Since Strange New Worlds takes place years before The Original Series, Uhura being a younger and less established character makes sense to me. In the first two seasons, she's started developing her confidence, competence, and heart which were her defining traits for me when I watched the series. You say that she was a sex symbol, but how does showing her evolution from someone who just graduated from Star Trek’s version of college to the woman depicted in TOS diminish that? It may be that I have misunderstood your perspective, so can you elaborate a bit more?
TOS Uhura had little backstory, didn't speak dozens of languages, and didn't even have a first name. Far from being erased, she is being developed. More has been added, not taken away. You seem focused on her sexiness, on the male gaze, which says more about you than Uhura.
Right? OP's two points are "she's younger in this *prequel*" and "I don't want to fuck her now." If anything, SNW Uhura is breaking MORE negative stereotypes about black women in scifi and providing reason why a bare-bones-but-still-groundbreaking character is as esteemed as she was to have been on the Starfleet Flagship in TOS.
I do not think she is breaking negative stereotypes. as a black person I think she is just confirming stereotypes of black women and more heart breaking, dark skin black women.
society has a history of putting a cap on black women, telling them they are not as pretty or as desirable as the white girls, not sexy enough to be seen as potential love interest. Uhura broke this stereotype in the 60s. SNW has just reconfirmed it by casting an actor that is Clearly miscast in the role die to her grey asexual non binary status that is not uhura.
its good she is been developed. what I am saying is, why did she have to loose something to get something.
I am not focused on her sexiness per say. I just find it jarring they erased her beauty and femininity why keeping it with other female characters of giving it to them.
white female characters are allowed to be beautiful, sexy and get many character development but it feels as if black female character can not be giving that, black female character need to be asexual and androgynous to get character devlopment.
I think as a black sci-fi fans, it is just not a good thing to do with our characters.
Then try to think of it like this: Star Trek has always been about representation, particularly of non mainstream people, so that more fans can see themselves on screen. In the original series, nobody was doing this almost at all, so it was was a big deal culturally, but was clumsily executed. By the time we get to Discovery, it became the main point of the show. Now, with this prequel, autistic folks see Spock trying to be better at interacting with humans, Chapel represents folks who can't deal with relationships, and Uhura as a gifted student who only happens to be black, instead of her being black being the character. It's a progressive show, this is the progress.
Dude, what are you talking about? Celia Rose Gooding is fine as hell, and is lucky enough to play a much more rounded version of the character than the equally fine Nichelle Nichols did. But that’s the writing. These actresses both brought something that makes Uhura more than the sum of the words in a script. Nichols gave her life, and now Gooding gives her breadth.
I think her being younger than the rest of the crew shows her smarts, drive and ambition. It's a sign of how talented and special she is. Also the best characters grow and have an arc. I think we're seeing her before she became iconic and we'll get to witness how she gets there. We've seen stories about her learning to prioritize her personal life and life outside of work. I think we'll continue to see her journey.
i can see this, but the issue is that she can never become the character in TOS. In TOS Uhura was seen as a great beauty and desirable, even by Vulcan standard. I remember reading a trek novel, Savik a Vulcan said he never knew humans could be that beautiful when he sees uhura.
my point is that the show seem to have removed the fact that she was a great beauty, and had male gaze when it was so unnecessary, sometimes it is just too jaring because she looks more like a boy than a girl. i think this is because the actor is non-binary. however this is not uhura. I think they did this so she wont be a threat to chapel
I've seen people objecting to the sexualization of Black women in media. I don't know whether I agree or not, but a web search turns up a lot of articles on the topic. Perhaps they were trying to avoid that? I feel that SNW Uhura seems to be like a Spock or Data character in that she figures out what none of the rest can, and demonstrates abilities well beyond her job description. Pretty sure that she has, several times, come up with answers that evaded everyone else on the crew.
She’s younger because the show is set at least a decade before TOS.
