Comments on: MLK Talked Nichelle Nichols Out Of Quitting “Star Trek”

By: Hal O'Brien

Hal O'Brien — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:39:34 +0000

“Oh, good. Genre policing. Just what every really productive and interesting discussion needs.”

Especially when they’re ignorant enough of the genre to use “scifi” without irony, and without being Forrest J Ackerman.

Policing is bad enough. Policing after flunking out of the academy is just sad.

By: Alexandra Erin

Alexandra Erin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:41:58 +0000

To put the “regular cast member” clarification in context: Lt. Uhuru was on the bridge crew, in the direct chain of command. Her role might have seemed “subservient” by comparison, she might have been stuck wearing a Space Miniskirt Of The Future, but there’s a big difference between saying “In The Future, little girls can grow up to be nurses on a spaceship!” and saying “In The Future, little girls can be officers on a starship, personally tasked with operating a complex and important piece of machinery.”

The original Star Trek was social science fiction. Much of classic science fiction is, when you get right down to it. Asimov knew that “positronic brain” didn’t actually mean anything beyond sounding cool. He wasn’t actually predicting his particular vision of robots coming back. He was writing about humanity’s relationship with technology and how he would see that changed for the better, if he had his way. That’s great. By the same token, Star Trek wasn’t about spaceships and phasers…. it was about humanity’s relationship with humanity.

Yes, they posited that in the future the entire planet would speak English. Yes, the Caucasian “ethnic” characters gave into cliches. Yes, they had a Russian bridge crew member to show how the West and East would one day learn to play nice while using Klingons as surrogate Cossacks.

It wasn’t perfect. It was still groundbreaking, and it deserves recognition. Bravo to Nichelle Nichols, for carrying off her part of it with such class.

By: Krupskaya

Krupskaya — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:39:27 +0000

And when I said “Norris,” I of course meant “Nichols”. Sheesh.

By: Mandolin

Mandolin — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:37:08 +0000

“that might be because you’re mistaking Star Trek for scifi. it’s a plain utopian fantasy fiction with delusions of science in it; no more scifi than Star Wars is.”

Oh, good. Genre policing. Just what every really productive and interesting discussion needs.

By: Nomen Nescio

Nomen Nescio — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:09:37 +0000

I’ve been told “I don’t get science fiction” whenever I talk about how great shows like Star Trek is.

that might be because you’re mistaking Star Trek for scifi. it’s a plain utopian fantasy fiction with delusions of science in it; no more scifi than Star Wars is.

FWIW, i honestly don’t think any decent SF tv series has ever been filmed, unless maybe it was Babylon 5. let’s not start talking “scifi” movies, because that’d just make me sad.

(well, okay, we can call Trek and Wars “scifi”, provided i get to lump them very solidly within Sturgeon’s ninety percent. otherwise, no.)

By: Krupskaya

Krupskaya — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:28:27 +0000

Ohhhh, also a good one. “Sorry, neither” is heard often Chez Krup.

By: Crys T

Crys T — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:54:22 +0000

My favourite Uhura quote was always from when Sulu wigs out and comes onto the bridge with a sword, grabs Uhura and says something along the lines of, “I’ll protect you, Fair Maiden,” whereupon she shoves him away and replies, “Sorry, neither.”

By: Krupskaya

Krupskaya — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:53:43 +0000

About 10 years ago, the SciFi channel aired all the Star Trek shows, one a night, for weeks. During the commercial breaks, they showed some of the actors talking about their experiences, and Norris told this story. I was blown away. I also wouldn’t necessarily say she was flat-out subservient — I mean, she’s an officer.

She also has the best quote, which I’ve noted before on this blog, from “Mirror, Mirror”: “You are away from your post, mister.”

By: Jha

Jha — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:48:41 +0000

I’ve been told “I don’t get science fiction” whenever I talk about how great shows like Star Trek is. I find it difficult to explain that it’s not just about spaceships and exploration, but also about the vision for an ethnically diverse future which still maintains equality.

Thanks for sharing!

By: Daisy

Daisy — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:27:25 +0000

I didn’t think she was a token at all–us little girls all thought she was great. We all wanted the job!

By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:25:07 +0000

Unfortunately, I have no idea.

By: Molly, NYC

Molly, NYC — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:21:35 +0000

This is charming (and not in the ironic sense). Do you have any idea when/where/for what occasion it was made?

By: allison

allison — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:06:15 +0000

I recently gave my husband the DVDs of the original series of Star Trek and I was quite astonished by how multicultural the cast was. In three of the first four epsiodes: “The Man Trap”, “Charlie , and “The Naked Time”, both Uhuru and Sulu had fairly major roles. There were also several random crew members, including the obligatory “unnamed crewman” who were more ethnically diverse. In contrast, in the second pilot episode (the third one aired) “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the cast was nearly entirely white., as it is in “The Menagerie”. I was impressed with the obvious effort Roddenberry had made to create an ethnically diverse crew. Unfortunately, as the series continued and writers became enamoured of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy combination, the secondary cast members (largely the minority actors) had less and less to do. But Roddenberry still continued to cast minorities as extras and in smaller roles. When you consider the usual face of television (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966-67_American_n…) at the time- it was a significant accomplishment.

By: A.J. Luxton

A.J. Luxton — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:37:50 +0000

I remember reading about that pep talk in her autobiography! Which is quite something and I highly recommend it. At least, it’s been about ten years since I read it, but I remember it being quite good. Insight, humor, and frank narrative.

By: acm

acm — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:39:50 +0000

what was the occasion of this speech?

By: Silenced is Foo

Silenced is Foo — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:14:10 +0000

To give you an idea of how groundbreaking this was: the original pilot of the show (footage from which was used in The Menagerie) had a slightly different cast. In particular, Spock was two characters - the alien science officer Spock (who had nothing to do with logic) and the hyper-intelligent/logical female first-officer who was only known as Number One.

Apparently, NBC didn’t think the audiences could handle Rodenberry’s ideas of having a woman and an alien as commanding officers. So Number One and Spock got rolled into a single character, leaving Uhura as the only female character in the main cast.

By: Hungry Blues › Lieutenant Uhura and Doctor King

Hungry Blues › Lieutenant Uhura and Doctor King — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:27:26 +0000

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By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:10:30 +0000

I should have said “regular cast member,” not just “cast member”; it didn’t occur to me that people would have trouble understanding what I meant (“Because you’re a dick,” Kevin says to me). Majel Barrett and Grace Lee Whitney played recurring characters, but they weren’t regular cast members.

I guess you could argue that Whitney was, technically, a regular cast member; but since she was fired after eight episodes and didn’t appear again until the movies, I don’t think she entirely counts.

By: Daran

Daran — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:25:13 +0000

How about “only memorable woman cast member”.

By: Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:37:22 +0000

Should be “only Black woman cast member.” But otherwise, quite right, Barry.