Hello and welcome back to Subspace Radio. I'm Kevin.
And I am Rob.
And for the second time in short succession, we are gathered here today to remember a lost, but not forgotten member of Star Trek royalty.
Every time we try and get away, we're drawn back in. We were meant to have an extended break and sadly we're we are back for, not the reasons we'd like to come back.
I am tempted— Just because I'm in podcast energy, I'm tempted to make a joke that Star Trek should stop taking breaks because people die. But uh, that would be in poor taste. So I won't make that joke.
I'm glad you didn't make that joke, cuz it would've been— We dodged a bullet there!
Sure did. Nichelle Nichols has left this earth, Rob.
She has, and it's the… When you, get to original crew of the Enterprise discussions, they are all such powerfully important and uh, loved figures within not only this franchise, but within all lovers of pop culture and nerdom and fandom and stuff like that. So when any one of them transports up to their next level of existence, there's gonna be a lot of outpouring of emotion and a lot of, reflection on what they have actually contributed to this world.
But when it comes to Nichelle Nichols, it's no understatement of saying that she changed the face of television, and she changed the world. It's such a few small numbers of people who can easily say their presence in this show opened up so many doors and, created a better world.
Nichelle Nichols is one of those celebrities that the closer you look, the more there is there.
Yes.
I think few celebrities stand up to that level of scrutiny. And perhaps that level of scrutiny is unfair. But in Nichelle Nichols case she took what little she was given, and made more of it than almost anyone I can imagine.
And that's something very uh, very telling. What opportunity she was given, within the time that she was on the show and the approach towards people of color and approach to women. But what she was given, like you said, she added so much more. And it takes a hell of a good actor to be able to do that. Like we talked about last week, good actors take what they've been given and give her so much more back.
She was such a bright star that she shone brightly in in the smallest corner of the sky. Like she, she is often that character stuck in the back corner of a shot for an episode. And yet, your eye is drawn to her. She is acting her butt off at every moment.
Yeah.
You look at her in the background of some stories in which she was criminally underserved, and she is working so hard to create a character with so little time and so little words. It's amazing. There is this story of Nichelle Nichols's participation in the Star Trek franchise.
The difference she made in the world for Black people, for Black women, early representation, all of the, those young girls who got to see themselves in a vision of the future and create careers in science, careers in space, careers of every kind, thanks to her presence, her visible presence on that bridge. And that is a huge story.
It's a story that fans of Star Trek will know involves Dr. Martin Luther king talking her into not quitting the show at the end of the first season because she wasn't getting much to do. And there is that story. And I encourage, if you haven't heard it, listener, I encourage you to go and read it. There are many great articles on the web this week about Nichelle Nichols celebrating her legacy. Make a point of reading just one, if you don't know that story.
But for us here today at Subspace Radio, our modus operandi is to dive into the past of Star Trek, pick out a few episodes and talk about why they are resonating with us this week. And we're gonna do that with Uhura, our original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols. We're gonna celebrate her brightest moments, her best episodes. And Rob and I have each grabbed a couple. I wouldn't be surprised if we double up on some of them and get to talk a bit more about them.
I focused on my first introduction with her, as always, the movies.
Well, I did not steer clear the movies, so there.
So we might be hitting on some similar ground.
Yes. But I will rewind us to the Original Series for my first one here. And having spent some time this week revisiting the Original Series and looking for those best moments, first of all, I will say again, it is shocking how few and far between they are. Even Uhura's strongest episodes, she is a small part. of them. There is not a single episode of the Original Series that is focused on Uhura, or that tells an Uhura story.
We're starting to get that now in Strange New Worlds, but looking back into the 1960s…
Nichelle Nichols had to crawl her way through…
Indeed.
…that the future actors could fly.
But the one that stood out to me the most in those 1960s episodes is season 2, episode 10, "Mirror, Mirror".
Yep. Yep.
This is the introduction of the Mirror Universe, a well that the franchise has returned to again and again, most recently in Star Trek Discovery.
Yes,
But it is amazing. That is such a great episode. I forget how good it is, and each time I go back I am amazed of just… For a episodic TV series in the 1960s, the idea to create an alternate universe version of the ship, of all the characters, a lore for that universe that made all your characters be their evil twins, effectively. It's incredible for the time. This is a, a Marvel cinematic universe, sort of "What If…?" episode in the 1960s.
