NuUhura - uggh (shudder)

[Temis the Vorta]

Its true she should have been used more extensively but even if it was only one scene, that was enough to prove she is capable of being "active". It seems like we are at cross purposes here, however nuUhura didn't seem to do very much either and little that was action oriented. So I'm not sure the character was changed that much. A bit more 'tude is all really. Worse, I didn't find her version of it very "endearing".

The new characters only had a measly two hour movie to show what they had, so of course we haven't got a good read on them yet. I wish Star Trek were back on TV, where we might get more than tidbits from anyone but Kirk, Spock and the enemy du jour. But even what we got of new Uhura, she seemed far more assertive and goal-driven than I ever noticed from old Uhura. I appreciate her strength and intelligence, and find it plenty "endearing," though I think "worthy of respect" is the better description. She isn't supposed to be a tribble.

but as above, I was not suggesting an ultra serious Kirk, just not a rebel version.

Non-ultra-serious Kirk is a non-canonical Kirk. If they're ditching canon, why not just change him to suit whatever the master plan is? I'm not certain we've seen the master plan yet. I can wait, and then if no good reason emerges for the change, I'll bitch my head off about it.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Nichelle Nichols' Uhura was so much classier in my opinion, too.

EVERYONE was classier in TOS. It's a generational thing.

OTOH, I suspect you may be forgetting the whole FanDance scene from "The Final Frontier."

So, here's my summary petition to JJ Abrams: Take a look at Uhura Prime, at least a glance, when writing Saldana's lines.

In which case, Zoe Saldana won't HAVE any lines that don't have anything to do with communications.

I mean, unless you want her to start inexplicably flirting with Scotty on the bridge. But even then, Uhura didn't get any really good lines until "The Final Frontier." TOS just doesn't give you that much to work with, and if you want Uhura to be an actual dynamic character with some importance you're going to have to add a few elements (it can't even be called tinkering; there's nothing there to tinker wit!).

 

[Temis the Vorta]

As far as I'm concerned NuUhura was only there for the character development of Spock. She was like the potato that serves only as a vehicle for the sour cream you wish to enjoy.

I'm afraid we're stuck with that (but I'd say she's the sour cream and Spock is the potato ). It would be different if this were a TV series with abundant time to develop secondary characters but since we'll probably end up with three movies for the Abramsverse characters, that's six hours, and when you subtract the time needed for the plotline elements of each movie and copious action, all that's realistically left is enough time for Kirk and Spock to have character arcs.

The other characters will have to be largely defined in relation to Kirk and Spock. And I think that's fundamentally what's behind Spock/Uhura, in addition to the presumed need to have some sort of romantic subplot going. It will give Uhura more screen time if she's tied to Spock's character arc.

Wow, I had no idea that there was so much dislike for Saldana's portrayal of Uhura in the latest movie.

I invite everyone who has issues with Trek XI to contemplate the Star Wars PT. That is what an ungodly disastrous mess looks like. Stop sweating the small stuff!

EVERYONE was classier in TOS. It's a generational thing.

Kids, lawn, etc.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

So, here's my summary petition to JJ Abrams: Take a look at Uhura Prime, at least a glance, when writing Saldana's lines.

Petition declined. These people know what they're doing.

 

[Stoek]

]Non-ultra-serious Kirk is a non-canonical Kirk. If they're ditching canon, why not just change him to suit whatever the master plan is? I'm not certain we've seen the master plan yet. I can wait, and then if no good reason emerges for the change, I'll bitch my head off about it.

I just had a thought. What if you are being too specific? What if the NuTrek people took one of Kirk's defining characteristics and simply showed how what helped him in one circumstance, was hurting him in another.

It seems to me that Kirk in both timelines was driven. But in the Primeline he had the tools to make that drive work for him, he had a direction in which to go. While NuKirk did not until he was challenged to join Starfleet by Captain Pike.

