The latest official Star Trek Magazine is on newstands now. Issue #31 has a focus on the women of Star Trek. We have excerpts and images, including covers and bits from an interview with Star Trek: Voyager’s Roxann Dawson. Check it all out below.
STAR TREK MAGAZINE ISSUE 31
"Savvy Lasses" Feature excerpt
The women of Star Trek are not to be underestimated. They come from all backgrounds with agile minds, street smarts and the ability to step up to any situation in a manner equal to their peers regardless of gender. Christopher Pike’s “Number One” and Kathryn Janeway are prime, obvious examples of such women, but what about some of these other “savvy lasses” in Star Trek? As Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward explain in the following extract from the latest issue of Star Trek Magaizine, they can show up even where they’re least expected…
From the moment they set foot on the campus of Starfleet Academy, cadets carry an expectation to one day be among the Federation’s best and brightest. In Star Trek, there should be no surprise when a woman in the captain’s chair is able to outwit an opponent or devise a solution to a planetary disaster. One woman initially set the bar for resourcefulness and dependability, proving herself among the savviest women in the 23rd Century – regardless of reality: Nyota Uhura.
Introduced as a communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, Uhura proved her worth as an officer time and again. As she became more experienced with each mission, her confidence increased along with her responsibilities. Not only was she trained to serve at the Enterprise helm (“Balance of Terror”), but when her male counterparts were seduced into submission by the denizens of Taurus II, Uhura assumed command of the starship and led a landing party to rescue the senior staff (“The Lorelei Signal,” Star Trek animated). She helped Captain Kirk liberate the U.S.S. Enterprise to assist in the rescue of Spock from the Genesis Planet (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) and went on to positions of increasing responsibility at Starfleet Academy.
In the alternate reality seen in the recent movie, Uhura is depicted as even more confident and capable at a young age than ever. As a cadet, her skill as a translator of Romulan dialects earns her a field promotion to Enterprise bridge officer during Nero’s attack on the Federation. Her very service aboard the starship in the first place hinged on her slyly brokering a deal with Spock, influencing his judgment against the posting by exerting some pressure against their clandestine relationship. She also is among the first of the crew to recognize their existence in the alternate reality – and with it the chance to remake their lives along a new and unique path. Uhura does not shy away from the situation.
"Lasses" feature in new Star Trek Magazine
Roxann Dawson
interview excerpt
Every Star Trek TV series had its own tech-savvy, fiercely loyal chief engineer with plenty of backbone as well as a flaw or two. On Star Trek: Voyager, it was Lt. B’Elanna Torres who was responsible for keeping the ship functioning at peak efficiency during its seven-year journey back home to Earth. In the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine, Steven Eramo caught up with actor turned director Roxann Dawson. Here’s a taster of the interview…
In between her real-life and TV pregnancies, Roxann Dawson took back the action reins in several stories, including two B’Elanna-centric episodes. In season five’s “Extreme Risk,” she begins engaging in life-threatening holodeck activities, while in the following year’s “Barge of the Dead,” she has a near-death experience and meets the ghost of her mother, Miral (Karen Austin), in Gre’thor, the Klingon Hell.
“The episode ’Extreme Risk’ actually came out of a conversation I had had with executive producer Brannon Braga,” says Dawson. “He was wondering where B’Elanna would go next, and I began talking about her life and that maybe she was at a point where the conflict between her Klingon and human sides was so great that she began taking risks to know what it was like to feel. B’Elanna wanted to pit one side against the other and see which would win as far as her fears and vulnerabilities went. It was a very private thing that wound up obsessing her.
“I love what they did with that script. It was an emotional and exciting episode to do because it was so psychologically risky. In fact, I’ve spoken with a number of people who have gone through moments like that. They’ve taken undue risks to test the boundaries of life for one reason or another, whether because of something that has happened in their own life, or even due to clinical depression. Sometimes people will do things just to reaffirm to themselves what it means to be alive. So I thought it was a risky as well as wonderful thing that the writers were willing to go there with B’Elanna and really show this sort of psychologically tormented side of her that was crying out for some help, and I was thrilled to perform that.
