What was your first reaction to the Spock/Uhura romance?

[FarStrider]

Exactly! The lack of women was a problem, one that could have been adressed by the writers. Instead, they chose to give the action, save the universe, stuff to the men and have Uhura's growth confined to her relationship with a male character in a romantic relationship.

Boys save the universe. Girls are girlfriends.

Nothing would have prevented Uhura from giving comfort to Spock even if they were not in a relationship. It would have provided a starting point for one and kept us from the painful scene where Spock is forced to change a ship assignment by his girlfriend.

Having the relationship already established weakened both characters. The loss of Vulcan would have given us a reason why they were drawn together.

And *I* think that having them in a relationship strengthens both characters for later stories, plus it shows the audience that THIS version of Star Trek is NOT the same as the TOS. . .so there . . .and you are still ignoring the fact that it was because of Uhura that the Enterprise got to Vulcan with it's shields up. . .her knowledge saved the ship. . . and you are also ignoring that both Sulu and Chekov had "funny moments of fail" that they had to redeem themselves from earlier in the movie, while Uhura didn't. . . Uhura is a linguist. . .she knows 83% of the languages in the Federation plus all 3 dialects of Romulan. . .*that* is what she is the best at. . why would they show her as a whiz at the transporter, or combat. . . if I only read your opinion, I'd think girlfriend is ALL that Uhura is. . .and that's not the movie I saw. . .


~FS

 

[MattWallace]

Uhura's moment to save the ship was part of her normal duties. She did it very well, as did Sulu and Chekov with their sneak approach at Titan (as I said earlier).

Chekov's humerous moment was based on his accent.
Sulu's was him leaving the parking brake on.

Uhura's was Kirk grabbing her breasts and grinning like an idiot.

Yeah, the women get treated just fine.

 

[spaceoddity]

Uhura had more than one humorous scene..

1. Dealing with Kirk in the bar (it's even funnier in the book)
2. When Kirk notices her in the shuttle
3. Dealing with Kirk in her dorm
4. Dealing with Kirk on the Enterprise (with his allergic reaction)
5. Getting Spock to change her ship assignment
6. The joke about her first name, throughout the movie

Pretty sure she had more funny moments than Chekhov and Sulu combined

And didn't she find out about the Klingon attack through her excessive work at the long range sensor lab? Gaila said she'd sometimes stay there all night. that's a lot more than what's "normally expected", otherwise Spock wouldn't praise her so much, would he?

 

[FarStrider]

Uhura's moment to save the ship was part of her normal duties. She did it very well, as did Sulu and Chekov with their sneak approach at Titan (as I said earlier).

Chekov's humerous moment was based on his accent.
Sulu's was him leaving the parking brake on.

Uhura's was Kirk grabbing her breasts and grinning like an idiot.

Yeah, the women get treated just fine.

And she pushed him back into the fight, because quite frankly, she wasn't having any of that, she didn't want him, didn't give in to him in all their years at the academy, and didn't end up in his bed by the end of the movie. . . No meant no! She showed agency. . . You go, girl!

She STILL SAVED THE SHIP as part of her normal duties. . . how awesome is that? She saves the ship AND has a boyfriend! You go, girl! Seriously. . .

Here are some things to read about Uhura, her role in the film, and why being "the girlfriend" is NOT diminishing Uhura's character. . .

http://peri-peteia.livejournal.com/340736.html#cutid1

http://taraljc.livejournal.com/1366255.html

http://sainfoin-fields.livejournal.com/47536.html

This is where I'm coming from. . .

 

[Nerys Myk]

Uhura had more than one humorous scene..

1. Dealing with Kirk in the bar (it's even funnier in the book)
2. When Kirk notices her in the shuttle
3. Dealing with Kirk in her dorm
4. Dealing with Kirk on the Enterprise (with his allergic reaction)
5. Getting Spock to change her ship assignment
6. The joke about her first name, throughout the movie

Pretty sure she had more funny moments than Chekhov and Sulu combined

And didn't she find out about the Klingon attack through her excessive work at the long range sensor lab? Gaila said she'd sometimes stay there all night. that's a lot more than what's "normally expected", otherwise Spock wouldn't praise her so much, would he?