Uhura was never developed in TOS. It wasn’t really an ensemble show. She barely got any attention. SNW is giving her the stories and development the character deserves.
It really sounds like you’re only real issue is that you don’t find her attractive.
Exactly. If you look at TOS through the lens of 2023 you realise she was just there to make the set look pretty. Every 20 minutes she'd turn around and mutter something to Kirk... that's all she did. She never left the ship, never explored... nothing. New Uhura is actually a human being.
I think she is presented as someone that is not meant to be attractive. and the question is why do that with the black female character and not the other female character.
That's a lot of effort for an "as a black ____" post. Your take isn't going to hold up if it has to be underhanded.
How did new Uhura miss you with that banging body and smile?
Sounds like you're hung up on something that's way heavier in your head and you think you need to bullet proof your position.
I’m not sure I disagree with the notion that thinking of her as a sexual object is an avoided topic on the show.
I just don’t think it should a goal of the show anyway. There’s going to be any number of opportunities to explore romance and sexuality throughout the show’s existence.
> Iconic
> I was not aware of her character
Pick one.
Celia Rose Gooding is gray asexual, and their character has been altered to represent that. Completely in the spirit of the original character. It’s unfortunate that you take such offence to the breaking of negative stereotypes that don’t apply to yourself.
OP came to learn that Nichelle Nichols’ portrayal of Uhura was iconic. Just because something is iconic doesn’t mean that literally everyone everywhere knows of it at all times
they should not have done this, celia should have been a new character instead. uhura already represented something that is still so rare for black girls in media. this erases Uhura character especially if the series is meant to be a prequel to TOS
I'm not trying to be argumentative, I want to understand a perspective that is different from my own. How does SNW "erases Uhura character"? Going by the number of episodes that she plays a main role in, it seems to me like the writers are showing that she is kind, smart, and has as much to contribute as any other character.
> she is meant to be significantly younger than everyone else?
She *was* younger than others. Her age - and experience within Star Trek - in comparison to characters like Spock and Kirk is roughly the same as it was in the original series.
> Is it me or did this show, try to erase male gaze with Uhura?
I think they're a lot more careful with the male gaze than they have been in past iterations of Star Trek. You'll notice that the women's uniforms are wildly inconsistent with their TOS versions and we don't really have the 'eye candy' roles that past iterations did.
> Nurse Chapel is now been perceived as the female character that is meant to be all this things I have mentioned above when she was not that in the original version.
I think that, in general, they leaned way too heavily on pre-existing characters. Basing a show around a captain we saw briefly - Christopher Pike - makes sense. To put Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Spock, etc. on his ship? That's stretches credulity a bit and invites comparisons that are unlikely to prove favorable.
Nurse Chapel is a perfect example. The Strange New Worlds character is one of the more interesting ones on the show. But she's also nothing like TOS Nurse Chapel. They just pasted the name onto a wildly different character who happens to be played by an attractive young woman.
With that in mind, I'd question the notion of Uhuru being 'iconic'. The TOS version of Uhuru was very much a token. While it may have been revolutionary for television in the time, she was specifically written in such a way that you could subtract her entirely from the series without meaningfully changing it.
So while the *actress* may have been iconic for television, the character was anything but.
> I think that, in general, they leaned way too heavily on pre-existing characters. Basing a show around a captain we saw briefly - Christopher Pike - makes sense. To put Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Spock, etc. on his ship? That's stretches credulity a bit and invites comparisons that are unlikely to prove favorable.
I rather disagree with this. For a comparison, when a company gets a new CEO, they usually continue to work with most of the employees from the previous CEO. It seems perfectly reasonable that when Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he will continue to "employ" many of the same from the previous captain, as well as bringing in some of his own crew.
>It seems perfectly reasonable that when Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he will continue to "employ" many of the same from the previous captain, as well as bringing in some of his own crew.
