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47 Klingon Ships and Uhura

I'm going to step in and repost something I wrote months ago, basically detailing my view on Uhura, fandom, and mcCoy:

Uhura, McCoy, and Fannish Double Standards

Fandom has one set of rules for male characters, and one set for female, and it's been really bothering me of late. But it's screamingly obvious when the complaints about Uhura in Star Trek are concerned. I've already gone over in depth why I am so zen about Uhura. But if we're going to do this again, I want to address specifically the parallels between Uhura and Spock, and McCoy and Kirk.

Right, so here is me picking apart the top three complaints that are used over and over again to damn Uhura, while McCoy is mercifully spared fandom's collective ire:

[...]

So here is my biggest beef with fandom right now: if the movie doesn't place a premium on platonic love over erotic love, and doesn't say that McCoy's relationship with Kirk reduces his importance as a character to nothing but an appendage, then why do parts of fandom embrace McCoy while heaping abuse on Uhura? Why does Uhura have to be held to a higher standard (and almost always only to be found wanting) solely because she's female? Why are the male characters allowed to be shown in relationships (whether they're romantic or platonic), but if a female character is, she's "nothing but the girlfriend"?

That was a smart analysis, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and you make a great point about the unfair criticism that I too have read about Uhura. I hope that many will read your short essay and become a little bit wiser.

After I have completed reading Tara's post I have to agree.

A very good analysis that will sadly go over the heads of certain people, who keep saying the same thing over and over without ever really thinking or listening to anyone else.
 
Because when she sees both men off who are going to save the galaxy, she stays behind and does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the remainder of the film except come rushing back in to hug Spock (Again leaving her post for the third gawd dang time). Heck, Kirk doesn't even ask her to hail the Narada. Isn't it funny how when you give someone like Uhura a supposedly important post on the ship that she should actually do something with it?

So do you have the exact same complaint about McCoy, who leaves his post to come up to the Bridge several times, and also does "nothing" actually related to his job in the last half hour of the film, until Kirk and Spock being Pike back? And even then, all we see is him whisk Pike away to the MedBay? Yet it is implied that he's off doing his job, the same way it's implied that Uhura is doing hers--relaying all intraship communications, monitoring all frequencies for all traffic, and doing all the things a senior comms officer does (at least based on what I've been able to lean about Signals Officers in the Navy, anyway).

Uhura only ever actually leaves the bridge once (I don't count the 'lift cos she went right back up to the Bridge afterwards), and that's in the company of her captain and XO--not "abandoning her post". We don't see her hand off her station to another officer any more than we see McCoy--who is the ranking medical officer--hand off Sickbay to a junior officer.

So why do you give McCoy the benefit of the doubt, but not Uhura?

This is actually what I mean--both these characters are presented in the context of their relationships with Kirk and Spock, but only Uhura gets flack for it. Not McCoy. Never McCoy. And there's no actual logic or rational behaviour behind a lot of it--just literally boils down to "I judge the chicks more harshly than the dudes."
 
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Why are the male characters allowed to be shown in relationships (whether they're romantic or platonic), but if a female character is, she's "nothing but the girlfriend"?

Because when she sees both men off who are going to save the galaxy, she stays behind and does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the remainder of the film except come rushing back in to hug Spock (Again leaving her post for the third gawd dang time). Heck, Kirk doesn't even ask her to hail the Narada. Isn't it funny how when you give someone like Uhura a supposedly important post on the ship that she should actually do something with it?

Uhura is there for the men's benefit, not the story's. Her Klingon transmission wasn't even an important element since the Enterprise had a whole minute of free time to spare before they were attacked by the Narada after exiting warp.

Where in the film was there room for more action than there already was in what was a very tightly edited film for this movie era? Uhura was portayed as a strong, empowered, and intelligent woman with an important relationship to Spock; she was equal in this film equal to McCoy which is fantastic, and on the movie poster McCoy didn't even get a spot but she fortunately did next to Spock and Kirk, it says a lot since it wasn't in some sort of lame titillating under dressed pose. She was a very important character getting more attention in this film than Nichelle Nicholes Uhura ever really got, even with the famous kiss scene with Kirk all those years ago. Zoe Saldana did really enjoy making this film and was satisifed with her role however she does want an action scene for Uhura in the next film and from what I have seen from JJ and crew she will probably get it, but don't expect her to get top billing with Pine or Quinto who are the top stars in this version of Trek, even Urban's McCoy isn't an equal to Kirk or Spock, though we will probably see the big three it could also include Uhura as a member of a big four instead.
 
Indeed, Pike calls her cadet.
And a few seconds before that Spock refers to her as Lieutenant.

Makes sense. Pike shouldn't know her from Adam (unless he lets his eyes wander, that is), since she isn't part of Pike's regular crew, or even of Pike's replacement crew of cadets. Even if Pike got an advance list of those cadets officially assigned to his bridge for the duration of the crisis, only Spock would really know who Uhura is and why she is aboard. And what rank she holds, because apparently her uniform type doesn't cater for any sort of rank insignia...

