Should Uhura be called by her first name? Nyota.

[The Wormhole]

I did like the gimmick in '09 where her first name was kept from Kirk for 3 years. Like it was special, only for her true friends.

Problem then becomes, does social media not exist in the 23rd century? Can't Kirk look up future Facebook and find out Uhura's first name that way. Or can't the guy who hacked the Kobayashi Maru access Cadet Directories and learn Uhura's first name that way?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Problem then becomes, does social media not exist in the 23rd century? Can't Kirk look up future Facebook and find out Uhura's first name that way. Or can't the guy who hacked the Kobayashi Maru access Cadet Directories and learn Uhura's first name that way?

That would be cheating.

 

[Jayson1]

Have you ever served?

No but I have seen plenty of war movies.

 

[Nerys Myk]

No but I have seen plenty of war movies.

None of the ones with the rag tag group of misfits who break the rules, but get the job done?

 

[fireproof78]

Or MASH?

Or Stargate?

 

[Jayson1]

None of the ones with the rag tag group of misfits who break the rules, but get the job done?

I knew some guys like that once but they got busted and arrested in Boston for drugging one of their members so they could get him on a airplane. Which was dumb to do after 9/11 with the TSA being more vigilant. Seems he was to scarred to fly or something.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I knew some guys like that once but they got busted and arrested in Boston for drugging one of their members so they could get him on a airplane. Which was dumb to do after 9/11 with the TSA being more vigilant. Seems he was to scarred to fly or something.

I pity those fools.

 

[Rahul]

In the original series, she was simply known as Uhura. We never knew of her first name until the JJ Abrams Kelvin films where it is revealed to be Nyota and Uhura is actually her family or last name.

I really hope they keep that consistency in TOS. it sort of reminds me of the xmen character in the comics Rogue. No one knew of her real name until about 20 years later. when it was revealed to be Anna Marie Raven.

Also the name reveal in Kelvin verse was more of a plot device, I always assumed it would be difficult to write a story where Spock has a stable girlfriend but I thought the writers were clever in the first film to have Spock be the only one call his girlfriend by her first name, that was one of the best way to reveal some mind of deep intimacy between Kelvin timeline spock/uhura without sex scenes or the standard generic couple stuff we see in movies.

However as this is TOS we know spock and uhura were never together and even if they get together in strange new world, it will be a short thing, so I hope they just stick to just calling her Uhura and not Nyota.

I think this show does need to try as much as it can to keep a strong consistency to TOS after they failed so badly to do that with star trek discovery, which was the lame reason the crew of discovery had to jump to the future.

Nyota is Uhuras first name now. Whenever a writer feels the need to use her first name, he's going to use that one. There simply isn't another one around.

The "plot point" in ST09 was stupid though - Kirk & Uhura were literally class mates for several years and had test simulations scheduled together. There's no way he wouldn't have heard her first name at some point.

 

[Therin of Andor]

In the original series, she was simply known as Uhura. We never knew of her first name until the JJ Abrams Kelvin films where it is revealed to be Nyota and Uhura is actually her family or last name.

Book readers, of course, have known about "Nyota" since William Rotsler's "Star Trek II Biographies" in December 1982.

 

[valden]

Nyota is Uhuras first name now. Whenever a writer feels the need to use her first name, he's going to use that one. There simply isn't another one around.

The "plot point" in ST09 was stupid though - Kirk & Uhura were literally class mates for several years and had test simulations scheduled together. There's no way he wouldn't have heard her first name at some point.

I think Kirk was all about the chase. chasing the girl. he likely could have found out her name, aferall he could hack the kobiyashi maru and change the outcome.

kirk trying to find out her first name was more about him also trying to get into her pants, this is why the name reveal in the film worked because it was revealed by her boyfriend. Also Kirk never hit on her again for the rest of the movies series.

Never been a big fan of Alex Kurtzman writing, but that was one of the few writing he did that tied together well in a story.

Book readers, of course, have known about "Nyota" since William Rotsler's "Star Trek II Biographies" in December 1982.

really? i always assumed it was the 09 film that gave her the name. Be that as it may I dont read TOS books and they are also not really cannon trek.

 

[Rahul]

I think Kirk was all about the chase. chasing the girl. he likely could have found out her name, aferall he could hack the kobiyashi maru and change the outcome.

kirk trying to find out her first name was more about him also trying to get into her pants, this is why the name reveal in the film worked because it was revealed by her boyfriend. Also Kirk never hit on her again for the rest of the movies series.

