uhura on star trek

Nyota Uhura

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Nyota Uhura was a female Human Starfleet officer who served from the mid- 23rd through the early 24th century . Uhura had a distinguished career as a communications officer aboard the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise -A and was later given command of the USS Leondegrance until her retirement . ( Star Trek: The Original Series ; Star Trek: The Animated Series ; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ; PIC : " The Star Gazer " commemorative plaque )

• 1 Childhood
• 2.1 USS Gallant
• 2.2.1 Captaincy of Christopher Pike
• 2.2.2.1 2266
• 2.2.2.2 2267
• 2.2.2.3 2268
• 2.2.2.4 2269
• 2.2.2.5 2270
• 2.2.3 Captaincy of Will Decker
• 2.2.4 Captaincy of Spock
• 2.3 USS Enterprise -A
• 2.4 USS Leondegrance
• 3.1 First Contact Day Party
• 3.2 Malfunctioning holoprogram
• 3.3 Jam session on the bridge
• 4.1 Interests
• 4.2 Talents
• 4.3.1 Dal R'El's Kobayashi Maru
• 5.2 Montgomery Scott
• 6.1 Romulans revealed in 2266
• 6.2 UEF Enterprise
• 7 Key dates
• 8.1 Appearances
• 8.2.1 Identifying appearances
• 8.2.2 Name and heritage
• 8.2.3 Establishing the role
• 8.2.4 Legacy
• 8.3 Apocrypha
• 8.4 Sources
• 8.5 External links

Childhood [ ]

Uhura appearing as she would as a child

Nyota Uhura was born in 2237 in Kenya on the continent of Africa on Earth , where she grew up in a village near Lake Simbi Nyaima . ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain "; SNW : " Children of the Comet ", " Those Old Scientists ") She had an aptitude for mathematics and languages. By 2259 , Uhura was fluent in 37 languages, including Andorian , Vulcan , and Swahili as well as 21 other languages spoken in Kenya. ( TOS : " The Man Trap ", " The Changeling ", " Spectre of the Gun "; SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

During her youth, she was able to run the hundred meter dash in record time . ( TAS : " The Slaver Weapon ")

Uhura's family photo

Uhura originally intended to attend the University of Nairobi , where both her parents were teachers . However, shortly before the beginning of her studies, her parents and brother were killed in a shuttle accident . She abandoned her original plans as attending the campus was too painful for her. Uhura went to live with her grandmother – who had herself served in Starfleet during her youth – and later followed in her grandmother's footsteps by attending Starfleet Academy . ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ", " Lost in Translation ")

Starfleet career [ ]

While at the Academy, Uhura wrote three papers about famed linguist Hoshi Sato of the Enterprise NX-01 . ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists ")

USS Gallant [ ]

Uhura would serve aboard the USS Gallant prior to her assignment to the USS Enterprise as a cadet . For Starfleet Remembrance Day in 2259 , she wore a pin memorializing the crewmates she had lost from this ship. ( SNW : " Memento Mori ")

USS Enterprise [ ]

Captaincy of christopher pike [ ].

Cadet Uhura's first Starfleet assignment on space duty began in 2259 when she was assigned to the USS Enterprise on communications rotation duty under Captain Christopher Pike , who described her as a " prodigy ". ( SNW : " Strange New Worlds ") In spite of this, she was concerned about whether Starfleet was the right choice for her and if she could handle the duties required of her. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

Her first away mission occurred shortly thereafter, when she landed on the comet C/2260-Quentin along with Spock , La'an Noonien-Singh , and George Samuel Kirk , in an effort to prevent the comet's collision with the planet Persephone III . She was assigned to the away team due to the discovery of an artificial structure within the comet; it was hoped that her knowledge of linguistics , like Kirk's expertise in xenoanthropology , would assist in understanding its nature and averting the threat. After Kirk was severely injured and the away team was trapped, Uhura was called upon to decipher the markings on the surface of an egg-like object within the structure. Despite her misgivings and insecurity in the dangerous situation, she was inspired by a pep talk from Spock to rise to the occasion. When she hummed the Kenyan traditional song Vamuvamba as she worked, the away team realized that the structure was responding to her music . She then used her musical talent to attempt to communicate with it. After the mission, she analyzed the structure's musical response and discovered that it had precognitive ability. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

The Enterprise 's chief engineer, Hemmer , would take Uhura under his wing and question her about her path in life – a question she didn't have an answer for. He reminded her of his late father, who had also pushed her to see things differently. ( SNW : " Memento Mori ", " All Those Who Wander ")

While assigned to Lieutenant La'an Noonien-Singh she impressed the strict chief of security with her diligence and ingenuity. ( SNW : , " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach ")

When an alien consciousness from the Jonisian Nebula brought the fairy tale The Kingdom of Elysian to life on the Enterprise , Uhura was used for the character of Queen Neve . Uhura didn't remember the events after the ship was returned to normal. ( SNW : " The Elysian Kingdom ")

When Uhura's assignment on the Enterprise was nearing its end, she was still unsure if she should remain in Starfleet or not. She was then part of a mission to the USS Peregrine , which had made a crash landing on Valeo Beta V and was confronted by young Gorn who hunted the landing party. When Hemmer was infected by Gorn eggs and sacrificed himself for his comrades, he encouraged Uhura to open herself up to others and remain in Starfleet.

At his funeral, she acknowledged how much Hemmer meant to her and by guiding her, he had succeeded in his life goal of "fixing what was broken". ( SNW : " All Those Who Wander ")

Ensign Uhura

In the months that followed, Uhura graduated from the Academy and was commissioned as an ensign and continued to serve aboard the Enterprise . ( SNW : " The Broken Circle ")

During the Enterprise mission to the Brannon's Nebula , Uhura was contacted by a newly discovered species of extragalactic lifeform that lived there. ( SNW : " Lost in Translation ")

Sometime early in her career she once performed the delicate work of rigging a subspace bypass circuit , a fact she noted years later when she attempted to perform such a task aboard the Enterprise . ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")

Captaincy of James Kirk [ ]

After Pike's promotion to fleet captain , Captain James T. Kirk assumed command of the Enterprise in 2265 , with Uhura remaining for the transition. In the years that followed, she proved to be a proficient technician and was considered by Captain Kirk to be a capable and reliable bridge officer , manning the helm , navigation , and main science station when the need arose. ( TOS : " The Man Trap ", " The Naked Time ", " Balance of Terror ", " The Galileo Seven ", " Whom Gods Destroy ")

Lieutenant Uhura in 2266

In 2266 , Lieutenant Uhura was a command division staff officer aboard the USS Enterprise . She was the department head of the communications section . ( TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ", " Mudd's Women ")

Later that year, Uhura permanently transferred to the operations division .

On stardate 1672.1, before taking a brief on-board ship sabbatical, Uhura's voice was heard ship wide reminding her fellow crew members to file their accurate " time sheets via the communications department." ( TOS : " The Enemy Within ")

Uhura taken under the "protection" of Sulu in 2266

On stardate 1704.2, Enterprise navigator Lieutenant Kevin Riley , while under the influence of the Psi 2000 polywater intoxication , left his post at navigation and Commander Spock assigned her to the station until Lieutenant Brent relieved her from that duty later the same day.

On stardate 1704.3, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu , also under the influence of the polywater intoxication, fantasizing himself a musketeer, took Uhura under his "protection" before first officer Spock subdued him with a Vulcan nerve pinch . ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Uhura loses her singing voice

On stardate 1533.7, Uhura was singing in the crew lounge with Spock's Vulcan lyre accompanying her for a song she made up about Charlie Evans , " Oh, On the Starship Enterprise ", when Charlie suddenly decided to literally take away Uhura's voice and stop Spock from playing the Vulcan lyre, because he wanted undivided attention from his love interest, Yeoman Janice Rand . Uhura then nearly choked on her own voice.

Uhura's communication console explodes

On stardate 1535.8, to keep Uhura from opening hailing frequencies to Starfleet Command to warn them about Charlie, Charlie caused electrical sparks to emit from the communications console, giving her second degree burns on her hands and causing her fall to the floor near her station. Fortunately, Dr. McCoy came with a medical bag and ointment for her hands. Charlie was ultimately taken from the Enterprise by the Thasians, who returned him to their homeworld. ( TOS : " Charlie X ")

On stardate 1709.1, Uhura also took over the navigation post when Lieutenant Stiles was needed elsewhere on the ship during the confrontation with the Romulans near the Neutral Zone . ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

Uhura, as acting science officer, discovers a Class M planet

In 2267 , from stardate 2821.5 to 2823.1, while the Enterprise shuttlecraft Galileo was studying the Murasaki 312 quasar , it was lost and then crashed on an uncharted planet . Because Spock was the commander of that mission and was not on the Enterprise , Uhura took lead in the search for the missing Galileo and took over at the bridge 's science station, as well as still helping at communications relieving Lieutenant Brent at sciences. Uhura discovered the planet Taurus II that the Galileo had crashed on. After Spock and the four other surviving crew members were found and rescued, Uhura was happy to allow Spock the science station back under his command. ( TOS : " The Galileo Seven ")

She was one of a few officers privileged to dine at a banquet arranged at the request of Lieutenant Marla McGivers for Khan Noonien Singh on stardate 3141.9.

When Khan later cut life support to the bridge, Kirk listed the names of bridge personnel to be recorded for commendations . Before Kirk ran out of air, he was able to include Uhura in that list.

Afterwards, Uhura was assembled along with several officers in the briefing room , when one of Khan's henchmen forcefully grabbed Uhura by the arm and shoved her into a chair located in front of a computer terminal. When Uhura resisted obeying Khan's orders, the henchman slapped Uhura across the face. ( TOS : " Space Seed ")

On stardate 3417.4, Uhura, under the influence of pod plant spores from the planet Omicron Ceti III , disobeyed direct orders from Captain Kirk, for the first and only time, and disabled the communications console aboard the Enterprise to only allow communications between the ship and the planet. She then left her post and her ship, to join other crew members on Omicron Ceti III. When Uhura was freed of the influence of the spores, she re-enabled the communications console to normal. ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Uhura as part of landing party that discovered the Guardian of Forever

Later that year, Uhura was part of the landing party that beamed down to the Guardian of Forever planet to find Dr. Leonard McCoy , who was in a wild state of mind due to an accidental overdose of cordrazine . Uhura was the first one of the landing party to notice that they had lost contact with the Enterprise . This was due to the fact that Dr. McCoy had run into the Guardian of Forever altering the timeline and erasing the Enterprise and everything the landing party knew becoming nonexistent. This was the only time where Uhura actually admitted to someone, specifically Captain Kirk, that she was truly frightened (without being under an influence of an alien force taking control of her mind). Fortunately after Kirk and Spock went through the Guardian of Forever and then came back from the past with Dr. McCoy they restored the time line and the existence of the Enterprise . ( TOS : " The City on the Edge of Forever ")

Uhura rewiring the communication circuits

Following a communications blackout caused by Apollo , jamming all communication frequencies between the Enterprise and her landing party on stardate 3468.1, Uhura attempted the delicate task of rewiring the entire communications system in an attempt to break through the interference. In conjunction with Sulu's rigging of all transmission circuits for maximum power generation, Uhura successfully connected the bypass circuit, a task she had not done in several years. Spock praised her work and could think of "no one better equipped" to handle the necessary repairs. ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")

Uhura having her memories erased by the probe Nomad

Perhaps Uhura's most traumatic experience during her time aboard the Enterprise occurred on stardate 3541.9. On this date, Uhura had her memory wiped out by the space probe Nomad , which misinterpreted her singing of " Beyond Antares " as a biological malfunction. This assault required Dr. McCoy to use advanced medical and educational techniques to restore her memories. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

Uhura distracts the mirror universe Sulu

Later, Kirk, McCoy, and Montgomery Scott relied heavily on Uhura to help them after a transporter accident caused the four of them to be trapped in a violent and ruthless mirror universe run by the Terran Empire . They relied heavily on Uhura for her skills at communications and to distract the parallel universe's Lieutenant Sulu , the head of security on the ISS Enterprise , by spurning him, flirting with him and then spurning him, again, so he would not see what the four of them were doing to get back to their universe, which successfully they did. ( TOS : " Mirror, Mirror ")

Near the end of 2267, Uhura was reluctant to testify against Kirk, at an on-board hearing in the briefing room , but was forced to do so and could unfortunately only agree with Commodore Stocker that when Kirk was suffering from the rapid aging he was not anywhere near his best. This unfortunate incident for Uhura started on stardate 3479.4 when Kirk ordered Uhura to send a coded message to Starfleet and to use code 2 since the Enterprise in orbit around Gamma Hydra IV was close to the Romulan Neutral Zone. When Uhura reminded Kirk that the Romulans had already broken code 2, a befuddled Kirk ordered her to use code 3 and to relay the information about the rogue comet that Spock (also suffering the rapid aging) had discovered earlier and that was strongly suspected may have spread the radiation that started the rapid aging. Luckily for Uhura, the rest of the crew, and the Enterprise , McCoy (also suffering from the rapid aging) discovered an adrenaline based cure for the rapid aging before Stocker nearly got the ship destroyed by the Romulans. ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

Uhura with Harcourt Fenton Mudd

In 2268 , on stardate 4513.3, the ship was hijacked by Norman to a previously undiscovered planet, the Enterprise 's crew discovered that Harcourt Fenton Mudd had crashed on the planet. The planet was populated by androids , from the Andromeda Galaxy , who wished to use the Enterprise to visit other planets and strand the Enterprise crew there. The androids tempted Uhura with long life and to never grow old by having her consciousness transferred to an android body, offering her virtual immortality. In the end, the crew banded together and escaped the planet, leaving Mudd with five hundred android replicas of his overbearing wife, Stella . ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

Uhura giving away tribbles

On stardate 4523.3, while on shore leave aboard Deep Space Station K-7 , Uhura met a dealer named Cyrano Jones , who tried to sell rare galactic items, among them, furry little creatures Jones called tribbles . In hopes of more sales, Jones gave one to Uhura, which subsequently, due to their high reproduction rate, threatened to overrun the Enterprise when Uhura took the creature with her on board. Fortunately, the crew was able to find a way to dispose of the tribbles in a humane way. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

From stardate 4040.7 to 4041.7, during the Enterprise 's mission to Planet 892-IV , Uhura monitored the radio broadcasts , she explained to Kirk and Spock what they had misheard as " sun worship " was actually "son worship", as in the " Son of God ", and what they were witnessing was the equivalent of that planet's birth of Christianity . ( TOS : " Bread and Circuses ")

On stardate 3211.8, Uhura was the victim of an attempted sexual assault . When she, Kirk, and Chekov were kidnapped and imprisoned by the Providers of the planet Triskelion , Uhura fought off the advances of the drill thrall Lars with a water pitcher. ( TOS : " The Gamesters of Triskelion ")

When the Enterprise encountered a giant space amoeba in 2268, Lt. Uhura was one of the officers named by Captain Kirk as deserving of "special citation", along with Cmdr. Spock, Montgomery Scott, Dr. Leonard McCoy, Pavel Chekov, and Lt. Kyle . ( TOS : " The Immunity Syndrome ")

In 2268 on stardate 4657.5, Uhura was on the bridge when the Kelvan Hanar suddenly transported himself on to the bridge. Uhura, along with the rest of the bridge crew, was put into temporary stasis by Hanar. This was when the Kelvan Milky Way Expedition attempted to hijack the Enterprise to return to their homeworld in the Andromeda Galaxy. On stardate 4658.9, Kelvan leader Rojan neutralized and reduced Uhura into a dehydrated porous cuboctahedron solid , the size of a Human fist, composed of Uhura's base minerals which represented the "distilled" essence of her being. Uhura was considered by the Kelvans as one of many non-essential members of personnel. Uhura was reconstituted after Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty, the only four crew members not neutralized, regained control of the Enterprise . ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")

On stardate 4770.3, the essence of the alien Henoch , in possession of Spock's body, terrorized the whole bridge crew, inflicting tremendous pain on Uhura with a flick of Spock's hand. Uhura managed to survive and rose above the pain inflicted by Henoch. ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ")

When the Enterprise was temporarily placed under the control of the M-5 multitronic unit as part of an experiment by Doctor Richard Daystrom on stardate 4729.4, Uhura was one of twenty officers selected by the computer to operate the starship during the series of M-5 drills . Most of her duties were accomplished by M-5, and when its became clear that the unit was becoming increasingly dangerous, she was unable to override the interference it caused, but was able to tap into the communiques between Starfleet Command and the USS Lexington . ( TOS : " The Ultimate Computer ")

On stardate 4372.5, the Enterprise was assigned to transport Elaan , Dohlman of Elas to the planet Troyius , Uhura offered Elaan her quarters to stay in while traveling on board the Enterprise . While the Dohlman was dissatisfied with them, Kirk appreciated her sacrifice in offering them. When Kirk confronted the Dohlman about her complaints, he explained that " my communications officer generously vacated the rooms hoping you would find it satisfactory, " which she did not, primarily due to it being too plush. After Kirk denied Elaan request for better quarters, noting that none better existed, he offered to "arrange to have the whole room filled from floor to ceiling with breakable objects ," as a means of getting her the gratification she sought. ( TOS : " Elaan of Troyius ")

An image planted by the Starnes Exploration Party children in Uhura's mind, of her seeing her own worst fear of being an old woman

On stardate 5029.5, the Starnes Exploration Party children, under the influence of Gorgan , terrorized the whole bridge crew with their telekinetic powers, including creating an illusion of Uhura's worst fear: a reflection of herself as a disfigured, diseased, dying, old woman. The illusion made it impossible for Uhura to perform her duties as communications officer. Once the children were freed of the influence of Gorgan, the image planted in her brain, making her see an illusion on the communications console, disappeared, freeing Uhura. ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ")

Later in 2268, on stardate 5431.4, Uhura was rendered unconscious by the Eymorg Kara when she boarded the Enterprise and used her control bracelet in order to steal Spock's brain. Later, following her recovery, Kirk trusted Uhura's finding large, regular energy pulsations on the otherwise glaciated and pre-industrial Sigma Draconis VI as to the planet in that system to find Spock's missing brain over Sulu's and Ensign Pavel Chekov 's suggestions of which planet to search for Spock's brain. Uhura's guess proved to be the correct one. ( TOS : " Spock's Brain ")

Uhura ( first row, third from left ) attends Kirk's memorial service

Again in 2268, Uhura, after attending Kirk's memorial service , was the first one of the crew to see the ghost-like image of Kirk in a mirror in her quarters. Kirk was trapped in the interphase Tholian space aboard the USS Defiant . For a short time after, Uhura thought she might be suffering from the ill mental effects of the interphase as many of her fellow crew members were. But after Scotty, McCoy, Brent, and Spock saw the ghost-like image of the interphase trapped Kirk, McCoy determined that Uhura was completely sane. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

