TrekFest 09, Nichelle Nichols on Spock and Uhura in the new movie.

At TrekFest 09 in Riverside, Iowa, Nichelle Nichols is asked he reaction to the relationship between Spock and Uhura in the new movie.

Transcript:

Walter Koening: I think JJ Abrams just did that to shake it up a little bit. I don't see this as organically evolving. I think he just wanted something that would be different. So, uh, well this is my guess. I don't have any inside information. But, that's what I think. It is a shock and I don't think it feels like something you would expect.

Steve Miller: Nichelle would you like to say something?

Nichelle: Um. Gene Roddenberry originally did not want to write, was not writing a science fiction film. He wanted to write about the human condition between men and women of all races that... That reflected American and reflected out to the world. And, uh, thereby have high drama. Um. *sigh* So when I went ot interview for the role before Paramount and NBC knew I was going to be on, the roll had not been written and I read a scene that they asked me to read that was three characters: Somebody named Kirk, somebody named Bones, and somebody named Spock. And they asked me if I would read for this role of the person named Spock. And I said "Fine" because it was a long scene and he had a big part. And I thought this was the role and I said, "Tell me about this character. What is she like?" And they looked at me like I was crazy and said "It's not.. He's not.. Spock is not a she, Spock is a he, we just haven't written a role yet but this can... we can see from here." And I said, "Could she be a woman" And they said "Leonard Nimoy would not like it". And so I said tell me something about the character and I'll read as though I was reading for the character. To make a long story short I got the role. But, I took my reading from what they told me Spock was about. In developing that character, and I told Gene Roddenberry about it when he decided on the book I was reading which was a Treaty from Africa called "Uhuru". He said he wanted to use that but he said why don't we do a little alliteration on it it because he said it was too harsh. And, I said "make it Uhura" and he said you've named your character it belongs to you. And I set forth then, he said "You come from the United States of Africa. I've just decided." And I decided then from the character that I read [Spock] that I wanted to be very much like that character but in a feminine way. And Gene said, and I was sharing this with George the other day, when I told him that I thought of Spock as my mentor. Because if you remember Uhura was the only one he was able to teach the Vulcan lyre too and he sang and spooffed onSpock. Now, you could have never had a love scene in 63 between Uhura and Spock but there were several hints and Gene was one in the kind of beginning to follow that and he wanted to do episodes if we had gone past the third year, because this is about the 3rd year we were talking, he wanted to do episodes that got into all of the stars life so that you had not one star or two stars and supporting cast, which we really are not. *laugh* But that was the essence of that. And, JJ was a big Star Trek fan and he invited me to lunch and I told him about creating the character. Whether he got and what my relationship with Spock, um, whether he got that idea from there I don't know. If he took it and ran with it and thought "Wow". And, having said that, it might very well have been coming from exactly where Walter really realized it that had you all sitting here going "What was that?" "When did that happen?" So, um, it shocked me a bit.

Steve Miller: It was a fun part. We looked at it from Riverside of course. Captain Kirk is supposed to be born here. They had the AU obviously, born in outer space. But, it's the first movies Riverside's actually been named in. They had the Riverside Shipyard...

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• spock
• uhura
• spock/uhura
• star trek
• trekfest
• trekfest09
• 2009
• nichelle nichols
• walter koening
• george takei
• iowa
• riverside
• ia
• convention
• movie

[SheSailsShips]

Spock/Uhura FTW! Thanks so much for sharing!

[CalifornicationDani]

ha ha that's my head.

This video is win, I'm so glad you got it.

[TheToughSpirit]

This was really interesting footage, I'm very happy you shared this. It was interesting to hear the beginnings of Uhura and even how Uhura relates to Spock. To me it simply reaffirms the relationship developed in the 2009 movie. Spock needs love too, LOL.

[xxYaminoHikarixx]

Huh....thank you, Nichelle, for answering not the question that was asked in a very lengthy fashion....

You are such a smart woman. ^^