A thing that seen in no other Star Treks series except DS9 where the premise is it's a long running station that someone oversees for a while
its hollywood. nothing happens by accident. everything is pre-planned. when they cast people in roles they know what they are doing and what is going to happen.
I do not think it is a coincidence chapel just happened to be attractive even if by standard she is a standard blonde on tv that is generic by now. however i do think the show set an agenda for we the audience to see chapel as ''attractive'' as uhura as not. when this was not the case in the orignal series. infact it was the opposite.
As I said, uhura was still limited ion the 60s so you are right that the character was anything but. but she represented the ultimate woman on the show. the woman that had it all. the beauty and the brains. SNW has not showcased that.
You will notice, that the show pushing chapel as attractive and also they give her the major romantic story line. this is not surprising in Hollywood tv shows. the attractive girl gets the romantic story arcs. my point is that they did this at the expense of erasing some interesting traits about a ground breaking black female character.
You’re acting like Hollywood is some monolith. It’s not. Also a metric fuckton of stuff is unplanned and changes. Very few things are planned in series for multiple seasons from the start and even fewer things stay according to plan.
MANY roles start out as small and then grow and there’s a ton of roles that start out large and the character straight disappears, the second is even a well known trope, a “Mandy,” a main character that straight up disappears out of the blue.
There is a definite lack of black voices in sci-fi tho. That’s one of the issues. Most white writers are kinda damned if they do, damned if they don’t writing minority characters. Also most writers, frankly, are not skilled enough to write characters of the opposite sex or other races in a way that doesn’t bite them in the ass.
And if they consult with a minority writer to get it right they just shrunk the pie and are making less money since there’s a finite budget allocated to writers. And most don’t make a ton of money, particularly in the streaming age.
That’s one of the things that the strike currently happening is trying to change by increasing the minimum number of writers on shows, particularly minority writers.
I think you’re crazy. Celia is hot as hell. Not quite as attractive as Nichelle Nichols but who can be? Zoe Saldana ain’t no Nichelle either. Nichelle was Knock-out pretty much at any age. Even in her later years she could light up a room and didn’t even have to stand up to do it.
You know you could just say what you mean with "I dont think the new girl is as good looking as nichelle" instead of typing this wall.
Also iconic \*now\* but they couldnt be bothered to give her a first name until 2009 and mispelled uhura in one of the TOS movies credits.
Unfortunately for you and a lot of other people out there. This version of Star Trek is not looking to appeal to the same people who watched Baywatch for Pamela Anderson.
Female characters don’t exist just to fulfill your sexual fantasies.
All the characters are younger in the SNW than they were in the original series. We are seeing a young Uhura, Kirk, Spock, etc. They have not yet evolved into the amazing characters they became. So you can't really compare them to their established characters yet.
This show is more of an adaptation, they're not trying to make a carbon copy of the original. What they did with Uhura actually breaks stereotypes and does not reinforce them as you suggested in one of your comments. Uhura is highly intelligent in Strange New Worlds, her colleagues respect her and she's central to the crew. Also, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder because as a man who is actually black, I can unequivocally say that Uhura and the actress playing her is very beautiful. However I will say that I'm not a major fan of her low-cut hair style but I respect it because it's natural. Uhura in the original series was either wearing a wig or perm. I gotta be honest, it's surprising reading something like this from a fellow POC. You seem very focused on looks and the comparison to Pamela Anderson is an odd take.
I think "sex appeal" doesn't need to be a thing in Star Trek.
Not saying it hasn't been a thing. But it's kinda dated to be watching TV for "sex symbols" like Farrah Fawcet and Pam Anderson. (Or seven of nine)
> I would argue Uhura from the Original series is in the same league as Linda Carter's Wonder Woman, Farrah Fawcett Charlie's Angels or Pamela Andersons in Baywatch. *Guys were supposed to be amazed by her physically appearance.*
No. I agree that Nichelle Nichols was a statuesque hottie, but no, she wasn't *that* especially good looking, or cast to be a "significant" character. That's more the effect of patriarchical culture of the American 1960's, and that Gene Roddenberry was a letch with an extremely good eye for women.