Kirk and Uhura about to kiss

On stardate 5784.2, under the influence of powerful telepaths, Uhura was forced to kiss Captain Kirk; Kirk stopped the aliens from forcing him to torture Uhura. ( TOS : " Plato's Stepchildren ")

On stardate 5710.6, Uhura was the first one on the bridge to notice the "disappearance" of Kirk after he sipped some of the Scalosian water spiked coffee , courtesy of Deela , while hyper-accelerated Kirk up to the Scalosians speed. Later, she accidentally touched the tape button from the previous Scalosian distress call , which called up an image of Deela on the viewscreen , but Kirk inquired if it was indeed not a malfunction, which Uhura comfirmed. ( TOS : " Wink of an Eye ")

Also in 2268, Uhura had trouble making Spock comprehend that she was inquiring about what happened to the Enterprise from the turbulence caused by the image of Losira appearing in the transporter room to protect the Kalandan outpost planet. She had to laugh at Spock commenting about his head hitting the captain's chair when she made the inquiry and then she had to rephrase the question. ( TOS : " That Which Survives ")

Near the end of 2268, Uhura immediately ran to the bridge's main science station after an explosion on the far side of planet Elba II had Scotty and Sulu registering it as a 9.5 earthquake . Just as with Scotty and McCoy, Uhura was as concerned about whether life still remained on Elba II as Kirk and Spock were at the Elba II asylum penal colony. Fortunately Uhura, McCoy, and Scotty's fears about Kirk and Spock being dead turned out to be unfounded. ( TOS : " Whom Gods Destroy ")

On stardate 5423.6, Uhura agreed with McCoy and Scotty that Spock should stand his ground – with Spock starting to concur with them – that he wouldn't let the evasive answers of or behavior from Ambassador Hodin , of the planet Gideon 's Council , about what happened to the missing Kirk or Admiral Fitzgerald 's trying to get Spock from insisting on getting true answers about the whereabouts of Kirk . ( TOS : " The Mark of Gideon ")

On stardate 5725.3, Uhura temporarily lost her ability to move her hands and could not open hailing frequencies to contact the Memory Alpha library when the Enterprise encountered the "lights of Zetar " beings. ( TOS : " The Lights of Zetar ")

Later in 2269, on stardate 5843.8, Uhura was miniaturized and placed into temporary stasis by Flint . After Kirk's successful plea, she was restored to normal. ( TOS : " Requiem for Methuselah ")

On stardate 5221.3, Uhura picked up a strange radio signal from a long-abandoned insectoid race's ship orbiting the dead star Questar M-17 . After Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty beamed back aboard the Enterprise from investigating the abandoned ship, the crew discovered they had also beamed aboard the same malevolent entity that had caused the insectoids' ship's abandonment. The crew, including Uhura, were temporarily taken hostage by the entity, until Kirk managed to trick it into leaving the ship and go live around Questar M-17's orbit. Scotty then used a slingshot effect to break the Enterprise free from Questar M-17's orbit. As they were leaving the stellar cluster that Questar M-17 was located in, Uhura, on stardate 5221.8, picked up one last signal from the entity, announcing it was "lonely, very lonely...." ( TAS : " Beyond the Farthest Star ")

Uhura takes charge on the planet

In 2269 on stardate 5483.7, the male Enterprise crew was incapacitated by the "siren's song" of the second planet of the Taurean system 's female population , necessitating Uhura to take command of the ship. She and Nurse Christine Chapel led an all female landing party to rescue Captain Kirk, first officer Spock and Dr. McCoy. ( TAS : " The Lorelei Signal ")

On stardate 1254.4, as the Enterprise was exploring the galactic core , the ship and its crew became caught in a matter-energy whirlwind and were thrown into an alternate universe . In that universe, the crew met a being who called himself " Lucien ". Lucien claimed that he had, at one-time, been on Earth and had met Humans before. Lucien also claimed that the Enterprise crew could perform magic in the alternate universe, with the crew being very surprised when they could. Unfortunately, Lucien's fellow Megans were not thrilled to discover that the Enterprise crew was doing just that. The Megans transported the whole crew to planet Megas-Tu and promptly put all of them, including Uhura, into 17th century style pillories, as punishment. The crew, including Uhura, were in the Megans' interpretation of 1691 Salem and were put on a similar Salem witch trial , nearly put to death courtesy of Megan Asmodeus ' prosecuting legal tactics. Fortunately, Spock, as a Vulcan defense counselor, pleaded successfully for the crew's release in that Humanity had grown away from the hatred, fear and bigotry of 1691. ( TAS : " The Magicks of Megas-Tu ")

Uhura held hostage by the Shore Leave Planet's master computer

On stardate 5591.2, Uhura suffered the first of two assaults by a computer. Kirk took the Enterprise and its crew to the " Shore Leave Planet " in the Omicron Delta region for much-needed rest and relaxation. But unaware to the crew, the planet's Keeper had died since their last visit and the planet's master computer suffered from what amounted to its version of a mental breakdown. One of the many violations of its original protocol the planet's master computer did was to kidnap Uhura. While being held hostage in the planet's computer core, Uhura found out that the master computer decided it was time to free the individuals on the fellow computer, the Enterprise , from their being a slave to their master. Uhura reasoned with the computer and convinced the master computer that the Humans on board the Enterprise did not have that kind of relationship and, with the Humans on board needing rest and relaxation, the planet's computer itself was not being taken advantage of – but that was useful and needed purpose for it. That worked, eventually, to get the master computer to go back to its protocols, and to cease its hostile actions against the Enterprise crew. That talk also made much easier Spock's later work with the master computer to make sure something like that did not happen again, on the "Shore Leave Planet". ( TAS : " Once Upon a Planet ")

On stardate 5577.7, Uhura and the rest of the Enterprise crew were paralyzed from a flash of light coming from a planet in the Cepheus star system, after Uhura received a distress signal using a 21st century intersat code with the word " terratin " attached. The flash of light ended up shrinking Uhura and the rest of the crew to fingernail length, at one-sixteenth of an inch high. Uhura and the rest of the crew were restored to normal size via the transporter as the mutated descendants of the lost Terra 10 colony were rescued and relocated from the unstable planet. ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

On stardate 5267.2, when the Enterprise went through the " Delta Triangle " space-time warp, Uhura, along with the rest of the crew, suffered from temporary vertigo . ( TAS : " The Time Trap ")

In 2269, on stardate 4187.3, Uhura was on the Enterprise shuttlecraft Copernicus , traveling with Spock and Sulu, when the Slaver stasis box they had on-board indicated the existence of another stasis box on an uncharted icy planet in the Beta Lyrae system. Uhura, Spock and Sulu discovered, in the second box, a weapon of great power. When the Kzinti traveling on the Traitor's Claw found out that the three Enterprise crew members were on the planet with such a newly discovered Slaver stasis box, they twice kidnapped Uhura and the Chuft-Captain held her hostage . Spock and Sulu were able to free Uhura by discovering new settings on the weapon, settings that tricked the Kzinti. ( TAS : " The Slaver Weapon ")

In 2270 , Uhura was again temporarily in command of the bridge when the Enterprise lost contact with Kirk and Spock, half of the ships' contact party , while exploring the surface of Delta Theta III . Per Kirk's orders of avoiding unnecessary risks, she ordered Scotty and Sulu, the other half of the contact party, to re-board the ship, contrary to their attempt to locate Spock and the captain. ( TAS : " Bem ")

Uhura, McCoy, and Sulu caught in a vicious blizzard

In 2270, on stardate 3183.3, Uhura dealt with the second assault by a computer. This time, the assault came from the Enterprise computer. Captain Kirk, to hide the ship from an attacking Romulan ship, took the Enterprise into a space cloud, not realizing that this would turn the ship's computer into a practical joker, and there were several jokes played on many crew members. To get away from the practical jokes, not realizing that the computer was the cause of the jokes, Uhura, McCoy, and Sulu decided to get themselves away from the practical jokes in the holographic recreation room . The computer first played a "practical joke" on the three of them by trapping them in a deep hole in a forest. When a security search party could not find them, the Enterprise computer's practical joker went further and trapped Uhura, McCoy, and Sulu in a raging blizzard that none of the three asked for. Fortunately, all three were found and saved, before they froze to death, by a second successful security search party. Another trip through the cloud rid the Enterprise computer of the practical joker. ( TAS : " The Practical Joker ")

Later in 2270, on stardate 5275.6, Uhura collapsed on the bridge due to the effect of the Dramia II plague . Fortunately, Dr. McCoy was able to find a cure to rescue her and the rest of the infected crew. This was the final illness Uhura suffered from during the Enterprise 's historic five-year mission. ( TAS : " Albatross ")

On stardate 6770.3, upon entering an anti-matter universe , the Enterprise crew experienced the effects of accelerated reverse aging and Uhura also was reduced to infancy. After returning the ship to normal space, the crew was able to return to their normal age by using the transporters. ( TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ")

Captaincy of Will Decker [ ]

Lt. Commander Uhura in the 2270s

In the mid- 2270s , Lieutenant Commander Uhura served aboard the refitted Enterprise under the command of Captain Will Decker , and later during the V'ger crisis under the command of Rear Admiral Kirk. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Captaincy of Spock [ ]

During the mid- 2280s , Uhura remained aboard the Enterprise , which was then attached to Starfleet Training Command , where it served as a training vessel under the commander of Captain Spock.

In March 2285 , Uhura, who was by that time promoted to commander , was a participant in Saavik 's Kobayashi Maru scenario at Starfleet Training Command . After the scenario, she served aboard the Enterprise under the command of Captain Spock.

Later, she was one of the ship's communications officers for a three week training cruise. Upon receiving a call for help from Regula I , Starfleet Command ordered an investigation by the Enterprise . With Rear Admiral Kirk assuming command, the cruise was cut short. The Enterprise became involved with Project Genesis and Khan Noonien Singh's attempt to steal the Genesis Device . Eventually, Kirk was able to stop Khan, but not before the latter had wrought extensive damage upon the Enterprise , requiring Captain Spock to sacrifice his life to save the ship. Uhura attended the funeral of Spock. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Uhura performs her part in Kirk's theft of the Enterprise

Following the return of the Enterprise to Spacedock, Uhura had requested an assignment to the Old City Station transporter room . During the planned rescue attempt of Spock from the Genesis Planet , Uhura played an instrumental role of illegally transporting Admiral Kirk and company to the Enterprise prior to its theft. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

Kirk and his senior staff succeeded in saving Spock, and Uhura met up with her crewmates on Vulcan . Along with the rest of the crew she traveled back to the year 1986 aboard a Klingon Bird-of-Prey – which they named the HMS Bounty – to retrieve two humpback whales to save the planet Earth from an alien probe .

Uhura and Chekov extracting protons from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise

After arriving in the 20th century , Uhura quickly located whale song coming from San Francisco .

Upon landing, she and Chekov were assigned with resolving "the uranium problem" that impeded their return to the own time. From San Francisco the two questioned a number of passersby on how to find the naval base in Alameda . That night they beamed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise stationed there and acquired the required high-energy photons from its reactor core . Uhura narrowly escaped with the collector in hand, but Chekov was captured.

Uhura monitored the local comm channels, but displayed regret for leaving Chekov behind; Kirk assured her that she did what was necessary. She eventually located him at Mercy Hospital , and following his rescue and their departure, she directed the Bird-of-Prey towards George and Gracie , after locating their signal in the Bering Sea .

Upon their return to the 23rd century, she was among the crew charged with her involvement – specifically conspiracy – in the theft of the Enterprise . However, all charges against them were dropped because they had saved the planet. She and her crew were subsequently reassigned to the USS Enterprise -A . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

USS Enterprise -A [ ]

Uhura seduces the Paradise City Guards in the desert on Nimbus III

In 2287 , the Enterprise was dispatched to resolve a hostage situation on Nimbus III , the Planet of Galactic Peace. Under the influence of the rebel leader Sybok , Uhura, and many other crew members cooperated to divert the Enterprise to the galactic core where Sybok convinced them they would find the mythical Sha Ka Ree . In an initial attack on the rebel-held Paradise City , Uhura played a vital part by performing an erotic, moonlit fan dance on a sand dune to distract a lookout party of rebels. Her dance seduced the entire party and they were captured by Kirk and his team in order to steal their horses which they used to enter Paradise City. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Uhura with Chekov in 2293

In 2293 , Uhura was three months from standing down as the communications officer of the Enterprise-A . Before the Camp Khitomer crisis, she had expected to chair a seminar at Starfleet Academy . During the crisis, Uhura served as communications officer of the Enterprise -A. The Enterprise crew played a vital role in the success of the Khitomer Conference by exposing a conspiracy that sought to sabotage the peace process. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

USS Leondegrance [ ]

Sometime after the Enterprise -A was decommissioned, Uhura was promoted to Captain and given command of the USS Leondegrance . From 2301 to 2305 , Uhura and the Leondegrance carried out a five-year mission to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud , and participated in over one hundred first contact missions with the civilizations encountered there. Following the five-year mission, the Leondegrance became an Academy training ship in 2317 , with Uhura retaining command until her retirement in 2333 . During that time, many Academy cadets experienced faster-than-light travel for the first time under Uhura's command; one of these was a young Jean-Luc Picard . ( PIC : " Remembrance " Speed of Light Club certificate ; PIC : " The Star Gazer " commemorative plaque )

By the 25th century , Uhura would be honored by having a ship named after her, the USS Uhura . ( PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

Anything but canon scenarios [ ]

First contact day party.

Uhura at the First Contact Day party

According to an anything but canon account, Uhura was present along with Hemmer , Spock , Una Chin-Riley , Christine Chapel and others at a First Contact Day celebration on the Enterprise.

Although the captain originally assigned Hemmer to emcee this event, he turned it over to Spock , who might have a better idea of what to do since he's technically both Human and Vulcan . After all, First Contact day was all about first contact between those two species .

Spock then begins by playing a variety of bloopers from a blooper reel that he compiled together. These bloopers were very much offensive, since they resulted in the deaths of various Starfleet officers . This was upsetting to the other crewmembers . Uhura even told him that bloopers shouldn't have an in memoriam .

She goes onto explain that a blooper should be about a person walking into a door and slamming into it because it failed to open automatically like it's designed to do, or someone accidentally mispronouncing " Spock " as " Spork ." Inspired by her words , he decides to try one last clip, which featured an ensign who had space diarrhea running through the corridor along a freshly mopped floor . He slips and and rams his genitals into the mop and then farts . Uhura then tells Spock that this clip was perfect. ( VST : " Holiday Party ")

Malfunctioning holoprogram

Uhura hologram 1

Uhura hologram 2

According to an unreliable and unverified account, two different holograms of Uhura were present in the narrative of a nonsensical or malfunctioning holoprogram .

The first version of Nyota Uhura to appear in this program appeared alongside her fellow crewmate , Hikaru Sulu . They were shown to be in the rec room in Area 39 of the USS Enterprise . They were running a program about Gwyndala , Zero and Rok-Tahk . Sulu was annoyed with the nonsensical nature of the program, and he stopped the program, saying that he was sick of the nonsense. He and Uhura then began to leave the rec room, but the were frozen in place when Saru called out to the computer , saying: "Computer, end simulation ."

Uhura appeared in the same malfunctioning holoprogram later on during the program. This time it began on as a scene on the USS Voyager , where Neelix was watching a holonovel on his PADD . He finally decides that he's seen enough silly stories for one night , and so he puts his PADD down, and lies down, going to sleep . The scene turns quiet for a second, until the voice of Charles Tucker III could be heard trying to pause the playback .

Then the shocking reveal, was that he wasn't really Tucker at all, but just a head on a holographic five-headed monster . The other four heads were holographic images of the heads of William T. Riker , T'Pol and Spock . Uhura's head was likewise part of the holo-monster. This time the computer itself calls out to pause the program, and the holographic monster was frozen in place. ( VST : " Holograms All the Way Down ")

Jam session on the bridge

Uhura on the viewscreen

In another anything but canon account, there was a party on the bridge of the Enterprise in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the TOS era crew 's cartoon show .

To celebrate, William T. Riker brought his trombone and Hikaru Sulu brought his keyboard , so that they could play some Post Mainframe Acid-Cardassian Ten Forwardcore music . As they began their song , other band members joined in. Scotty played the drums , Arex was on the double guitar , M'Ress played the tambourine and D'Vana Tendi provided backup vocals .

Clips from the animated series were shown on screen during their song . Uhura could be seen at her communications station at one point. Eventually, the song ends when a fleet of D7 class Klingon battle cruisers attack the ship , causing an explosion on the bridge . ( VST : " Walk, Don't Run ")

Personal life [ ]

Interests [ ].

Uhura off-duty in her quarters

Uhura was proud of her African heritage. In fact, she decorated her personal living quarters aboard the Enterprise with a zebra -skin bedspread, some African sculptures and masks, and wall panels containing African images. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

After Uhura offered her quarters for Elaan in 2268, the offended Dohlman referenced her treatment by being placed in Uhura's quarters, complaining " am I a soft Troyian fawn to need pillows to sit on? " Her review of Uhura's decor was, " and these ridiculous female trappings. They are an offense to my eyes . " When Elaan later questioned if Kirk was going to fulfill her request for new quarters, Kirk replied, " There are none better. I suggest you make do with these. " ( TOS : " Elaan of Troyius ")

Talents [ ]

Uhura was also talented in music , and had a " bad habit " of humming . In 2259 , however, her humming of the Kenyan folk song " Vamuvamba " led to the serendipitous discovery that the M'hanit communicated through music. On this occasion she also used her knowledge of musical theory to benefit the mission. ( SNW : " Children of the Comet ")

She was well-known among her fellow Enterprise colleagues for entertaining them with her singing talent, including her own renditions of songs, such as " Oh, On the Starship Enterprise ". ( TOS : " Charlie X ")

One of Uhura's favorite love songs to sing was the song " Beyond Antares ". She chose the song in response to a request made by Kevin Riley, who was on duty alone in engineering , and who wanted to be reassured that he was not the only living thing left in the universe. ( TOS : " The Conscience of the King ") She also sang it while on bridge duty the following year. Her performance led to the incident that triggering Nomad 's assault on her. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

She also hummed a tune while she relaxed planet-side during the Enterprise ' second visit to the Shore Leave Planet. ( TAS : " Once Upon a Planet ")

Holograms [ ]

Dal r'el's kobayashi maru [ ].

