a different dynamic than TOS and its movies? Isn't the opportunity to do something different the reason to do a reboot?

Oh, sorry, forgot this is the forum that wants the the movie to be a remake of Space Seed/TWOK with Gary Mitchell somehow mixed in.

I thought you were doing really well, and were on a good roll until you hit that last line.

[Pauln6]

They're just playing with the dynamic from TOS season one where the two leads were Kirk and Spock and the two supporting leads were McCoy and Rand. In the show the dynamic of the triumvirate worked really well while Rand's role was limited because the women were largely decorative in the sixties, Kirk needed to play the field, and some other stuff going on behind the scenes led to the actress being fired. In an action movie franchise it's easy to see why Uhura's role as the girlfriend allows her to take up a niche that McCoy can't fill (and Rand was unable to fill because her relationship with Kirk was unrequited). I find it more concerning that Uhura is the only woman but at least Marcus will add to the mix.

[serenitytrek1]

The Mirrorball Man wrote:

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McCoy is probably my favorite Star Trek character but I agree that it makes sense to have Uhura as a major character, it creates an interesting character dynamic, plus I think Saldana is an outstanding actress.

I agree with saldana been an outstanding actress given the right material. it still amazes me that she is Neytiti from avatar. She did all those stunt herself in the film and also pulled off the Navi accent that was made up by James Cameron.That was great too.

Neytiri vs Uhura

you decide.

However I do feel sympathy for Bones fans.

[King Daniel into Darkness]

Yeah, I think it's safe to say the "big three" of the new movies are Kirk, Spock and Uhura. That's no disrespect to Karl Urban, he does a fantastic job. But these days you've gotta have a woman on top. (ahem)

Franklin wrote:

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McCoy is not an action character. It would almost be silly to see him in action sequences. Can you imagine McCoy in Uhura's position on Kronos in the upcoming movie?

That said, McCoy does seem to have his "action" moment with Kirk in the first nine minutes. Dragged into it by Kirk, I'm sure, and not with the consequences intended, to be sure. I doubt McCoy signed up for cliff-jumping.

I must admit, I cannot see De Kelley's McCoy keeping ahead of a bunch of charging tribal natives, jumping off a cliff then swimming down to the Enterprise airlock.

AU Starfleet must be feeding their recruits more red meat.

[Skywalker]

Honestly, I don't really see a "Big Three" at all in these new movies. To me it seems more like there's a "Big Two" with Kirk and Spock, and then there's everyone else, with Scotty, Chekov, Sulu, and (especially) Uhura getting more screen time than they might have had on TOS.

[Franklin]

Come to think of it, how often have we really seen Kirk, Spock, and McCoy together at once and dominating a scene on the movie screen?

---TMP: An early scene where McCoy, Kirk, and Spock have an uncomfortable meeting in the lounge. Maybe the final scene counts, but Decker is there too, and the scene's mostly about him.
-- TWOK: The debate about Genesis, otherwise, nothing major I can remember. It was Kirk and McCoy together, or Kirk and Spock.
-- TSFS: No, other than McCoy had Spock's katra.
-- TVH: Not really. McCoy voiced his opinion to Kirk and Spock about trying to find whales, but that was about it. Kirk and Spock paired off on Earth, and McCoy went with Scotty and Sulu. It was Kirk and McCoy in the hospital. There was some banter between McCoy and Spock on the Klingon ship.
-- TFF: Yes. Marshmallons.
-- TUC: Not really. It was Kirk and McCoy paired off, then Kirk and Spock towards the end of the movie.

So, as long as we have moments between Kirk and McCoy, and moments between McCoy and Spock, I'd say the movie will be pretty consistent with what went before on the big screen.

[CommanderRaytas]

serenitytrek1 wrote:

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I agree with saldana been an outstanding actress given the right material. it still amazes me that she is Neytiti from avatar. She did all those stunt herself in the film and also pulled off the Navi accent that was made up by James Cameron.That was great too.

Neytiri vs Uhura

you decide.

However I do feel sympathy for Bones fans.

