Talk:Uhura

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Contents 1 Animated adventures 2 Commander rank 3 TAS Appearances 4 Given name 4.1 New movie 5 talk:M'Umbra 5.1 Merge 6 Swahili 7 Unstereotypical? 8 Legacy

[edit] Animated adventures

I think the subtitle "Animated Adventures" should remain, to clearly separate that from the rest of the article, there not all Trek fans regard TAS as canon. Ottens 18:56, 24 Aug 2004 (CEST)

But MA does. Also, the heading breaks the POV of the article - since the animated episodes are just normal missions in the Trek POV. -- Michael Warren | Talk 19:36, Aug 24, 2004 (CEST)

Beat me to it. A section title in the body of the article should not have a POV that it was a cartoon. Perhaps some other descriptive term specifying these were the "later" years of the same mission. Since its all part of the same cast, crew, and five year mission, I have a hard time find any need to make a serious distinction. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel 20:01, 24 Aug 2004 (CEST)

Okay then. On a sidenote, what does POV mean? Ottens 23:12, 24 Aug 2004 (CEST)

point of view. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel 23:24, 24 Aug 2004 (CEST)

[edit] Commander rank

According to a note at the bottom of the page (Recently added), Uhura was promoted to Commander in TWOK, but states the year 2285. I moved the note to Uhura's information from TWOK. Does anybody have confirmation on her promotion for either TWOK or The Search for Spock (If it's the later, it needs to be moved). -- Enzo Aquarius 21:03, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] TAS Appearances

I've removed the TAS references and placed them here because most of it appears to be copied from Sheryl's Star Trek Site: Star Trek Women. It's not word-for-word, but it is suspiciously similar. I've decided to move it here to avoid the complications of dealing with a {{copyvio}}. --Gvsualan 10:25, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

When under the influence of the women of Taurus II, the male crewmembers of the Enterprise were incapacitated by the siren's song. Lieutenant Uhura took command of the vessel, and assigned Nurse Chapel to acting Chief Medical Officer. They led a landing party down to the planet's surface to rescue Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Carver. (TAS: "The Lorelei Signal")

When the Enterprise visited the Shore Leave Planet, Uhura was abducted by the planet's computer, which was in charge of the planet after its Keeper had died. The computer felt that it was being taken advantage of, but Uhura reasoned with it, and ceased its hostile actions against the Enterprise crew. (TAS: "Once Upon a Planet")

When Uhura, along with the rest of the crew, contracted Dramian Auroral plague, she collapsed on the bridge from the effects of the disease. She would have died, if Dr. McCoy had not found a cure. (TAS: "Albatross")

In 2270, Sulu, McCoy and Uhura were trapped in the holographic recreation room, when the ship's computer began exhibiting aberrant behaviour following the Enterprises passage through an energy cloud. (TAS: "The Practical Joker") Later that year, the Enterprise entered an anti-matter universe. The crew experienced accelerated reverse aging, and Uhura was reduced to infancy. Following the vessel's return to normal space, Uhura and the other crewmembers were returned to their normal ages, by use of the transporter. (TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident")

[edit] Given name

Considering, as noted at the bottom of the page, that both Gene Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols both approved of it, should we put a full name of Nyota Uhura at the top of the page? Or is it still considered not canon enough for such treatment? We could do this without renaming the article, to avoid confusion. --Kitch 13:26, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That sounds reasonable to me. Keep the article titles "Uhura", have the first line read "Nyota Uhura" and then italicize below it:

"Although not mentioned on screen, Nyota was approved by Roddenberry and Nichols"

...or however it is written in the article. We have done such things with other individuals - basing thier full names from what was written in the script, but never spoken on screen. --Gvsualan 16:58, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I could swear I've heard it on screen: When Kirk asks Uhura to play back the probe's call in TVH, I'm pretty sure he calls her "Nyota." – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.72.98.81 (talk).

Two points: First, "Nyota" was never heard or seen on-screen, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and never included in a script, writers' guide, or graphic. Second, if the name is to be added it will need to have a citation to some permitted resource that states her name is Nyota. Rumor or anecdotal evidence (including something Nichols wrote in a biography), without more, should not form the basis of inclusion of data in the main body of the article. It's fine for background, though (but should really have some kind of cite there too as to how we know this claim to have been made). If it is in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, though, that would be enough to include it (though noted as non-canon); maybe that's worth looking into. Aholland 04:38, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Aholland is correct; the name was never used on-screen. The first time I heard it, however, was not in Nichols' biography, but it William Shatner's Star Trek Memories, a documentary special. She recounted the story of how someone (I forgot who, I think it was one of the writers) suggested the name "Nyota" for her character. Nichols loved the name, and, according to Nichols, so did Gene Roddenberry. As Aholland said, this does not make the name official, but we can cite her biography and the documentary as a source when explaining the name in the background section. --From Andoria with Love 05:15, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I've never quite understood how people hear the word "Nyota" in Kirk's line. What they hear as "Nyota" is "Can you" in the line which goes something like, "Can you play back the probe's transmissions?" Sir Rhosis 21:33, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I'll have to listen again. I remember reading a writer in "The Best of Trek" claiming that he invented "Nyota" and ran it past Nichols, who loved it. (He was responding to someone who claimed "Penda" [huh?] was the name.) – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.72.98.81 (talk).

I just listened. Kirk says, "[en-yota], let's hear the probe's transmission." No request, so no "can you." He calls her "Uhura" a few seconds later. – The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.72.98.81 (talk).