A holographic Uhura

During Dal 's setup of the Kobayashi Maru scenario aboard the USS Protostar in 2383 , he requested that the computer select the best officers on his behalf, which included a holographic version of Communications Officer Uhura, from the TOS era , as a member of his command crew. ( PRO : " Kobayashi ")

Relationships [ ]

Spock reunited with his shipmates

Throughout their years of serving together, Uhura developed a strong friendship with the other members of the Enterprise senior staff. In 2285 , she helped Kirk without hesitation in his quest to find peace for Spock 's katra . When the other crew members had recovered Spock's body from the Genesis Planet, Uhura had been waiting for them on Vulcan and witnessed the fal-tor-pan ritual being performed on Spock. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

Spock and Uhura make music together in the recreation room

Near the beginning of her service aboard the Enterprise , Uhura attempted to reach the Human side of Spock.

On stardate 1513.1, she tried to start a conversation with a sardonic Spock and asked him how Vulcan looked when its moon was full. When Spock mentioned to her that Vulcan has no moon, she expressed little surprise at his lack of romanticism. She was also amazed that Spock lacked any curiosity with regard to the identity of a dead officer on planet M-113 . ( TOS : " The Man Trap ")

Soon afterward, when Charles Evans was aboard the Enterprise , Uhura and Spock entertained the crew together in the recreation room on stardate 1533.6. With Spock on the Vulcan harp , Uhura sang two versions of the improvised song Oh, On the Starship Enterprise , one about Spock, the second about Evans (which caused Evans to make her temporarily lose her voice). ( TOS : " Charlie X ")

In the alternate reality , Uhura and Spock became romantically involved. ( Star Trek )

Montgomery Scott [ ]

Scotty and Uhura (2267)

In 2287 , Uhura and Montgomery Scott were to take shore leave together. As Scott was unable to leave the Enterprise -A, she brought him dinner . Later, she began to show some romantic interest in Scott while being under the influence of Sybok. Scott, nevertheless, politely declined the advance, mindful of her "condition" and realizing that she was in fact a "convert". ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Uhura and Scott (2287)

Scott helped Uhura and Chekov look up Klingon phrases in antique books in 2293 while trying to cross the border into Klingon space to rescue their jailed colleagues. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Alternate timelines [ ]

Romulans revealed in 2266 [ ].

Lt. Uhura in an alternate 2266

In an alternate 2266 where Captain Pike prevented his exposure to delta radiation and saved the lives of several cadets that were due to die during that accident, Nyota Uhura had reached the rank of lieutenant and was still serving as communications officer aboard the Enterprise under Pike. ( SNW : " A Quality of Mercy ")

UEF Enterprise [ ]

Nyota Uhura aboard the UEF Enterprise in alternate 2259

In an alternate timeline created where Khan Noonien Singh was killed by the Romulan Sera and United Earth was at war with the Romulan Star Empire , Uhura joined the United Earth Fleet and by 2259 was assigned as communications officer aboard the UEF Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk . ( SNW : " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow ")

Key dates [ ]

• Assigned to the USS Enterprise
• Graduates from Starfleet Academy and commissioned as an Ensign
• Between 2259 and 2266 : Promoted to Lieutenant
• 2270s : Promoted to lieutenant commander
• 2285 : As a commander , whilst remaining attached to the Enterprise , is assigned to Starfleet Training Command
• 2285: Requested assignment at Old City Station
• 2287 – 2293 : Communications officer of the USS Enterprise -A
• Between 2293 and 2301 : Promoted to Captain
• 2301– 2333 : Commanding officer of the USS Leondegrance
• 2301– 2305 : Explores the Lesser Magellanic Cloud and participates in over one hundred first contact missions
• 2333: Retires from Starfleet

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " The Corbomite Maneuver "
• " Mudd's Women "
• " The Enemy Within " (voice only)
• " The Man Trap "
• " The Naked Time "
• " Charlie X "
• " Balance of Terror "
• " What Are Little Girls Made Of? "
• " Dagger of the Mind "
• " The Conscience of the King "
• " The Galileo Seven "
• " Court Martial "
• " The Menagerie, Part I "
• " The Menagerie, Part II " (voice only)
• " Shore Leave "
• " The Squire of Gothos "
• " The Alternative Factor "
• " Tomorrow is Yesterday "
• " The Return of the Archons "
• " A Taste of Armageddon "
• " Space Seed "
• " This Side of Paradise "
• " Errand of Mercy "
• " The City on the Edge of Forever "
• " Operation -- Annihilate! "
• " Catspaw "
• " Metamorphosis "
• " Friday's Child "
• " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
• " Amok Time "
• " The Changeling "
• " Mirror, Mirror "
• " The Deadly Years "
• " I, Mudd "
• " The Trouble with Tribbles "
• " Bread and Circuses "
• " Journey to Babel "
• " A Private Little War "
• " The Gamesters of Triskelion "
• " Obsession "
• " The Immunity Syndrome "
• " A Piece of the Action "
• " By Any Other Name "
• " Return to Tomorrow "
• " Patterns of Force "
• " The Ultimate Computer "
• " The Omega Glory "
• " Assignment: Earth "
• " Spectre of the Gun "
• " Elaan of Troyius "
• " The Enterprise Incident "
• " And the Children Shall Lead "
• " Spock's Brain "
• " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
• " The Empath "
• " The Tholian Web "
• " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
• " Day of the Dove "
• " Plato's Stepchildren "
• " Wink of an Eye "
• " That Which Survives "
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• " Whom Gods Destroy "
• " The Mark of Gideon "
• " The Lights of Zetar "
• " The Cloud Minders "
• " Requiem for Methuselah "
• " The Savage Curtain "
• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " One of Our Planets Is Missing "
• " The Lorelei Signal "
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• " The Infinite Vulcan "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Time Trap "
• " The Slaver Weapon "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " The Practical Joker "
• " Albatross "
• " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth "
• " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek Generations (picture only)
• Star Trek Beyond (picture only)
• DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " (archive footage)
• PRO : " Kobayashi " ( hologram ; archive audio)
• " Strange New Worlds "
• " Children of the Comet "
• " Ghosts of Illyria "
• " Memento Mori "
• " Spock Amok "
• " Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach "
• " The Elysian Kingdom "
• " All Those Who Wander "
• " A Quality of Mercy "
• " The Broken Circle "
• " Ad Astra per Aspera "
• " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow "
• " Among the Lotus Eaters "
• " Charades "
• " Lost in Translation "
• " Those Old Scientists "
• " Under the Cloak of War "
• " Subspace Rhapsody "
• " Hegemony "
• " Holiday Party "
• " Holograms All the Way Down " (background hologram)
• " Walk, Don't Run " (archive footage)

Background information [ ]

Identifying appearances [ ].

Uhura was played by Nichelle Nichols , who appeared in sixty-six episodes. The character was voiced by her in two additional episodes, "The Enemy Within" and "The Menagerie, Part II", and appeared in stock footage in "The Paradise Syndrome". [3] For Star Trek 's 30th anniversary , Uhura reappeared in archive footage from "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Mirror, Mirror" that was used in the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". Twenty-six year later, Uhura was portrayed by Celia Rose Gooding for her inclusion in the TOS prequel, Strange New Worlds .

In addition to her physical appearances, Nichols also provided Uhura's voice for The Animated Series , in which Uhura appears in all but three episodes . Forty-eight years later, archive audio of Uhura from in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , "The Gamesters of Triskelion", "The Enterprise Incident", "The Mark of Gideon", "Space Seed", and "The Trouble with Tribbles" were later used for her appearance in the Prodigy episode "Kobayashi".

Name and heritage [ ]

According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols at Shore Leave 29 , she and Gene Roddenberry decided on the name "Uhura" because, before Nichols' audition, she and several others involved in casting had been reading the 1962 novel Uhuru by American author Robert Ruark. The story was verified by Robert H. Justman and Herb Solow in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story .

"Uhuru" is the Swahili word for "freedom". Spock, after making a mind meld with Kollos in " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ", says that Uhura's name means "freedom" and recites a line of poetry about beauty from Lord Byron . In Star Trek VI , her name is misspelled "Uhuru" in the credits.

In the non- canon Star Trek RPG published by FASA in the 1980s, the full name given for the character was "Samara Uhura". In the RPG adaptation, the USS Samara Uhura was included as one of several Decker -class starships that were named for the Enterprise crew. Another first name suggested by a non-canon source was included in a character index in an issue of the fan publication Trek (later included in an edition of The Best of Trek published by Signet Books): Penda Uhura.

Nichelle Nichols herself has said that an author writing about the history of Star Trek had asked Gene Roddenberry what Uhura's first name was and was told that one had never been decided. The author then recommended the name "Nyota". Roddenberry liked it, but said to ask Nichols before he allowed the name to be used. Nichols thought the name was perfect. ( TOS Season 2 DVD commentary) Alternatively, in the video William Shatner's Star Trek Memories , Nichols also said that she and Roddenberry came up with the name in initial discussions about the character, just after her casting.

The name Nyota ("star" in Swahili) was first publicly used for the character by William Rotsler , in his 1982 book Star Trek II: Biographies . ( Enterprise NX-01 communications officer Hoshi Sato 's given name, "Hoshi", also means "Star", in Japanese.) Uhura's given name was finally canonically established as Nyota in the 2009 film Star Trek . (In the movie, the revelation playfully paralleled the long-time real-life ambiguity; starting with their first meeting in an Iowa bar , for three years Kirk tries unsuccessfully to learn her first name, only to learn it when her lover – Spock – assures her that he will return alive from a particular mission he and Kirk are about to embark on.)

Uhura's date and location of birth were also never established on screen. Her date of birth ( 2239 ) was derived from the Star Trek Chronology and the Star Trek Encyclopedia . The original Star Trek writer's guide and the Star Trek Concordance established that she was born in the United States of Africa . Her familiarity with the Swahili language implied – but did not require – an East African origin or heritage. The Concordance also states the intended information from deleted material regarding her mother, M'Umbha .

Establishing the role [ ]

Uhura was the last main character to be cast for the Original Series (except Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov , since that character didn't debut until the second season of the show ). The casting of Uhura took place only a few weeks before production began on " The Corbomite Maneuver ", the first regular episode. In the original script of that installment, the communications officer was named " Dave Bailey ". When Nichelle Nichols (a former lover of Gene Roddenberry) was cast as the new comm officer, Bailey (played by Anthony Call ) was "transferred" to navigation. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp. 153–154) Other than Nichelle Nichols, three additional candidates for the role were Ena Hartman , Mittie Lawrence and Gloria Calomee . ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One )

Uhura was included in the final draft script of " Miri ", given multiple lines of dialogue. Her part in the story, however, was ultimately rewritten for relief communications officer John Farrell .

Nichelle Nichols has stated on many occasions during the years (including in the video William Shatner's Star Trek Memories ) that, during the first year of the series, she was tempted to leave the show as she felt her role lacked significance, but a conversation with Martin Luther King, Jr. changed her mind. King personally encouraged her to stay on the show, telling her that he was a big fan of the series and told her she "could not give up" as she was playing a vital role model for young black children and women across the country. After the first season, Uhura's role on the series was expanded beyond merely manning her console.

The 1967 Writers' Guide for Star Trek 's second season described the character thus:

Communications officer Uhura was born in the United States of Africa. Quick and intelligent, she is a highly efficient officer and expert in all ships' systems related to communications. Uhura is also a warm, highly female female off duty. She is something of a favorite in the Recreation Room during off-duty hours too, because she sings – old ballads as well as the newer space ballads – and she can do an impersonation at the drop of a communicator.

Uhura was to have appeared in Star Trek: Phase II , an aborted second Star Trek series. A character description of her was included in a 1977 Writers'/Directors' Guide for that series, a document written by Gene Roddenberry and Jon Povill . Uhura's description was as follows:

Rank of Lieutenant Commander, Communications Officer, played by attractive young actress Nichelle Nichols. Uhura was born in the African Confederacy. Quick and intelligent, she is a highly efficient officer. Her understanding of the ship's computer systems is second only to the Vulcan Science Officer , and expert in all ships systems relating to communications. Uhura is also a warm, highly female female off duty. She is a favorite in the Recreation Room during off duty hours, too, because she sings – old ballads as well as the newer space ballads – and she can do impersonations at the drop of a communicator.

Nichelle Nichols was slated to make a cameo as Uhura in the Star Trek: Voyager episode " Flashback ", but was cut from that episode after requesting more lines for her role. ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 108 )

Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison has cited Nichols' role of Uhura as her inspiration for wanting to become an astronaut. [4]

Whoopi Goldberg also found Nichols's portrayal of Uhura inspiring as a child. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 64)) Goldberg recalled that when she saw Uhura on-screen for the first time, she ran out of the room, telling everyone in her house, " I just saw a black woman on television; and she ain't no maid! " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 56 )

Deanna Troi actress Marina Sirtis has stated about Uhura, " It was great that a black woman was on the bridge, but she really wasn't involved in many storylines. She was just there and that was enough for the times, it seems. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 27 , p. 18)

The idea that a young Jean-Luc Picard served under Captain Uhura has its roots in a story proposed for Star Trek: Short Treks , in which a young Picard would have been mentored by an elderly Uhura. Although the proposed Short Treks episode never came to fruition, two pieces of set dressing for Star Trek: Picard (the Speed of Light Club certificate in Picard's quantum archive, seen in " Remembrance ", and the commemorative plaque for the USS Leondegrance seen in " The Star Gazer ") establish the relationship canonically. [5]

Apocrypha [ ]

In the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (p. 49), Uhura was described as having a "fine-boned Bantu face". Likewise, in the novelization of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Pavel Chekov said Uhura was from the Bantu Nation. James Blish referred to Uhura as "a beautiful Bantu girl" in his adaptations of the original Star Trek episodes.

According to Star Trek II: Biographies , Uhura was born on October 24th, 2240 in Nairobi , United States of Africa to parents Damu Pua and M'Umbha Makia. She has two siblings named Malcolm Marien Uhura and Uaekundu Uhura.

According to the novel Living Memory , Uhura's father was named Alhamisi (Damu Pua was a childhood nickname meaning " bloody nose "). She has a brother named Malcolm and a younger sister named Samara, as well as an uncle Raheem.

In the novel The Fire and the Rose , set shortly after "Mudd's Women", Uhura went to Captain Kirk and requested to be reassigned from the command division to the engineering and services division. Kirk was not happy with this decision and grilled her about throwing away her command abilities and leadership potential, however, despite his disappointment, he approved her transfer and explaining why she switched from a red uniform to a gold uniform.

In the novel Vulcan's Forge , Commander Uhura served as first officer of the USS Intrepid II under Captain Spock. She and Dr. McCoy were the only members of Captain Kirk's bridge crew to join Spock in his new command (Captain Sulu commanded the Excelsior and took Commander Chekov along as his first officer, and Captain Scott retired and headed off to the Norpin colony ). Uhura turned down a captaincy before becoming Spock's first officer, commenting that she'd never married or had children, and didn't want to take on the similar commitment to a ship that a promotion to captain would entail. This story took place a year after Captain Kirk was lost to the Nexus . Following a mission to the planet Obsidian, Spock resigned his Starfleet commission, and Uhura was promoted to captain and given command of the Intrepid II .

Uhura was depicted in the novels The Art of the Impossible , Catalyst of Sorrows , and Vulcan's Soul : Exodus as later going on to achieve the rank of admiral and becoming the head of Starfleet Intelligence in the 24th century , serving into 2377 .

According to The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard , Uhura was the President of the United Federation of Planets in the year 2327.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer's Manual mentions a ship named the USS Samara Uhura , which is presumably named after Uhura, as her first name "Nyota" didn't become canon until Star Trek .

In Star Trek Cats , Uhura is depicted as a Burmese cat .

Sources [ ]

• Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens ; Star Trek: Phase II - The Making of the Lost Series ; Pocket Books , ISBN 0671568396 (softcover, 1997)
• Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens ; Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission ; Pocket Books, ISBN 0671025597 (softcover 1998)

External links [ ]

• Nyota Uhura at StarTrek.com
• Nyota Uhura at Wikipedia
• Nyota Uhura at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Nyota Uhura at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89

She was among the first Black women to have a leading role in a TV series. She later worked with NASA to recruit minorities for the space program.

By Bruce Weber

Nichelle Nichols, the actress revered by “Star Trek” fans for her role as Lieutenant Uhura, the communications officer on the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, died on Saturday in Silver City, N.M. She was 89.

The cause was heart failure, said Sky Conway, a writer and a film producer who said he had been asked by Kyle Johnson, Ms. Nichols’s son, to speak for the family.

Ms. Nichols had a long career as an entertainer, beginning as a teenage supper-club singer and dancer in Chicago, her hometown, and later appearing on television.

But she will forever be best remembered for her work on “Star Trek,” the cult-inspiring space adventure series that aired from 1966 to 1969 and starred William Shatner as Captain Kirk, the heroic leader of the starship crew; Leonard Nimoy as his science officer and adviser, Mr. Spock, an ultralogical humanoid from the planet Vulcan; and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, a.k.a. Bones, the ship’s physician.

A striking beauty, Ms. Nichols provided a frisson of sexiness on the bridge of the Enterprise. She was generally clad in a snug red doublet and black tights; Ebony magazine called her the “most heavenly body in ‘Star Trek’” on its 1967 cover. Her role, however, was both substantial and historically significant.

Uhura was an officer and a highly educated and well-trained technician who maintained a businesslike demeanor while performing her high-minded duties. Ms. Nichols was among the first Black women to have a leading role on a network television series, making her an anomaly on the small screen, which until that time had rarely depicted Black women in anything other than subservient roles.

In a November 1968 episode, during the show’s third and final season, Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura are forced to embrace by the inhabitants of a strange planet, resulting in what is widely thought to be the first interracial kiss in television history.

Ms. Nichols’s first appearances on “Star Trek” predated the 1968 sitcom “Julia,” in which Diahann Carroll, playing a widowed mother who works as a nurse, became the first Black woman to star in a non-stereotypical role in a network series.

(A series called “Beulah,” also called “The Beulah Show,” starring Ethel Waters — and later Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel — as the maid for a white family, was broadcast on ABC in the early 1950s and subsequently cited by civil rights activists for its demeaning portraits of Black people.)

But Uhura’s influence reached far beyond television. In 1977, Ms. Nichols began an association with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contracting as a representative and speaker to help recruit female and minority candidates for spaceflight training; the following year’s class of astronaut candidates was the first to include women and members of minority groups.

In subsequent years, Ms. Nichols made public appearances and recorded public service announcements on behalf of the agency. In 2012, after she was the keynote speaker at the Goddard Space Center during a celebration of African American History Month, a NASA news release about the event lauded her help for the cause of diversity in space exploration.