Plus, Uhura being a thorn in Kirk's and Spock's girlfriend pushes the character to third lead status ( past McCoy). She's probably in more scenes actually contributing to the plot than anyone other than Kirk and Spock. (and possibly Nero). She plays off Kirk in the first half and Spock in the second. That's much more important than a quick action scene.

 

[FarStrider]

lus, Uhura being a thorn in Kirk's and Spock's girlfriend pushes the character to third lead status ( past McCoy). She's probably in more scenes actually contributing to the plot than anyone other than Kirk and Spock. (and possibly Nero). She plays off Kirk in the first half and Spock in the second. That's much more important than a quick action scene.

Actually, Uhura and McCoy serve basically the same purpose in th movie and have just about as much time in the movie as TaraLJC said in her LJ post and in a post on this board, I believe: http://taraljc.livejournal.com/1366255.html

~FS

 

[MattWallace]

Uhura's moment to save the ship was part of her normal duties. She did it very well, as did Sulu and Chekov with their sneak approach at Titan (as I said earlier).

Chekov's humerous moment was based on his accent.
Sulu's was him leaving the parking brake on.

Uhura's was Kirk grabbing her breasts and grinning like an idiot.

Yeah, the women get treated just fine.

And she pushed him back into the fight, because quite frankly, she wasn't having any of that, she didn't want him, didn't give in to him in all their years at the academy, and didn't end up in his bed by the end of the movie. . . No meant no! She showed agency. . . You go, girl!

She STILL SAVED THE SHIP as part of her normal duties. . . how awesome is that? She saves the ship AND has a boyfriend! You go, girl! Seriously. . .

Here are some things to read about Uhura, her role in the film, and why being "the girlfriend" is NOT diminishing Uhura's character. . .

http://peri-peteia.livejournal.com/340736.html#cutid1

http://taraljc.livejournal.com/1366255.html

http://sainfoin-fields.livejournal.com/47536.html

This is where I'm coming from. . .

Then, instead of pushing him back into the fight she should have decked him. Now that would be funny, Uhura takes out the drunken frat boy by herself. She's Starfleet, he isn't at that point. She's presumably had some training in hth combat. One punch and Kirk's down. The we have Pike show up and send everyone home and it continues as it did.

I want to make clear that I'm not opposed to the Spock/Uhura relationship. I just don't agree with how it was portrayed. The flirting Uhura of early TOS was a lot of fun. Have the relationship grow out of the events of the movie rather than being already established.

 

[FarStrider]

Then, instead of pushing him back into the fight she should have decked him. Now that would be funny, Uhura takes out the drunken frat boy by herself. She's Starfleet, he isn't at that point. She's presumably had some training in hth combat. One punch and Kirk's down. The we have Pike show up and send everyone home and it continues as it did.

I want to make clear that I'm not opposed to the Spock/Uhura relationship. I just don't agree with how it was portrayed. The flirting Uhura of early TOS was a lot of fun. Have the relationship grow out of the events of the movie rather than being already established.

Why does it seem that the only kind of strength you respect is the "ass-kicking" kind? Women don't have to become men waving metaphorical dicks around in order to be strong. . . Uhura is an intellectual character, she is not going to mar her record by getting into a stupid fight that she wanted no part of in the first place. . . she thought the Star Fleet guys were in the wrong, and she thought Kirk was a jerk . . . and while Kirk did grab her and leer, he wasn't really totally at fault, since it was the heat of battle. . . his punishment for his transgression was to be pushed back into the fight.. . in real life, how many women do you know would actually cold-cock someone in a bar fight? I'm willing to bet not too many. . . Uhura is strong, she doesn't have to prove it. . .


~FS

 

[FalTorPan]

I consider the "Abramsverse" to be entirely different than the "NBCverse," so the romance didn't catch me off guard, put me off or whatever. It simply... was.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

The Spock/Uhura romance didn't bother me at all - when the movie came out, and a lot of my friends were saying "WTF?", I was the one reminding them of the scenes in "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X". There was a tenderness between them in the early episodes which disappeared fairly early on. While I have no interest in Star Trek being a romance, I do wish they'd kept that particular relationship as an undercurrent throughout the original series. It made both characters more interesting - Spock, because this otherwise cold, calculating man was capable of showing affection, even if it wasn't in a way that humans would. Uhura because -- let's face it -- almost any character development for her during TOS would have made her more interesting. She really only had four or five moments during the entire series where she stood out.