They did a similar thing it seems with Scotty, showing how his crazy genius for improvisation that led him in the Primeline to become chief engineer of Enterprise, led him to being exiled at a Starfleet outpost.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

^ Good call. Kirk's essential tendency to play chicken with The Impossible is one of the things that arguably makes him a great starship captain. It's not a quality that is otherwise particularly useful in civilian life, though.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

^ Good call. Kirk's essential tendency to play chicken with The Impossible is one of the things that arguably makes him a great starship captain. It's not a quality that is otherwise particularly useful in civilian life, though.

I like that a lot. Quarries, Khan.. all the same game.

 

[trekkerguy]

Nostalgia does things to people.

Uhura "prime" wasn't all that great of a character either.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I remember bringing this up in the TOS forum a while ago: Apparently Uhura Prime wasn't a linguist or translator in TOS. That was supposedly a Rodenberry/Nichols retcon after the series ended, first cropping up in 70's novels. She didn't even know Klingon in STVI.

 

[Devon]

I'm a little baffled personally at the shots at some of her physical features like her "neck." I mean, really?

 

[Amaris]

I'm a little baffled personally at the shots at some of her physical features like her "neck." I mean, really?

Agreed. Personally, I think she has a graceful, elegant neck, like that of a ballerina. That said, taking a potshot at someone's neck is pretty inane.

 

[trekkerguy]

Some people are simply naturally very slender. Can't do a lot about genes.

 

[Bishop76]

Yeah, that's a damn sexy neck - there's absolutely nothing wrong with Saldana. Nothing.

 

[Nerd unRage]

I'm a little baffled personally at the shots at some of her physical features like her "neck." I mean, really?

Agreed. Personally, I think she has a graceful, elegant neck, like that of a ballerina. That said, taking a potshot at someone's neck is pretty inane.

I believe she studied ballet for 7 years as a kid so that would explain the grace and posture.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It seems to me that Kirk in both timelines was driven. But in the Primeline he had the tools to make that drive work for him, he had a direction in which to go. While NuKirk did not until he was challenged to join Starfleet by Captain Pike.

Yeah that's probably part of it. But the smartass-brat aspect of his personality is something that was never in his backstory, and Kirk was never flip in that way. He was a very serious guy deep down.

So I suspect the smartass-brat aspect was placed there to give him a character arc - something to overcome. A lot of people don't like it. We're not supposed to like it. We're supposed to like it when he overcomes it.

They did a similar thing it seems with Scotty, showing how his crazy genius for improvisation that led him in the Primeline to become chief engineer of Enterprise, led him to being exiled at a Starfleet outpost.

I don't see that as being the same at all. It's not a character arc and it isn't setting up a character arc. But I think they have no plans to develop Scotty, and are relegating him to comic relief or maybe a plot convenience if they need a technobabble save. They don't have enough screen time to develop all the characters.

That said, taking a potshot at someone's neck is pretty inane.

Welcome to teh internets!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Can't complain...

 

[trekkerguy]

I'll admit from a personal preference stand point, she's not normally my type.

But she's just so damned beautiful, and has a nice 'tude.
Love her.

 

[ShatnersToupee]

My biggest gripe with the Uhura character wasn't how she was written or even how she looked, but rather her overall purpose to the story. It seemed like her only reason for being there was to add to the rivalry between Kirk and Spock. She essentially became an object they both were competing for.

As for how she was written, sure she says things you wouldn't expect from Nichols' Uhura. But the thing that bothered me the most was that it was Kirk who had to explain to Pike what Uhura discovered. It would've been nice to see Uhura do that instead. While it's true that she didn't know the significance of what she had uncovered, by having Kirk explain it to Pike instead of her, the writers made Uhura look a bit clueless.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No, it made her look slightly less loony than Kirk was at that moment. He was the guy who'd pulled all the pieces together and was dragging people around the ship, barging into the command center to confront the mission commander based on his conviction that they were headed to imminent doom. Of course he's the guy who's going to get in Pike's face and lay the whole thing out.

It's not a matter of who knew what, but who was motivated by what. If anything begs a little explanation in that sequence it's why Uhura would abandon her post to tag after the crazy stowaway.

 

[Nerd unRage]

To back up what Kirk was saying since he was relaying what Uhura had discovered. Chances are, she would have been called up to the bridge anyway by Pike to answer if what Kirk was claiming was true or not. This just saved a step.