“Nichols’s role as one of television’s first Black characters to be more than just a stereotype and one of the first women in a position of authority (she was fourth in command of the Enterprise) inspired thousands of applications from women and minorities,” the release said. “Among them: Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, Judith Resnik, first American woman in space Sally Ride and current NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.”

Grace Dell Nichols was born in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932 (some sources give a later year), and grew up in Chicago. Her father, a chemist, was the mayor of Robbins for a time. At 13 or 14, tired of being called Gracie by her friends, she requested a different name from her mother, who liked Michelle but suggested Nichelle for the alliteration.

Ms. Nichols was a ballet dancer as a child and had a singing voice with a naturally wide range — more than four octaves, she later said. While attending Englewood High School in Chicago she landed her first professional gig, in a revue at the College Inn, a well-known nightspot in the city.

There she was seen by Duke Ellington, who employed her a year or two later with his touring orchestra as a dancer in one of his jazz suites.

Ms. Nichols appeared in several musical theater productions around the country during the 1950s. In an interview with the Archive of American Television, she recalled performing at the Playboy Club in New York City while serving as an understudy for Ms. Carroll in the Broadway musical “No Strings” (though she never went on).

In 1959, she was a dancer in Otto Preminger’s film version of “Porgy and Bess.” She made her television debut in 1963 in an episode of “The Lieutenant,” a short-lived dramatic series, created by Gene Roddenberry, about Marines at Camp Pendleton. Mr. Roddenberry went on to create “Star Trek.”

Ms. Nichols appeared on other television shows over the years — among them “Peyton Place” (1966), “Head of the Class” (1988) and “Heroes” (2007). She also appeared onstage in Los Angeles, including in a one-woman show in which she did impressions of, and paid homage to, Black female entertainers who preceded her, including Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey and Eartha Kitt.

But Uhura was to be her legacy. A decade after “Star Trek” went off the air, Ms. Nichols reprised the role in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and she appeared as Uhura, by then a commander, in five subsequent movie sequels through 1991.

Besides her son, her survivors include two sisters, Marian Smothers and Diane Robinson.

Ms. Nichols was married and divorced twice. In her 1995 autobiography, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” she disclosed that she and Mr. Roddenberry, who died in 1991, had been romantically involved for a time. In an interview in 2010 for the Archive of American Television, she said that he had little to do with her casting in “Star Trek” but that he defended her when studio executives wanted to replace her.

When she took the role of Uhura, Ms. Nichols said, she thought of it as a mere job at the time, valuable as a résumé enhancer; she fully intended to return to the stage, as she wanted a career on Broadway. Indeed, she threatened to leave the show after its first season and submitted her resignation to Mr. Roddenberry. He told her to think it over for a few days.

In a story she often told, she was a guest that Saturday night at an event in Beverly Hills, Calif. — “I believe it was an N.A.A.C.P. fund-raiser,” she recalled in the Archive interview — where the organizer introduced her to someone he described as “your biggest fan.”

“He’s desperate to meet you,” she recalled the organizer saying.

The fan, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., introduced himself.

“He said, ‘We admire you greatly, you know,’ ” Ms. Nichols said, and she thanked him and told him that she was about to leave the show. “He said, ‘You cannot. You cannot.’”

Dr. King told her that her role as a dignified, authoritative figure in a popular show was too important to the cause of civil rights for her to forgo. As Ms. Nichols recalled it, he said, “For the first time, we will be seen on television the way we should be seen every day.”

On Monday morning, she returned to Mr. Roddenberry’s office and told him what had happened.

“And I said, ‘If you still want me to stay, I’ll stay. I have to.’”

Eduardo Medina contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this obituary misspelled the surname of one of the astronauts NASA said were inspired to join the American space program by Ms. Nichols’s role on “Star Trek.” She was Judith Resnik, not Resnick.

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Published Dec 28, 2023

Nyota Uhura’s Most Iconic Star Trek Moments

It’s time to celebrate the Enterprise’s communications officer.

StarTrek.com

Nyota Uhura remains a groundbreaking character even to this day. Originated by Nichelle Nichols, the communications officer of the starship Enterprise was not only a courageous and clever addition to the crew, but represented a better future for viewers. Nichols herself was asked to remain on the show by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , as he said it was one of the few shows he allowed his children to watch due to its depiction of Black characters as an equal leading character. Nichols also inspired legions of others, such as Sonequa Martin-Green, who blazed a trail as Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery .

In 2009, Zoe Saldana stepped into the role in Star Trek (2009) . She delivered an equally powerful performance, setting the stage for Celia Rose Gooding to play the role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . While Gooding’s Uhura is a cadet, she is ready to prove herself and find her place among the cosmos.

To celebrate the beginnings of Uhura’s journey, we collected a few of Uhura’s most iconic moments from across the franchise to highlight her courage, her cleverness, and her leadership.

" Charlie X ," Star Trek: The Original Series

While this episode is full of dated views on gender, it does feature a scene highlighting Uhura’s friendship with the crew, particularly Spock. In the recreation room, Spock plays the Vulcan lute as Uhura sings “Oh, On the Starship Enterprise ” for the delight of the crew. While their performance ends abruptly due to Charlie’s powers, it’s a sweet scene that not only highlights Nichols’ gifted voice but shows that Uhura is a character with multiple sides to her beyond being a gifted officer.

"Mirror, Mirror," Star Trek: The Original Series

What do you do when trapped in an alternate universe? Uhura, along with Kirk, Scotty, and McCoy, finds the answer to that question in “Mirror, Mirror.” Uhura plays a key role in getting everyone home by distracting Sulu long enough for Scotty to divert warp power to the transporters. Even though she’s nervous, Uhura still proves herself to be as capable as the other officers on the mission, and without her bravery, Kirk and his crew would still be trapped in the Mirror Universe.

"The Lorelei Signal," Star Trek: The Animated Series

When Kirk and several male officers have their life forces drained on a planet full of siren-like women, Uhura steps up to take charge. Leading an all-women landing party, she convinces the women to free her captain and crew and to stop luring men to their deaths every 27 years. She even arranges for a ship — crewed only by women Starfleet officers — to come to pick up the women and take them to a more habitable planet. This is one of the few original episodes to allow Uhura to take full command, and of course she more than rises to the occasion, resolving the problem peacefully and without losing a single crewmember.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

When she has the opportunity to help Spock come back to life, Uhura joins the rest of the crew in taking action. While her role is smaller in the film compared to her colleagues, she still gets one key and memorable scene. Uhura easily disarms and stops a young, brash Starfleet officer who’s guarding the Transporter room. “I’m glad you’re on our side,” McCoy says, and he’s right. Any side with Uhura on it? That’s clearly the winning team.

Star Trek Beyond

In the Kelvin universe, Uhura gets many opportunities to shine, but one key moment is her face-off with Krall in Star Trek Beyond . Uhura never gives up the faith that Kirk and her fellow crew members will save the day, and never displays fear or worry when Krall is threatening her. Once rescued and aboard the Franklin , it’s Uhura who is able to figure out that Krall is actually Captain Edison via the video logs left on the ship. Without her, the mystery behind Krall would have never been solved. She showcases her quick thinking to help save the day.

" Children of the Comet ," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

"Children of the Comet"

Uhura lands an invitation to dinner at the captain's cabin where the crew gets to learn more about the cadet, with Pike noting how impressive she must be to land one of the few postings aboard the flagship Enterprise . She surprises the crew with her fluency in 37 languages, as well as her belief that she's doesn't consider herself "all that Starfleet."

Knowing Uhura's desire to study alien languages, Pike orders the cadet to join her first landing party as they survey a comet. On the comet's surface, they end up cut off from the ship's comms as they're near a volatile ancient egg-shaped relic. With time against them and a crewmember in critical condition, the away team relies on Uhura's specialty as a linguistics expert to help them out of their current predicament. As this was the first time her life was in danger; Uhura questions her presence there. When she defaults to her trait of humming when distressed, they noticed that the relic and the chamber reacting to Uhura's melody — the comet's form of communicating. As Uhura matches the comet's melodies, it lowers its force field allowing them to beam back aboard the Enterprise to save not only Sam Kirk's life as well as the lives of a neighboring planet in the comet's range.

" Subspace Rhapsody ," Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Keep Us Connected

In another music-based moment, Ensign Uhura truly shines in her solo musical number, "Keep Us Connected," as performed by the Grammy Award-winning Gooding. She details the tragedies of her life — losing her family as well as her friend and mentor, Hemmer — at such a young age, and how that grief is woven into her fabric.

Despite all this, it's her experiences that has guided her here, and towards understanding the subspace anomaly. Armed with her strengths, she inspires the entire crew into a full-blown musical ensemble, " We Are One ," saving not only the Enterprise , but all others in the surrounding area.

What’s your favorite Uhura moment? Let us know on social!

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This article was originally published on May 16, 2022.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Nichelle Nichols, Uhura in ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89

By Carmel Dagan

Carmel Dagan

Staff Writer

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Nichelle Nichols , who portrayed communications officer Uhura on the original “ Star Trek ” series, died Saturday night in Silver City, N.M. She was 89 years old.

Nichols’ death was confirmed by Gilbert Bell, her talent manager and business partner of 15 years.

Nichols shared one of the first interracial kisses in television history on “Star Trek.” That moment, with her co-star William Shatner, was a courageous move on the part of her, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and NBC considering the climate at the time, but the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” which aired in 1968, was written to give all involved an out: Uhura and Captain Kirk did not choose to kiss but were instead made to do so involuntarily by aliens with the ability to control the movements of humans. Nevertheless, it was a landmark moment.

There had been a couple of interracial kisses on American television before. A year earlier on “Movin’ With Nancy,” Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra on the cheek in what appeared to be a spontaneous gesture but was in fact carefully planned. The Uhura-Kirk kiss was likely the first televised white/African American lip-to-lip kiss.

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But Uhura, whose name comes from a Swahili word meaning “freedom,” was essential beyond the interracial kiss: A capable officer who could man other stations on the bridge when the need arose, she was one of the first African American women to be featured in a non-menial role on television.

Nichols played Lt. Uhura on the original series, voiced her on “Star Trek: The Animated Series” and played Uhura in the first six “Star Trek” films. Uhura was promoted to lieutenant commander in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and to full commander in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

Nichols mulled leaving “Star Trek” after the first season to pursue a career on Broadway, but the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was a fan of the series and understood the importance of her character in opening doors for other African Americans on television, personally persuaded her to stay on the show, she told astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in an interview for the Archive of American Television.

Whoopi Goldberg, who later played Guinan on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” has described Uhura as a role model, recalling that she was astounded and excited to see a black woman character on television who was not a maid.

Nichols and Shatner remembered the shooting of the famous kiss very differently. In “Star Trek Memories,” Shatner said NBC insisted that the actors’ lips never actually touch (though they appear to). But in Nichols’ 1994 autobiography “Beyond Uhura,” the actress insisted that the kiss was in fact real. Nervous about audience reaction, the network insisted that alternate takes be shot with and without a kiss, but Nichols and Shatner deliberately flubbed every one of the latter so NBC would be forced to air what appeared to be a kiss (whether their lips actually touched or not).

Both the “Star Trek” and “Movin’ With Nancy” moments drew some negative reactions, though Nichols recalled that the fan mail was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

NASA later employed Nichols in an effort to encourage women and African Americans to become astronauts. NASA Astronaut Group 8, selected in 1978, included the first women and ethnic minorities to be recruited, including three who were Black. Dr. Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, cited “Star Trek” as an influence in her decision to join the space agency.

Nichols remained a supporter of the space program for decades.

In 1991, Nichols became the first African American woman to have her handprints immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre. The ceremony also included other members of the original “Star Trek” cast.

Born Grace Nichols in Robbins, Ill. on Dec. 28, 1932, Nichols began her show business career at age 16 singing with Duke Ellington in a ballet she created for one of his compositions. Later, she sang with his band.

She studied in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Her break came with an appearance in Oscar Brown’s high-profile but ill-fated 1961 musical “Kicks and Co.,” in which she played campus queen Hazel Sharpe, who’s tempted by the devil and Orgy Magazine to become “Orgy Maiden of the Month.” The play closed after its brief Chicago tryout, but Nichols attracted the attention of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, who booked her at his Chicago Playboy Club.

Nichols also appeared in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of “Carmen Jones” and performed in a New York production of “Porgy and Bess,” making her feature debut in an uncredited role as a dancer in an adaptation of that work in 1959. (Later she would display her singing talents on occasion on “Star Trek.”)

While working in Chicago, Nichols was twice nominated for that city’s theatrical Sarah Siddons Award for best actress. The first came for “Kicks and Co.,” while the second was for her performance in Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.”

She had small roles in the films “Made in Paris,” “Mr. Buddwing” and the Sandra Dee vehicle “Doctor, You’ve Got to Be Kidding!” before she was cast on “Star Trek.”

During the early ’60s, before “Star Trek,” Nichols had an affair with Gene Roddenberry that lasted several years, according to her autobiography. The affair ended when Roddenberry realized he was in love with Majel Hudec, whom he married. When Roddenberry’s health was failing decades later, Nichols co-wrote a song for him, entitled “Gene,” that she sang at his funeral.

In January 1967, Nichols was featured on the cover of Ebony magazine, which published two feature articles on her within five years.

In the early ’70s, the actress made a few guest appearances on TV and appeared in the 1974 Blaxploitation film “Truck Turner” starring Isaac Hayes. She appeared in a supporting role in a 1983 TV adaptation of “Antony and Cleopatra” that also featured her “Star Trek” co-star Walter Koenig. She starred with Maxwell Caulfield and Talia Balsam in the 1986 horror sci-fi feature “The Supernaturals.”

Later, Nichols began to do voice work, lending her talent to the animated series “Gargoyles” and “Spider-Man.” She also voiced herself on “Futurama.”

The actress played the mother of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s lead character in 2002’s “Snow Dogs” and Miss Mable in the 2005 Ice Cube comedy “Are We There Yet?”

In 2007, Nichols recurred on the second season of the NBC drama “Heroes” as Nana Dawson, matriarch of a New Orleans family devastated by Hurricane Katrina who cares for her orphaned grandchildren and great-nephew, Micah Sanders (series regular Noah Gray-Cabey). The following year she appeared in the films “Tru Loved” and “The Torturer.”

Nichols suffered a stroke in 2015 and was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, touching off a conservatorship dispute between her manager Bell and her son as well as a friend.

Nichols was married and divorced twice. She is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

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Nichelle nichols, lieutenant uhura on ‘star trek,’ dies at 89.

The actress earned the admiration of Martin Luther King Jr. by playing a Black authority figure, rare on 1960s television.

By Mike Barnes

Mike Barnes

Senior Editor

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Nichelle Nichols, who made history and earned the admiration of Martin Luther King Jr . for her portrayal of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek , has died. She was 89. 

Nichols, who earlier sang and danced as a performer with Duke Ellington’s orchestra, died Saturday night of natural causes, her son, Kyle Johnson, posted on her official Facebook page.

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A family spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter that she died in Silver City, New Mexico. She had been living with her son and was recently hospitalized.

Nichols played a person of authority on television at a time when most Black women were portraying servants.

She was cast as Uhura by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry after she guest-starred as the fiancee of a Black U.S. Marine who is a victim of racism in a 1964 episode of another NBC show he created, the Camp Pendleton-set The Lieutenant .

(Leonard Nimoy and Ricardo Montalban , two other Star Trek actors, appeared on that short-lived Roddenberry series as well.)

In the 2010 documentary Trek Nation , Nichols said she informed Roddenberry midway through Star Trek ’s first season of 1966-67 that she wanted to quit the show and return to the musical theater, which she called “her first love.”

However, a chance meeting with King at an NAACP fundraiser — who knew he was a Trekker? — led Nichols to stay put.

“He told me that Star Trek was one of the only shows that his wife Coretta and he would allow their little children to stay up and watch,” she recalled . “I thanked him and I told him I was leaving the show. All the smile came off his face and he said, ‘You can’t do that. Don’t you understand, for the first time, we’re seen as we should be seen? You don’t have a Black role. You have an equal role.’

“I went back to work on Monday morning and went to Gene’s office and told him what had happened over the weekend. And he said, ‘Welcome home. We have a lot of work to do.’”

Nichols played Nyota Uhura , who hailed from the United States of Africa in the future, on all three seasons of the series, which featured a multi-ethnic, multiracial crew manning the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

She reprised the role in all six of the Star Trek films from 1979 through 1991, on animated series and several video games, and on a 2002 episode of Futurama .

In the three recent Star Trek films directed by J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin, Uhura was portrayed by Zoe Saldaña . (Celia Rose Gooding plays her in the new Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .) 

On the original Star Trek episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” which first aired in November 1968, Uhura and Captain Kirk (William Shatner ) shared a rare, for the time, interracial kiss on television. (They couldn’t help themselves; according to the plot, aliens made them do it.)

When NBC execs learned about the kiss during production, they feared stations in the Southern states would not air the episode, so they ordered that another version of the scene be filmed. But Nichols and Shatner purposely screwed up every additional take.

“Finally, the guys in charge relented: ‘To hell with it. Let’s go with the kiss,” Nichols wrote in her 1994 book, Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories . “I guess they figured we were going to be canceled in a few months anyway. And so the kiss stayed.”

“I went everywhere,” she said. “I went to universities that had strong science and engineering programs. I was a guest at NORAD [the North American Aerospace Defense Command], where no civilian had gone before.

“At the end of the recruitment, NASA had so many highly qualified people. They took six women, they took three African-American men. … It was a very fulfilling accomplishment for me.”

Among those who applied to NASA thanks to Nichols were Sally Ride, Judith Resnik , Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka . A documentary about her efforts, Woman in Motion , premiered in 2018.

Born Grace Nichols on Dec. 28, 1932, in the Chicago suburb of Robbins, Illinois, she studied dance at the Chicago Ballet Academy. As a teenager, she toured as a dancer with Ellington and Lionel Hampton, then sang for the first time with Ellington’s band when a performer became ill at the last minute.

She danced with Sammy Davis Jr . in Porgy and Bess (1959), was a dice player in James Garner ’s Mister Buddwing (1966) and played the foul-mouthed head of a prostitution ring who puts a hit out on Isaac Hayes in Truck Turner  (1974). In 1968, she recorded an album, Down to Earth .

Nichols appeared as the grandmother of avenging angel Monica Dawson (Dana Davis), who has the power to mimic any physical motion she witnesses, on the NBC series Heroes .

Survivors include her son, who starred in the Gordon Parks film The Learning Tree (1969). The Los Angeles Times reported in August that he was at the center of a conservatorship battle over his mom, who had lived in Woodland Hills.