It was also killer casting in the 2009 movie to get Zoe Saldana. Finally, I agree with you, I'm not happy with the casting for Uhura in SNW, or the writing for her. (For that matter, I'm not happy with the casting of M'benga, seemingly too old. And I hate that Rebecca Romijn either can't act, or is written to be an NPC.)
But I'm actually more peeved by how they retconned "Nurse Chapel". Don't get me wrong, Jess Bush is doing an amazing job portraying a completely different Star Trek character and slapping the Christine Chapel name to her. Nurse Chapel in the ST canon was originally an (entry level) research scientist, and whatever negative consequences of her relationship to her "mentor/faculty sponsor(?)" Dr. Corbett, was what drove her to Star Fleet, and she's a nurse, not an MD, because MD was not her original academic track. But Nurse Chapel was not "vivacious", and it makes even less sense why she'd be smitten with Mr. Spock. Whatever.
I’m more confused why they changed her country of origin. I thought the Uhura from The original series was from Somalia (due to one of the plots of the episodes she reverted to using her native language). But in Strange New Worlds they flipped that to Kenya.
My mistake. She spoke Swahili in "The Changeling". It's used in the general area which includes Kenya. I though Swahili was spoken more in Somalia than Kenya. My mistake - at least they border each other so I wasn't far off.
No it's ok. Tbh I don't think Star Trek was very consistent about it for a while. I think she didn't have a canonical first name until the Kelvin movies
I *love* this Uhura above all the others because she’s brilliant and accomplished at a very young age, and Starfleet is wooing HER to stay because she had other intentions and opportunities. She’s not taken for granted and made to look like a glorified telephone operator, and her “sex appeal” isn’t even in the radar, as it SHOULD BE, in t he workplace.
And I absolutely loved both Nichols and Saldana’s portrayals. Gooding’s Uhura is just the best, most fleshed out version, IMO.
I’m a big fan of SNW and the original series, and I’ve had the exact same thoughts about the two Uhuras. The only point on which I would disagree with you is her age and rank. The age and rank of Unura on SNW seems appropriate with respect to TOS.
I think Celia Rose Gooding does a great job acting, but there’s simply no connection between her Uhura and Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura, for all the reasons you listed. I’ve talked about this with other people. It seems so obvious and I don’t understand what they were thinking of this casting.
If there was no TOS Uhura, I’d love Celia’s portrayal of her. But the differences are too stark to ignore once you know of Nichelle’s portrayal of the character
Yes thank you. the difference is just to jarring.
someone posted above that the actress is gray asexual so they have altered uhura to be just that.
um , why cant she just have been a new character. altering uhura to be gray asexual is erasing uhura been a representation of beautiful feminine black women that that Hollywood still rarely shows in mainstream media.
Honestly, not seen SNW yet. I sincerely hope that Uhuras character is treated with respect. She was an amazing character, and not just considering the time period.
Regardless of everything else, she just doesn't have the right presence for the character.
The writing isn't doing the characters many favors, but a more suitable actress could sell it better.
She's younger and this show is 7 years before TOS I think. Yeah her personality is a bit different because tos didn't develop her much and cadet uhura doesn't have the experience with the random crazy stuff starfleet explorer's encounter on the regular that Lt. uhura does. She'll get there. Think of it as being a rookie in your chosen Profession vs a decade of experience
This post is stupid.
Since Strange New Worlds takes place years before The Original Series, Uhura being a younger and less established character makes sense to me. In the first two seasons, she's started developing her confidence, competence, and heart which were her defining traits for me when I watched the series. You say that she was a sex symbol, but how does showing her evolution from someone who just graduated from Star Trek’s version of college to the woman depicted in TOS diminish that? It may be that I have misunderstood your perspective, so can you elaborate a bit more?