I'm always fascinated by the concept of parallel universes and especially how it's interpreted in its early era, because it as a concept has only been in popular culture quite recently. So that when you go back to the 1960s and 70s and find any examples of it, it's always fascinating to see those timid steps towards it. I love how Star Trek has kept the "Mirror, Mirror" legacy on.
So me being a Deep Space Nine fan, I've loved the mirror episodes there, with that incredibly strong cast relishing that exploration of the evil goatee universe. But it all started with "Mirror, Mirror".
In "Mirror, Mirror" for those who may not have seen this old, but classic episode definitely worth revisiting, it starts with a landing party of four. Captain Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura are beaming up to the Enterprise during an ion storm. And there is a transporter malfunction that sees them transposed with their alternate universe selves and they materialize in the transporter room of the USS Enterprise in a universe in which the Federation is a force of evil.
They are a conquering dominating force and instead of peacefully negotiating with the planet, they are orbiting, they are there to to steal the the dilithium resources of that planet, or destroy them for resisting. And Captain Kirk finds himself with orders to annihilate the planet below.
Our four members of our crew, stuck in this alternate universe, do their best to fit in and pretend to be their evil alternate selves while working out a plan to find their way home, and if they can, leave that alternate universe a little better than they found it. So yeah, a great time. Unsurprisingly for the time, very quickly, this episode focuses in on the three men of the landing party collaborating to escape this evil Enterprise.
And Uhura only has a couple of scenes, two, three scenes in this episode. But boy are they memorable ones, especially because she is on the bridge and she is like in the nerve center of the ship. She's like the ears for her male crew mates, letting them know what's going on on the ship, and in particular dodging the eye of Security Chief Sulu, who is monitoring the activities with increasing suspicion.
And in particular, there's a moment where they, they, need to tie in the power of the warp engines into the transporter, and that's gonna light up a light on Sulu security board. So Uhura has to distract him. Sulu has given her the tool she needs by professing his adoration in a pretty creepy, rapey way, and watching her deal with that, despite the cringe factor, it shows us the strength of Uhura.
When it comes time to distract him, she steps down to his station and turns on the charm just long enough to avert his gaze and then gives him a big smack across the face.
The power of her acting, the power of her midriff, the power of her slap.
It is a powerful midriff. I'm glad you highlighted it.
Yeah, she is a master of all trades and she put them all on display in those scenes. Only three, and she made 'em work.
She's armed with a dagger and an Emery board, if I'm not mistaken, in that scene. And Sulu has a great big scar down his face, so he's looking extra evil. But yeah, he cuddles up and then as soon as the task is done, she slaps him across the face and says, "I'm sorry, I changed my mind," and it is just like— It is using the fact of her objectification as a weapon.
Yes.
And the fact that she does that, and owns it, and seems powerful because of it. It is so cool to see.
It's very much a gimmick of writers using not just within science fiction, but to play the whole card of, there are some guards or there's something that needs to be distracted. Luckily, we've got a woman character involved cuz you know what they can do, they can bring on the sex. But how an actor at that time…
Yes.
…claims it and owns it and makes it work and gives them that position of power in something that is quite a demeaning role to be given. Sorta like, oh, we need, we need a sexy distraction. All right; rip it out. So much so, that this type of sexy distraction stays with Uhura for decades to come.
Are you taking us where I think you're…
I need to take us back to The Final Frontier, Kevin.
All right. We're back in Star Trek V: frontier, take us through it.
Yes, we are not only, doing a Star Trek podcast, but we are speaking two weeks in a row about Star Trek V.
Amazing. Who would've thought.
The one thing that really stood out for me while watching Star Trek V again is uh… One factor is that William Shatner does need a director to tell him to stop. But also, it's actually one of the best, better films— Actually, no, I'd say the best film to really, show off Uhura. Out of all the films, it's the best one for her because there's some really interesting stuff in there for Uhura to do.
She's got this really out-of-the-blue connection with Scotty, which you're there going, this is something I hadn't seen before. There's a tenderness there and flirtiness and a maternal type of, but there's like going, is there something going on? Is there, is this something? Am I happy about this? Am I not happy about this? But the one thing we need to remember is that Uhura is like fourth in charge of the Enterprise. After, Kirk Spock and McCoy.
It's Uhura and that's never explored because she existed in the 1960s, where it was a powerful statement and a beautiful move to show a future where, a woman of color can be in a position of power, but
And we, there were plenty of examples of Scotty being given the helm in the series, but Uhura never got it.