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Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ has died at 89

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols speaks during the Creation Entertainment’s Official Star Trek Convention at The Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill., Sunday, June 8, 2014. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, her family said. She was 89. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Ntoya Uhura on ''Star Trek,’' waves as she arrives at the “Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond” tribute at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, Sunday, Oct. 6, 1996. Nichols died Saturday, July 30, 2022, her family said. She was 89. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

FILE - Members of the “Star Trek” crew, from left, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols, toast the newest “Star Trek” film during a news conference at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, Dec. 28, 1988. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, at age 89. (AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File)

FILE - Actor Nichelle Nichols expresses her support to striking members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) outside the gates of Paramount Pictures studios in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 10, 2007. Nichols, who gained fame as Lt. Ntoya Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died Saturday, July 30, 2022, at age 89. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

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Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, has died at the age of 89.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

“Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration,” Johnson wrote on her official Facebook page Sunday. “Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.”

Her role in the 1966-69 series earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

Shatner tweeted Sunday: “I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle. She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world.”

George Takei, who shared the bridge of the USS Enterprise with her as Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series, called her trailblazing and incomparable. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” he tweeted.

Nichols’ impact was felt far beyond her immediate co-stars, and many others in the “Star Trek” world also tweeted their condolences.

Celia Rose Gooding, who currently plays Uhura in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” tweeted that Nichols “made room for so many of us. She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table, she built it.”

“Star Trek: Voyager” alum Kate Mulgrew tweeted, “Nichelle Nichols was The First. She was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again.”

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting in 1979 with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and frequented “Star Trek” fan conventions. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s “Heroes,” playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts ... that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992 when a “Star Trek” exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967, at a time when she had decided not to return for the show’s second season.

“When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, ‘You cannot do that,’” she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people,’” she said the civil rights leader told her.

“That foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.

During the show’s third season, Nichols’ character and Shatner’s Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

AP entertainment correspondent Oscar Wells Gabriel reports on Obit Nichelle Nichols

The kiss “suggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal,” Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. “The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man ... In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. We’re beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send.”

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most “fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on ‘Star Trek’ for one episode,” Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called “Gracie,” which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. When she was a teen her mother told her she had wanted to name her Michelle, but thought she ought to have alliterative initials like Marilyn Monroe, whom Nichols loved. Hence, “Nichelle.”

Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before coming to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959’s “Porgy and Bess,” the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her “Star Trek” stardom.

Nichols was known as being unafraid to stand up to Shatner on the set when others complained that he was stealing scenes and camera time. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show’s creator.

In her 1994 book, “Beyond Uhura,” she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show “The Lieutenant,” and the two had an affair a couple of years before “Star Trek” began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Another fan of Nichols and the show was future astronaut Mae Jemison, who became the first black woman in space when she flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

In an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on “Star Trek” all the time, adding she loved the show. Jemison eventually got to meet Nichols.

Nichols was a regular at “Star Trek” conventions and events into her 80s, but her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from advanced dementia.

Nichols was placed under a court conservatorship in the control of her son Johnson, who said her mental decline made her unable to manage her affairs or make public appearances.

Some, including Nichols’ managers and her friend, film producer and actor Angelique Fawcett, objected to the conservatorship and sought more access to Nichols and to records of Johnson’s financial and other moves on her behalf. Her name was at times invoked at courthouse rallies that sought the freeing of Britney Spears from her own conservatorship.

But the court consistently sided with Johnson, and over the objections of Fawcett allowed him to move Nichols to New Mexico, where she lived with him in her final years.

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles. Former AP Writer Polly Anderson contributed biographical material to this report.

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Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt Uhura in original Star Trek, dies aged 89

Actor achieved worldwide fame and broke ground for Black women while playing Nyota Uhura in the original TV hit

Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek series and helped to create a new era for television in the 1960s, has died in New Mexico at the age of 89.

Nichols’ son, Kyle Johnson, announced her death on Sunday via Facebook , saying: “I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years.” Nichols’s death, on Saturday night in Silver City, was later confirmed by her agent.

Johnson said his mother had succumbed to natural causes, seven years after suffered a stroke.

“Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from and draw inspiration.”

Nichols will be remembered chiefly for her role in the sci-fi adventure series, but she began her career as a dancer and nightclub singer.

US president Joe Biden paid tribute to Nichols, saying she “shattered stereotypes”. “Our nation has lost a trailblazer of stage and screen who redefined what is possible for Black Americans and women”.

“Our nation is forever indebted to inspiring artists like Nichelle Nichols, who show us a future where unity, dignity, and respect are cornerstones of every society.”

Co-star George Takei tweeted that his heart was heavy, “my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend” and he would have more to say soon on the “incomparable” trailblazer.

I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2022

Prominent Georgia Democrat and voting rights organizer Stacey Abrams , who is running again for the state governorship and is a longtime Star Trek fan, tweeted a picture of herself with Nichols.

“One of my most treasured photos – Godspeed to Nichelle Nichols, champion, warrior and tremendous actor. Her kindness and bravery lit the path for many,” she wrote. “May she forever dwell among the stars.”

One of my most treasured photos - Godspeed to Nichelle Nichols, champion, warrior and tremendous actor. Her kindness and bravery lit the path for many. May she forever dwell among the stars. #RIPNichelle #Uhura pic.twitter.com/nFXHif8HEC — Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) July 31, 2022

Star Trek brought Nichols enduring recognition and helped to break down some racial barriers in the television business, as they were rampant elsewhere.

She shared one of the first lip-to-lip interracial kisses on television – with co-star William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk. The kiss at the time was considered a forward-looking move on the part of the actors, as well as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the network that broadcast the show, NBC.

The episode in question, titled Plato’s Stepchildren, aired in 1968 and was fashioned in a way that gave those involved something of an out from any potential discriminatory backlash: Uhura and Kirk did not choose to kiss but were instead made to do so after being inhabited by aliens.

Roddenberry had reportedly insisted on an integrated crew for Starship Enterprise – a bold move given that interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 US states. Only a year earlier, Variety reported, Sammy Davis Jr had gone no further than kiss Nancy Sinatra on the cheek on Movin’ With Nancy.

The original Star Trek premiered on NBC on 8 September 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future, the 23rd century, human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts … that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992 when a Star Trek exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was a fan of the show and praised her role.

She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967, at a time when she had decided not to return for the show’s second season.

“When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said ‘You cannot do that’,” she told The Tulsa World in a 2008 interview.

“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people’,” she said the civil rights leader told her.

Nichols said: “That foresight Dr King had was a lightning bolt in my life.”

More recently, she had a recurring role on television’s Heroes, playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

Nichols, trained as a dancer and also worked as a nightclub chanteuse, with the Washington Post reporting that she thought being cast in Star Trek would be a “nice stepping stone” to Broadway stage fame, not realizing that the TV show and her character would be an iconic and enduring smash hit.

Actor Wilson Cruz wrote on Twitter that “representation matters”.

Nichols “modeled it for us. With her very presence and her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are and inspired us to reach for our potential,” he wrote . “Rest well, glittering diamond in the sky.”

Before we understood how much #RepresentationMatters #NichelleNichols modeled it for us. With her very presence & her grace she shone a light on who we as people of color are & inspired us to reach for our potential. Rest well glittering diamond in the sky https://t.co/DmeLFbg825 — Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) July 31, 2022

The Smithsonian tweeted a picture of Lt Uhura’s iconic red mini-dress and noted that Nichols made “history for African American women in TV and film. Nichols also volunteered to recruit women and people of color for Nasa.”

Today we remember Nichelle Nichols. She starred as Lieutenant Uhura on "Star Trek" wearing this uniform now in our @NMAAHC , making history for African American women in TV and film. Nichols also volunteered to recruit women and people of color for NASA. #BecauseOfHerStory pic.twitter.com/fZZqfGlomz — Smithsonian (@smithsonian) July 31, 2022

Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, on December 28 1932. According to the National Space Society , she sang as a 16-year-old with jazz great Duke Ellington – her career getting under way at an early age – in a ballet she created, and later joined his band.

Her big break in the 1961 Chicago musical Kicks and Co. Nichols later appeared in the title role in Carmen Jones and in a New York staging of Porgy and Bess as well as in Jean Genet’s The Blacks, and landed small film roles.

Nichols was married and divorced twice, and is survived by her son, Kyle Johnson.

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Star Trek: Nichelle Nichols’ Best Uhura Moments

The legendary Nichelle Nichols boldly went where no woman had gone before on Star Trek. Here are the moments where Lt. Uhura got to shine.

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A true icon and legend to generations of fans, actor, singer, dancer and activist Nichelle Nichols left this plane of existence on July 30, 2022. Nichols, of course, was best known for her portrayal of Lt. Nyota Uhura in all three seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series , the short-lived 1973 animated series, plus six feature films featuring the original show’s crew members.

Uhura’s station on the bridge of the Enterprise as communications officer was a breakthrough in American television for both women and African-Americans. A woman, let alone a woman of color, had never been situated in such a high-ranking position before, one of several ways in which Star Trek and Nichols broke new ground.

When Nichols decided to leave after the first season after getting an offer to do a Broadway play, she was convinced to stay on the show by no less than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In an interview with the Archive of American Television , she recalled King saying, “For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful, people who can sing, dance, and can go to space, who are professors, lawyers … If you leave, that door can be closed.”

Nichols did stay, and while Star Trek perhaps remained the crowning professional achievement of her life, she continued to act, sing, write and appear at conventions well into her later years. She also worked with NASA on a successful program to recruit minorities and women into the space program.

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Uhura was undeniably an inspiration to millions and a beloved fixture in Star Trek lore. But the character was underused on The Original Series , often relegated to simply opening the hailing frequencies, occasionally screaming, and often reporting on communications failures. On the rare occasions she did get to do something more, her presence and grace was like a beam of pure light on a show that already lit up the imagination every week. Here are 10 examples of Uhura getting that chance to shine, and we’ll treasure them forever as her wonderful spirit heads into the undiscovered country.

“Charlie X” (Season 1, Episode 2)

While Uhura did get some brief business of her own in the first broadcast episode (“The Man Trap”), with a monstrous shapeshifter appearing to her as a member of her own nation, she got a chance to really stand out in this classic episode about a teenage boy who is unable to handle both his developing emotions and his massive reality-warping powers.

In one memorable sequence, Spock and Uhura entertain crew members in the recreation room, with Uhura singing along as Spock plays his Vulcan lute. Not only did the scene let Nichols show off her singing voice, but it established the respectful, playful – and slightly flirty – relationship between Uhura and Spock that was later developed as a full-blown romance in the Star Trek reboot movies.

“The Squire of Gothos” (Season 1, Episode 17)

Uhura doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this episode – in which a petulant superbeing toys with the crew of the Enterprise until his parents show up and scold him – but it at least gets her off the bridge for a few minutes. At one point, Trelane (William Campbell) transports the entire bridge crew down to his castle on the planet Gothos, where he gives Uhura the ability to play the harpsichord so that Trelane can dance with a female yeoman.

Uhura seems to actually having this newfound ability – cementing the character’s longstanding relationship with music – but she’s all business once Kirk (briefly) gets the upper hand on Trelane and manages to get the crew back to the ship.

“The Changeling” (Season 2, Episode 3)

When the psychopathic space probe Nomad comes aboard the Enterprise (a plot later reused in Star Trek: The Motion Picture ), it hears Uhura singing and does not understand it, so it zaps her brain looking for information – wiping her memory and reverting her mind back to that of a child.

Since her mind has been erased, Uhura’s only memory is of speaking Swahili – and a linguist was reportedly brought to the set to write a few lines in the language for Nichols to say. She is shown recovering slowly in Sickbay, and we’re happy to report that she’s back to college level by the end of the episode – and apparently back to normal in time for the next episode and her big role there.

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“Mirror, Mirror” (Season 2, Episode 4)

Regarded as one of the very best episodes of The Original Series , “Mirror, Mirror” finds Kirk, Scott, Uhura, and McCoy trapped in an alternate universe where the Federation is a savage tyranny and Starfleet officers move up in ran through brutality, genocide, assassination, and torture.

Uhura gets lots to do in this episode: she’s involved throughout with the plans to get back to “our” universe, she seduces and then spurns Sulu – on the bridge, no less – in an attempt to distract him at a crucial moment, and even gets a brief fight scene of her own against the “Captain’s Woman” (yeah, we know). As with other episodes that get her out of that damn chair, it’s great to see this trained officer in action.

“The Trouble with Tribbles” (Season 2, Episode 15)

Uhura had perhaps her biggest role ever in this classic episode about a species of furry little animals that breed like crazy and overrun the Enterprise . It is actually the communications officer who brings the first tribble on board the ship: she and Chekov are enjoying a little shore leave in a space station bar when she is presented with one by a traveling salesman who wants to promote his wares.

Uhura’s little pet subsequently begins to breed, and what happens from there is the basis of one of Trek ’s most popular and iconic segments. Uhura is involved throughout, and in her foray to the space station, we actually get to see her act like a woman and a human being – not just a futuristic switchboard operator.

“The Gamesters of Triskelion” (Season 2, Episode 16)

Another (somewhat inexplicably) popular episode, this one finds Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov captured by a group of disembodied aliens called the Providers, who stage gladiatorial contests among various humanoid “Thralls” on their planet as a way to amuse themselves. Our three Starfleet officers of course resist their confinement and training, although they must eventually fight for their lives.

This one found Uhura again in the heart of the action, although both she and Chekov get to do considerably less fighting than good old Kirk (we wonder if Shatner counted the fight scenes). Uhura also must fend off an attempted rape by another Thrall, which fortunately occurs offscreen and which she is able to successfully beat back.

“The Tholian Web” (Season 3, Episode 9)

One of the better third season episodes finds Kirk trapped aboard a starship that has slipped into an interdimensional void, while the Enterprise must fend off an attack from an aggressive race called the Tholians as they wait for Kirk to re-emerge.

Not a lot of Uhura in this one besides her usual duties, but there is one striking scene late in the episode in which we see her in her quarters for the first time in civilian clothing – in this case, a long, flowing gown and ceremonial necklace. Nichols told author David Gerrold in his book The World of Star Trek that this was one of her favorite episodes: “I enjoyed anything that I was able to get out of uniform.”

“Plato’s Stepchildren” (Season 3, Episode 10)

It’s widely regarded as one of the worst Star Trek episodes , yet it contains a moment that stands tall in the history of television. A small band of depraved aliens with vast mental powers, who embrace classical Greek culture, submit Kirk and Spock to various forms of humiliation in order to keep Dr. McCoy from leaving after he saves their leader’s life.

At one point, Uhura and Nurse Chapel are transported down for further entertainment, resulting in a scene in which Kirk and Uhura kiss. The kiss is mentally imposed upon them by the aliens, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the first kisses between a Black person and a white person on television (it was thought to be the first for some time, but that is not in fact the case ; it was also not the first interracial kiss, as long stated, since other shows, even Star Trek itself, had featured kisses between whites and people of Asian or Latino ancestry).

In any case, it was almost certainly the first kiss of its kind (between Black and white) on American network television, a brave move indeed during the turbulent late ‘60s and a moment in which Nichelle Nichols played an essential part.

“The Lorelei Signal” (The Animated Series, Season 1, Episode 4)

Although Uhura was supposed to be fourth in command of the Enterprise , after Kirk, Spock, and Scotty, she was never shown doing so in the live-action show (indeed, Sulu and recurring redshirt Lt. Leslie even got to sit in the chair, but not Uhura!). That changed, however, in this animated series episode, in which a race of beautiful alien women lures the male members of the Enterprise crew to their planet, in order to drain their life force.

With the entire male crew incapacitated by the alien women, Uhura assumes command of the ship for the first time in its televised history as she and Nurse Chapel search for a way to free the men. According to Andy Mangels’ Star Trek: The Animated Series , Nichols reportedly exclaimed during the script’s table read, “What, you’re kidding? I actually get to run the Enterprise ? Really?” Long overdue, madam.

“Once Upon a Planet” (The Animated Series, Season 1, Episode 9)

The animated series returns to the “amusement park” planet from the classic TOS entry “Shore Leave,” in which anything you desire can be made real for your entertainment. This time, however, the planet’s alien caretaker has died, and the planet’s massive computer is running things – and not doing a good job of it.

Uhura gets kidnapped by the computer at one point, and it’s up to her to try and talk some sense into it, albeit unsuccessfully. Not a great episode overall, but hey! It gets Nyota off the bridge again.

Star Trek: The Motion Pictures

In keeping with the TV series, Nichelle Nichols didn’t get a whole lot to do in the first three Star Trek feature films (she was even insultingly left behind as the others took off to save Spock in Star Trek III : The Search for Spock ). But things got a little better in the back three of the original cast’s six films.

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , she and Chekov must go on a mission to covertly board an aircraft carrier parked in San Francisco (and also called Enterprise ) and borrow some energy from its nuclear reactor to recharge their stolen Klingon ship. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier finds Uhura – Nichelle Nichols not giving a shit and still bringing it in her mid-50s – doing a fan dance to distract some local morons on a backwater planet. That makes Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country – Nichols’ final appearance as Uhura – a bit of a letdown, since she’s back at mostly communications, although she has a generally more primary presence on the bridge (and is at the awkward dinner with the Klingons).

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Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022)

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IMDbPro Starmeter Top 5,000 1289

• 7 wins & 7 nominations

• Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
• 1966–1969 • 68 eps

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• Nyota Uhura

• Aunt Petunia

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• Duke & Nichelle
• 5′ 3½″ (1.61 m)
• December 28 , 1932
• Robbins, Illinois, USA
• July 30 , 2022
• Silver City, New Mexico, USA (heart failure)
• Spouses Duke Mondy December 20, 1967 - March 1972 (divorced)
• Kyle Johnson
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• Trivia Frustrated with the racist harassment, culminating with her learning that the studio was withholding her fan mail, she submitted her resignation from Star Trek (1966) after consulting with series creator Gene Roddenberry . She stated in several interviews that the harassment made her go back to work in theater until attending an NAACP fundraiser. The fundraiser was where a Star Trek fan was about to meet her for the first time and, to her astonishment, the fan turned out to be Dr. Martin Luther King . King stated that his wife and children had seen Star Trek on TV and it was the only television series that he had approved of. He said that her role as the fourth in command of the USS Enterprise became a positive role model for African-Americans. She withdrew her resignation from the series when King personally convinced her that her role was too important as a breakthrough to leave.
• Quotes [on the Star Trek (1966) fans] I'm a fan of the fans. I love them. They're fabulous. I love being around them. I love their madness and their caring. I love watching them take off for a weekend, don the costumes, and become characters from the 23rd century and beyond. I thank the fans for giving us--me--so much support and love. I want them to know I love them. They will always be my friends. I'll see the fans, always. They can rest assured of that.
• Trademarks Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek (1966) and six of the Star Trek films
• When did Nichelle Nichols die?
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Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 89

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Nichelle Nichols , who played Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original “Star Trek,” has died at the age of 89, her son Kyle Johnson announced on her official Facebook page. “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away,” Johnson’s statement read. “Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.” “Today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” Nichols’ co-star George Takei tweeted.

