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

[Pauln6]

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

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

 

[plynch]

She feigns betrayal of the crew in I, Mudd.

But "central" in any commonly-understood meaning of the word? Nope. Sulu, either, I would venture. Remember, it's "central," not "plays some part in the story."

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

One of the great things about the new movie is that Uhura finally got to be the female lead in a Trek movie, instead of playing second fiddle to Lt. Ilia, Saavik, Gillian Armstrong, etc.

Yep.

 

[Silvercrest]

The Lorelei Signal

She takes over the damn ship.

Too bad its the cartoon.

Hey, the question says "any episode."

 

[milo bloom]

The Lorelei Signal

She takes over the damn ship.

Too bad its the cartoon.

Hey, the question says "any episode."

Right, plus Paramount pretty much "re-canonized" TAS a few years back when they realized they had another product they could sell on DVD. Plus both Enterprise and the new movie pulled a lot of imagery and concepts from Yesteryear in particular.

 

[Saxman1]

Any ep where she says, "I'm frightened!"

Seriously, any of those mentioned above are good examples. From Star Trek III forward, she was well-served by the plots of the TOS cast films.

 

[Harvey]

She had something to do in the later films with the original cast, but she was never an important, central character in any of them. It's indicative of the nature of her role that what may be her character's best moment (the "Mr. Adventure" scene) takes place in a movie (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) in which she is completely absent for more than half the running time.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

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.

I think she's simply a different person from the original. If she's younger than Kirk and was born after the timeline changed, any number of repercussions could have caused Mr. and Mrs. Uhura to conceive a daughter at a slightly different time. You could think of her as the original's sister. Siblings are not always all that much alike. (This also explains why she looks so different. )

From a practical standpoint, they rewrote Uhura to make her a more useful character in a movie aimed at modern audiences. Kirk is also a different person, though I guess we're expected to believe that genetically he's the same, he's just had a different upbringing. Uhura is the more radically different.

 

[DrCorby]

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.

Plus, there was some serious, life-and-death stuff going on at the time. Not really a time for playfulness...

 

[Anji]

I understand everyone's frustration with Uhura not getting an episode of her own, where she was spotlighted, but you do have to remember the times TOS was created in. To have an African-American on a TV show was quite a feat. Maybe there were issues giving Uhura a central position in an episode??? I don't know. NBC did a lot of dictating back then.

But what I can say is repeat what Whoopi Goldberg once said about her. "All she had to do was be there," and that was something I felt too. Just having a girl on a starship in a relatively important job was enough. It made us girls feel good and important. She really didn't need to do more than that for me.

 

[Vance]

NBC did a lot of dictating back then.

Despite Gene's statements to the contrary, NBC would have loved to feature her more. However, they weren't about to. They were well aware of Gene's regular plucking of her flower and therefore were simply not going to give her high billing. (This is also why certain OTHER female cast members would effectively shunted.)

This was a major lawsuit waiting to happen right around the time that the Congress was threatening to retake control of the airwaves from the broadcasters.

 

[Noname Given]

I understand everyone's frustration with Uhura not getting an episode of her own, where she was spotlighted, but you do have to remember the times TOS was created in. To have an African-American on a TV show was quite a feat. Maybe there were issues giving Uhura a central position in an episode??? I don't know. NBC did a lot of dictating back then.

But what I can say is repeat what Whoopi Goldberg once said about her. "All she had to do was be there," and that was something I felt too. Just having a girl on a starship in a relatively important job was enough. It made us girls feel good and important. She really didn't need to do more than that for me.

Actually, NBC didn't do all that much dictating. You might wnt to watch this (link) (and all the parts after it) and it will probably give a better idea of what ACTUALLY went on behind the scenes. In all honesty, in latter years, it seems GR liked to blame NBC and others for some decisions he made that were not all that popular with fans later; or take credit for things that bNBC had actually suggested first, that he agreed with, to make himself look and sound better at conventions and colleges where he went around showing the Star Trek blooper reels.

 

[Mark 2000]

Kirk couldn't be with her but if he went with other women it would be like he was cheating on her so they decided that poor Rand had to go.

Whitney herself has said that her drug and alcohol use was why they canned her. The furi kuri stuff was just the party line.

 

[Mark 2000]

In all honesty, in latter years, it seems GR liked to blame NBC and others for some decisions he made that were not all that popular with fans later; or take credit for things that bNBC had actually suggested first...[/QUOTE]

Gene became pretty selfish toward the end, but his show was taken away from him. It was the network that gave him a crap spot in the third year.

And nothing of what you said applies at all to original casting. The network didn't like Spock and they didn't like Number 1. They forced the second out. Gene came up with those roles. Gene was the one who believed a woman could be an exec officer and a so could an African. You can't even get good roles for African Americans today. Just watch Boardwalk Empire or XMen First class. They're still cannon fodder and not much else. You think, in 1966, the network was clambering for more blacks that weren't whistling Dixie? Come on man. Gene was a jerk, Gene was full of himself, Gene slept with a lot of ladies, but Gene was also a creative genius with a vision. Its going too far to take that away from him.

 

[Noname Given]

In all honesty, in latter years, it seems GR liked to blame NBC and others for some decisions he made that were not all that popular with fans later; or take credit for things that bNBC had actually suggested first...

Gene became pretty selfish toward the end, but his show was taken away from him. It was the network that gave him a crap spot in the third year.