“‘Barge of the Dead,’ to me felt very much like a classic Star Trek story in that it talked about family roots, and especially for B’Elanna, the denial of her past and those classic generational relationships. It was also a chance to bring the Klingon world to the forefront in such a classical way, which you really couldn’t do otherwise in a show like Voyager. The sets were fantastic and it was a very well-written script that I enjoyed working on a great deal.”
Dawson interviewed in in STM #31
More in the Star Trek Magazine 30
Issue 31 of The Official Star Trek Magazine is on newsstands now. It comes with two covers, with one available only in comic book shops.
Regular cover
Comic book shop exclusive cover
This Star Trek magazine issue is also available digitally to read in full on PC, Mac or iPad. . To purchase the new issue, click here. For back issues, click here. For a digital subscription to get every issue, click here
You can also Subscribe to get all the upcoming issues of Star Trek Magazine.
To receive Star Trek Magazine exclusives, including sneak peeks, interviews, promotional offers, and sweepstakes, visit: titanmagazines.com/mailing/.
To become a fan of Star Trek Magazine on Facebook, visit: facebook.com/StarTrekMagazine
Anthony. Quite busy arn’t we.
The Women of Trek have all been great. From Tos to Enterprice. Voyager Ep Extreme risk was a great Ep.
THIS SITE LIVES!!!!!!!!!
EETS ALIVE!! *wilhelm scream*
Wow, a new update. That wasn’t a long wait at all…
Must have faith my fellow trek friends this sight will never die as long as we keep comming here
Nichelle! Oh, NIchelle!
http://mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com/2010/12/nichelle-oh-nichelle.html
“Her very service aboard the starship in the first place hinged on her slyly brokering a deal with Spock, influencing his judgment against the posting by exerting some pressure against their clandestine relationship.”
What was “sly” about Uhura’s behaviour in Star Trek ’09? All Uhura wanted was what she believed was justly hers and she did not like the fact that Spock was discriminating against her because of their personal relationship. She was correct to call Spock out on this and he realised this as well, hence the reassignment. Clandestine relationship? Who said? On the transporter pad, there was nothing hidden there. Both Kirk and Scotty saw the nature of their relationship and she only behaved that way because she really did not know if she would ever see Spock again.
Where I have worked, there have been (married) couples working for the same company, usually in different departments. Sometimes they did “run” into each other or need to ask of the other something to do with their work. They weren’t all over each other; they simply did their jobs. Everyone else knew the nature of their relationship and we GOT ON WITH OUR WORK.
Honestly, wtf? Is everyone where you are still in junior highschool (or whatever you call it) or what? Seesh
If “everybody knew”, Spock would be out of work for abusing his academy instructor position to have an affair with one of his students, changing the assignments, his misconduct aboard the Enterprise,
and looking the other way as a bridge working cadet whom he had an affair with failed to stay on her post times and times again during both her working hours and a crisis.
Even going as far as to ignore a direct order to alert Vulcan to evacuate in favour of a more stimulating activity with her superior officer.
But, hey, it’s Abrams <3
That four-panel has Michelle Forbes and Suzie Plakson in it. You got my -urm- hopes up. Yes, hopes.
