Uhura and the Communications Post

[Jeyl]

Ya, I'm gona rant about this again.

I've read a lot of reviews for the new Star Trek movie and every one of them always mentions Uhura as having a more solid role in this movie than she ever had in the original series run. I'm not sure I agree with that opinion since she doesn't really do anything useful or pivotal. In fact, I can count three whole instances in the movie that would require the use of a communications officer but is handed over to someone else instead.

1. The ship-wide broadcast scene. You would think that the officer responsible for communications would be the one to do this, but instead it's handed over to the barely intelligible navigation officer Chekov. While Uhura wasn't at her station at the time this took place, it does reinforce why the communication station is never really put to good use. If you watch Balance of Terror, Uhura is the one who actually commences the ship-wide broadcast for Kirk and Spock where Chekov does it all on his own.

2. Alerting Starfleet. After Vulcan is destroyed and communications are back online, Spock orders someone to alert Starfleet on what has happened. Does Uhura do this now that she's at her station? No. Someone off screen who is no where near the coms station does. Uhura actually leaves her station without assigning anyone to it to take over so she can make out with Spock in the Turbo lift.

3. Hailing Nero. After Chekov informs Kirk that Nero's ship is losing power, Kirk orders him to "Hail them now." to which Chekov replies "Aye!". This is the second instance when the navigation's station is told to do a communication's officer's task that was always done by Uhura in the original series.

I guess it was the romance between her and Spock that got everybody thinking she had more of a role in the movie than in the seires. That's pretty sad reasoning since, while I'm certainly not opposed to them being a couple at all, it was a hollow relationship that never developed outside of the film just telling you that "They're together". Not very pivotal or important for a character if you ask me.
In my previous posts, others have said that she did decipher the klingon transmission, but then I reminded them that we never actually saw her do this. Instead she explains to her room mate on what she learns while we watch her undress with the most convenient camera angles so we can see every moment of it. And why doesn't she tell any Starfleet official about this? If anyone lost 47 ships to an unkown attacker, we'd never stop hearing about it. She literally takes this as "meh" news that's only worth mentioning to her room mate.
And as I've stated many times already, the transmission wasn't much help anyways since the Enterprise didn't come under attack by the Narada immediately after it entered Vulcan. In fact, the Enterprise had an entire minute after coming out of warp to react before the Narada even open fired. You think that looking at all the destroyed Starships that Captain Pike wouldn't order Red Alert in like 1 hundredth of a second? So Uhura's only contribution wasn't even needed.

She does more in Balance of Terror than she does in this movie to the point where she actually takes over the navigation station, and people are saying her role in the movie is much more vital and important? I'm not convinced.

 

[SalvorHardin]

Ya, I'm gona rant about this again.

At least do you feel better now you've ranted about it again ?

 

[DevilEyes]

Ya, I'm gona rant about this again.

I've read a lot of reviews for the new Star Trek movie and every one of them always mentions Uhura as having a more solid role in this movie than she ever had in the original series run. I'm not sure I agree with that opinion since she doesn't really do anything useful or pivotal. In fact, I can count three whole instances in the movie that would require the use of a communications officer but is handed over to someone else instead.

(...)

She does more in Balance of Terror than she does in this movie to the point where she actually takes over the navigation station, and people are saying her role in the movie is much more vital and important? I'm not convinced.

Maybe by "having a more substantial role" people meant that you can, you know, get some idea about what kind of person she is, rather than just see her sitting and doing communications work? Just a thought...

 

[trampledamage]

In my previous posts, others have said that she did decipher the klingon transmission, but then I reminded them that we never actually saw her do this. Instead she explains to her room mate on what she learns while we watch her undress with the most convenient camera angles so we can see every moment of it. And why doesn't she tell any Starfleet official about this? If anyone lost 47 ships to an unkown attacker, we'd never stop hearing about it. She literally takes this as "meh" news that's only worth mentioning to her room mate.