Perhaps Kirk was mumbling. The script identifies her only as "Uhura". The line in the closed captioning (not in the script) is "Can you let us hear the probe's transmission?". There is nothing on Nyota, and I believe any conclusion other than it is not used is unjustified. Aholland 04:49, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Shatner was indeed mumbling, but if you listen closely, he does say "Can you" As I said before, I don't get why people insist on hearing what is not said. J! H! C! ENOUGH ALREADY! Sir Rhosis 22:19, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Paramount's Startrek.com refers to her in the animated series character listings as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura. Does this qualify as canon? Hoogamagoo 15:55, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Not until it's mentioned in a film or TV episode, I'm afraid. --From Andoria with Love 16:00, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New movie

The new movie states her name as Nyota can we site that or do we have to wait until December? Morder 15:18, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Is it out yet? Nope. For all we know, that line may be cut from the film by the time it airs. -- Sulfur 15:23, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

It's OK to site it, though. I don't know why anyone here would have a problem with that. Look. Somebody already did it. SennySix 20:56, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Again, no, it's not okay to cite it... not until the movie comes out. For one thing, we don't know for sure whether or not her first name will be revealed in the movie or even if it's in the script – that's just rumor and speculation at this point. By the way, we will have to wait until May 2009, not December. ;) --From Andoria with Love 06:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, the IMDB mentions it in the cast and bio... don't know if IMDB is a good reference or not. --72.0.250.165 19:00, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

It's not. :) -- Sulfur 19:53, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] talk:M'Umbra

PLEASE see Memory Alpha talk:Canon policy before making further changes to this article and the notation of it being non-canon. It is NOT Memory-Alpha policy to delete non-canon articles just because they are non-canon. Aholland 06:25, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I have no conceptual issue with your change, but the term you are searching for is Restricted Validity Resource. (The higher value one is a "valid resource", which this material is not.) I'll make the change so it is technically correct. This will NOT, in and of itself, result in the article being deleted - in case you were still concerned. Aholland 06:47, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

There is no term for "valid resource"; it has no meaning in the policy and is no more understandable to a layman than "Restricted Validity Resource". If we are going to use an explanation (unnecessary given policy, but it doesn't hurt), why not use words that track back so that people can actually see what is going on? The point isn't to confuse people even more. Aholland 06:57, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I probably should have left the sarcasm out in this case, my apologies. My true reason for reverting it was to get you to bring up the change in wording at Template talk:NonCanonValid rather than delete the template from the article. --From Andoria with Love 07:00, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

No problem. I took your advice and discussed it back there. (Although it took me a few minutes to find it - I'm not adept at template usage and such on a wiki!) Aholland 07:10, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge

Under our current canon policy, restricted validity resources do not get their own articles. This should get a mention in the background of the Uhura article. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 18:26, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not getting the same impression from the canon policy page. Read under 'Restricted Validity Resources and Initial Article Creation.' Jaf 18:47, 7 December 2006 (UTC)Jaf

Then why are we merging all the prototypes? --OuroborosCobra ^talk 18:53, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I suspect it is because we don't really know what our policy is. There was a lawyer who showed up a while back and pointed out the fact that our pages contradicted our policy, he suggested we delete a bunch and everyone got mad at him, then he suggested we change our policy to match our pages and we got mad at him again. After a while he left and didn't come back. Then the issue just kind of went away. Jaf 19:10, 7 December 2006 (UTC)Jaf

I support the merging of this with Uhura. We need to decide whether we allow information from only canon sources or from canon sources plus reference materials. We can't allow some articles from the latter and not have others. The decision has apparently already been made not to have individual pages based on information from reference materials; this would appear to count in that area. It also appears that, if that is the case, that our canon policy needs updating. --From Andoria with Love 20:12, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Swahili

In Swahili uhura is nothing. Freedom is uhuru. You can look at the dictionary: http://www.yale.edu/swahili/ --81.38.181.20 13:28, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

The above is correct; "uhura" means nothing in Swahili. The article had the right information in the background section so I simply deleted it from the main body of the article. Aholland 03:39, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unstereotypical?

Was the role really that unstereotypical and breakthrough? She answered the phones! The role of communications officer clearly isn't enough of a job to occupy one full-time, and was later partially automated and partially given to tactical or the conn. -- 71.87.43.175 08:18, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

It was full time in a lot more than just TOS. --OuroborosCobra ^talk 15:12, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Legacy

The section entitled Legacy makes some unsourced claims. It currently has these three items:

• During the first year of the series, Nichols 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.
• Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison has cited Nichols' role of Uhura as her inspiration for wanting to become an astronaut.
• Whoopi Goldberg has also spoken of Nichols' influence. It was seeing Nichols play a prominent role on network television that allowed her to see that African American women could contribute more than just as domestic servants. She is often fond of recalling 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!!"

I copied a source URL (a Stanford University news bulletin) from Jemison's Wikipedia article to cite the second point. The Whoopi Goldberg article on Wikipedia has this same information, but it states the Nichelle Nichols as its source. If she is the only source, maybe this should be reworded, because as it is now it makes it look like Whoopi goes around telling this story to everyone who'll listen. Hokstein 05:54, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

I put citation requests on the first and last points. The fact that Nichol's was an inspiration for Goldberg is easy to cite (I put the TNG companion down), but that exact anecdote unfortunately is not in the book. We can remove it if it doesn't get cited.– Cleanse 06:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Okay, these claims were cited by User:DarkHorizon and User:Leandar. Thanks guys!– Cleanse 10:01, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, much better. :) Hokstein 22:37, 12 April 2008 (UTC)