“In the alternate reality seen in the recent movie, Uhura is depicted as even more confident and capable at a young age than ever.” Bullsh%&. Allow me to go over what you deem to be important and see if the film had her qualities pay off. •As a cadet, her skill as a translator of Romulan dialects earns her a field promotion to Enterprise bridge officer during Nero’s attack on the Federation. While being able to translate Romulan is a very important skill, it doesn’t do her character any justice because as we see in the movie, the Romulans all speak perfect english. Her glorious promotion to the bridge almost rivals hiring a locksmith to open your locked door only to find out that the door wasn’t even locked in the first place. What’s more head scratching is that Uhura isn’t even “THE” communications officer on the bridge. The character of Hannity actually does a more important task in the film than Uhura’s searching for Romulan transmissions. Let’s compare. HANNITY: All other ships are out of warp Sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seemed to have lost all contact. UHURA: Sir, i pick no Romulan transmission, or tranmission of any kind in the area. Yep. Uhura’s contribution to her role as communications officer is pretty much that of redundancy. In fact, Kirk’s response goes a lot better with Hannity’s report than Uhura’s when he says “It’s because they’re being attacked”, since it sounds kind of silly when all Uhura adds is that there are no Romulan transmissions. And that’s just covering what was seen in the film. To make it worse, JJ Abrams and crew comment in the film’s commentary track that having the Romulans speak english all the time was “Brilliant”. Yep, making Uhura’s promotion to the bridge not pay off was brilliant in their eyes. Now, let’s talk about her so-called “more confident and capable at a young age than ever.” Anyone remember that scene where Chekov tells Spock that Vulcan has minutes, MINUTES before it is consumed by a black hole from the inside where billions of innocent lives are at stake? Here’s how confidant and capable Uhura is in that situation! Spock walks up to her and says Spock: “Alert the Vulcan command center to signal a planet wide evacuation, on all channels and all frequencies.” Now remember, Uhura has incredible hearing and will later be shown to hear things from much further away than Chekov is. And when she’s told to do this very important task where EVERY SECOND COUNTS, she gets out of her station and walks with spock to the Turbolift and questions his actions by asking “Where are ‘you’ going?”. /facepalm Uhura, there are billions of lives hanging in the balance here. I think you can give Spock the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he is doing. Your job is to contact Vulcan and order them to evacuate. I know there’s some vague thing going on between you two, but this behavior does not reflect you “confident and capable” stature that everyone seems to credit you with. And what’s worse? This conversation actually DELAYS him in getting to the Transporter room. As you no doubt no, all that was needed was just a second of transporter time to Transport Amanda from the surface onto the ship, a second that Spock didn’t have. Since there was about a whole 10 second gap between transporting Kirk and Sulu to the Enterprise and Spock beaming down to Vulcan, I think Spock would have made much better use of his time if he was on the pas the moment Kirk and Sulu beamed in. Yes, Uhura helped caused Amanda’s death, and probably why there’s only “10,000” survivors from the planet left. Oh, and to add one more kick to her already embarrassing status, this isn’t the first time she out right leaves her station in the movie during a moment of crises. She leaves her station to be with Spock in the turbolift after Vulcan is destroyed, she leaves her station to see him off in the Transporter room, and she leaves her station to see him back! Do you get the feeling that Uhura is officially useless as a bridge officer? Naw, I’m sure there will be a moment where she will at least hail someone before this is all over. She is the ship’s communication’s officer that deals with those sort of things, right? Chekov: Captain, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down sir! Kirk: Hail them now. Chekov: Aye! JJ, Bob, Alex, Damon. I know you’re good writers. In most cases you guys can make an excellent creative team that really puts out some awesome stuff like Fringe and Lost. But are you really doing… Read more »
Let’s hope the Uhura/Spock relationship is left in the past and they all conduct themselves as officers should in the next movies.
Renesmee and Giovanna.
Sparkling in the sunlight , glowing through the lens flares…
:)
Some of you people are unbelievable – immature, patronising, sexually uptight/jealous/envious (Lord only knows).
Almost every single Star Trek (television and movies) has aliens speaking ENGLISH. So, what is so different about this Star Trek? The fact that there were no Romulan transmissions (or any other, for that matter) does not negate Uhura’s role and importance. Good grief, Uhura was not asking “her boyfriend” why he had to go down to Vulcan, she was asking the ACTING CAPTAIN why he had to leave his post just as that moment to go down to a planet that was minutes away from destruction!!! Duh. Someone had to ask. Uhura did not cause Amanda’s death, anymore than she caused the deaths of the other 6 billion Vulcans. Nero did, by dropping the red matter down into the core of the planet and causing it to crumble away and finally implode.
Gosh, people, watch the movie and leave your own rather seedy, feeble projections out of the equation.
@13: “Almost every single Star Trek (television and movies) has aliens speaking ENGLISH.”
