• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Is there any episode in which Uhura has an important contral role?

Gene became pretty selfish toward the end, but his show was taken away from him.
Okay, his show wasn't taken away from him. Roddenberry sold Star Trek to the network, that was the whole point of the two pilots in the first place. They bought the show and Roddenberry produce the show for them.

It was the network that gave him a crap spot in the third year.
I thought it was the ratings that did that.

:)
 
Once again, we're back to sadonecroequinality...

What is sadonecroequinality?

Before you ask, I Googled it, but nothing is clarified here.

You know what? I think I'll just leave that as an exercize to the reader... (IE, take the word apart...)

Well, the obvious breakdown is sado-necro-equin-al-ity, which would seem to be a polyglotism derived from French, Greek, and Latin, and which would seem to mean "a thing related to either the infliction of pain on, or the humiliation of, a dead horse". Presumably you intend it to mean something related to the beating of a dead horse, but your "word" doesn't really mean that.
 
She had none of Uhura's deliberate sensuousness but in fairness to Grace, that wig was really heavy so her poise and apparent uptightness could have been partly due to that.

NuUhura's apparent lack of a playful sense of humour is the least appealing thing about her so far.

I think that blaming a costuming prop for Whitney's poor execution of the character is a poor excuse...sorry :thumbdown:

As far as NuUhura is concerned (goodness some of you folks are really hard on this movie and new cast), if she seems to lack the playfulness of Nichols, well that might have to do with the fact that she is playing the character when she is much younger,very concerned with being taken seriously, and maybe isn't as confident about herself as she would later be when Nichols plays her. In other words, in TOS we see a more experienced, calmer, cooler officer who can let her harid down a little; and in the evil Abrams movie we see a less secure, younger Uhura who is more preoccupied with showing what she can do and proving herself.

It makes sense, people tend to mellow out more at work as they become more confident about their abilities and more comfortable in their work environment.

I think that inventing a backstory for Saldana's poor execution of the character is a poor excuse...sorry :thumbdown:

:p

I'm not sure I see how Saldana played the character poorly. If you consider going beyond the usual "hailing frequencies open, sir" and singing the occasional tune to be a poor execution of the character than you would be absolutely right.

In the new Trek, Uhura is an intelligent communications officer who can actually understand and decipher many of the languages used in the universe (both friendly and not), is keen to excel at what she does, and who doesn't bat her eyelashes playfully every time some young guy shows an interest in sticking his dick into her.

In other words, it is obvious that Saldana was cast to play a character who is meant to do more than be exotic eye candy who the show's creator is banging back stage.

I just don't think we should pat GR too hard on the back for being multicultural when it comes to Uhura because when all is said and done, and given both her very limited role and the very limited development of her character...she seemed like a token character to me.

Further, had Whitney not had all her offstage problems, I think they might have gone further in developing her character more. I still think creating tension between her and Kirk might not have worked so well, but maybe her role could have been more relevant. If the wig was such a problem, have her change her hair-do for the next season.

That being said, I am glad they hung on to the short skirts! :drool:
 
I'm not sure I see how Saldana played the character poorly. If you consider going beyond the usual "hailing frequencies open, sir" and singing the occasional tune to be a poor execution of the character than you would be absolutely right.

In the new Trek, Uhura is an intelligent communications officer who can actually understand and decipher many of the languages used in the universe (both friendly and not), is keen to excel at what she does, and who doesn't bat her eyelashes playfully every time some young guy shows an interest in sticking his dick into her.

The odd playing acting in "Mirror, Mirror" aside, I never recall Uhura being characterized in TOS as promiscuous.
 
I'm not sure I see how Saldana played the character poorly. If you consider going beyond the usual "hailing frequencies open, sir" and singing the occasional tune to be a poor execution of the character than you would be absolutely right.

In the new Trek, Uhura is an intelligent communications officer who can actually understand and decipher many of the languages used in the universe (both friendly and not), is keen to excel at what she does, and who doesn't bat her eyelashes playfully every time some young guy shows an interest in sticking his dick into her.

The odd playing acting in "Mirror, Mirror" aside, I never recall Uhura being characterized in TOS as promiscuous.

Maybe I went a little too far with that. My point is that the old Uhura was certainly more eye-candy than anything else. Whether that is the fault of the times or the fact that a script just never came up that really allowed for her character to be developed, I don't know. I do know that the in the new film, her character was far better developed and to say that Saldana's acting is poor just because she did more than sit around in a mini-skirt repeating multiple variations of the same damn line over and over again is totally unfair.:scream:
 
I think that blaming a costuming prop for Whitney's poor execution of the character is a poor excuse...sorry :thumbdown:

...in the evil Abrams movie we see a less secure, younger Uhura who is more preoccupied with showing what she can do and proving herself

I think that inventing a backstory for Saldana's poor execution of the character is a poor excuse...sorry :thumbdown: :p

I'm not sure I see how Saldana played the character poorly. If you consider going beyond the usual "hailing frequencies open, sir" and singing the occasional tune to be a poor execution of the character than you would be absolutely right.

In the new Trek, Uhura is an intelligent communications officer who can actually understand and decipher many of the languages used in the universe (both friendly and not), is keen to excel at what she does, and who doesn't bat her eyelashes playfully every time some young guy shows an interest in sticking his dick into her.

Further, had Whitney not had all her offstage problems, I think they might have gone further in developing her character more. I still think creating tension between her and Kirk might not have worked so well, but maybe her role could have been more relevant. If the wig was such a problem, have her change her hair-do for the next season. :drool:

Lol! I was being facetious - I actually liked Saldana's performance and I liked the movie overall even if I lament at how dumbed down some parts have become; I just didn't like the characterisation as much as Nichols' Uhura. And despite the trauma of the latter half of the movie, she wasn't required to be so serious early on - but the writers wrote her as the 'straight man' to Kirk's comedic 'bad boy'. My point was that different people like different things. For me, Whitney's performance was a lot of fun and Rand's character sparkled. Part of that is because I love the campness of the character and I would have liked her to be developed more. Nichols portrayal also had a certain something that the new characterisation lacked and I miss that.

I do agree that they had plenty of opportunities to expand TOS Uhura's role and didn't but it also took them 6 years to get the hang of Troi as an officer and not just a psychologist and love interest. Trek writers' form on equality of the sexes is dire but TOS Uhura was still very good at her job. Will NuUhura end up being a more rounded Starfleet officer than TOS? Almost certainly. Is she going to be a decent modern sci-fi heroine? I'm not so sure. I felt that the decision to leave the woman who can 'understand and decipher many of the languages used in the universe' i.e. the fluent Romulan speaker, on the ship during a Romulan stealth mission was shortsighted by the writers (and by Kirk) and depressingly reminiscent of the character's limited history. Let's see what the sequel brings.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top