Her Klingon transmission wasn't even an important element since the Enterprise had a whole minute of free time to spare before they were attacked by the Narada after exiting warp.

Indeed. Sulu's parking brake incident was the real reason our heroes survived... Thanks to that, there was already a debris cloud in place to mask the arrival of the Enterprise, with no less than two saucer halves marked "NCC-1621" standing between her and the Narada!

As for Uhura's need for a solid CV, as opposed to the male heroes, there's some truth to it that she has certain standards to uphold as the only remaining female Trek character. OTOH, her job to begin with is one of the least glorious. Kirk commands, Spock does rocket science, Scotty tends to amazing machines, and Chekov supposedly does all three even better. Even Sulu, who could be compared to a truck driver, gets glory points for the nature of the rig he steers. But Uhura still remains the dimwitted automaton who could be replaced by a flashing "incoming hail" sign and nobody would really notice. Unless her role is blatantly expanded from the familiar TOS one. Nobody else really needs the upgrade, as they are already up there. Uhura desperately needs hers.

And the movie delivers, sort of. It's the first time we hear Uhura might have language skills. Even if she's a single-trick pony, she now officially stands abreast with the other single-trickers in holding a nontrivial, even academic skill. Now, all we need is her doing something heroic and decisive (either with the skill or then otherwise) and she'll be on par in general terms. I'm just desperately hoping this "heroic and decisive" thing in the next movie won't include martial arts...

Timo Saloniemi
 
Why does Uhura have to be held to a higher standard (and almost always only to be found wanting) solely because she's female?

Because she's officially the only female character left in Star Trek and probably will remain so for the next decade or so. And since fanboys everywhere clamor for Kirk, Spock and McCoy moments, her outlook is not that good.

Why are the male characters allowed to be shown in relationships (whether they're romantic or platonic), but if a female character is, she's "nothing but the girlfriend"?

Because when she sees both men off who are going to save the galaxy, she stays behind and does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the remainder of the film except come rushing back in to hug Spock (Again leaving her post for the third gawd dang time). Heck, Kirk doesn't even ask her to hail the Narada. Isn't it funny how when you give someone like Uhura a supposedly important post on the ship that she should actually do something with it?

Uhura is there for the men's benefit, not the story's. Her Klingon transmission wasn't even an important element since the Enterprise had a whole minute of free time to spare before they were attacked by the Narada after exiting warp.

As a communications officer and xenolinguist what role could she have played in the rescue mission Kirk and Spock went on, the destruction of the Narada or escaping the black hole? Every character got a couple of chances to show their stuff. Sulu does some fighting and piloting, Scotty pulls of tech miracle, Uhura does some communications stuff, McCoy does some medical stuff and Chekov come up some new ideas. Both McCoy and Uhura do their stuff early on and are reduced to supportive friends in second half because the plot moves away from their specialties.
 
I'm always amazed when science fiction fans, who I assume would be fairly creative people, can't think through something this simple.

And when they are given a sequence that is over-explained by the screenwriters, these same people are likely to say, "You don't have to spoonfeed us." :rommie:
 
Indeed, Pike calls her cadet.
And a few seconds before that Spock refers to her as Lieutenant.


Her Klingon transmission wasn't even an important element since the Enterprise had a whole minute of free time to spare before they were attacked by the Narada after exiting warp.

Indeed. Sulu's parking brake incident was the real reason our heroes survived... Thanks to that, there was already a debris cloud in place to mask the arrival of the Enterprise, with no less than two saucer halves marked "NCC-1621" standing between her and the Narada!

No it was Uhura and Kirk's information. Because of this the ship dropped out of warp at red alert and full shields.
 
I didn't get the impression that Uhura was a cadet, more one of Pike's junior officers, in Iowa overseeing the Enterprise's construction and in San Francisco/academy helping to build Enterprise's first crew.

Saavik in ST II was both a cadet and a lieutenant.
 
No it was Uhura and Kirk's information. Because of this the ship dropped out of warp at red alert and full shields.

Which it didn't really need because the Narada didn't detect the Enterprise for almost a complete minute. And the Debris wasn't really doing anything to the ship anyways and the shields didn't do squat against them. You can see slow moving chunks making dents for crying out loud.
 
No it was Uhura and Kirk's information. Because of this the ship dropped out of warp at red alert and full shields.

Which it didn't really need because the Narada didn't detect the Enterprise for almost a complete minute. And the Debris wasn't really doing anything to the ship anyways and the shields didn't do squat against them. You can see slow moving chunks making dents for crying out loud.
Just think what would have happened without the shileds. I didn't notice any chunks making dents. They manage to avoid most of the big chunks. The one chunk that scrapes along the Enterprise breaks up on contact with the shields/hull.
 