/clears throat
Star Trek: Enterprise, Season 2, Episode 3 “Minefield”
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Minefield_(episode)
This episode deals with the crew encountering an unknown alien force. When these aliens hail the Enterprise, the crew do not understand what they are saying because their universal translators do not understand the language.
Hoshi, the communications officer who is skilled in understanding languages is able to translate what the message means and identify them as Romulans.
So you see? In Enterprise, Hoshi was the language expert and she got to put her skills to good use. In Star Trek (2009), Uhura knows the Romulan language, but the Romulans speak english. As I said, the writers wrote a locksmith character who can unlock everything, but they forgot to write in locked doors.
“she was asking the ACTING CAPTAIN why he had to leave his post just as that moment to go down to a planet that was minutes away from destruction!!! Duh.”
Few things. First, Spock had already given orders to Uhura to contact Vulcan and order a planet wide evacuation. When you’re given orders in circumstances like that, it’s usually a good idea to follow those orders to the letter. If you’re going to put your concerns first over the orders of your superior officer, you are not, as the article states, a “confident and capable” officer. If she had just done her duties and followed orders in the given time frame the movie presented us, things would have been different.
“Uhura did not cause Amanda’s death, anymore than she caused the deaths of the other 6 billion Vulcans. Nero did”
I wouldn’t hold onto that argument if I were you. While Nero was the instrumental cause of Vulcan’s destruction, that doesn’t mean that Uhura wasn’t in a position to help do something about it. She was given order to warn Vulcan to evacuate the planet that had MINUTES left. Does she do that? No. Why? Because we needed exposition. Funny, I thought the dangers of exposition was limited to slowing the plot down or being out of place. I have never seen exposition done where it actually diminishes the credibility of a character.
14
Comparing Uhura from the new movie and Hoshi from “Enterprise” is like comparing apples to oranges. On a tv show, a character has more opportunities to be able to be seen spending time translating alien languages because it is only a small percentage of about 22+ hours during a given season. A 2 hour movie, on the other hand, doesn’t allow for the time needed to have a character explain to the audience what some alien is saying. The audience will fall asleep.
Plus, the idea of a fake alien character speaking in a fake alien language is now outdated, passe and nerdy. It went out the window with technobabble. Its the way the new guys are doing things.
Who says that the orders that Acting Captain Spock gave for the evacuation of Vulcan were not being carried out? Uhura was not the only person given that order. The entire bridge crew were, who would then be responsible for seeing that the various departments concerned with taking care of (hopefully) the many homeless people did what was necessary.
As a bridge officer, having your captain suddenly leave his post to go down to a planet in such circumstances does require explanation or exposition. Unless Spock explained his reasons, then his actions would be deemed completely irresponsible and crazy. Uhura asked for an explanation and received one, one crew member to another.
If only some people, clearly obsessed with the probable/possible sexual relationship between two consenting adults, could leave out the notion of the possible merging of Spock/Uhura genitalia at some point in their personal lives, then the nitpicking and accusations made against Uhura especially might cease. To blame Uhura for Amanda’s death is just so, so off…One could just as easily ask why Amanda did not stand closer to her son, when Chekov was trying to beam everyone aboard? Questions. Questions. Why? Why? Need someone to blame…UGH!
Jeyl is right.
I second that
@15: ” On a tv show, a character has more opportunities to be able to be seen spending time translating alien languages because it is only a small percentage of about 22+ hours during a given season”
Actually, it’s only one episode and Hoshi was knocked out for a lot of the said episode’s duration. And in that span of less than one hour os story time, she did what her character is established to do, even in the confines of that very episode. She did her job. Uhura doesn’t do her job, others do it for her.
Has it ever occurred to you why there was never a communication’s officer in any of the later series till Enterprise? It’s because their position can be done by anyone else. Worf handled communications but was a tactical officer. There was no communications officer on DS9 or Voyager. And Star Trek (2009) shows very clearly that it doesn’t need a dedicated communications officer, because everyone but the communications officer does the communications work. You may know him, his name is Chekov. He handled the ship announcements and hailed the Narada.
The new Enterprise doesn’t need Uhura.
@15: “Plus, the idea of a fake alien character speaking in a fake alien language is now outdated, passe and nerdy.”
