Gold-Uniform Uhura vs. Red-Uniform Uhura

[Captrek]

The first three episodes produced after the casting of Nichelle Nichols as Uhura were The Corbomite Manuever, Mudd’s Women, and The Enemy Within. In TCM and MW, she wears a very unflattering gold uniform. In TEW, she does not appear on screen; she has two lines, both heard over the intercom. In all three episodes, she shows no personality and gets nothing to do besides say lines like “Hailing frequencies open.”

In TCM, there is a scene in the conference room in which she appears but has no lines. She lazily rests her head in her hand and looks like she’s about to fall asleep. It may be a realistic performance—there have certainly been times when I have looked like that at a conference table—but it’s not the kind of performance that emotionally invests the audience in a character.

I get the impression that Uhura was initially conceived as a barely-noticed permanent background character like Leslie, but then they realized that Nichols had a lot of charisma (not to mention looking pretty hot in the red uniform), so they let her create the sparkly, flirtatious Uhura we came to know and love.

My question for those of you who know about what happened behind the scenes is, is that impression correct?

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Her lines from TCM were cut:

"Flypaper? What's that? I thought I'd learned English by now."

 

[Vance]

Nichols was a day-player, so her utilization varied widely depending on the writing and if she was available on that shooting day (as well as the budget). Day players (like Takei and Koenig originally) were brought in to show some consistancy in the Enterprise crew, and to give additional 'crewmen' when the script needed it, but they weren't really supposed to be heavily featured at all.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Her lines from TCM were cut:

"Flypaper? What's that? I thought I'd learned English by now."

I'd say that qualifies under Shatner's "this adds nothing to the plot and slows down the story" standard of which lines get cut.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

 

[Vance]

Ney, Nichelle.. nice outfit you're almost wearing.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I posted it because it is gold AND red!

She looks fantastic in the MU.

 

[scotpens]

She looks fantastic in the MU.

Amen and hallelujah to that, brother! Love the arm bracelet, the knee-high boots and the dagger. And those toned abs.

RL explanation for the uniform change: Uniform colors and the departments they represented weren’t standardized until several episodes had been shot.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I'd say that qualifies under Shatner's "this adds nothing to the plot and slows down the story" standard of which lines get cut.

Sohl's original script has many lines like this. I think it's part of his style.

 

[Pauln6]

I think this is why the Man Trap was picked as the first to air - the supporting cast were all given decent scenes and it helped new viewers to identify with the characters more generally.

While I agree that the red uniform suited Nichols, she probably should have been in a gold one since communications is really part of Ops. Nevertheless, they rebranded it as part of engineering and stuck with red for most operators after that. Until TMP when it was rebranded as ops again... until TWoK when it was rebranded as science... and so on.

 

[Doug Otte]

She looks fantastic in the MU.

Amen and hallelujah to that, brother! Love the arm bracelet, the knee-high boots and the dagger. And those toned abs.

RL explanation for the uniform change: Uniform colors and the departments they represented weren’t standardized until several episodes had been shot.

I always wondered if she was holding her abs taut during that episode. They seem too awesomely well-defined, especially for a zaftig woman such as herself. However, with her history as a singer and dancer, it might well have been her natural posture.

If it wasn't her natural posture, it must have been hard to hold it in during all the scenes she shot, while acting at the same time.

Interesting topic to ponder...

Doug

 

[C.E. Evans]

I actually liked Uhura in gold. We're so used to seeing her in red, but if they had kept her in gold we probably would be used to seeing her in that color too...

 

[KirkPicard]

The first three episodes produced after the casting of Nichelle Nichols as Uhura were The Corbomite Manuever, Mudd’s Women, and The Enemy Within. In TCM and MW, she wears a very unflattering gold uniform. In TEW, she does not appear on screen; she has two lines, both heard over the intercom. In all three episodes, she shows no personality and gets nothing to do besides say lines like “Hailing frequencies open.”

In TCM, there is a scene in the conference room in which she appears but has no lines. She lazily rests her head in her hand and looks like she’s about to fall asleep. It may be a realistic performance—there have certainly been times when I have looked like that at a conference table—but it’s not the kind of performance that emotionally invests the audience in a character.

I get the impression that Uhura was initially conceived as a barely-noticed permanent background character like Leslie, but then they realized that Nichols had a lot of charisma (not to mention looking pretty hot in the red uniform), so they let her create the sparkly, flirtatious Uhura we came to know and love.

My question for those of you who know about what happened behind the scenes is, is that impression correct?

In Shatner's Trek Memories, he related that Nichols was feeling quite ill during the filming of "TCM" and how he supposedly caught her as she fainted on set between takes.

 

[Harvey]

I get the impression that Uhura was initially conceived as a barely-noticed permanent background character like Leslie, but then they realized that Nichols had a lot of charisma (not to mention looking pretty hot in the red uniform), so they let her create the sparkly, flirtatious Uhura we came to know and love.

My question for those of you who know about what happened behind the scenes is, is that impression correct?

Inside Star Trek: The Real Story indicates that it was Roddenberry who inserted Uhura into "The Corbomite Maneuver," but only after NBC had approved the script. As a result, the dialogue written for Communications Officer Dave Bailey was split between Uhura and the newly-minted Navigator Bailey, which meant that there wasn't any room for Uhura to become much of a character in her first appearance.

Although the book isn't specific about to her next two appearances (in "Mudd's Women" and "The Enemy Within"), it seems likely that she was hastily re-written into those scripts as well, further explaining why she isn't much of a character early in the series.

 

[GNDN]

It's always a shock to me when watching "Corbomite" how little there is for Uhura to do and how the ep is the prime example of her "hailing frequencies open" rut. Surely Nichelle's personality informed the writing of Uhura as the series progressed, but if she was indeed hastily added to the ep, cribbing some of Bailey's lines, that does explain her appearance here even more than that is was simply an early ep.

Love the red uniform and her "Mirror, Mirror" look as well

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think this is why the Man Trap was picked as the first to air - the supporting cast were all given decent scenes and it helped new viewers to identify with the characters more generally.

While I agree that the red uniform suited Nichols, she probably should have been in a gold one since communications is really part of Ops. Nevertheless, they rebranded it as part of engineering and stuck with red for most operators after that. Until TMP when it was rebranded as ops again... until TWoK when it was rebranded as science... and so on.

I always associate "Ops" with TNG. There Security, Operations and Engineering all shared the same color.

 

[FormerLurker]

Those three share the same color in TOS, all of them being part of the Services branch.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Those three share the same color in TOS, all of them being part of the Services branch.

True, there was no "Ops" as a position or division/branch in TOS. Uhura seemed to be a person who operated and could troubleshoot the communications equipment. Which is much more in line with the Services branch.

 

[ToddPence]

As a result, the dialogue written for Communications Officer Dave Bailey was split between Uhura and the newly-minted Navigator Bailey,

This also might explain why Bailey is wearing a coimmunications ear receiver, and why he is the first person to pick up Balok's message while sitting at the navigator's station.

I always thought that Tony Call, the actor who plays Bailey, bore a strong facial resemblance to Russell Johnson, the Professor on Gilligan's Island.

 

[Greg Cox]

Production order aside, it's interesting to note that the first two episodes that actually aired, "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X," feature Uhura quite prominently--and hit the Spock/Uhura thing very hard. Someone watching the first two episodes on NBC could be forgiven for thinking that Uhura was a major character--and that her flirtations with Spock were going to be a regular part of the series.