True, the movie added linguistics (a nice, if perhaps unintended throwback to Hoshi), but she translated the message off-screen.

IIRC, some of the older novels made reference to Uhura being a trained linguist. (I'm thinking The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre, maybe? At any rate, it was something that made its way into the novels published in the early 80s.) It makes sense that a communications officer would be skilled in languages. (That's one of the reasons why I hated the scene in TUC where everyone is flipping through dictionaries trying to find Klingon phrases to get past the listening outpost on their way to Rura Penthe. Uhura should have been able to speak at least a few simple Klingon phrases.)

 

[F. King Daniel]

It was only a few months ago that I realized (well, was told in the TOS forum) that there was no mention of Uhura being a linguist/translator in The Original Series. And I'm a lifelong fan. Supposedly those elements were added by Nichols and Rodenberry after the show went off the air, to make Uhura's role seem more important, and were incorporated into novels which I've been reading since I was 10.

And yes, her not knowing Klingon in STVI annoyed me, too (as did McCoy not knowing the first thing about Klingon anatomy!)

 

[7thsealord]

And yes, her not knowing Klingon in STVI annoyed me, too (as did McCoy not knowing the first thing about Klingon anatomy!)

Total agreement.

Considering all that McCoy and Uhura (and the rest of Kirk & Co) had been through, would have thought that they had at least some basic knowledge in those areas. Considering just experienced and generally how good at their jobs they supposedly were, probably a heckuva lot better than basic.

Not like McCoy and Uhura were dealing with a race that nobody knew anything about - these were Klingons, arguably Number One on the UFP's threat list all through TOS and beyond. Can't tell me that Star Fleet had no info about them.

I expect that Uhura had spent more time listening to Klingon communications than I've had hot dinners. McCoy may not have practiced that much Klingon medicine, but I think at least a little field experience was likely (aftermath of 'Day Of The Dove' probably was an especially good time for this), and undoubtedly had read some journals on Klingon anatomy besides. This is a guy who successfully treated a dang Horta only five minutes after actually seeing one for the first time, for crissakes.

 

[MattWallace]

Then, instead of pushing him back into the fight she should have decked him. Now that would be funny, Uhura takes out the drunken frat boy by herself. She's Starfleet, he isn't at that point. She's presumably had some training in hth combat. One punch and Kirk's down. The we have Pike show up and send everyone home and it continues as it did.

I want to make clear that I'm not opposed to the Spock/Uhura relationship. I just don't agree with how it was portrayed. The flirting Uhura of early TOS was a lot of fun. Have the relationship grow out of the events of the movie rather than being already established.

Why does it seem that the only kind of strength you respect is the "ass-kicking" kind? Women don't have to become men waving metaphorical dicks around in order to be strong. . . Uhura is an intellectual character, she is not going to mar her record by getting into a stupid fight that she wanted no part of in the first place. . . she thought the Star Fleet guys were in the wrong, and she thought Kirk was a jerk . . . and while Kirk did grab her and leer, he wasn't really totally at fault, since it was the heat of battle. . . his punishment for his transgression was to be pushed back into the fight.. . in real life, how many women do you know would actually cold-cock someone in a bar fight? I'm willing to bet not too many. . . Uhura is strong, she doesn't have to prove it. . .


~FS

I don't know any women from the 23rd century who are cadets at a space academy. However, letting the other cadets finish the job instead of standing up for herself doesn't look right to me. Just because she's a woman she shouldn't be able to punch a man in the face when he deserves it? I know two women who were in similar, not identical, situations to hers and they both punched the drunk in the face. I assume she's capable of defending herself, being a Starfleet cadet and all.

 

[spaceoddity]

the whole fight was stupid. it made her look good that she was trying to break it up.. even though she didn't have the same authority as captain pike

 

[FarStrider]

I don't know any women from the 23rd century who are cadets at a space academy. However, letting the other cadets finish the job instead of standing up for herself doesn't look right to me. Just because she's a woman she shouldn't be able to punch a man in the face when he deserves it? I know two women who were in similar, not identical, situations to hers and they both punched the drunk in the face. I assume she's capable of defending herself, being a Starfleet cadet and all.