Also Read: Hollywood Remembers Nichelle Nichols as ‘Ground-Breaker’ Who Showed ‘the Extraordinary Power of Black Women’

As Uhura, Nichols was one of the first Black women ever to play a main cast role on a television series, as “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry wanted the crew of the USS Enterprise to come from many diverse backgrounds. Uhura, whose surname came from the Swahili word for “freedom,” was the ship’s communications officer with expertise in linguistics. After the show’s first season wrapped in 1966, Nichols planned to leave “Star Trek” to pursue roles on Broadway despite Roddenberry’s pleas to stay. But she changed her mind after an unexpected meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at an NAACP event, where the civil rights leader told her that his entire family watched “Trek” together. When Nichols told Dr. King she was going to leave the show, he urged her to reconsider. “‘You cannot, you cannot…for the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful, people who can sing dance, and can go to space, who are professors, lawyers,'” Nichols recalled King saying to her in a 2013 interview. “‘If you leave, that door can be closed because your role is not a black role, and is not a female role, he can fill it with anybody even an alien.'”

Also Read: Bill Russell, Legendary Basketball Player and Coach, Dies at 88

Nichols stayed for all three seasons of “Trek,” with arguably her most famous scene coming in the 1968 episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” where the Enterprise crew are held hostage by a telekinetic race called the Platonians and forced via mind control into humiliating situations. In one such situation, Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner, was forced to kiss Uhura. While not the first, it was the most prominent instance at the time of an interracial kiss on American television. After “Trek” ended in 1969, Nichols played Uhura again on “Star Trek: The Animated Series” in 1973 and 1974, with her most famous performance being in the episode “The Lorelei Signal” in which Uhura takes command of the Enterprise. She also starred alongside the rest of the “Trek” cast in six feature films, with Uhura being promoted to commander in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Off the set, Nichols used her “Trek” fame to call on NASA to expand its astronaut program to women and people of color. This led to a partnership between NASA and Nichols’ new science foundation, Women in Motion, to bring diversity to the space program. Thanks in large part to this program, Sally Ride became the first woman in space in 1983, while Air Force Col. Guion Bluford became the first Black astronaut that same year. A documentary about Nichols work with Women in Motion was released in 2019. Nichols made her final public appearance at Los Angeles Comic Con this past December. She is survived by her son, Kyle.

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Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ dies at 89

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Nichelle Nichols, who played the communications officer on the Starship Enterprise on “Star Trek” and famously participated in what was thought to be the first interracial kiss on television, has died.

Nichols died of heart failure Saturday night at a hospital in Silver City, N.M., a friend of the family handling media inquiries for Nichols’ son confirmed Sunday to the Los Angeles Times. She was 89.

Nichols suffered a stroke at her Woodland Hills home in 2015 and was struggling with dementia. She had been in a years-long conservatorship battle that pitted the son, Kyle Johnson, against a former manager and a close friend. Last year Johnson moved Nichols to New Mexico, citing the need to protect his mother from what he called exploitation by the manager and others.

Nichols gained fame as the beautiful, composed, immensely competent Lt. Uhura on three seasons of “Star Trek” on TV and in six “Star Trek” movies. A Black American cast as a master of 23rd century intergalactic technology, she had a role that defied the typical portrayal of Black women as domestics or entertainers. When she contemplated leaving the show for a Broadway play after its first season, she was dissuaded by none other than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Nichelle Nichols’ ‘Star Trek’ family praises ‘unique artist who was ahead of her time’

George Takei, William Shatner, Zoe Saldana and other members of the ‘Star Trek’ family mourned Nichelle Nichols, the series’ original Lt. Uhura.

Aug. 1, 2022

When they met at an NAACP fundraising event in Beverly Hills, King was appalled when she spoke of quitting, according to Nichols’ 2010 reminiscence on the Archive of American Television.

“The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen,” King told her. “Gene Roddenberry [‘Star Trek’s’ creator] has opened a door. If you leave, that door can be closed. Your role is not a Black role and not a female role — he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”

“I could say nothing,” she recalled. “I just stood there, realizing that every word he said was the truth.”

“He told me that it was the only show that he and his wife, Coretta, would allow their little children to stay up and watch,” Nichols recounted to CNN years later. More important, the Nobel Prize winner told Nichols that she was breaking important new ground for Black Americans and had to keep doing it.

“For the first time,” King told her, “the world sees us as we should be seen. This is what we’re marching for.”

Comic-Con 2018: Nichelle Nichols reveals how Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her to stay on ‘Star Trek’

Before “Black Panther,” Nichelle Nichols began paving the way for afro-futurism and black representation in pop culture.

July 20, 2018

“Besides,” said King, who confessed to being a huge “Star Trek” fan, “you’re the fourth in command — you’re the head communications officer.”

Days later, she told Roddenberry she’d changed her mind.

“He took out my resignation letter, which was torn into a hundred pieces, and handed me the pile. I said, ‘Thank you, Gene.’ ”

Nichols came to embrace her role and appeared at “Star Trek” events throughout her life. She became an eloquent advocate for the U.S. space program and led a successful drive to recruit women and minorities into astronaut training.

“My heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend,” her “Star Trek” co-star George Takei wrote Sunday on Twitter, calling Nichols an incomparable trailblazer.

Elegant, assertive and capable of rigging up a subspace bypass circuit in practically no time at all, Uhura inspired a generation of Black women. Comedian Whoopi Goldberg, on first seeing Nichols when she was about 9, remembered running through the house yelling, “Everybody, come quick, come quick — there’s a Black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”

After only three seasons, “Star Trek” was canceled in 1969. In its afterlife, it became far more popular, sparking additional TV series and more than a dozen feature films.

Nichols appeared in 66 episodes of the original “Star Trek.” She was popular fixture at “Star Trek” conventions, where fans asked her about one plot point more than any others: the long clinch between Uhura and Capt. James Kirk that was widely thought to be TV’s first interracial kiss.

The first thing people want to talk about is the first interracial kiss and what it did for them.

— Nichelle Nichols

“The first thing people want to talk about is the first interracial kiss and what it did for them,” she said in a 2010 interview for the Archive of American Television. “And they thought of the world differently — they thought of people differently.”

First aired on Nov. 22, 1968, the episode called “Plato’s Stepchildren” featured a race of aliens who worshiped the earthly philosopher Plato. In their study of humanity, they wanted to observe human intimacy — and telekinetically forced Uhura and Kirk, played by William Shatner, to kiss.

By the standards of the day, it was a potentially explosive scene. Just one year earlier, the Supreme Court struck down state bans on interracial marriage. “Star Trek” producers were so worried about public reaction that they tried to film one version of the scene with the kiss and another with only an embrace, for use on stations in the South.

However, the kiss-less approach was thwarted when, in take after take, Nichols and Shatner deliberately flubbed their lines.

In her autobiography, “Beyond Uhura,” Nichols recalled Shatner hamming it up strategically: “Bill shook me and hissed menacingly in his best ham-fisted Kirkian staccato delivery, ‘I! WON’T! KISS! YOU! I! WON’T! KISS! YOU!’ It was absolutely awful, and we were hysterical and ecstatic.”

Finally, a seemingly usable take was filmed and everyone went home for the evening. Only the next day did producers realize that Shatner had crossed his eyes as the camera caught his face during the non-kiss. At that point, executives abandoned their Southern strategy.

“I guess they figured we were going to be canceled in a few months anyway,” Nichols said. “And so the kiss stayed.”

The anticipated backlash never arose. The scene became more famous as time went on, even though TV historians point to a number of previous, less heralded, interracial TV kisses, including a peck on the cheek from Sammy Davis Jr. to Nancy Sinatra a few months earlier.

Nichelle Nichols, turning 85 today and still busy acting, talks about life after ‘Star Trek’

Dec. 28, 2017

Born into a large family in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932, Grace Dell Nichols adopted the name Nichelle as a teenager. Her father, Samuel Nichols, served as mayor and chief magistrate of the small Chicago suburb, which was founded in 1917 as a haven for Black American families.

A student of ballet and Afro-Cuban dancing, young Nichelle appeared in a revue at Chicago’s Sherman House hotel, where she caught the eye of the renowned Duke Ellington. As a teenager, she sang and danced with Ellington’s touring company and later performed with jazz great Lionel Hampton’s orchestra.

In the 1950s, Nichols appeared at nightclubs throughout the U.S. and Canada. She did an opening act for comedian Redd Foxx and danced in Otto Preminger’s screen version of “Porgy and Bess” in 1959. In 1963, she was cast in an episode of “The Lieutenant,” a TV show written by Gene Roddenberry , who later created “Star Trek.” The two had a fleeting romance that turned into a longtime friendship; in 1966, he asked her to join the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

They agreed to name her character Uhura — a variant of Uhuru, a Swahili word for freedom.

After one season, Nichols was fed up. Her character didn’t seem all that important and her lines were sparse. Besides, her heart lay in musical comedies and she yearned for Broadway.

A New Enterprise : Nichelle Nichols reflects on her influences, from Josephine Baker to Mahalia Jackson

Nichelle Nichols, mercurially slipping in and out of wigs and costumes, vocally unleashes Ella and Eartha and Lena and Bessie and 10 other lustrous women of song in a unique cabaret show at the Westwood Playhouse that takes Nichols back to her musical theater roots.

Feb. 18, 1990

She stuck it out, though, through the very last episode. “When you have a man like Martin Luther King say you can’t leave a show, it’s daunting,” she told USA Today in 1994. “It humbled my heart and I couldn’t leave.”

The year after their chance meeting at the NAACP banquet, Nichols sang at King’s funeral.

After the original “Star Trek” ended, Nichols embraced her role at “Star Trek” events. At a Trek convention in Chicago, a talk by NASA scientist Jesco von Puttkamer inspired her to embrace NASA as well.

“For someone who used to think that the only civilian benefits of the space program were Teflon and Tang, it’s funny that I became a NASA missionary,” she told the Chicago Tribune years later.

A recruitment drive led by Nichols in 1977 drew applications from more than 2,600 women and minority astronaut hopefuls. They included Sally Ride , the first American woman in space; and three of the astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion: Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka .

Nichols married tap dancer Foster Johnson in 1951 and songwriter Duke Mondy in 1968. Both marriages ended in divorce. A brother, Thomas Nichols, died in the 1997 mass suicide of the Heaven’s Gate cult at Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego. Survivors include son Kyle, whose announcement of Nichols’ death likened his mother’s light to “the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time” — something from which present and future generations could “enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration.”

Inside the heartbreaking conservatorship battle of a ‘Star Trek’ legend

Nichelle Nichols, the beloved Lt. Uhura on ‘Star Trek,’ is living with dementia and struggling financially. Three parties fight to control her fate.

Aug. 15, 2021

In addition to her “Star Trek” and NASA work, Nichols recorded an album, wrote two science fiction novels and created “Reflections,” a one-woman stage tribute to Black American singers including Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne — and herself.

But Nichols’ most lasting legacy may be in the memories of people like Mae C. Jemison, an astronaut who became a close friend.

In 1992, Jemison boarded the space shuttle Endeavour and became the first Black American woman in space. In a tribute to the woman who had inspired her, Jemison started each shift of her eight-day trip with the announcement that had become Nichols’ signature line as the Enterprise blazed past strange new worlds:

“Hailing frequencies open!”

Chawkins is a former Times staff writer.

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A former obituary writer, Steve Chawkins joined the Los Angeles Times in 1987 after working as a reporter and editor at the Santa Fe Reporter in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. He has been a roving state correspondent and a columnist and reporter in the Ventura County edition. He also was managing editor of the Ventura Star-Free Press. He graduated in 1969 from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Chawkins left The Times in 2015.

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Who Plays Nyota Uhura On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds?

In the "Star Trek" timeline, few space-faring females stand quite as tall as Nyota Uhura . The Kenyan-born communications officer is one of the series' most iconic characters and one of the best examples of how "Star Trek" shattered the social norms of its time. When the original series aired in the late 1960s, TV audiences were not entirely used to seeing Black women portrayed with as much competence and skill as Uhura (originally played by Nichelle Nichols). The character is a genius, a prodigy of languages, a high-ranking Federation officer and ship commander, and one-half of one of the first interracial kisses to ever air on television (via CNN ).

That legacy remains strong even now, over half a century after Uhura and "Star Trek" initially debuted. Thanks to "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which tells the story of the USS Enterprise crew before James T. Kirk (William Shatner) took command, a whole new generation is being introduced to Uhura. More specifically, they're being introduced to Uhura as portrayed by actor Celia Rose Gooding. While this is the first time that many "Star Trek" fans have been introduced to Gooding, "Strange New Worlds" is far from her only influential role.

Celia Rose Gooding is an award-winning thespian

If you haven't heard of Celia Rose Gooding before now, then we won't blame you. She hasn't been acting quite as long as others. However, Gooding has accomplished quite a lot, possibly because the talent is in her blood. Her mother is Tony Award-winning actor LaChanze, who identified Gooding's talent from a very young age (via Playbill ). As a child, Gooding grew up seeing her mother succeed in theater, even helping her as a reader for auditions at times. This, in no small way, prepared Gooding for her own theater career, where she has made swift progress.

Aside from "Strange New Worlds," Gooding is likely best known for her role in the Broadway play "Jagged Little Pill," where she plays Frankie Healy, the adopted Black bisexual daughter of a white family. In 2021, "Jagged Little Pill" won a Grammy for best musical theater album (via IMDb ), making it Gooding's first award as a professional actor. That's a strong start if ever there was one.

Now that this star has made a trek over to the strange new world of television, however, we look forward to seeing what Celia Rose Gooding can accomplish when she's offstage and on-screen. Who knows? She just might win an Emmy as her second award.

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in Star Trek franchise, dies at 89

She helped break ground on tv by showing a black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star william shatner one of the first interracial kisses on american prime-time television.

Nichelle Nichols, an actress whose role as the communications chief Uhura in the original Star Trek franchise in the 1960s helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star William Shatner one of the first interracial kisses on American prime-time television, died July 30 in Silver City, N.M. She was 89.

Her son, Kyle Johnson, announced the death on Facebook . Her former agent Zachery McGinnis also confirmed the death but did not have further details. Ms. Nichols had a stroke in 2015.

Ms. Nichols, a statuesque dancer and nightclub chanteuse, had a few acting credits when she was cast in “Star Trek.” She said she viewed the TV series as a “nice steppingstone” to Broadway stardom, hardly anticipating that a low-tech science-fiction show would become a cultural touchstone and bring her enduring recognition.

“Star Trek” was barrier-breaking in many ways. While other network programs of the era offered domestic witches and talking horses, “Star Trek” delivered allegorical tales about violence, prejudice and war — the roiling social issues of the era — in the guise of a 23rd-century intergalactic adventure. The show featured Black and Asian cast members in supporting but nonetheless visible, non-stereotypical roles.

Ms. Nichols worked with series creator Gene Roddenberry, her onetime lover, to imbue Uhura with authority — a striking departure for a Black TV actress when “Star Trek” debuted on NBC in 1966. Actress Whoopi Goldberg often said that when she saw “Star Trek” as an adolescent, she screamed to her family, “Come quick, come quick. There’s a Black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”

On the bridge of the starship Enterprise, in a red minidress that permitted her to flaunt her dancer’s legs, Ms. Nichols stood out among the otherwise all-male officers. Uhura was presented matter-of-factly as fourth in command, exemplifying a hopeful future when Blacks would enjoy full equality.

The show received middling reviews and ratings and was canceled after three seasons, but it became a TV mainstay in syndication. An animated “Star Trek” aired in the early 1970s, with Ms. Nichols voicing Uhura. Communities of fans known as “Trekkies” or “Trekkers” soon burst forth at large-scale conventions where they dressed in character.

Ms. Nichols reprised Uhura, promoted from lieutenant to commander, in six feature films between 1979 and 1991 that helped make “Star Trek” a juggernaut. She was joined by much of the original cast, which included Shatner as the heroic captain, James T. Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy as the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer Spock; DeForest Kelley as the acerbic Dr. McCoy; George Takei as the Enterprise’s helmsman, Sulu; James Doohan as the chief engineer, Scotty; and Walter Koenig as the navigator, Chekov.

Ms. Nichols said Roddenberry allowed her to name Uhura, which she said was a feminized version of a Swahili word for “freedom.” She envisioned her character as a renowned linguist who, from a blinking console on the bridge, presides over a hidden communications staff in the spaceship’s bowels.

But by the end of the first season, she said, her role had been reduced to little more than a “glorified telephone operator in space,” remembered for her oft-quoted line to the captain, “Hailing frequencies open, sir.”

In her 1994 memoir, “ Beyond Uhura ,” she said that, during filming, her lines and those of other supporting actors were routinely cut. She blamed Shatner, whom she called an “insensitive, hurtful egotist” who used his star billing to hog the spotlight. She also said studio personnel tried to undermine her contract negotiating power by hiding her ample fan mail.

Years later, Ms. Nichols claimed in interviews that she had threatened to quit during the first season but reconsidered after meeting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at an NAACP fundraiser. She said he introduced himself as a fan and grew visibly horrified when she explained her desire to abandon her role, one of the few nonservile parts for Blacks on television.

“Because of Martin,” she told the “Entertainment Tonight” website, “I looked at work differently. There was something more than just a job.”

Her most prominent “Star Trek” moment came in a 1968 episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” about a group of “superior” beings who use mind control to make the visiting Enterprise crew submit to their will. They force Kirk and Uhura, platonic colleagues, to kiss passionately .

In later decades, Ms. Nichols and Shatner touted the smooch as a landmark event that was highly controversial within the network. It garnered almost no public attention at the time, perhaps because of the show’s tepid ratings but also because Hollywood films had already broken such taboos. A year before the “Star Trek” episode, NBC had aired Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. giving each other a peck on the lips during a TV special.

“Star Trek” went off the air in 1969, but Ms. Nichols’s continued association with Uhura at Trekkie conventions led to a NASA contract in 1977 to help recruit women and minorities to the nascent space shuttle astronaut corps.

NASA historians said its recruiting drive — the first since 1969 — had many prongs, and Ms. Nichols’s specific impact as a roving ambassador was modest. But the astronaut class of 1978 had six women, three Black men and one Asian American man among the 35 chosen.