You have no reason to suppose she didn't tell anyone. If she hadn't told anyone about the broadcast she would still be in the communications lab as she had planned to do. It's not that much of a stretch to assume that she did report it and they kicked everyone out of the comms lab so they could analyse it.

And as I've stated many times already, the transmission wasn't much help anyways since the Enterprise didn't come under attack by the Narada immediately after it entered Vulcan. In fact, the Enterprise had an entire minute after coming out of warp to react before the Narada even open fired. You think that looking at all the destroyed Starships that Captain Pike wouldn't order Red Alert in like 1 hundredth of a second? So Uhura's only contribution wasn't even needed.

They come out of warp with their shields up, which means they don't get damaged immediately by the debris field. For it would take Pike that short a time to order red alert, there's still going to be a delay before the shields are up.

Can't explain why she doesn't do the general ships communications things. Hopefully we'll see a clearer bridge role for her in XII. Her speciality is xeno-linguistics, so perhaps they're aiming for a different role for her than standard communications.

She does more in Balance of Terror than she does in this movie to the point where she actually takes over the navigation station, and people are saying her role in the movie is much more vital and important? I'm not convinced.

Can't argue with that - Balance of Terror is obviously a very strong Uhura episode. And I would have loved that they made more of those, but they didn't - but it looks like they will with these movies.

 

[Jeyl]

Ya, I'm gona rant about this again.

At least do you feel better now you've ranted about it again ?

Pretty much. I just re-watched some of the original series episdoes and I was surprised at how many things Uhura did and yet those same exact things were given to other characters.

 

[Jeyl]

They come out of warp with their shields up, which means they don't get damaged immediately by the debris field. For it would take Pike that short a time to order red alert, there's still going to be a delay before the shields are up.

The shields didn't really help out much since that one piece of debris practically ripped panels off the warp nacelle and that was the only thing they needed to steer clear from. And if the shields had an entire minute long delay to be raised, than I would agree with you. But I have yet to see any depiction of shields taking longer than a minute to be raised.

 

[Creedence]

Ya, I'm gona rant about this again.

I've read a lot of reviews for the new Star Trek movie and every one of them always mentions Uhura as having a more solid role in this movie than she ever had in the original series run. I'm not sure I agree with that opinion since she doesn't really do anything useful or pivotal. In fact, I can count three whole instances in the movie that would require the use of a communications officer but is handed over to someone else instead.

1. The ship-wide broadcast scene. You would think that the officer responsible for communications would be the one to do this, but instead it's handed over to the barely intelligible navigation officer Chekov. While Uhura wasn't at her station at the time this took place, it does reinforce why the communication station is never really put to good use. If you watch Balance of Terror, Uhura is the one who actually commences the ship-wide broadcast for Kirk and Spock where Chekov does it all on his own.

2. Alerting Starfleet. After Vulcan is destroyed and communications are back online, Spock orders someone to alert Starfleet on what has happened. Does Uhura do this now that she's at her station? No. Someone off screen who is no where near the coms station does. Uhura actually leaves her station without assigning anyone to it to take over so she can make out with Spock in the Turbo lift.

3. Hailing Nero. After Chekov informs Kirk that Nero's ship is losing power, Kirk orders him to "Hail them now." to which Chekov replies "Aye!". This is the second instance when the navigation's station is told to do a communication's officer's task that was always done by Uhura in the original series.

I guess it was the romance between her and Spock that got everybody thinking she had more of a role in the movie than in the seires. That's pretty sad reasoning since, while I'm certainly not opposed to them being a couple at all, it was a hollow relationship that never developed outside of the film just telling you that "They're together". Not very pivotal or important for a character if you ask me.
In my previous posts, others have said that she did decipher the klingon transmission, but then I reminded them that we never actually saw her do this. Instead she explains to her room mate on what she learns while we watch her undress with the most convenient camera angles so we can see every moment of it. And why doesn't she tell any Starfleet official about this? If anyone lost 47 ships to an unkown attacker, we'd never stop hearing about it. She literally takes this as "meh" news that's only worth mentioning to her room mate.
And as I've stated many times already, the transmission wasn't much help anyways since the Enterprise didn't come under attack by the Narada immediately after it entered Vulcan. In fact, the Enterprise had an entire minute after coming out of warp to react before the Narada even open fired. You think that looking at all the destroyed Starships that Captain Pike wouldn't order Red Alert in like 1 hundredth of a second? So Uhura's only contribution wasn't even needed.