Never been a big fan of Alex Kurtzman writing, but that was one of the few writing he did that tied together well in a story.



really? i always assumed it was the 09 film that gave her the name. Be that as it may I dont read TOS books and they are also not really cannon trek.

It worked on an emotional level. It feels very much like a high-school teen comedy/romance plot line. Considering the overall feel of ST09 it fit.
It just doesn't make sense on a logical level. It's one of those cases, where you watch something, feel entertained by it, but after watching, one you start thinking about it, it kind of falls apart. In this case, none of it really matters - or was just a funny sidestory. In this case "entertaining" was perfectly sufficient, and it was that.

 

[fireproof78]

It worked on an emotional level. It feels very much like a high-school teen comedy/romance plot line. Considering the overall feel of ST09 it fit.
It just doesn't make sense on a logical level. It's one of those cases, where you watch something, feel entertained by it, but after watching, one you start thinking about it, it kind of falls apart. In this case, none of it really matters - or was just a funny sidestory. In this case "entertaining" was perfectly sufficient, and it was that.

Their first name for 4 years was "Cadet." It works just fine. Kirk was having fun with Uhura and, as you say, that's the point.

It doesn't "fall apart" any more than any other romcom style plot does.

 

[Rahul]

It doesn't "fall apart" any more than any other romcom style plot does.

That's the important qualifier

 

[fireproof78]

That's the important qualifier

Or how TOS episodes end with a sensible chuckle regardless of loss. A conceit of the medium.

 

[Donald G]

Book readers, of course, have known about "Nyota" since William Rotsler's "Star Trek II Biographies" in December 1982.

And those book readers who missed that tie-in book would've picked up on it from at least one of Diane Duane's initial Trek novels. I can't remember if she used it in The Wounded Sky but I had definitely encountered it in My Enemy, My Ally, and I recall reading Nichelle gushing about Rotsler's choice of a first name for Uhura in a couple of published mid-eighties interviews.

 

[Yistaan]

Nyota, uh, was the name of an evil intergalactic dictator hated throughout the galaxy. Uhura went through great lengths to ensure it was never revealed, and didn't want to go through the trouble of changing her name. See obscure Star Wars character: Palpatine Essex Yerac | Wookieepedia | Fandom

 

[Noname Given]

I feel TOS was the best with a more loose but still strict discipline than TNG. TNG was very by the book often in how characters approached situations. Of course Discovery is maybe the worst. They are to loose to a point where it's almost like a bunch of teenagers just hanging out exploring deep feelings and doing things just because it's cool.

IDK honestly to me, TNG often came across like they were on a cruise ship just sailing the Galaxy.

The biggest example of this is when a real military rustic captain Edward Jellico was given command; and was trying to get the ship ready to go into a possible deadly military situation; but the writers and the script tried to show him as just a evil Warhawk who didn't care about his crew, when in fact every action he took was to ensure the ships and the crews survivability with the least amount of casualties to Federation crew members.

Honestly, I'd rather serve with him then with a captain like Jean-Luc Picard who wouldn't return fire until his ship was nearly destroyed (which was why he lost the USS Stargazer to a Ferengi cargo ship, not to mention all the crew members who were injured or died; and later in every encounter with the Borg, Picard waited until they carved up cruise ship and killed 18 people before he would return fire; and one year later again he always waited until shields were dropped and his engineering deck cut into before returning fire.

With Admirals like him it's amazing the Federation survived past the 24th century.

 

[Yistaan]

From the new trailer

Pike: Try not to get too comfortable in one role cadet, or you might find yourself doing the same thing for the next 35 years before you get a command of your own.

 

[mswood]

Going through TOS I can really only see one great example where you would naturally thank she should be called by her first name. She's not often shown hurt or in series distress (like for example of couple of times we hear Chekov called Pavel by his superiors).

And we rarely see her in an informal setting, and the one person who talks to her is Spock who leans formal in almost all occasions.

The example when she should have been is when Chapel is reeducating Uhura and too read and uses Uhura. That's about the only time I would thank it would have been more natural to use a first name (if she used it much at all, see how Scott and McCoy often went by nicknames Bones and Scotty).

I am going to assume that we see more of her in informal settings than we have in all of Trek previously.

One thing I did thank was odd is that Uhura was singing on duty and during her bridge watch, which speaks to a fairly laid back attitude for behavior on the bridge.

 

[Timofnine]

I think that on the bridge they should keep things professional and refer to her via her rank and Surname out of respect. Maybe she can be called Nyota in more intimate situations?