Grace Dell Nichols, the daughter of a chemist and a homemaker, was born in Robbins, Ill., on Dec. 28, 1932, and grew up in nearby Chicago.

After studying classical ballet and Afro-Cuban dance, she made her professional debut at 14 at the College Inn, a high-society Chicago supper club. Her performance, in a tribute to the pioneering Black dancer Katherine Dunham, reputedly impressed bandleader Duke Ellington, who was in the audience. A few years later, newly re-christened Nichelle, she briefly appeared in his traveling show as a dancer and singer.

At 18, she married Foster Johnson, a tap dancer 15 years her senior. They had a son before divorcing. As a single mother, Ms. Nichols continued working the grind of the nightclub circuit.

In the late 1950s, she moved to Los Angeles and entered a cultural milieu that included Pearl Bailey, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr., with whom she had what she described as a “short, stormy, exciting” affair. She landed an uncredited role in director Otto Preminger’s film version of “Porgy and Bess” (1959) and assisted her then-boyfriend, actor and director Frank Silvera, in his theatrical stagings.

In 1963, she won a guest role on “The Lieutenant,” an NBC military drama created by Roddenberry. She began an affair with Roddenberry, who was married, but broke things off when she discovered he was also seriously involved with actress Majel Barrett. “I could not be the other woman to the other woman,” she wrote in “Beyond Uhura.” (Roddenberry later married Barrett, who played a nurse on “Star Trek.”)

Ms. Nichols’s second marriage, to songwriter and arranger Duke Mondy, ended in divorce. Besides her son, Kyle Johnson, an actor who starred in writer-director Gordon Parks’s 1969 film “The Learning Tree,” a complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

After her role on “Star Trek,” Ms. Nichols played a hard-boiled madam opposite Isaac Hayes in the 1974 blaxploitation film “Truck Turner .” For many years, she performed a one-woman show honoring Black entertainers such as Lena Horne , Eartha Kitt and Leontyne Price. She also was credited as co-author of two science-fiction novels featuring a heroine named Saturna.

Ms. Nichols did not appear in director J.J. Abrams’s “Star Trek” film reboot that included actress Zoe Saldana as Uhura. But she gamely continued to promote the franchise and spoke with candor about her part in a role that eclipsed all her others.

“If you’ve got to be typecast,” Ms. Nichols told the UPI news service, “at least it’s someone with dignity.”

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Star Trek's Uhura Reflects On MLK Encounter

Nichelle Nichols caused a sensation in the 1960s for her role as Lieutenant Uhura in the classic television series, "Star Trek." It was one of the first times a black woman was cast as a main character in a major television show. But Nichols almost quit the show to pursue other dreams. She talks to host Michel Martin about her character's importance during the civil rights movement, and how Martin Luther King Junior convinced her to stay on "Star Trek".

MICHEL MARTIN, host:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News.

On this Martin Luther King Day, we are looking at the legacy of the civil rights leader. We're looking back and we're looking forward to talk about what that legacy still means.

In a moment, we'll hear from the legendary singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who admired King as a leader and also knew him as a friend.

But one of the things that might not be so well known about Martin Luther King, Jr. is that he was a Trekkie, a fan of the television show "Star Trek" - that according to Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played the groundbreaking role of Lieutenant Uhura on the popular series from 1966 to 1969 and in the movies that followed. And if we've forgotten why we liked her so much, here's a clip.

(Soundbite of TV show, "Star Trek")

Ms. NICHELLE NICHOLS (Actor): (As Lieutenant Uhura) I'm connecting the bypass circuit now, sir.

(Soundbite of buzzing)

Ms. NICHOLS: (As Lieutenant Uhura) It should take another half hour.

Mr. LEONARD NIMOY (Actor): (As Spock) Speed is essential, lieutenant.

Ms. NICHOLS: Mr. Spock, I haven't done anything like this in years. If it isn't done just right, I could blow the entire communications system. It's very delicate work, sir.

Mr. NIMOY: I can think of no one better equipped to handle it, Ms. Uhura. Please proceed.

MARTIN: Well, there you have it. Even Spock was a fan. And Dr. King was a fan. And according to Nichelle Nichols' biography, he also played a pivotal role in setting the course for her career. And she is with us now to tell us more about it.

Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

Ms. NICHOLS: I am delighted to be here with you. Thank you.

MARTIN: Now, in hindsight, of course, you know, everybody recognizes that this was a groundbreaking role. An African-American woman fourth in command on a spaceship in the 23rd century, you know, an officer, a leader. But you had actually planned to quit after your first season. Why?

Ms. NICHOLS: Well, I grew up in musical theater. To me, the highlight and the epitome of my life as a singer and actor and a dancer/choreographer was to star on Broadway. And as my popularity grew once the show was on the air, I was beginning to get all kinds of offers. And I decided I was going to leave, go to New York and make my way on the Broadway stage. And a funny thing happened.

MARTIN: Well, tell us about that funny thing that happened.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. NICHOLS: I went in to tell Gene Roddenberry that I was leaving after the first season, and he was very upset about it. And he said, take the weekend and think about what I am trying to achieve here in this show. You're an integral part and very important to it. And so I said, yes, I would. And that - on Saturday night, I went to an NAACP fundraiser, I believe it was, in Beverly Hills. And one of the promoters came over to me and said, Ms. Nichols, there's someone who would like to meet you. He says he is your greatest fan.

And I'm thinking a Trekker, you know. And I turn, and before I could get up, I looked across the way and there was the face of Dr. Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking toward me. And he started laughing. By the time he reached me, he said, yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan. I am that Trekkie.

Ms. NICHOLS: And I was speechless. He complimented me on the manner in which I'd created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need you on the - to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I'm going to miss my co-stars.

And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered - and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don't you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.

MARTIN: Ms. Nichols, I have to tell you, the same was true in our house. I mean we would run and our parents would literally call and say look, look, you know, she's on.

Ms. NICHOLS: Yes. Yes.

MARTIN: But that's kind of a heavy responsibility, though. I do have to ask you about that. I mean the fact is you did put a side some of your own personal dreams to stay in that role.

Ms. NICHOLS: Yes. Yes. Well, you know...

MARTIN: And then you did three movies. And how does that sit with you now?

Ms. NICHOLS: Well, it's interesting that you said, you know, you would run through the house and look. I met Whoopi Goldberg when Gene was doing The Next Generation and she had told me when Star Trek came on she was nine years old and she said she turned the TV on and saw me and ran through the house screaming: Come quick, come quick. Theres a black lady on TV and she ain't no maid.

Ms. NICHOLS: And that did something to my heart, so I knew that I had made the right decision, because as Dr. King said, you have been chosen.

MARTIN: If youre just joining us, this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News and I am talking to Nichelle Nichols who is probably best known for her groundbreaking role as Lieutenant Uhura on the classic television series Star Trek.

I wanted to ask you what you think about how African-American women are portrayed on television today. And, of course, since you, you know, what such a big deal, as Whoopi Goldberg put it in her own style...

Ms. NICHOLS: Yes.

MARTIN: ...to see a woman of color in leadership who was, you know, an equal player who, you know, clearly had a leadership role. But on the other hand, there's still a lot of criticism that African-Americans who try to drive or the lead characters in a show, they're still the best friend, right?

Ms. NICHOLS: Mm-hmm. Yes.

MARTIN: They're still the friend, the buddy, the secondary role.

MARTIN: I just was curious about your thoughts about where you think people are.

Ms. NICHOLS: Well, if you notice, that is not the reflection of what our life is. And so we can never give up. We can never stop. You can never get too relaxed and think, oh, everything is fine now because it isn't.

MARTIN: Final question I wanted to ask, we've been asking all our guests in today's program and I'd like to ask you, how do you interpret Martin Luther King, Jr.'s challenge today?

Ms. NICHOLS: I think it's as valid today as it was when he declared it. His work isn't finished. It's only just begun. But we've come a long way from Dr. King's day in which there were dogs being unleashed on the marchers and fire hoses. And here I was projecting in the 23rd century what should have been quite simple. We're on a starship. I was head communications officer.

Ms. NICHOLS: Fourth in command on a starship. They didn't see this as being oh, it doesn't happen till the 23rd century. Young people and adults saw it as now.

MARTIN: Actress, dancer, singer, space travel advocate, Nichelle Nichols is probably best known for her role as Lieutenant Commander Uhura on the television series Star Trek and she was kind enough to join us from our studios at NPR West.

Nichelle Nichols, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for everything you've done.

Ms. NICHOLS: Thank you.

Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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Official Site of Nichelle Nichols

About Nichelle

Dear Friends,

You’ve heard the timeless adage: “Life comes full circle,” and “what goes around comes around.” I believe that, rather than moving in a circle and returning to the same starting point again and again, we travel the course of an infinite spiral. When we return to a starting point we are at a different level, hopefully a higher one; a spiritual peak from which to view our lives. And, thanks to you, what a life I’ve lived.

Before I made the leap to working with the great Duke Ellington, before I became a professional dancer and singer, I had to discover myself. As I learned to believe in my talent, my voice, myself, I learned that I could make others believe as well.

Gene Roddenberry believed in me. His belief presented me with a fantastic opportunity: to help conceive and create the groundbreaking role of Uhura on Star Trek, the original series.

And my belief was expanded to embrace Gene’s vision of a bright future for humanity. When I was on those wonderful sets with all of the cast members, the universe of Star Trek began to feel not so much a fantasy but an opportunity to lay the groundwork for what we might actually achieve by the 23rd Century… a bold aspiration and an affirmation of Uhura as we eagerly await her arrival.

After my “tour of duty” on the original series ended I was invited to become a spokesperson for NASA, where I helped recruit and inspire a new generation of fearless astronauts; young men and women with a strong belief in themselves, in their potential, and in a future of learning and achievement for all humanity. In motivating them as others once did me, it’s as if my life had come back, full circle, to where the dreams of a young woman began.

Today, I want to invite you, my beloved friends and devoted fans; everyone who’s helped to make my dreams come true, to see me on my Farewell Tour later this year.  It will be a celebration of my career in entertainment with all its challenges, achievements, and the joy of the journey.  I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura On 'Star Trek,' Has Died At 89

Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" television series, has died at the age of 89.

Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico.

"Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration," Johnson wrote on her official Facebook page Sunday. "Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all."

Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series' rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

"I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89," George Takei wrote on Twitter. "For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend."

Takei played Sulu in the original "Star Trek" series alongside Nichols. But her impact was felt beyond her immediate co-stars, and many others in the "Star Trek" world also tweeted their condolences.

Celia Rose Gooding, who currently plays Uhura in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," wrote on Twitter that Nichols "made room for so many of us. She was the reminder that not only can we reach the stars, but our influence is essential to their survival. Forget shaking the table, she built it."

"Star Trek: Voyager" alum Kate Mulgrew tweeted, "Nichelle Nichols was The First. She was a trailblazer who navigated a very challenging trail with grit, grace, and a gorgeous fire we are not likely to see again."

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting in 1979 with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and frequented "Star Trek" fan conventions. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

More recently, she had a recurring role on television's "Heroes," playing the great-aunt of a young boy with mystical powers.

The original "Star Trek" premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry's message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

"I think many people took it into their hearts ... that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate," Nichols said in 1992 when a "Star Trek" exhibit was on view at the Smithsonian Institution.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967, at a time when she had decided not to return for the show's second season.

"When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, 'You cannot do that,'" she told The Tulsa (Okla.) World in a 2008 interview.

"'You've changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you've changed the minds of people,'" she said the civil rights leader told her.

"That foresight Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life," Nichols said.

During the show's third season, Nichols' character and Shatner's Capt. James Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, "Plato's Stepchildren," their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

The kiss "suggested that there was a future where these issues were not such a big deal," Eric Deggans, a television critic for National Public Radio, told The Associated Press in 2018. "The characters themselves were not freaking out because a Black woman was kissing a white man ... In this utopian-like future, we solved this issue. We're beyond it. That was a wonderful message to send."

Worried about reaction from Southern television stations, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, "Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories," that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most "fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on 'Star Trek' for one episode," Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, Nichols hated being called "Gracie," which everyone insisted on, she said in the 2010 interview. When she was a teen her mother told her she had wanted to name her Michelle, but thought she ought to have alliterative initials like Marilyn Monroe, whom Nichols loved. Hence, "Nichelle."

Nichols first worked professionally as a singer and dancer in Chicago at age 14, moving on to New York nightclubs and working for a time with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands before coming to Hollywood for her film debut in 1959's "Porgy and Bess," the first of several small film and TV roles that led up to her "Star Trek" stardom.

Nichols was known as being unafraid to stand up to Shatner on the set when others complained that he was stealing scenes and camera time. They later learned she had a strong supporter in the show's creator.

In her 1994 book, "Beyond Uhura," she said she met Roddenberry when she guest starred on his show "The Lieutenant," and the two had an affair a couple of years before "Star Trek" began. The two remained lifelong close friends.

Another fan of Nichols and the show was future astronaut Mae Jemison, who became the first black woman in space when she flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

In an AP interview before her flight, Jemison said she watched Nichols on "Star Trek" all the time, adding she loved the show. Jemison eventually got to meet Nichols.

Nichols was a regular at "Star Trek" conventions and events into her 80s, but her schedule became limited starting in 2018 when her son announced that she was suffering from advanced dementia.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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Screen Rant

Strange new worlds actors reveal cut star trek musical finale moment & why spock dances.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, and Christina Chong drop some BTS about the musical episode's grand finale number.

• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode concludes with a grand finale showcasing the power of unity and camaraderie among the crew.
• Lt. Spock's logical decision to dance in the musical finale helps boost subspace rift's 'improbability levels,' aiding the crew in saving the galaxy.
• A bonding moment between Uhura and La'an highlights the ensemble's support for each other, showcasing a sense of solidarity and friendship, but it was cut from the episode.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong reveal a cut moment from the finale of the first-ever Star Trek musical, and Ethan Peck explains why Lt. Spock decided to dance in the closing musical number, "We Are One." Strange New Worlds season 2's acclaimed musical episode, "Subspace Rhapsody," was written by Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff and directed by Dermot Downs. All of the songs were composed by Kay Hanley and Tom Polce from Letters to Cleo. The musical required the entire cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to sing and dance, and everyone embraced the musical with gusto.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical episode, a subspace rift created a reality defined by the rules of musicals that threatened to engulf the entire galaxy. Meanwhile, aboard the USS Enterprise, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew unwittingly express their deepest feelings and emotions through songs. Ensign Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) deduced that to close the subspace rift, the crew of the Enterprise needed to perform a grand finale, and every single person aboard the starship joined in for the big finish musical number, "We Are One."

Star Trek Strange New Worlds Musical Episode Ending Explained

Star trek: strange new worlds' musical cut a moment from the grand finale, celia rose gooding explains a missing moment from the musical episode..

In an interview with TV Insider, Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong reveal that there was a bonding moment between Ensign Nyota Uhura and Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh that was cut from the final version of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' musical episode 's finale number, "We Are One." Read their quotes below:

Celia Rose Gooding: La’an and Uhura had a little handshake moment that we made up on the spot. Christina Chong: We did! Celia Rose Gooding: We did, but that didn’t make it. But in my mind, there was something so beautiful about that after we finished the song. Our instinct was first to just celebrate one another, and then get back to work. I think that is such a nod to our routine as an ensemble to just check on each other and really boost each other up because we’re doing something that some characters are not super comfortable with and that isn’t their instinct to burst out into song. And so that final moment of camaraderie - of course, it had to be shrunk down for the nature of TV - but in my perfect world, there’s an edit of five minutes of everyone just giving each other compliments.

"We Are One" was a catharsis for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. For La'an, the Strange New Worlds musical's finale reaffirmed her decision to be more open with her feelings, even after her confession that she is attracted to Lt. James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) didn't go as she had hoped. Meanwhile, Uhura realized that her role in keeping the crew of the Enterprise connected was a gift, and it empowered her to save the ship. Both La'an and Uhura shed their old inhibitions and took steps forward to becoming happier people .

Watch the full TV Insider interview with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' cast below:

Why Spock Dances In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Musical Finale

Ethan peck knew spock would only dance when it was logical to dance..

Ethan Peck also explained Lt. Spock's decision to dance in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' grand finale, "We Are One." Peck, who understands Spock like Leonard Nimoy did , needed a logical justification for Spock to dance , and he found out. Read Peck's quote below:

Ethan Peck: There was a moment there in that finale where life really imitated art. I mean, that happens so frequently, but never so closely together as in that moment. Spock doesn’t get to participate because, obviously, he doesn’t want to be dancing. I spoke with Dermot, the director, about it. How would Spock dance? Well, I guess he has to to get that meter maxed out so we can break out of the musical reality. And he would do it for that, and so he joins in for the very end of it. So I felt like kind of an outsider. I join in at the very end of that whole sequence. And then Chapel and Spock are sort of on rough terms, and I remember its ending. We had this joyous moment, and then we have kind of a broody look to each other. So my experience was a little bit different from some of the other cast members.

Lt. Spock dancing in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' musical finale did boost the subspace rift's 'improbability levels ', and helped put the Starship Enterprise crew over the top. Unlike Uhura and La'an's moment, the final cut of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' musical included the awkward moment between Spock and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush) after the couple ended their relationship through song. What happens next between Spock, Chapel, and the crew of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 remains to be seen, although it won't include another musical episode. (At least not in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.)

Source: TV Insider

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is available to stream on Paramount+

A 57-Year-Old Star Trek Mystery Has Finally Been Solved

The final season of Star Trek: Discovery just solved a franchise mystery that's been left open since a classic episode of The Original Series aired.

• Nearly 60 years ago, Star Trek: The Original Series introduced the Mirror Universe.
• Star Trek: Discovery returned to that parallel dimension in Season 1, showing audiences more of that world.
• In the final season of Star Trek: Discovery, the fate of a key vessel in the mirror universe is revealed.

The following contains spoilers from Star Trek: Discovery , Season 5, Episode 5, "Mirrors," now streaming on Paramount+ .

One of the most interesting concepts in the Star Trek mythology is its "mirror universe," a parallel dimension where almost everyone is evil. Of the universe's dozen series, only four ever explored it, and only two did so more than once. Star Trek: Discovery made the mirror universe key to its first season, and in its final one, the series revealed what happened to the ISS Enterprise 57 years after it was first introduced. When the show first debuted, some long-time fans felt the crew and the captain were not in keeping with the tenor of proper Starfleet officers. However, Season 1 revealed Captain Lorca hailed from that universe , explaining why he seemed more "evil" than the typical starship captain.