And nothing of what you said applies at all to original casting. The network didn't like Spock and they didn't like Number 1. They forced the second out. Gene came up with those roles. Gene was the one who believed a woman could be an exec officer and a so could an African. You can't even get good roles for African Americans today. Just watch Boardwalk Empire or XMen First class. They're still cannon fodder and not much else. You think, in 1966, the network was clambering for more blacks that weren't whistling Dixie? Come on man. Gene was a jerk, Gene was full of himself, Gene slept with a lot of ladies, but Gene was also a creative genius with a vision. Its going too far to take that away from him.[/QUOTE]

Except in that case of Number 1 andf Spock - the Network's objection was't against the idea of a woman in command - they were more leary of the fact she was the Ececutive Producer's girlfriend (and he was married to someone too, but this was 1960ies Hollywood) and they were concerned on a show this expensive - what would happen if thay had majel Barret in a lead role, and they broke up during production. Also (and my mother was actually in ONE of the test audience groups who saw and rated the pilot) - in her comments she said she found BOTH 'Mr. Spock' and the 'Number One' character ridiculous. When my reply was "Really?" her reply was: "It was a different time; some women LIKED being at home with kids, we didn't all want to burn bras and compet for jobs with men."

In the end, (and overall) the reaction to Spock was less negative, and in a Science Fiction series, having an alien was better than just a "Woman in Command"; so (IMO) the suits nd GR made te right choice; but again, I think it's also been said, if he had replaced Majel Barrett in the "Number One" role with a better actress that he wasn't romantically involved with - he probably COULD have kept both characters. But had he done that, majel probably would have broken things off at that point.

Remember he did manage to get Majel Barrett back in the show as Nurse Christine Chapel - but that was most likely because Chapel was asecondary semi-reccuring character, and if the relationship went south, she was easily fired with no long term effect on this expensive show.

 

[Harvey]

Indeed, the idea that NBC rejected the idea of a female second command is one that Roddenberry did his best to popularize (repeating it at conventions, in the press, and in books as early as The Making of Star Trek). The truth, however, is much less flattering for Roddenberry. The Network rejected Barrett -- they didn't like her acting and wanted a bigger star in the role. When Roddenberry couldn't get his mistress in the role, he was the one who had the character summarily dropped.

When Roddenberry brought back Barrett in the role of Nurse Chapel, the Network wasn't pleased, either, but the role was less important and at that point they didn't want to risk alienating the show's executive producer.

Noname Given's account of the test screening is actually the first I've heard that a test screening of "The Cage" for an audience other than NBC executives actually happened. I'd definitely be curious to hear more about that.

 

[T'Girl]

Gene was the one who believed a woman could be an exec officer ..

In that case, why didn't Roddenberry simply recast the role? With someone who wasn't his girlfriend, which is what the NBC network people wanted.

You think, in 1966, the network was clambering for more blacks that weren't whistling Dixie?

Basically yes, other shows were featuring racially diverse castmembers in co-staring and secondary roles, it wasn't Roddenberry's idea, it was the times.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In all honesty, in latter years, it seems GR liked to blame NBC and others for some decisions he made that were not all that popular with fans later; or take credit for things that bNBC had actually suggested first...

Gene became pretty selfish toward the end, but his show was taken away from him. It was the network that gave him a crap spot in the third year.

And nothing of what you said applies at all to original casting. The network didn't like Spock and they didn't like Number 1. They forced the second out. Gene came up with those roles. Gene was the one who believed a woman could be an exec officer and a so could an African. You can't even get good roles for African Americans today. Just watch Boardwalk Empire or XMen First class. They're still cannon fodder and not much else. You think, in 1966, the network was clambering for more blacks that weren't whistling Dixie? Come on man. Gene was a jerk, Gene was full of himself, Gene slept with a lot of ladies, but Gene was also a creative genius with a vision. Its going too far to take that away from him.

They didnt like that Gene cast his Mistress as Number One, they were fine with the part of Number One. As for Uhura, he took lines from one character and gave them to Uhura a character he created for his other Mistress. The Network didnt seem to care that time because Uhura filled their mandate for more minority casting and wasn't a lead role.

No I dont think the studio's were just whistling Dixie when it came to wating more minorities cast:

 

[Nerys Myk]

1960s Series Featuring Blacks as Stars, Co-Stars, or Continuing Characters
Sing-Along with Mitch (1961-1966)
The Lawrence Welk Show (1964-1971)
Rawhide (1965)
I Spy (1965-1968)
Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1970)
The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show (1966)
Hawk (1966)
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Daktari (1966-1969)
Mission: Impossible (1966-1973)
Cowboy in Africa (1967-1968) N.Y.P.D. (1967-1969)
The High Chaparral (1967-1970)
Ironside (1967-1975)
The Outcasts (1968-1969)
Gentle Ben (1968-1969)
Peyton Place (1968-1969)
Daniel Boone (1968-1970)
Julia (1968-1971)
Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (1968-1973)
The Mod Squad (1968-1973)
Mannix (1968-1975)
The Leslie Uggams Show (1969)
Land of the Giants (1969-1970)
The New People (1969-1970)
Bill Cosby Show (1969-1971)
Room 222 (1969-1974)
The Protectors (The Bold Ones) (1969-1970)
The Flip Wilson Show (1970-1974)
Matt Lincoln (1970-1971)
The Storefront Lawyers (1970-1971)
Make Room for Granddaddy (1970-1971)
Barefoot in the Park (1970-1971)
The Young Rebels (1970-1971)
The Young Lawyers (1970-1971)
The Interns (1970-1971)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1973)
The Silent Force (1970-1971)

 

[Pauln6]

There weren't many roles for black women though.