George Takei once scoffed at the idea that Uhura was presented as an equal to the other officers around her. "Oh, please. She answered the telephone!"
Let's talk about the elephant in the room, this series violates Roddenberry's vision big time
- Thread starter Sci-fi fan
- Start date
Yep, as this scene shows, the Japanese gardener / martial artist trope was still strong years later when they made The Karate Kid.
Of course there's still the old hypothesis that perhaps actually... Jean-Luc was the kid's dad.
Kor
I missed this the first time around. How exactly is communications a caretaker role? And does that apply to Worf and Tuvok when they dealt with communications? Or Lieutenant Alden from "Where No Man Has Gone Before"?
I really didn't see Uhura as a caretaker (Chapel and Rand? Absolutely). She was just an engineer working the comm panels.
Indeed, one of the really sad failures of TOS was that she was never once given even temporary command.
One of the happy moments for me playing Star Trek Online was one mission where you go back to the TOS era and you see her in the Captain's Chair during part of the mission.
At the time that TOS was made, phone companies still used switchboard operators, who were predominately women. It wasn't a highly regarded job, it was there to facilitate communication for men.
Uhura was the ship's radio officer.
And in the article you link:
"However, one major problem when it comes to jobs in merchant marines like that of a radio officer is that the pay is not so good and the scope of getting a promotion is also not that much."
Yep, no stereotypes here. The black chick is given the low-paying job with little chance of promotion.
It also can be seen as a Space Receptionist, which even today receptionists tend to be female-dominated low-pay jobs.
Neither have I.
The fallacy is in assuming 21st century economics will apply in the 23rd or 24th centuries. That which held true in the 1600's was a quaint antiquity in the eyes of those in the 1800's, and on and on through the years.And in the article you link:
"However, one major problem when it comes to jobs in merchant marines like that of a radio officer is that the pay is not so good and the scope of getting a promotion is also not that much."
Yep, no stereotypes here. The black chick is given the low-paying job with little chance of promotion.
It also can be seen as a Space Receptionist, which even today receptionists tend to be female-dominated low-pay jobs.
What you're talking about is globalism and fascism which is basically the reverse of what Star Trek and even TOS from the very foundation was all about.
Star Trek (TOS and the rest) is a show (among other things) about personal freedom and diversity. We see wildly different human personalities and aliens working together under the Federation. Hitler didn't win so we have in Europe and on earth many different languages (scottish, swahili, english) and cultures all living together in harmony, because with the advances of science like replicators and medicine we don't need to fight over resources or be materialistic/greedy/power hungry about it.
Same thing on the Starship. While there's still conflicts with many evil alien (most of the time they don't support freedom and the live and let live mentality) and divergences of opinion among the crew; The Starship and the Federation is full of different humans and aliens working together. This is the foundation of Star Trek right from the beginning. Diversity of languages, nationalities, clothing styles, philosophy, food, music, opinions, political parties, cultures, sub-cultures, etc, provides choices and is the foundation of freedom.
What is more optimistic in Star Trek than the usual dystopian future presented in Sci-fi is that it posit that science can lead to a better world. Specifically a world (earth) with no material needs and great advances in medicine. I always imagine the future of Star Trek as a future where everybody on earth would have access to replicators. You can build replicators with replicators. So you can build food, car, houses, star-ship, everything by mixing in the correct order the fundamental particles of the universe using any matter as a source of energy and input (since fundamentally all matters is the same:electrons, protons, neutrons or their constituents mixed together). So if everybody has food and all the resources they want. There's no need for war to fight oppression (or whatever you accuse the enemy of) since there's no real reason to be greedy or power hungry in the first place. We all have access to material resources (food, water, houses, robots, technology) and even holodecks.
This is contrary to most sci-fi features where science and the future can lead to a nuclear holocaust, an oppressive 'government/world led by corporations' restricting personal freedom, post apocalyptic world with people fighting over oil and water, a war against android built by us, a central internet like computer controlling all aspect of our lives, etc. They play on our fear of science and the future. Those features are meant as a warning of things to avoid and they make more dramatic stories for sci-fi and action-adventure series.
So in the Star Trek future. For humanity, science lead to better things. It's not a dystopian future. Specifically, a less materialistic world with no hunger (or even money in that case). Maybe the universal translator helps with languages. Then, of course, for dramatic purpose, we meet many evil beings and face many different dangers and challenges. Which form the main focus of the show. It's humanity vs the universe. The optimistic outlook for humanity is not the main focus of Star Trek. The focus is the more dramatic and dangerous exploration of space and the universe.
Last edited:
I always took that as having less to do science and more to do with culture,
science stumbles upon an awesome power like nuclear fission/fusion, and culture either chooses to use it to kill or provide energy.
Science doesn't make anything better or worse, but the culture and the people that make choices on how to use it. Trek often seemed to me to be about choices.
"We reach."
Imagine the pillow talk between Gene and Majel if that had happened.
Except that
- Both probably stole it from Heinlein and
- Orville's version is vastly better.
Yeah the idea that Star Trek somehow invented this and well most it's other basic plots is pretty far fetched.
For what it's worth, I contrived to put her in command in one of the novels.