News flash. Star Trek is fake. In other news, a little film called Avatar, which featured aliens that spoke in a non-english manner is one of the highest grossing films of all time. I don’t see any reviews criticizing Avatar because it had an alien language, and I sure as heck don’t see any reviews for anything Star Trek that criticized giving an alien race their own language. All I’m getting from you is that you don’t like to read in movies. That’s understandable.
Also, do you know that other cultures around the world that build their own society outside of ours tend to develop their own language? It makes sense that an alien race would have their own language, because that’s neither outdated, passe or nerdy. It’s how things work.
“Who says that the orders that Acting Captain Spock gave for the evacuation of Vulcan were not being carried out? Uhura was not the only person given that order.”
Ok, let’s say you’re right about that. Vulcan was contacted by Hannity and she was able to get the high council to issue a planet wide evacuation.
Now, here’s the issue with that. If someone else can do this, Uhura’s role on the ship is now meaningless. When I think of a character who is an integral part of the crew, I think of a character who actually does the work. If Hannity was the one contacting Vulcan, than Uhura’s not doing any work. So it’s not so much that the movie doesn’t give Uhura anything to do, but that the story has moments that involve the communications station, but they don’t give it to her. You see how hard it is to believe she’s an important part of the crew when Kirk tells Chekov to hail the Narada?
19
“The new Enterprise doesn’t need Uhura.”
Yes it does. The new movie was based on “The Original Series” featuring the seven bridge characters. Uhura is needed to monitor incoming and outgoing messages, distress calls, communiques etc. What we don’t need is Uhura wasting valuable minutes trying to decipher a fake message when the computer can do it. We never saw Uhura deciphering languages during TOS anyway. It was mainly implied. We don’t necessarily need to see Uhura doing everything her position requires. Because a two-hour movie needs to have Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty doing theirs. And we need to see them do their jobs more than Uhura doing hers. It’s the nature of doing a TOS based movie.
“News flash. Star Trek is fake. In other news, a little film called Avatar, which featured aliens that spoke in a non-english manner is one of the highest grossing films of all time. I don’t see any reviews criticizing Avatar because it had an alien language, and I sure as heck don’t see any reviews for anything Star Trek that criticized giving an alien race their own language.”
That may be so, but unfortunately, Star Trek had become a joke in the mainstream ever since “Klingon” became a language. A lot of people became turned off since it was excluding non-fans. “Avatar” was different. It was meant to show another culture. Na’Vi, unlike Klingonese, actually sounds realistic. “Avatar” was meant to be told (at least partially) from the perspective of aliens. Star Trek, on the other hand, from day one has been about following humans on a journey across the stars. Rightly or wrongly, the Star Trek universe has revolved around the notion of characters/aliens all speaking English, either by having learned it or through the use of universal translators. English has always been the universal language in the forty-five year old Trek franchise. “Avatar” is just one movie. It also was meant to be as much about aliens as humans. Star Trek has always been “human first”.
“Also, do you know that other cultures around the world that build their own society outside of ours tend to develop their own language? It makes sense that an alien race would have their own language, because that’s neither outdated, passe or nerdy. It’s how things work.”
You must be living in a past century. And I have news for you: most countries around the world are learning to speak English. Many Native North American, Australian and African languages are fading away into history. There are more and more English language signs in countries like China, India, Russia, and even Iran and Saudi Arabia. More and more people in non-English speaking countries are learning to speak English.
Because of technology, foreign languages are slowly dying. English has been the universal language for some time. It may never be the only language, but it will eventually become the dominant one. It’s just the way it is.
Ah, the joys of dreaming about wiping out and dominating other cultures….. the rest of the universe will soon bow down to humanity too, god forbid somebody dared to keep a language or their natural hair.
“That may be so, but unfortunately, Star Trek had become a joke in the mainstream ever since “Klingon” became a language. A lot of people became turned off since it was excluding non-fans.”
A lot of what you’re talking about sounds more like speculation. Unless Star Trek had an episode that had all it’s characters speaking in klingon the whole entire time with no subtitles, how does not knowing the klingon language exclude non-fans?