She does more in Balance of Terror than she does in this movie to the point where she actually takes over the navigation station, and people are saying her role in the movie is much more vital and important? I'm not convinced.

I hear you. By and large, and this new flick is no exception, Uhura is superfluous. Her part in the new flick is completely redundant save for her decoding the Klingon escape snippet. Hell, I don't even really like who they cast to play Uhura.

 

[SonicRanger]

In TOS, Uhura was basically a communications technician, hence the reason that she did all the hailing and intra-ship announcements in TOS, not to mention highly technical repairs to the electrical systems of her station.

In the new film, Uhura is an xenolinguist and does things like translate Romulan rather than conduct technical communication system operations.

So the answer is that Uhura basically has a different job in TOS and the new film.

 

[Jeyl]

So the answer is that Uhura basically has a different job in TOS and the new film.

So..... essentially a more useless role.

 

[Ovation]

So the answer is that Uhura basically has a different job in TOS and the new film.

So..... essentially a more useless role.

Yes, because being fluent in many alien languages, including sub-dialects, is so much more useless than pushing buttons on a glorified intercom system while making the "daily announcement" like a high school secretary.

 

[Jeyl]

Yes, because being fluent in many alien languages, including sub-dialects, is so much more useless than pushing buttons on a glorified intercom system while making the "daily announcement" like a high school secretary.

At least the high school secretary in the movie got to save the lives of Kirk and Sulu.

And while her skills do indeed sound very useful, she never used any of it in the movie. They gave her all these skills but nothing to use them with. It's like if you were to write a character who was an excellent electrician, thinking those traits would benefit him immensely, but all he ever does is change the batteries of a remote. Kind of like how in Transformers that professional hacker was only good for using morse code. What a coincidence that these two movies were written by the same folk.

 

[SonicRanger]

Yes, because being fluent in many alien languages, including sub-dialects, is so much more useless than pushing buttons on a glorified intercom system while making the "daily announcement" like a high school secretary.

But she didn't need to translate anything in the movie.

You watched the film, right?

She translated the critical Klingon distress calls that convinced Pike, and she was asked to distinguish between Romulan and Vulcan when approaching the planet.

 

[DevilEyes]

So the answer is that Uhura basically has a different job in TOS and the new film.

So..... essentially a more useless role.

Yeah, of course, linguists/translators are generally known as useless. People needing to speak languages, who's ever heard of such nonsense? Now excuse me while I go and burn my diploma, resign from my job, and seek a counsellor to help me change my career to a much better one of a telephone operator.

 

[Jeyl]

She translated the critical Klingon distress calls that convinced Pike, and she was asked to distinguish between Romulan and Vulcan when approaching the planet.

Which I will say again didn't help the situation since the Enterprise was not in any immediate danger when it approached Vulcan.

And how many times did she distinguish Romulan and Vulcan in the movie? None at all. That cadet who didn't know Romulan could have told Pike what Uhura told him.

 

[Jeyl]

Yeah, of course, linguists/translators are generally known as useless. People needing to speak languages, who's ever heard of such nonsense?

I said USELESS ROLE, not useless skills or traits.

You can tell me that a character can build an 747 jumbo jet out of a paper clip and can translate any language at anytime without hesitation, but if your story spends so much time on those points but your character never uses them in the story itself, than it's pointless.