Ugh, Uhura a gazillion times. No offence to Saldana, who did an excellent job with her character, but Avatar is a horrible movie...another completely obvious wannabe scifi flick off the production line, in which James Cameron can once again beat us over the head with misguided moral platitudes.

/rant

...sorry about that.

[Hound of UIster]

USS Einstein wrote:

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It is a little off how Uhura gets more time than Bones.

Bones isn't very relevant in the movie . Aside from being Kirk's best friend and plot device, he is just another Mr. Funny Accent like Chekov and Scotty.

[Jeyl]

While I still hold to the opinion that the treatment of women in Trek09 with laughable, I do give kudos to this new movie in letting Uhura take on a more prominent role that I hope will be more than just benefiting the male characters. Like in the comic books that IDW have been releasing where she defies even Kirk's orders to save Spock and everyone on the Galileo Seven.

[Pauln6]

Jeyl wrote:

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While I still hold to the opinion that the treatment of women in Trek09 with laughable, I do give kudos to this new movie in letting Uhura take on a more prominent role that I hope will be more than just benefiting the male characters. Like in the comic books that IDW have been releasing where she defies even Kirk's orders to save Spock and everyone on the Galileo Seven.

It wasn't exactly laughable - I had my head in my hands. However, the comics are inching towards a more balanced approach. If that represents a greater awareness that they need more women, that they should stop replacing pre-existing female characters with yet more men, and that they need to update the women to give them more balanced roles, then this may filter through into the on-screen franchise. I will prepare a rant just in case they fail spectacularly again. If I'm honest, I'm expecting token female syndrome again, where the women are only given roles relating to sex/relationships with Uhura and Marcus obscuring that fact by being visible at the top of the chain.

[gastrof]

Dale Sams wrote:

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Slightly related, I feel that the Abrams Kirk-Spock Bromance will never be organic (Seeing how they started off as two alpha males*)...so they may as well go off in a different direction.

*Yes, I know it's workable, but they only have some 6-8 hours of screentime left to pull it off. I don't even feel the Kirk-Spock relationship is required at this point. We've been there. It is possible to make good TOS Trek without it.

This isn't TOS Trek.

It's nuTrek or rebootTrek.

[gastrof]

The Wormhole wrote:

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I really don't see any issue here at all. If anything, it's good that Uhura is finally getting her moment. Hell, for the first 42 years of the franchise she didn't have a first name and the only thing memorable she did was force a guy into a closet at gun point...

Don't forget "The Lorelei Signal" episode of TAS.

With all the men incapacitated by the signal coming up from the planet, Uhura tells Scotty she's relieving him of command; half out of it, he replies "Very thoughtful of ya', luv."

She then orders that female-only security teams keep watch over the transporters and not allow anyone to leave the ship.

For a moment Christine Chapel's taken aback. "WHAT are you doing?" she asks.

Uhura doesn't miss a beat. "Taking command of this ship."

I won't get into her Kirk-like leading of the rescue party to the planet surface, and how she and her security officers handle the female aliens.

It made for GOOD Star Trek, even if the actual episode has to be supplemented with the novelized version to smooth out the wrinkles.

[Franklin]

Come to think of it, there's also a very practical reason why she would go with Kirk and Spock to Kronos that doesn't upset the "big three" idea. She went, instead of even Sulu or Chekov, because she speaks the Klingon language. That certainly would be helpful.

[Dale Sams]

Pauln6 wrote:

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It wasn't exactly laughable - I had my head in my hands. However, the comics are inching towards a more balanced approach. If that represents a greater awareness that they need more women, that they should stop replacing pre-existing female characters with yet more men, and that they need to update the women to give them more balanced roles, then this may filter through into the on-screen franchise. I will prepare a rant just in case they fail spectacularly again. If I'm honest, I'm expecting token female syndrome again, where the women are only given roles relating to sex/relationships with Uhura and Marcus obscuring that fact by being visible at the top of the chain.

TNG+ didn't help matters much. If you ascend to commander or higher (Janeway, Necheyev, Shelby) then you must be an icecold bitch to get there.....much less so with Janeway than the other two admittedly.