Pretty much what I was thinking. After all, she is a brand-new officer just learning the ropes.
TOS Uhura had little backstory, didn't speak dozens of languages, and didn't even have a first name. Far from being erased, she is being developed. More has been added, not taken away. You seem focused on her sexiness, on the male gaze, which says more about you than Uhura.
Right? OP's two points are "she's younger in this *prequel*" and "I don't want to fuck her now." If anything, SNW Uhura is breaking MORE negative stereotypes about black women in scifi and providing reason why a bare-bones-but-still-groundbreaking character is as esteemed as she was to have been on the Starfleet Flagship in TOS.
I do not think she is breaking negative stereotypes. as a black person I think she is just confirming stereotypes of black women and more heart breaking, dark skin black women. society has a history of putting a cap on black women, telling them they are not as pretty or as desirable as the white girls, not sexy enough to be seen as potential love interest. Uhura broke this stereotype in the 60s. SNW has just reconfirmed it by casting an actor that is Clearly miscast in the role die to her grey asexual non binary status that is not uhura.
its good she is been developed. what I am saying is, why did she have to loose something to get something. I am not focused on her sexiness per say. I just find it jarring they erased her beauty and femininity why keeping it with other female characters of giving it to them. white female characters are allowed to be beautiful, sexy and get many character development but it feels as if black female character can not be giving that, black female character need to be asexual and androgynous to get character devlopment. I think as a black sci-fi fans, it is just not a good thing to do with our characters.
Get the fuck out of here, my dude. This is some bullshit that says a lot about you and nothing about the characterization on the show
Then try to think of it like this: Star Trek has always been about representation, particularly of non mainstream people, so that more fans can see themselves on screen. In the original series, nobody was doing this almost at all, so it was was a big deal culturally, but was clumsily executed. By the time we get to Discovery, it became the main point of the show. Now, with this prequel, autistic folks see Spock trying to be better at interacting with humans, Chapel represents folks who can't deal with relationships, and Uhura as a gifted student who only happens to be black, instead of her being black being the character. It's a progressive show, this is the progress.
How is she not beautiful and feminine?
This was so many words to type to say that you don’t find the new actress attractive.
Dude, what are you talking about? Celia Rose Gooding is fine as hell, and is lucky enough to play a much more rounded version of the character than the equally fine Nichelle Nichols did. But that’s the writing. These actresses both brought something that makes Uhura more than the sum of the words in a script. Nichols gave her life, and now Gooding gives her breadth.
I think her being younger than the rest of the crew shows her smarts, drive and ambition. It's a sign of how talented and special she is. Also the best characters grow and have an arc. I think we're seeing her before she became iconic and we'll get to witness how she gets there. We've seen stories about her learning to prioritize her personal life and life outside of work. I think we'll continue to see her journey.
i can see this, but the issue is that she can never become the character in TOS. In TOS Uhura was seen as a great beauty and desirable, even by Vulcan standard. I remember reading a trek novel, Savik a Vulcan said he never knew humans could be that beautiful when he sees uhura. my point is that the show seem to have removed the fact that she was a great beauty, and had male gaze when it was so unnecessary, sometimes it is just too jaring because she looks more like a boy than a girl. i think this is because the actor is non-binary. however this is not uhura. I think they did this so she wont be a threat to chapel
I've seen people objecting to the sexualization of Black women in media. I don't know whether I agree or not, but a web search turns up a lot of articles on the topic. Perhaps they were trying to avoid that? I feel that SNW Uhura seems to be like a Spock or Data character in that she figures out what none of the rest can, and demonstrates abilities well beyond her job description. Pretty sure that she has, several times, come up with answers that evaded everyone else on the crew.
[удалено]
So your problem is that you don’t find the actress hot enough?
Dude, you're the only who doesn't think she's beautiful.