 

[LeadHead]

1. The ship-wide broadcast scene. You would think that the officer responsible for communications would be the one to do this, but instead it's handed over to the barely intelligible navigation officer Chekov. While Uhura wasn't at her station at the time this took place, it does reinforce why the communication station is never really put to good use. If you watch Balance of Terror, Uhura is the one who actually commences the ship-wide broadcast for Kirk and Spock where Chekov does it all on his own.

2. Alerting Starfleet. After Vulcan is destroyed and communications are back online, Spock orders someone to alert Starfleet on what has happened. Does Uhura do this now that she's at her station? No. Someone off screen who is no where near the coms station does. Uhura actually leaves her station without assigning anyone to it to take over so she can make out with Spock in the Turbo lift.

3. Hailing Nero. After Chekov informs Kirk that Nero's ship is losing power, Kirk orders him to "Hail them now." to which Chekov replies "Aye!". This is the second instance when the navigation's station is told to do a communication's officer's task that was always done by Uhura in the original series.

1. Uhura wasn't even on the bridge at this point in the movie. So rather than using Lieutenant Expendable who would have one line in the movie, it was Chekov Sir, Pavel Andreavich.

2. We don't know what she was doing when the drill went down. She could have been charged with trying to stay in contact with Captain Pike, monitor Kirk and Sulu, trying to break through the comm blocking and get in ouch with Vulcan, searching for distress calls from the destroyed armada. Then when she leaves the bridge to talk to Spock in the turbolift, the ship isn't in immediate danger and I'm sure the ship has got to have voice mail, so if a transmision were to come in, if she were away from the station for a second to check on a gy whose homeand mom were just sent to oblivion, things would be okay, also when you're oncernd about somebody like that, you might forget to say, "Hey, take over."

3. Uhura wasn't even at her station yet when Kirk ordered the Enterprise to hail Nero. And it's been a long standing tradition of Trek that pretty much any console can do anything. For some reason the ships steering wheel also fires the Photon Torpedoes.

 

[SonicRanger]

So you'd be happier if Uhura was back to a glorified telephone operator and had just one line in the film, saying "Hailing frequencies open, sir"?

 

[Ovation]

She translated the critical Klingon distress calls that convinced Pike, and she was asked to distinguish between Romulan and Vulcan when approaching the planet.

Which I will say again didn't help the situation since the Enterprise was not in any immediate danger when it approached Vulcan.

The fact that you keep saying it doesn't make it true. But I've already rebutted this in an earlier thread and I'm not interested in doing it all over again.

And how many times did she distinguish Romulan and Vulcan in the movie? None at all. That cadet who didn't know Romulan could have told Pike what Uhura told him.

Ah, so you're one of those kinds of movie watchers--the kind where everything has to happen on screen, spelt out in excruciating detail so as to ensure that everything is extraordinarily obvious, then? When Uhura makes that comment, she takes her place at the communication station, as Pike ordered, and then we cut to something else. Did we need to see it happen to infer she could do it? Perhaps they should release the 219000 hour unexpirgated cut that provides every detail of the 25 or so years covered in the film's story just so we don't miss seeing a vital action of anyone in the film. Or perhaps we could use our imaginations and infer likely filler events when the story moves from one scene to another.

 

[Jeyl]

So you'd be happier if Uhura was back to a glorified telephone operator and had just one line in the film, saying "Hailing frequencies open, sir"?

No, because that's all she did in the movie. Her only line during the film while she was at her station was "We're being hailed." The whole point of her last line in the movie was just to show us that she accepted Kirk as Captain.

 

[SonicRanger]

So you'd be happier if Uhura was back to a glorified telephone operator and had just one line in the film, saying "Hailing frequencies open, sir"?

No, because that's all she did in the movie...

You seem to have an odd definition of "did."

And the final lines of just about every character involved acknowledging Kirk as captain, so I don't know what you're on about there.

We never saw Winona Kirk at her station on the Kelvin -- does that mean she did nothing in the film and was a useless character?

Must characters only contribute to a film by sitting at a station and pushing a few buttons?