But in Star Trek V, while Kirk, McCoy, and Spock are out camping and Sulu and Chekov are trying to find them
I love that opening of Star Trek V. It is quite fan servicey, but in a good way. They make a point at the start of this movie to give every character a beat. So you can remember who they are and what's fun and funny about them.
Exactly.
And that scene where where Sulu and Chekov are lost in the forest and refuse to admit it and Uhura on the communicator.
The skies have cleared! It's a miracle!
That's right.
That opening part really does great service to Uhura cuz she's the one there. Like, that opening shot when she comes in, like Scotty's complaining and she just struts in with this leadership and makes fun of Scotty and she's got food for him. She's— It'll come out as a derogatory term, but the mother hen of all these foolish, young…
She calls them all back together.
Yeah. And they're all old men trying to be boys, and they're very childish, and she just goes, you guys need to come here, you guys… And that shot of her when she lands the shuttle with the white light behind her, to find them. And she's just going, come on, you're called in. It's a really powerful moment. She's just, she's in charge. She knows the ship. She's dealing with all these petulant, immature old men and putting them into place. And plus, I'm gonna say it, people make fun of it.
After seeing it for the first time in about 15, 20, yeah, 15 years. I'm there going? I don't care. I love the fan dance, okay? And for Uhura to do that in almost complete, you know, nuttiness.
Yeah.
And especially the line when, you know, the guys crawl up and it's so funny and they do, and I think one of them does almost a wa-wah, or goes, "Aw man!" "Oh no!"
So we talked last episode about the planet of galactic peace, Nimbus III. There's a stronghold on it that the crew are infiltrating. They need to distract some, some riders, so that they can steal their horses. And in order to distract them, Uhura stands up on a sand dune, backlit by the moon, and sings her heart out with fans that came from somewhere, does a seductive fan dance.
The fourth person in charge of the Enterprise, the flagship of the Federation strips down to just two fronds and, and does that for the team. Lie back and think of England, or the Federation.
The guards crawl up the sand dune and she pulls a phaser on them. One of several memorable times that Uhura pulls phasers on people over the years. It's always fun. Going back to "Mirror, Mirror" she steals a phaser from the captain's mistress Marlena in the transporter room at the end, and holds it on her, and it's, it's a cool power move every time. Uhura, Nichelle knows how to point a phaser at someone.
One of my favorite images, when I made a post online, I was trying to find the perfect image to represent my Uhura representation, my Nichelle memory. And I picked a shot from Star Trek VI, when they'd arrived at the conference and they're all desperately going into place. And there's this great shot with Nichelle up the front and the others are behind and she's just holding that phaser ready to go out.
That's a great sequence where they're all just scrambling through to get to the president and save him, and there's this great shot of her holding the phaser, looking like a complete badass.
Speaking of Uhura pointing phasers at people, I'm gonna take us to Star Trek III.
Yes!
Star Trek III does suffer from Uhura not being as present as one might hope. She is there at the beginning, and then doesn't go with the crew when they steal the Enterprise.
And doesn't show up again until the end.
That's right, yeah. But she is instrumental in the crew making its escape with that ship. She manages to get herself stationed in a transporter room at Starfleet Command, and is working there late on a late night shift with a young officer who's come to be known as Mr. Adventure, because he's telling her, "You know what, Uhura, it's really admirable that you would work here.
You're a Starfleet veteran, and your career is winding down and you're not above working a transporter room late at night." And you can see Uhura not respond particularly favorably to the suggestion that her career is winding down. The bridge crew that is about to steal the Enterprise barges into the room and she gets to work, setting them up on the transporter pad in order to beam on board the ship, Mr. Adventure's like "What's going on? Who are these people?
Oh my god, that's Captain Kirk. Do you know who that is?" And Uhura says, "Yes, and you are going to sit in the closet." And she points a phaser at him, backs him into the closet. And he does a comedy sit down and the door slides shut in front of him. And she reassures Admiral kirk that she will have Mr. Adventure eating out of her hand after they're gone.
And rightly so.
It almost redeems the fact that she then disappears for the rest of the movie until she meets up with the rest of the crew on…
…on Vulcan. That's the thing, you're there going, and you want to leave that member of the crew there? What they've just done. But you don't want to take them with you. All right. Okay. Can't…
As McCoy says, I'm glad you're on our side.
Yeah. And because I have, got a moratorium against watching Star Trek III ever again. Thank you for reminding me of one bright spark in that, uh…
I'd say it's worth watching up until the point that the Enterprise has been stolen. And then you could maybe stop.