But she's not stupid. . .why would she jump in the middle of a fight between 5 guys? Like I said, ass-kicking isn't the only way to be strong. . .using your head and not getting demerit points on your Star Fleet Academy record when you KNOW you want the best assignments after graduation takes more character and self-awareness than a simple punch. . .

~FS

 

[MattWallace]

Who said anything about jumping into the middle. One punch and Kirk either goes down or the other 4 cadets get him anyway. Do you think that the other cadets would attack Uhura instead of Kirk? What reason would they have?

You're right, she's a girl. She should stand on the sidelines and let other people take care of the guy that groped her.

 

[FarStrider]

Who said anything about jumping into the middle. One punch and Kirk either goes down or the other 4 cadets get him anyway. Do you think that the other cadets would attack Uhura instead of Kirk? What reason would they have?

You're right, she's a girl. She should stand on the sidelines and let other people take care of the guy that groped her.

She's a Star Fleet cadet, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kirk groped her on accident, if she punches him, it's assault, and most likely it will go on her record. (Why do you think 'Cupcake' was mad at Kirk 3 years later? Probably because he most likely got in trouble for that fight) I'm not getting why you seem to think that punching Kirk would solve anything (other than making *you* laugh). . .Uhura is portrayed as a highly intelligent, ambitious woman. . . she's not going to risk her career for a meaningless punch on for what was to her a hick townie.

~FS

 

[Sindatur]

Who said anything about jumping into the middle. One punch and Kirk either goes down or the other 4 cadets get him anyway. Do you think that the other cadets would attack Uhura instead of Kirk? What reason would they have?

You're right, she's a girl. She should stand on the sidelines and let other people take care of the guy that groped her.

She's a Star Fleet cadet, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kirk groped her on accident, if she punches him, it's assault, and most likely it will go on her record. (Why do you think 'Cupcake' was mad at Kirk 3 years later? Probably because he most likely got in trouble for that fight) I'm not getting why you seem to think that punching Kirk would solve anything (other than making *you* laugh). . .Uhura is portrayed as a highly intelligent, ambitious woman. . . she's not going to risk her career for a meaningless punch on for what was to her a hick townie.

~FS

And we know Uhura in the Prime Time Line could throw down, so no need for Uhura to have to prove it at a time when it could be costly to her.

 

[MattWallace]

Who said anything about jumping into the middle. One punch and Kirk either goes down or the other 4 cadets get him anyway. Do you think that the other cadets would attack Uhura instead of Kirk? What reason would they have?

You're right, she's a girl. She should stand on the sidelines and let other people take care of the guy that groped her.

She's a Star Fleet cadet, not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kirk groped her on accident, if she punches him, it's assault, and most likely it will go on her record. (Why do you think 'Cupcake' was mad at Kirk 3 years later? Probably because he most likely got in trouble for that fight) I'm not getting why you seem to think that punching Kirk would solve anything (other than making *you* laugh). . .Uhura is portrayed as a highly intelligent, ambitious woman. . . she's not going to risk her career for a meaningless punch on for what was to her a hick townie.

~FS

Yeah, we saw Pike call the local cops instead of just sending everyone back to barracks. Where do you get the idea that anyone was charged with anything? Pike wasn't there when it started. I doubt the cadets are going to rat each other out (remeber the scene in Tribbles?).

Yes, she's a Starfleet cadet and we know Starfleet teaches their cadets self defense. Uhura couldn't handle one drunk in a bar and she's going off to explore the final frontier? She'd better stay on the ship then.

 

[M'Sharak]

I don't know any women from the 23rd century who are cadets at a space academy. However, letting the other cadets finish the job instead of standing up for herself doesn't look right to me. Just because she's a woman she shouldn't be able to punch a man in the face when he deserves it?

Uhura was standing up for herself just fine, and in the manner she chose. Had Cupcake not rendered the issue moot by insisting upon butting in and trying to teach "farmboy" a lesson, I have little doubt that Uhura would have continued to hold her own. She didn't let anyone finish the job for her - it was taken out of her hands by a group of thugs in Cadet uniforms (with perhaps a little provocation on Kirk's part.)

I know two women who were in similar, not identical, situations to hers and they both punched the drunk in the face.

Well, that does say something, but I don't know what it's got to do with this movie.