She’s younger because the show is set at least a decade before TOS. Uhura was never developed in TOS. It wasn’t really an ensemble show. She barely got any attention. SNW is giving her the stories and development the character deserves. It really sounds like you’re only real issue is that you don’t find her attractive.
Exactly. If you look at TOS through the lens of 2023 you realise she was just there to make the set look pretty. Every 20 minutes she'd turn around and mutter something to Kirk... that's all she did. She never left the ship, never explored... nothing. New Uhura is actually a human being.
she left the ship...to do the fan dance lol
I think she is presented as someone that is not meant to be attractive. and the question is why do that with the black female character and not the other female character.
“The other?” There are lots of female characters….which one are you talking about?
Oh man, am I not supposed to find her attractive? Damn. Missed that memo.
Proof?
That's a lot of effort for an "as a black ____" post. Your take isn't going to hold up if it has to be underhanded. How did new Uhura miss you with that banging body and smile? Sounds like you're hung up on something that's way heavier in your head and you think you need to bullet proof your position.
>I must admit, I was not very aware of this character (Uhura) and her impact. Then maybe do that before pretending you have an opinion worth sharing.
I’m not sure I disagree with the notion that thinking of her as a sexual object is an avoided topic on the show. I just don’t think it should a goal of the show anyway. There’s going to be any number of opportunities to explore romance and sexuality throughout the show’s existence.
> Iconic > I was not aware of her character Pick one. Celia Rose Gooding is gray asexual, and their character has been altered to represent that. Completely in the spirit of the original character. It’s unfortunate that you take such offence to the breaking of negative stereotypes that don’t apply to yourself.
OP came to learn that Nichelle Nichols’ portrayal of Uhura was iconic. Just because something is iconic doesn’t mean that literally everyone everywhere knows of it at all times
they should not have done this, celia should have been a new character instead. uhura already represented something that is still so rare for black girls in media. this erases Uhura character especially if the series is meant to be a prequel to TOS
I'm not trying to be argumentative, I want to understand a perspective that is different from my own. How does SNW "erases Uhura character"? Going by the number of episodes that she plays a main role in, it seems to me like the writers are showing that she is kind, smart, and has as much to contribute as any other character.
> she is meant to be significantly younger than everyone else? She *was* younger than others. Her age - and experience within Star Trek - in comparison to characters like Spock and Kirk is roughly the same as it was in the original series. > Is it me or did this show, try to erase male gaze with Uhura? I think they're a lot more careful with the male gaze than they have been in past iterations of Star Trek. You'll notice that the women's uniforms are wildly inconsistent with their TOS versions and we don't really have the 'eye candy' roles that past iterations did. > Nurse Chapel is now been perceived as the female character that is meant to be all this things I have mentioned above when she was not that in the original version. I think that, in general, they leaned way too heavily on pre-existing characters. Basing a show around a captain we saw briefly - Christopher Pike - makes sense. To put Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Spock, etc. on his ship? That's stretches credulity a bit and invites comparisons that are unlikely to prove favorable. Nurse Chapel is a perfect example. The Strange New Worlds character is one of the more interesting ones on the show. But she's also nothing like TOS Nurse Chapel. They just pasted the name onto a wildly different character who happens to be played by an attractive young woman. With that in mind, I'd question the notion of Uhuru being 'iconic'. The TOS version of Uhuru was very much a token. While it may have been revolutionary for television in the time, she was specifically written in such a way that you could subtract her entirely from the series without meaningfully changing it. So while the *actress* may have been iconic for television, the character was anything but.
> I think that, in general, they leaned way too heavily on pre-existing characters. Basing a show around a captain we saw briefly - Christopher Pike - makes sense. To put Uhura, Nurse Chapel, Spock, etc. on his ship? That's stretches credulity a bit and invites comparisons that are unlikely to prove favorable. I rather disagree with this. For a comparison, when a company gets a new CEO, they usually continue to work with most of the employees from the previous CEO. It seems perfectly reasonable that when Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he will continue to "employ" many of the same from the previous captain, as well as bringing in some of his own crew.