Once the USS Discovery traveled through a wormhole to the 32nd Century, Dr. Kovich told Dr. Culber that the Mirror Universe and Prime Universe were too far apart for "crossings" to occur any longer. However, while on the hunt for the clues to the location of the Progenitors' technology, Captain Burnham and Cleveland "Book" Booker find a pocket of interdimensional space housing a vessel from the Mirror Universe. However, it's not any old starship, it is the ISS Enterprise last seen in "Mirror, Mirror" when the Prime Universe's Captain Kirk told Mirror Universe Spock it only took one good man to start a revolution. Once Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reintroduced the Mirror Universe, what happened to the ship was an open question Discovery just answered.

Kirk: What worries me is the easy way his counterpart fitted into that other universe. I always thought Spock was a bit of a pirate at heart.

Spock: Indeed, gentlemen. May I point out that I had an opportunity to observe your counterparts here quite closely. They were brutal, savage, unprincipled, uncivilized, treacherous - in every way splendid examples of homo sapiens, the very flower of humanity. I found them quite refreshing. -- Star Trek: The Original Series "Mirror, Mirror"

Where the Mirror Universe and the ISS Enterprise Came From

Star trek: discovery's mary wiseman, wilson cruz and blu del barrio hype finale.

When Gene Roddenberry put together his pitch for Star Trek 60 years ago in 1964, a loose idea of the Mirror Universe concept was on an early pitch document . The full concept came from writer Jerome Bixby, based on his decade-old short story "One Way Street." The writer said "the universe [he] created was a very savage counterpart" and that "it's arguable...the universe itself might be termed a 'character,'" in The Captain's Logs Supplemental by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman.

In "Mirror, Mirror," Kirk, Doctor McCoy, Uhura and Scotty are sent via transporter accident to the Mirror Universe. The episode is mostly about them trying to survive long enough to be returned to their own universe. However, Mirror Spock figures out the captain and crew aren't from his version of reality. So, he ends up helping them recreate the accident so they can return home. Tiberius Kirk and the evil versions of the crew are also sent back, but it's strongly implied that Spock will quickly take control from him.

Star Trek: The Original Series "Mirror, Mirror" Official Synopsis: A transporter accident places Captain Kirk's landing party in an alternate universe, where the Enterprise is in the service of a barbarically brutal empire.

In Star Trek: Enterprise , a two-part episode set in the Mirror Universe brought the USS Defiant from The Original Series episode "The Tholian Web" to the past. This helps explain why the ISS Enterprise is so much like the Constitution class vessels from the prime universe. Each starship is also equipped with a Tantalus Field, a mysterious device that makes a captain's enemies vanish. Presumably, Spock used the vessel to start his revolution, and Deep Space Nine reveals how it all turned out. Yet, what happened to the ISS Enterprise remained a mystery, until "Mirrors."

The USS Discovery's Search for Clues Led Burnham to the Enterprise

Star trek: discovery's alex kurtzman & michelle paradise talk final season.

Captain Burnham and the USS Discovery crew are familiar with the USS Enterprise, though Captain Christopher Pike was her commanding officer then. After surviving the Time Bug placed on the ship by Moll, Burnham and Book take a shuttle into an "aperture" of extradimensional space to follow their ship's warp trail. When they enter it, Burnham recognizes the ship, but tells Book that during her time in the Mirror Universe in Season 1, she never saw that particular vessel. The ship has been stuck there for some time, and it's damaged. Not just from the pocket dimension it sits in, but it had been in a battle.

Star Trek: Discovery "Mirrors" Official Synopsis: Captain Burnham and Book journey into extradimensional space in search of the next clue to the location of the Progenitors' power, while Rayner navigates his first mission in command of the U. S. S. Discovery and Culber opens up to Tilly.

When Burnham and Book board the vessel, they discover something surprising. Rather than a Terran warship, they see the ISS Enterprise seemingly serving as a home to refugees . After restoring some power to the ship, they are able to locate Moll, L'ak and the clue they seek by scanning for the quantum signature of people and objects from the prime universe. A short fight breaks out, but circumstances align so that Moll and Booker have to work together to free L'ak and Michael from a security protocol.

When L'ak and Michael fight, she's able to get the clue and she, accidentally, wounds the Breen exile. Moll and L'ak escape in the shuttle Michael and Book arrived on, so they have to figure out a way to get the ISS Enterprise out of the extradimensional space it was marooned in so long ago. Naturally, they succeed with the help of quick-thinking by Commander Rayner on the USS Discovery. What's most interesting, however, is that throughout this adventure no one really wonders just how the clue from the Prime Universe ended up on the flagship of the Terran Empire.

Deep Space Nine Revealed the Fate of Spock's Terran Empire

Star trek: discovery actors doug jones & david ajala prepare for their last adventure.

The first show to return to the Mirror Universe was the first serialized Star Trek , Deep Space Nine in Season 2, Episode 23, "Crossover." Naturally, because that series was set on the space station close to the planet Bajor, this was the corner of the Mirror Universe that the episode (and its many sequels over seven seasons) explored. Rather than the jingoistic rules of the Terran Empire, however, humans were an oppressed class working the ore processing facilities on the Deep Space 9 station. It was ruled by an alliance of Klingons, Cardassians and Bajorans.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Crossover" Official Synopsis: Kira and Dr. Bashir are accidentally sent to the Mirror Universe and discover that it is dominated by a ruthless Klingon–Cardassian alliance and Terrans (humans) are slaves.

Kira Nerys met her counterpart, the leader of the station known as "the Intendant." She explained to her what happened after the real Captain Kirk transported back to his universe. Spock used the ISS Enterprise to become Chancellor of the former Empire, all the while making institutional reformations that made the society more peaceful and equitable. However, after years of being oppressed by the Terrans, the Klingon and Cardassian alliance was able to launch a successful campaign against them.

The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance is the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant and controls the space near Bajor in the Mirror Universe. The alliance is mostly benevolent and a lover of liberty, but the realities of dealing with a foe like the Terran Empire forces them to engage in questionable tactics.

Still, Deep Space Nine left the ultimate fate of the Terran Empire -- and, more specifically, the ISS Enterprise -- an open question . In fact, Intendant Kira never really clarified when the Terran Empire fell, beyond saying that Spock's reforms began "almost a century ago." Still, knowing that the Terran Empire fell under a brutal assault by Klingons and Cardassians , a picture starts to emerge about why the ISS Enterprise would have been a home for refugees and made the perilous, impossible journey across dimensions.

A Terran Refugee Hid the Clue In the ISS Enterprise In the 24th Century

Star trek: discovery's sonequa martin-green embarks on one final voyage.

At the end of "Mirrors," Michael Burnham reveals the scientist who hid the clue on the ISS Enterprise was able to do so because she was, herself, a Terran . Some time before The Next Generation 's "The Chase," she and a group of refugees fled the ISS Enterprise in shuttles and made their way into the Prime Universe. From there, many of them made homes in the Federation, and this particular scientist was the Junior Science Officer on the ISS Enterprise, Dr. Cho.

Star Trek: The Next Generation "The Chase" Official Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise must race against various rival powers to uncover an archaeological secret that explains the predominance of humanoid life forms in the galaxy.

This means the Terran refugees fled the Mirror Universe sometime before the events of "The Chase." Yet, it was close enough to those events that Dr. Cho was able to make her way back to the ship that carried her and her fellow immigrant in order to hide the clue there. As Booker notes in the episode, the clues to the Progenitors' technology each come with a lesson. In this case, Dr. Cho wanted to subtly teach the searchers who followed her that things can always get better. She went from being a Terran scientist to a Branch Admiral in Starfleet. It's kind of like Starfleet's first mutineer becoming the captain of the first vessel on which she served afterward.

No matter the timeline or universe, the Enterprise is an important, historic vessel. The ISS Enterprise was a warship that brought fear and terror to whomever it visited. At least, until a man named Kirk told a man named Spock there was a better choice to make. In its final season, Star Trek: Discovery has found yet another way to tie its story into the fabric of the universe's past and the message Gene Roddenberry and all those who followed him wanted to give the audience. Things can always be better, but it takes people making the right choices to get there.

Star Trek: Discovery debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

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10 Background Characters Star Trek Fans Love

• Background characters in Star Trek add depth to the universe, making it feel lived-in and real.
• Beloved regular faces like Lt. M'Ress, Nurse Ogawa, and Mr. Mot enhance Star Trek shows.
• From Lt. Linus to Dr. Migleemo, each background character brings their own unique charm to the series.

There's something about beloved Star Trek background characters that really helps its universe feel lived-in and real. While the primary action is taking place, it's up to the background actors to make the sets look like genuine places where people are going about their business. These are the folks at the bridge stations who aren't in the opening credits. They're the assistants to the main characters. They're the beloved regular faces spotted among the crowds in establishing shots, and the names floating around duty rosters and civilian gossip that remind viewers that there's more to Star Trek than the captains and chief engineers.

There are so many background characters from all of the Star Trek shows who are beloved by fans, of course. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Promenade is full of colorful background characters without names or personal histories, like the singing Klingon chef (Ron Taylor). Star Trek: Voyager features recurring background characters, since being stuck in the Delta Quadrant means no new Starfleet officers can join the crew. Star Trek: The Next Generation features background characters who sometimes level up to become proper guest stars , and in one famous case, a series regular: the "most important person in Starfleet" and original lower-decker, Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney). Here are 10 background characters Star Trek fans love.

20 Best New Star Trek Characters Of The Last 20 Years

Lt. m'ress (majel barrett), star trek: the animated series.

Lt. M'Ress is a Caitian officer with a seat on the USS Enterprise bridge, created for Star Trek: The Animated Series when Star Trek 's jump to animation meant that the aliens in Star Trek were no longer restrained by what the makeup department could physically create. As the first Caitian in Star Trek , M'Ress sets the standard for the feline alien species , later echoed by Star Trek 's other animated Caitian, Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman) in Star Trek: Lower Decks .

Like many background characters, M'Ress' cool character design is a top reason for her appeal, but M'Ress earns her spot on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise by being a capable officer. M'Ress' duties as relief communications officer include communication within the Enterprise as well as to outside vehicles, along with scientific duties as situations arise, similar to the duties of primary communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).

Lt. M'Ress appeared in 2 episodes of the "anything but canon" animated web series Star Trek: very Short Treks, voiced by Cristina Milizia.

Lt. T'Veen (Stephanie Czajkowski)

Star trek: picard.

The starship action of Star Trek: Picard season 3 takes place primarily aboard the USS Titan-A, and as such, introduces a brand-new bridge crew of younger Starfleet officers, one of which is the Vulcan Lt. T'Veen. T'Veen stands out as both a woman and a Vulcan for her striking bald appearance , marking her look as both novel and unique. Actor Stephanie Czajkowski suggests that T'Veen may have some Deltan ancestry, but in reality, T'Veen's lack of locks comes from Czajkowski's own battles with cancer.

When Vadic (Amanda Plummer) commandeers the Titan in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 8, "Surrender" , T'Veen is one of the Titan bridge officers used as leverage against Vadic's request for Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). At this point in Picard , the Titan's crew are painted as candidates for a potential spinoff show, but Lt. T'Veen's shocking death at Vadic's hand sends the message that no one is safe.

Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff)

Star trek: the next generation, star trek: lower decks.

The original claim to fame for Ensign Sonya Gomez (Lycia Naff) is being the eager young engineer who unfortunately spills hot chocolate on Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: The Next Generation , season 2, episode 16, "Q Who". Serving on the USS Enterprise-D with Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) is Gomez's dream job, and the chocolate-covered Captain isn't going to earn her any high marks. La Forge recognizes Gomez's talent as an antimatter specialist, and helps Sonya focus, despite the gaffe.

Lycia Naff makes a triumphant return to Star Trek as Captain Sonya Gomez in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 10, "First First Contact", commanding the USS Archimedes with the same compassionate focus on problem-solving that La Forge had as Gomez's mentor. Captain Gomez's story is proof that Star Trek characters do learn from their earliest mistakes , and can come out on top in the end.

Mr. Mot (Ken Thorley)

Star trek: the next generation.

In an interesting twist, Mr. Mot is a barber working on the USS Enterprise-D, and happens to be a Bolian, a species that has no hair of their own. Nonetheless, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) says that the civilian Mot is the best barber in Starfleet . There's more to being a barber than just cutting hair, after all, and Mot's listening ears are available to anyone who comes to sit in his barbershop chair, as long as they don't mind receiving a little free advice on the side.

The Bolian barber became an entrepreneur.

After providing excellent service to the crew on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Mot grew even more successful. The Bolian barber became an entrepreneur, which is evident by the presence of Mr. Mot's Hair Emporium as one of the many businesses in Stardust City, on the planet Freecloud, as seen in Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 5, "Stardust City Rag".

Bolians are named for Star Trek director Cliff Bole, who directed a total of 42 episodes between his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Voyager .

10 Star Trek Characters Fans See Themselves In

Groundskeeper boothby (ray walston), star trek: the next generation, star trek: voyager.

Mr. Boothby is a positive influence on generations of Starfleet officers at Starfleet Academy, but one would be wrong to assume that Boothby is an accomplished instructor working to shape young minds, because Boothby works at Starfleet Academy as the head groundskeeper. Groundskeeper Boothby's no-nonsense approach to the natural development of the Academy's flora also applies to how Boothby interacts with Starfleet cadets .

Boothby's influence on the USS Voyager crew was evident in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 4, "In the Flesh", when a Species 8472 leader took on the guise of Boothby in a Starfleet Academy simulation, instead of a high-ranking Admiral.

Sometimes, Boothby's advice is harsh, as was the case with Jean-Luc Picard as a Starfleet Academy cadet. But in the end, Boothby always has an uncanny sensibility for knowing exactly how to cultivate the best forms of both botanical specimens and future Starfleet officers.

Lt. Kayshon (Carl Tart)

Star trek: lower decks.

Lt. Kayshon has the honor of being the first Tamarian in Starfleet , debuting in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 2, "Kayshon, His Eyes Open", as the USS Cerritos' new security officer. The Tamarians, first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 2, "Darmok", have a puzzling metaphorical language reliant on background knowledge of Tamarian culture. The Tamarian phrases from "Darmok" have been adopted by Star Trek fans as a fun way to signal our fandom to each other, so it makes sense that a Tamarian officer should show up on Star Trek: Lower Decks , itself a celebration of Star Trek 's own weird and wonderful moments.

Kayshon spends more time in the background after his first episode, still part of the USS Cerritos' security team. The years between "Picard and Dathon at El-Adred" and Kayshon's assignment to the USS Cerritos in Star Trek: Lower Decks mean the communication gap between Kayshon and the rest of the USS Cerritos' crew is much smaller than it might have been in the past. Kayshon communicates in Federation Standard, but still slips into Tamarian metaphor from time to time, which just adds new phrases to the Tamarian lexicon.

Dr. Migleemo (Paul F. Tompkins)

In Dr. Migleemo, Star Trek: Lower Decks continues the tradition that was established with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) on Star Trek: The Next Generation by having a counselor aboard the USS Cerritos . Strictly speaking, Migleemo is not the galaxy's best counselor , with a whole plateful of food metaphors that don't always land butter-side-up, but Migleemo's heart is always in the right place.

As a bird-like alien of an unspecified species, Dr. Migleemo's character design pays homage to Star Trek: The Animated Series , since a bird man in a tweed suit may not translate that well to live action, but works perfectly for animation.

Even though Migleemo is bad at his job, it's in a way that's not actively harmful, but makes you want to root for him, just like any other lower decker on the Cerritos. Sometimes Migleemo gets it right , after all, like counseling Ensign D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) in the senior science officer training program in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 3, "Mining the Mind's Mines".

Nurse Alyssa Ogawa (Patti Yasutake)

Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) usually has assistants in the background of the USS Enterprise-D's sick bay, and one of these, Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, is a regular background character starting in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4. Ogawa grows as a character over the course of TNG 's final four seasons , receiving a full name as of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 18, "Cause and Effect", and developing as a character through Ogawa's casual conversations with Dr. Crusher about Alyssa's dating history.

Nurse Ogawa gets more to do when Ogawa is one of the four USS Enterprise-D junior officers at the heart of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7, episode 15, "Lower Decks" , focusing on the friendship between often-overlooked characters. Ogawa's story focuses on Alyssa's relationship with Lieutenant Andrew Powell, and culminates in their off-screen engagement.

Nurse Alyssa Ogawa also appears in two Star Trek movies: Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact .

Lt. Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson)

Star trek: discovery.

With Lt. Linus, Star Trek: Discovery shows in a casual, but meaningful way what it looks like to actively include someone with unique needs . Arriving in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Lt. Linus is a Saurian science officer who never fails to provide a little levity just by being himself. By all accounts, Linus is well-liked among the USS Discovery's crew , with plenty of crew members referring to Linus and Saurian customs relatively favorably.

Lt. Linus is accepted as someone whose needs are a little different to most human officers'.

Starfleet easily makes accommodations available for Linus' differences in biology , granting personal time set aside for annual shedding, and providing heat lamps in Linus' quarters as needed. After Star Trek: Discovery 's time jump , Linus takes a little more time to understand the new 32nd-century technology, but he's never admonished for catching up to the learning curve. Instead, Lt. Linus is accepted as someone whose needs are a little different to most human officers'.

Every DS9 Alien In Star Trek: Discovery

Morn (mark allen shepherd), star trek: deep space nine.

Morn is a fixture in Quark's Bar from the start of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the perennial barfly occupying the same seat at the end of the table. According to the other patrons at Quark's, Morn rarely shuts up, but the joke is, of course, that Morn is always cut off before delivering any speaking lines. Instead, the picture of who Morn really is slowly comes together through other people's comments and conversation about Morn, with the speculation about Morn's true identity finally coming to a head in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, episode 12, "Who Mourns for Morn". Morn's apparent death is a blow to the community and all who knew him, but also reveals surprising facts about DS9 's Morn , like Morn's secret riches and tactical mind, confirming that there was more to the enigmatic Lurian than Morn's signature bar stool.

True to form, Morn is seated at Quark's Bar when the USS Cerritos visits Deep Space Nine in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3, episode 6, "Hear All, Trust Nothing".

Sometimes the Star Trek characters who aren't major players become some of the most beloved characters. When background characters on Star Trek attract the eyes of viewers with interesting character designs or memorable moments, they may wind up in expanded roles as their Star Trek shows go on. These featured background characters will get lines and names, and might even have a major part in an episode or two, but most live out their lives off-screen. From the bridge crew to the lower decks, from Starfleet officers to civilians, it's the unsung heroes in the background who keep Star Trek moving while the main action is taking place.

Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks are all streaming on Paramount+.