RIP Lieutenant Uhura

[SulliMike23]

Nichelle Nichols, who famously portrayed Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek has passed away today due to natural causes. She was 89.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/nichelle-nichols-groundbreaking-star-trek-actor-dead-at-89/ar-AA109PNq?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=c606456b8393431cac9db2cd0e78c761

[elf25s]

one original cast member besides nimoy i never got to meet in person...
 :'(

[Daryk]

A sad day indeed...  :'(

[Ruger]

 :'( :'( :'(

Ruger

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Dang it.  That just leaves William Shatner and George Takei as the only main cast members left, doesn't it?

[Mecha82]

RIP Nichelle Nichols you wonderful trailblazer.

[lrose]

Dang it.  That just leaves William Shatner and George Takei as the only main cast members left, doesn't it?

Also Walter Koenig 

[Cannonshop]

She almost made it to ninety, and that's something.  She was one of my first Crushes as a kid, watching re-runs after school in the late seventies and early eighties.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

She almost quit the show until Martin Luther King Jr convinced her not to.  Always thought that was amazing.

[I am Belch II]

Such a sad day.

[BATTLEMASTER]

I read about this earlier.  Not many of the TOS actors are left.

Thanks for the memories Ms. Nichols.  I hope you enjoy the final frontier 

[ThePW]

She lived a... challenging existence while with all of us... Now she exists... challenge-free. *salute*

[Cannonshop]

She lived a... challenging existence while with all of us... Now she exists... challenge-free. *salute*

she was AWESOME, she stomped those challenges without scuffing her shoe.

[BrianDavion]

And by crushing those challanges she blazed a trial for others to come.

[garhkal]

Dang it.  That just leaves William Shatner and George Takei as the only main cast members left, doesn't it?

That bites!  Met several at one of the older gencons, but missed most.

[Top Sergeant]

Farewell fair maiden! Although she might have replied to that line with "Sorry, neither!" as she did to Sulu.

Seriously though, I am still an absolute fan of the original Star Trek and cherish Nichelle as much as I do all the other cast. And now only three remain. Although I am in my late fifties nevertheless when it comes to TOS I am still that kid who would go outside at night with a pipe wrench and turn the TV antenna toward Cleveland so that I could pick up the UHF station Channel 43 to watch the Star trek reruns (and afterward point it back toward Toledo or risk getting chewed out by dad;) )

[Deathrider6]

    She will be missed. Loved watching TOS and the first six films. She was more than just window dressing for me since she was the first woman, I remember seeing in a role the was not a nurse or housewife. Was definitely not a typical damsel in distress either. She was also a huge trailblazer beyond Star trek as well.

[Giovanni Blasini]

one original cast member besides nimoy i never got to meet in person...
 :'(

She's the only member of the original series cast I've met.  Lovely lady, but when I met her at Comic-Con, it was obvious that she was starting to struggle.  This was a year after her stroke, and just a couple years before she was diagnosed with dementia.

(Though Shatner's dinner party did delay my dinner by like an hour and a half at a steakhouse after Comic-Con one night.  We got our very expensive whiskeys comped as a result, so I guess you could say Shatner bought our drinks that night.)

She almost made it to ninety, and that's something.  She was one of my first Crushes as a kid, watching re-runs after school in the late seventies and early eighties.

Same here, actually.

    She will be missed. Loved watching TOS and the first six films. She was more than just window dressing for me since she was the first woman, I remember seeing in a role the was not a nurse or housewife. Was definitely not a typical damsel in distress either. She was also a huge trailblazer beyond Star trek as well.

Especially as I got older, I always felt she was criminally underused during the Original Series.

[gyedid]

Especially as I got older, I always felt she was criminally underused during the Original Series.

Uhura was supposed to be fourth in command of the Enterprise, but didn't actually get to do it until TAS! (and that because all the male crewmembers were incapacitated by Space Sirens).

I've already got one warning against me and there's no way I can expand on this without breaking more Rules, so I'll have to leave it at that.

cheers,

Gabe

[Daryk]

A single post can only get you one warning... trust me... 

[Giovanni Blasini]

Uhura was supposed to be fourth in command of the Enterprise, but didn't actually get to do it until TAS! (and that because all the male crewmembers were incapacitated by Space Sirens).

I've already got one warning against me and there's no way I can expand on this without breaking more Rules, so I'll have to leave it at that.

cheers,

Gabe

I occasionally need to remind myself that TOS was a product of its era.  That helps.  In universe I try to justify it as Uhura specifically choosing to leave command track in the first episodes of the series (her switch from yellow to red), and changing her mind and going for a ship command after Kirk “dies” and Scotty goes missing on the Jenolan.

[Daryk]

That's some lore I'm just not familiar with... 

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

IIRC, Roddenberry's original vision of the series would have put Uhura as captain but that was not something that 1960s TV executives were willing to go for.

[Daryk]

When would that have played out?  I'm honestly wondering here... 

[Giovanni Blasini]

That's some lore I'm just not familiar with... 

In the first two episodes she appeared in, the Corbomite Maneuver and the Man Trap, back when she was a day player rather than regular cast (ditto with Takei at the time), Nichols wore command yellow, rather than Operations red:



The producers decided she looked better in red, and so switched her to a red uniform after that.

Her being fourth in command, I don’t know: I don’t know who has more time in grade between Sulu and Uhura off the top of my head.

Edit: evidently Sulu was born in 2237, and Uhura in 2239.  He might then have more time in grade, at which point the chain of command would be Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Sulu then Uhura.

Also, it’s worth noting that Star Trek Online depicts Uhura commanding a watch during the episode “Journey to Babel”:  when your PC visits the bridge, she’s in the center seat.

[BrianDavion]

IIRC, Roddenberry's original vision of the series would have put Uhura as captain but that was not something that 1960s TV executives were willing to go for.

A black woman captain? I bet that woulda made heads explode back then heh

[DEZOAT]

    :'(  I'm bummed but she lived a very long extraordinary life . I met her at Comic Con in the early 2000 . A really nice lady. I will say this I don't know why but she look sexy in red then gold outfit. Then again red is my favorite color. RIP

[Maingunnery]

Also, it’s worth noting that Star Trek Online depicts Uhura commanding a watch during the episode “Journey to Babel”:  when your PC visits the bridge, she’s in the center seat.

Pretty much my head-canon, the show mostly occurs on the main watch and as 4th in command she gets the watch that is rarely shown in the show.

[Daryk]

As one who stood MANY midwatches, I can confirm that... 

[gyedid]

A short clip of Nichelle's 1978 short film "What's In It for Me?" encouraging expansion of diversity at the National Air & Space Museum.

Love how she's in character as Uhura and in the TMP-era getup 

https://blog.trekcore.com/2022/08/nichelle-nichols-smithsonian-film-singing-1978/

cheers,

Gabe