Yes, and I do remember of course Sulu saying "Tiny."
"Don't call me tiny."
"…me tiny," with his very leathery cape. If we didn't know that George Takei was gay, I mean come on, seriously.
Oh, I love that whole sequence. They're all like flipping IDs out of their breast pockets and it's very cool.
I always get very excited when it's like, uh, Federation people in civvies. You know, you don't get to see them in the 23rd century – I'm doing inverted commas – what they wear as fashion.
Poor Chekov though. And his pink top with a giant white collar. It uh, yeah, he, was not well served…
He uh, lost out then and then he had to wear it again for another whole movie until he is in a gurney.
Where would you like to take us next?
We're jumping around. We're going from five to three, let's go to four.
The Voyage Home is my favorite of the Star Trek movies. That's the first one I saw, and I've just fallen in love with it. And so then I alternate between either Wrath of Khan or Undiscovered Country as my second favorite. But Voyage Home, I always have to claim it's just a masterpiece. And it's great, you've got Uhura actually out on a mission, she doesn't stay. She's out with Chekov finding stuff. There's the iconic scene, which there's been a lot of debate
What is improvised? Did these people know? All this type of stuff with the Alameda scene, looking for the nuclear wessels.
Nuclear…
Nuclear wessels. Doing great work to refine, and find the exact frequency of what the probe is. She does a lot of great work with her, sort like her she becomes her mix a lot with her, finding out what specific animal, and how to capture it and doing it underwater, all that type of stuff. And she stands, accused of insurrection, which is completely badass. Yeah, right into the depths of it to go back in time and and save the world as you do. And she does a lot, she's got a lot to do.
They gave her a lot to do in that episode. And she's out on location with everybody and having a great laugh and being quite heroic as well, so.
The infiltration of the nuclear ship, when she and Chekov go on board to collect whatever they collect from the nuclear reactor on the ship, for a long time that was the sequence I always forgot was in this movie. And I think it's because I block it out. It feels so perilous. They are beaming onto and sneaking through a nuclear vessel. And there are security dogs and people running on catwalks above their heads.
And there's this sense that at any moment they could get caught, and I— Like yourself, I saw this movie very young and I remember being frightened by the peril that these characters were in, in that moment. It feels more dangerous than any other part of this movie to me is when they're about to be caught on that ship.
And yeah, cuz there's a lot of those eighties time travel stuff like The Philadelphia Experiment or The Final Countdown where you get that sense of it feels very eighties. There's nothing more like an eighties time travel film, even, Back To The Future. But those ones that are dark and gritty. And it gets like that within that moment, and it balances that out, with Chekov being left behind and going, "Scotty, now would be a good time." And the interrogation scene is is very eighties.
Yes.
And that's where the humor comes, but that tension there is real and beautifully done and the commitment and the conviction of Nichelle and Walter to actually hit that threat is palpable.
I agree. Oh, It's real good. It's surprising how infrequently Uhura got to go on a mission and get something dangerous done.
Yep. Yep. It's a crying shame. But, you know, now we have Uhura going out on missions as an Ensign all the time.
Well, I'm glad you reminded me of that. I forgot that scene. I, if you'll permit me, I've got— I just wanna rapid round a couple of other ones that were on my list. If we're in the movies, Star Trek VI and the scene in which they are avoiding using the universal translator, by speaking real Klingon to the people as they make their way to Rura Penthe. And they have the books open and they're scrambling to come up with the translation.
And Uhura is like riding the mute button to jump on and say a few words of broken Klingon to not raise suspicion. And in the final moments of that scene, the Klingon on the line is just going "Hah hah ha ha!" inviting them to laugh along. So the entire crew "Wah-hah ha ha!" And then Uhura like, lets go of the mute switch and just that dry "God I, I'm so happy I'm off that call," um, look on her face.
I think it's the last comic beat we get from Uhura in, in all of Star Trek history, and it is such a sweet one. I, that is one of my favorite moments from that film is just when she lets go that button and goes enough with you, Mr. Klingon.
It is a nice, it is a nice moment. And there's a nice little coda at the start of the film. When they're called into the meeting, and everyone's so cas. They go, "What are we doing here?" "Maybe it's a retirement party." And she goes I gotta go back to the academy. I'm teaching. And you go, "Yeah!" That's a really beautiful moment of going damn right, she's a teacher. I would love to have been in Uhura's class.