Also, it wasn’t Star Trek that was excluding non-fans because of the Klingon language. It was Star Trek fans that made the Klingon language a big deal in the first place. They took a unique language unique to the franchise and wanted to put it to use. They did it on their own free time so they could have fun with it. You may see it as a joke, but you’re not making any convincing arguments by saying it was a hinderance to the franchise. What do you think Star Wars fans do? I know what they do, but I don’t care.
23
“A lot of what you’re talking about sounds more like speculation. Unless Star Trek had an episode that had it’s characters speaking in klingon the whole entire time with no subtitles, how does not knowing the klingon language exclude non-fans?”
Because Klingonese is not a real language. It’s just a bunch of non-sensical gibberish that has been taken way too seriously by far too many “fans” like you. I have no problem with writers coming up with “alien dialogue” once in a while, but once you need a dictionary for it, it’s gotten carried away.
“What do you think Star Wars fans do? I know what they do, but I don’t care.”
The differences are these: a) “Star Wars” fans don’t obsess over minute and irrelevent details like many Trek “fans” do. b) “Star Wars” is more alien-friendly in some ways, and thus, has a much bigger and more diverse fan base than the primarily middle-aged, white male Trek demographic. c) Many Trek fans seem to have deluded themselves into thinking Star Trek is more ‘realistic’ compared to “Star Wars”. Klingonese is NOT a real language. Yet various writers have fed the delusions of many Trekkies by trying to make it one. George Lucas, on the other hand, created only bits and pieces of alien languages to give an impression of the various aliens in the “Star Wars” universe. He didn’t care about trying to be “realistic”. Give me a break. A transporter is just as unrealistic as a mystical “force”.
@24. “Because Klingonese is not a real language. It’s just a bunch of non-sensical gibberish that has been taken way too seriously by far too many “fans” like you.”
Red, you’re wrong. For starters, Klingonese is a real language because it can be used to communicate real phrases that someone else who understands the language would be able to interpret. That’s the entire point of a language. Just because you create it doesn’t mean it’s not real. Second, the Klingon language is NOT a bunch of “non-sensical gibberish”. It was created by a man named Marc Okrand.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4553276866205869246#
And you know what? Marc also worked on Star Trek (2009). Wana take a guess what his role was?! He was the Klingon, Romulan and Vulcan language consultant! So don’t tell me that the Star Trek alien language “went out the window with technobabble. Its the way the new guys are doing things.” because they actually had scenes that featured it!
@24. “I have no problem with writers coming up with “alien dialogue” once in a while, but once you need a dictionary for it, it’s gotten carried away.”
And when do you need a dictionary for it in Star Trek? When klingons speak their language it’s subtitled, and when it’s not (like in Enterprise) it’s done because the characters don’t know what they’re saying. Take the scene from Broken Bow.
*Klingon Chancellor utters something in Klingon to Archer*
Archer: I’ll take that as a thank you.
Hoshi: I don’t think they have a word for thank you.
Archer: What did he say?
Hoshi: You don’t want to know.
Does that sound like something that was written for only the fans of the show who understood what the klingon language is? I would even say that having Archer not understand what they say would make him a more identifiable character to non-fans.
@24. ““Star Wars” fans don’t obsess over minute and irrelevent details like many Trek “fans” do.”
Yes they freaking do. And you want to know what else? If you think learning a Klingon language is goofy, try creating a whole freaking religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon
Red, I’m sorry to be blunt, but you’re the one who’s falling under the delusions here.
“Star Wars” fans don’t obsess over minute and irrelevent details like many Trek “fans” do.”
LOL! Sorry Red, but yes they do. Oh, yes they do! SW fans can fanwank with the best of them. Not all, but then not all ST fans are that obsessive either.
25
Just because someone “creates” a language doesn’t mean that it amounts to being “real”. I mean, what are you going to use “Klingonese” for? A Trek convention? Why would anyone in their right mind waste time and energy learning a fake language when they could expand their horizons and learn Spanish or Russian? And if you tell others that you can speak Klingon, they’ll tell you to “get a life” or tell you that you are an obsessive fan that needs to get out more often.