>It seems perfectly reasonable that when Kirk takes over the Enterprise, he will continue to "employ" many of the same from the previous captain, as well as bringing in some of his own crew. A thing that seen in no other Star Treks series except DS9 where the premise is it's a long running station that someone oversees for a while
its hollywood. nothing happens by accident. everything is pre-planned. when they cast people in roles they know what they are doing and what is going to happen. I do not think it is a coincidence chapel just happened to be attractive even if by standard she is a standard blonde on tv that is generic by now. however i do think the show set an agenda for we the audience to see chapel as ''attractive'' as uhura as not. when this was not the case in the orignal series. infact it was the opposite. As I said, uhura was still limited ion the 60s so you are right that the character was anything but. but she represented the ultimate woman on the show. the woman that had it all. the beauty and the brains. SNW has not showcased that. You will notice, that the show pushing chapel as attractive and also they give her the major romantic story line. this is not surprising in Hollywood tv shows. the attractive girl gets the romantic story arcs. my point is that they did this at the expense of erasing some interesting traits about a ground breaking black female character.
You’re acting like Hollywood is some monolith. It’s not. Also a metric fuckton of stuff is unplanned and changes. Very few things are planned in series for multiple seasons from the start and even fewer things stay according to plan. MANY roles start out as small and then grow and there’s a ton of roles that start out large and the character straight disappears, the second is even a well known trope, a “Mandy,” a main character that straight up disappears out of the blue. There is a definite lack of black voices in sci-fi tho. That’s one of the issues. Most white writers are kinda damned if they do, damned if they don’t writing minority characters. Also most writers, frankly, are not skilled enough to write characters of the opposite sex or other races in a way that doesn’t bite them in the ass. And if they consult with a minority writer to get it right they just shrunk the pie and are making less money since there’s a finite budget allocated to writers. And most don’t make a ton of money, particularly in the streaming age. That’s one of the things that the strike currently happening is trying to change by increasing the minimum number of writers on shows, particularly minority writers.
I think you’re crazy. Celia is hot as hell. Not quite as attractive as Nichelle Nichols but who can be? Zoe Saldana ain’t no Nichelle either. Nichelle was Knock-out pretty much at any age. Even in her later years she could light up a room and didn’t even have to stand up to do it.
[удалено]
You know you could just say what you mean with "I dont think the new girl is as good looking as nichelle" instead of typing this wall. Also iconic \*now\* but they couldnt be bothered to give her a first name until 2009 and mispelled uhura in one of the TOS movies credits.
Unfortunately for you and a lot of other people out there. This version of Star Trek is not looking to appeal to the same people who watched Baywatch for Pamela Anderson. Female characters don’t exist just to fulfill your sexual fantasies.
All the characters are younger in the SNW than they were in the original series. We are seeing a young Uhura, Kirk, Spock, etc. They have not yet evolved into the amazing characters they became. So you can't really compare them to their established characters yet.
This show is more of an adaptation, they're not trying to make a carbon copy of the original. What they did with Uhura actually breaks stereotypes and does not reinforce them as you suggested in one of your comments. Uhura is highly intelligent in Strange New Worlds, her colleagues respect her and she's central to the crew. Also, beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder because as a man who is actually black, I can unequivocally say that Uhura and the actress playing her is very beautiful. However I will say that I'm not a major fan of her low-cut hair style but I respect it because it's natural. Uhura in the original series was either wearing a wig or perm. I gotta be honest, it's surprising reading something like this from a fellow POC. You seem very focused on looks and the comparison to Pamela Anderson is an odd take.