Just think what would have happened without the shileds.

Ya. Slow moving debris making scratches on the hull. Really, if the hull wasn't built to withstand slow moving impacts from space objects like that, what makes it fit for space conditions?

I didn't notice any chunks making dents.

TIME TABLE: 47 minutes and 8 seconds into the movie. The second exterior shot of the Enterprise going through the debris. You can see a large moving object hit the Enterprise's hull just above the right side of the impulse engine. When it makes contact with the hull and moves away, it leaves a fairly big mark that was not there before.
 
No it was Uhura and Kirk's information. Because of this the ship dropped out of warp at red alert and full shields.

Which it didn't really need because the Narada didn't detect the Enterprise for almost a complete minute. And the Debris wasn't really doing anything to the ship anyways and the shields didn't do squat against them. You can see slow moving chunks making dents for crying out loud.
Just think what would have happened without the shileds. I didn't notice any chunks making dents. They manage to avoid most of the big chunks. The one chunk that scrapes along the Enterprise breaks up on contact with the shields/hull.

It's the Enterprise's nacelle that is breaking up, not the debris.

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd1216.jpg
 
I didn't notice any chunks making dents.

TIME TABLE: 47 minutes and 8 seconds into the movie. The second exterior shot of the Enterprise going through the debris. You can see a large moving object hit the Enterprise's hull just above the right side of the impulse engine. When it makes contact with the hull and moves away, it leaves a fairly big mark that was not there before.

There goes the paint job

Before


After


By the way seeing it on video it just bounces off & blackens the spot, it doesn't make any huge dents.
 
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Which it didn't really need because the Narada didn't detect the Enterprise for almost a complete minute. And the Debris wasn't really doing anything to the ship anyways and the shields didn't do squat against them. You can see slow moving chunks making dents for crying out loud.
Just think what would have happened without the shileds. I didn't notice any chunks making dents. They manage to avoid most of the big chunks. The one chunk that scrapes along the Enterprise breaks up on contact with the shields/hull.

It's the Enterprise's nacelle that is breaking up, not the debris.

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd1216.jpg
Looks like you're right.
 
Which it didn't really need because the Narada didn't detect the Enterprise for almost a complete minute. And the Debris wasn't really doing anything to the ship anyways and the shields didn't do squat against them. You can see slow moving chunks making dents for crying out loud.
Just think what would have happened without the shileds. I didn't notice any chunks making dents. They manage to avoid most of the big chunks. The one chunk that scrapes along the Enterprise breaks up on contact with the shields/hull.

It's the Enterprise's nacelle that is breaking up, not the debris.

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd1216.jpg


And the Enterprise would have had the shields up immediately after they saw the debris and went to red alert anyway. Kirk's storming into the bridge was pretty much unneccessary. They had a full minute before Nero detected them, and the shields were apparently not protecting them from the debris.
 
Just think what would have happened without the shileds. I didn't notice any chunks making dents. They manage to avoid most of the big chunks. The one chunk that scrapes along the Enterprise breaks up on contact with the shields/hull.

It's the Enterprise's nacelle that is breaking up, not the debris.

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd1216.jpg


And the Enterprise would have had the shields up immediately after they saw the debris and went to red alert anyway. Kirk's storming into the bridge was pretty much unneccessary. They had a full minute before Nero detected them, and the shields were apparently not protecting them from the debris.

Who knows, maybe that's the best the shields could do (they didn't seem that effective in the other TOS movies either). And like the earlier TOS movies, the shields might take a god-awful long time to fully activate so the added time given by Kirk's warning may have prevented worse damage.
 
Better to have the sheilds up and n red alert before hand in any case. That minute would have been alot worse. Perhaps the difference between damage and destruction.
 
That's real life vs. fiction to you.


Using coincidences to connect all the plot points and characters is the lamest and most boring way of conceiving a story.

I know, I was just watching this movie on DVD. This kid whose parents were murdered right in front of him just happened to be unfathomably rich and well connected. He was also in perfect physical health and really smart. And guess what, this dude who looks like God, who just happenes to work for his parents' coprporation is like this genius inventor with this room full of gadgets and body armor (and amored jet-car too). And get this ---there just happens to be a bat-cave underneath his family's mansion, that of course, might come in handy one day as a secret lair if this kid ever grows up and wants to fight crime. I mean, this movie whatever it was called, was just full of coincidences like that. It was completly implausible. I can't see how any one could get on board something that requires you suspend your disbelief to such a ridiculous degree.

On a serious note, there were a lot of coincidences in STXi, but up until the Ice Cave bit with Spock, I was aliright with all of them, as they were all a means to an end. And IMHO, a fucking awesome one at that. and even the Ice Cave/Delta Vega sequence is forgivable, because it introduces both Leonard Nimoy and Simon Pegg.

P.S., I love Tara's post. It makes me want to watch the movie again.
 
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