And I am aware that Jedi is considered a religion in Britain. And that is goofy as well. But here’s the thing: Trek fans always consider themselves to be more in tune with reality than “Star Wars” fans. Trek fans have “elevated” themselves. “Star Wars” fans don’t bother trying to be superior. They just try to have fun.
At the end of the day, Klingon is a fake language. Because it has no real world practical use. It has no basis in reality except for the fact that it came out of someone’s mouth. It is gibberish. The sooner everyone realizes that, the sooner fandom will be better off. It was never meant to be taken seriously. It’s just entertainment.
10–The Romulans sounded like they were speaking English because of the universal translator. That is the general Star Trek explanation as to why so many aliens speak English (with notable exceptions such as “Minefield” or DS9 “Sanctuary”). Obviously, from a real world sense this was necessary because nobody was going to watch a weekly show where you had to read subtitles; like the transporter, it was created as a workaround to move the stories along.
Just wanted to clarify that. I’m not getting involved in the whole Uhura (2009) is an intergral part of Star Trek and talented linguist -vs- Uhura (2009) is a slut who uses her hotness to get promoted. I think you guys have that covered.
@27. “It was never meant to be taken seriously. It’s just entertainment.”
So when people learn Klingon and they’re being entertained by it, you think that’s taking it too seriously? I think that’s doing it’s job!
And don’t even try to use that “They could be doing something else” tactic, because you know what you can use that argument for? EVERYTHING!!! Like how I could be writing a book instead of arguing with you, or how you could be writing a whole new language instead of arguing about the Klingon language.
And I’m really tired of this whole “never meant to be taken seriously” crap, because Star Trek wouldn’t be here today if fans didn’t take it seriously. It was the fans who went above and beyond to keep the show going for a third season when the show was almost canned during the second. They didn’t settle for “Well, it’s just a show. I can watch something else.” and why should they?
To all those Star Trek fans who take certain things seriously where everyone else doesn’t, I salute you. Don’t let guys like Red Dead Ryan fool you into thinking that Star Trek shouldn’t be taken seriously because this is what you like and there is nothing wrong with that.
“Read Dead Ryan” perhaps you should live up to your name lol
29
Why do need to be so condescending and angry? When I meant that it shouldn’t be taken seriously, I meant it in terms of overall importance in day-to-day life. I take Trek seriously too. I care about its place in our pop culture. I buy the dvds, action figures, cds etc. I read the tech manuals and encyclopedias. But I don’t live and die with Trek. I go to work. I play video games. I do crossword puzzles. I try and do different things.
30
You’re an idiot.
Red Dead
How can alien languages be outdated. One of the things I liked about Enterprise was hearing more alien languages as it made sense as the NX 01 was the first crew out there and the Universal Translator had to be adjusted to pick up the language.
With a century or two the Universal Translator would be improved and english is more common.
Also about Uhura, it did seem she was more interested in Spock than doing her job at times in the film but still did her job. I hope they drop that relationship in the next movie as I think it almost ruined Uhura for me in the film.
You know I got annoyed when the mainstream said things like look how hot Uhura now is, which I felt was an insult to Nichelle Nichols.
I just wish the new movie could be embraced as part of Star Trek rather than the definitive Star Trek. It’s a good movie but come on there is better Trek as well.
I want the new fans who see this movie to watch the past 10 movies and last 5 series.
This science fiction movie Attack of the Moon Zombies has esperanto references in it and will have an esperanto track. That’s even more obscure than klingon nowadays. Also you can help fund the production if interested
http://www.sainteuphoria.com/aotmz.html
“You know I got annoyed when the mainstream said things like look how hot Uhura now is, which I felt was an insult to Nichelle Nichols.'”
Many of the younger viewers may not have seen much of the TOS series to appreciate just how ‘hot’/beautiful the Nichelle Nichols Uhura was/is. Also tastes change as well. Personally, I think that Nichelle Nichols was one of the most stunning and beautiful women ever to grace any screen. As Uhura, she represented beauty, poise, elegance, grace and intelligence and she also had a lovely speaking voice. I think as more people (re)acquaint themselves with the TOS television series, they will also see that.