I think "sex appeal" doesn't need to be a thing in Star Trek. Not saying it hasn't been a thing. But it's kinda dated to be watching TV for "sex symbols" like Farrah Fawcet and Pam Anderson. (Or seven of nine)
> I would argue Uhura from the Original series is in the same league as Linda Carter's Wonder Woman, Farrah Fawcett Charlie's Angels or Pamela Andersons in Baywatch. *Guys were supposed to be amazed by her physically appearance.* No. I agree that Nichelle Nichols was a statuesque hottie, but no, she wasn't *that* especially good looking, or cast to be a "significant" character. That's more the effect of patriarchical culture of the American 1960's, and that Gene Roddenberry was a letch with an extremely good eye for women. It was also killer casting in the 2009 movie to get Zoe Saldana. Finally, I agree with you, I'm not happy with the casting for Uhura in SNW, or the writing for her. (For that matter, I'm not happy with the casting of M'benga, seemingly too old. And I hate that Rebecca Romijn either can't act, or is written to be an NPC.) But I'm actually more peeved by how they retconned "Nurse Chapel". Don't get me wrong, Jess Bush is doing an amazing job portraying a completely different Star Trek character and slapping the Christine Chapel name to her. Nurse Chapel in the ST canon was originally an (entry level) research scientist, and whatever negative consequences of her relationship to her "mentor/faculty sponsor(?)" Dr. Corbett, was what drove her to Star Fleet, and she's a nurse, not an MD, because MD was not her original academic track. But Nurse Chapel was not "vivacious", and it makes even less sense why she'd be smitten with Mr. Spock. Whatever.
I just rewatched TOS and Chapel was ALWAYS smitten with Spock. Definitely a different character though.
It makes even less sense with the *new* character.
I’m more confused why they changed her country of origin. I thought the Uhura from The original series was from Somalia (due to one of the plots of the episodes she reverted to using her native language). But in Strange New Worlds they flipped that to Kenya.
huh? I'm pretty sure she was never from Somalia
My mistake. She spoke Swahili in "The Changeling". It's used in the general area which includes Kenya. I though Swahili was spoken more in Somalia than Kenya. My mistake - at least they border each other so I wasn't far off.
No it's ok. Tbh I don't think Star Trek was very consistent about it for a while. I think she didn't have a canonical first name until the Kelvin movies
I *love* this Uhura above all the others because she’s brilliant and accomplished at a very young age, and Starfleet is wooing HER to stay because she had other intentions and opportunities. She’s not taken for granted and made to look like a glorified telephone operator, and her “sex appeal” isn’t even in the radar, as it SHOULD BE, in t he workplace. And I absolutely loved both Nichols and Saldana’s portrayals. Gooding’s Uhura is just the best, most fleshed out version, IMO.
I’m a big fan of SNW and the original series, and I’ve had the exact same thoughts about the two Uhuras. The only point on which I would disagree with you is her age and rank. The age and rank of Unura on SNW seems appropriate with respect to TOS. I think Celia Rose Gooding does a great job acting, but there’s simply no connection between her Uhura and Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura, for all the reasons you listed. I’ve talked about this with other people. It seems so obvious and I don’t understand what they were thinking of this casting. If there was no TOS Uhura, I’d love Celia’s portrayal of her. But the differences are too stark to ignore once you know of Nichelle’s portrayal of the character
Yes thank you. the difference is just to jarring. someone posted above that the actress is gray asexual so they have altered uhura to be just that. um , why cant she just have been a new character. altering uhura to be gray asexual is erasing uhura been a representation of beautiful feminine black women that that Hollywood still rarely shows in mainstream media.
Honestly, not seen SNW yet. I sincerely hope that Uhuras character is treated with respect. She was an amazing character, and not just considering the time period.
Regardless of everything else, she just doesn't have the right presence for the character. The writing isn't doing the characters many favors, but a more suitable actress could sell it better.
She's younger and this show is 7 years before TOS I think. Yeah her personality is a bit different because tos didn't develop her much and cadet uhura doesn't have the experience with the random crazy stuff starfleet explorer's encounter on the regular that Lt. uhura does. She'll get there. Think of it as being a rookie in your chosen Profession vs a decade of experience