Back in the Original Series, Charlie X, the second episode of the series by airing order. Uhura has a very memorable song she's singing with Spock, who's playing the Vulcan lute. This is one of those early scenes where Spock is suspiciously smiling a lot, but Uhura gets to sing. And she gets to sing a great verse about how the Vulcan's devilish ears and devilish eyes will steal your heart from you.
And it is just, it is Nichelle Nichols doing what Nichelle Nichols does best, uh, singing a sexy song for the entire room. It's real good. It unfortunately ends creepily as Charlie X steals her voice away, and creeps on Yeoman Rand. But that first verse is
Just focus on the verse.
…the first verse.
…on that. What else you got?
Plato's Stepchildren is an awful, horrible episode of Star Trek with the first interracial kiss to air on US television. Not the first aired in the world.
No, it was done in the UK Yeah. Some just nondescript soap opera,
Yeah, that's right. But definitely watershed moment for black people on TV. It is unfortunate that at the time both characters had to be possessed by aliens, and being laughed at through the entire scene in order for that to happen, but they made it happen.
And that's the thing is that everyone focuses on the interracial kiss, and that's a good thing to focus on because then you go, ah, but that's right. Both characters were under the influence. Ah, yeah. And it's in one of the worst episodes of the original Star Trek series ever. But yeah. As long as you don't focus on that part, it's a watershed moment.
I want to nod in respect to that episode. I don't recommend anyone go and watch it for a good time.
You watched it, so nobody else has to.
I did not watch it Rob. I will not admit to watching that. And then finally, a high note for our Uhura. This is uh, one that most people will not have seen. And I must admit I had not seen until I had the reason to watch it this week. It is the Animated Series, episode four, The Lorelei Signal, in which Uhura at long last takes command of the Enterprise.
The Lorelei Signal is… it's a similar case of it is a shame all of these things had to go wrong in order to put Uhura in a position of making history. But the Enterprise is entrapped by a planet of women who, because they are stranded alone on their planet, they must lure in ship fulls of men in order to to regenerate themselves by stealing in their life forces. So it's a siren song sort of signal that lures in the Enterprise because all of the male officers are smitten by this signal.
And Uhura is standing at the back of the bridge going, this doesn't make any sense to me. Why are we going to this planet? All these men are behaving strangely and she calls Chapel to the bridge and says, are you seeing this? This doesn't really make sense to me. But the men beam down and have their life forces stolen. But meanwhile, on the ship, Uhura says, you know what? I've had enough, I'm taking command of this ship.
And she orders that all of the transporters be guarded by security teams of only women. And Chapel goes, what are you doing? And Uhura says, I'm taking command of this ship. I'll take responsibility for it. And she records a log saying if ever this comes back to me, I take full responsibility. But from then on, she is in Captain Uhura mode. She leads a phaser armed landing party of female officers down to the planet, kick some butt and rescues the bridge crew or the rest of the bridge crew.
Heroic episode for Uhura. It is still a low budget, animated, 30 minute cartoon from the early seventies. So it is not the production values you are perhaps hoping for given that outline.
But it was Nichelle wasn't it?
It was four Nichelles. She performed the voices of four separate characters in that episode, including the lead antagonist, the leader of the women on planet.
Amazing. Yeah. Sad state of affairs when they go, we're gonna give you, yeah, a whole episode to yourself. In animation form. In half an hour. And you're gonna have to supply the other voices as well. You're welcome. You are welcome. Yeah. Yeah. I have heard good things about that. I would like to go and explore that one.
Well, There you go. That's our tour of Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura. Of course we have many seasons of new Uhura stories to look forward to on Strange New Worlds. And who knows, we might even see Zoe Saldana back to play her if we get a fourth Star Trek film in the JJ Abrams universe.
Yes. If that ever happens.
Yeah, but um, the original Uhura will still always be the best Uhura, according to me.
Um, and there is a great article in the Hollywood reporter written by current Uhura. Celia Rose Gooding has written a wonderful article about the legacy of Nichelle Nichols, so I highly recommend you all read that.
Amazing. Thanks, Rob. Let's make it a happier reason to record a podcast next time.
Definitely anyone out there from any form of Star Trek, just stay healthy, okay. Just watch, just stay at home. Watch Lower Decks like I am so I can catch up. Kevin's well ahead of me. He knows everything, so he's being very good. He's not letting any spoilers go. Just watch that, okay? Just chill out. Keep safe. You're a precious— we need you. The world needs you. It's a dark place right now, we need all the hope we can get.