Zoe Saldana is attractive in her own way as well and I think she has as bigger shoes to fill as any of the new actors playing the roles of the original actors. In fact, I think the “shoes may be bigger”. A fine balancing act.
I don’t usually comment, but I have to say that everything Jeyl said was spot on.
Star Trek 09 was criticised because it had Romulans speaking English and it appeared that Uhura didn’t do much, if anything, at all. I pointed out a FACT that Star Trek, from TOS onwards, more often than not, had aliens speaking English. Another FACT.
The reason we hear Nero speak English is because Uhura had done her job as in that she made sure that any communications between humans and romulans would be understood by both parties, by inputting all three dialects of romulan into the communications computer data base (if they weren’t there already) and by using the sicence-fictional universal translator device. Unfortunately, for Uhura (and all other linguists even today), this is not a spectacular or glamour-filled job. It is more of a quiet, sit at the workstation job, painstakingly translating one language into another, or several others, and inputting correct data, so that the rest of us joe blogs hear stuff in our own language… Nonetheless, it is a very essential job, just as it is today, for instance, when understanding what is being said at major international political forums like the UN and its various councils, WTO etc.
I do recall the Enterprise episode where Hoshi is trying to translate correctly what an alien race is actually communicating and I remember thinking, “And about time too. Finally, we are shown what is actually involved in the communications officer’s work “.
I would like to see a scene (does not have to be very long) in the sequel where Uhura is having to work out what a new race is saying, with Kirk feeling more insecure, agitated, especially when this race mistakes what Kirk/Uhura, via the universal translator, has said to them… This is how Star Trek could be improved, by including one or two scenes, intimating to the possible work-life realities for people working on a starship in Star Trek’s 23rd century.
STOP IT!
You risk alienating some people with all your facts and common sense!
:)
#37 Who are you referring to?
38
You risk alienating some people with all your facts and common sense remarks.
I’m referring at your post in 36, in particular. Good night.
:)
keachick
Aurore has a unique sense of humour. We’ve decided to find her…charming.
Who’s ” we”?
Good morning!
:)
36–Some of the novels have picked up on Uhura’s linguistic stills. They expanded on her role a bit, which is one of the reasons I like the novels. In the series and movies, she is shows to be a competent bridge officer, with expertise in communications. But they never did really focus on her abilities as a translator. However, a few novels addressed that oversight.
That oversight, or more the difficulty in showing Uhura’s work (would be a snooze-fest for most) is what prompts people to undervalue Uhura’s character in this movie and for some to basically call her a slut in that the only way she could get on the Enterprise is by sleeping with her instructor and for others to think Spock is pussy-whipped.
Clearly, the writers were aware of her abilities (and we are not talking ‘in the bedroom’ here) and wrote it into the script. Spock was aware of them but unintentionally did a little reverse-discrimination on her, which was quite rightly corrected.
Frankly, I find some posters’ attitudes here somewhat disgusting and sexist. Given all the number of homosexuals coming out of the closet over the past few years, one could also muse at how some guy may have got his promotion… “Hey, if you arse-f*** me or let me arse-f*** you, I’ll make you CEO!” Now, tell me that has not happened or how long it’s been going on. Yeah right, but nobody talks about that, do they. It’s always about the woman “whoring” herself… UGH!
If you pay attention, those who are accused to be whoring themselves…. are in fact sleeping with their superiors. Coincidence?
Gosh, I feel sorry for you, Iva. I really do.
Good for you, don’t forget to wash your hands and teeth on the way out.
On the way out to where? My hands and teeth are just fine, thank you.
Slight problem – the links to subscribe to the mag (under the Uhura comic cover shot) are pointing to Zinio’s Star Wars related subscriptions …
Whoopsie!
On your way out of your teacher’s office, I’m sure he’d appreciate some discretion, married or not.
Iva – you are rude and presumptuous who needs to keep yourself out of other people’s private lives, especially when it comes to what they do with their genitals. Now run along.