geekery for the day

[kaigou]

Apparently, Dr. King talked Nichelle Nichols out of leaving Star Trek...

That series was on reruns by the time I was allowed to watch anything other than Sesame Street, and given the diversity on Sesame Street, I probably figured Star Trek -- with its hokey costumes and plots but obvious mix of ethnic and cultural backgrounds -- wasn't all that landmark. I thought Captain Kirk was too square-face farmboy, and Spock's voice gave me the creeps (mostly because I already associated it with the narrator on In Search Of), but I had the biggest freakin' grade-school crush on Uhura.

Purely innocent except for the greedy element of "when I grow up, I want to be her!". I just thought she was Sexy-Smart Incarnate: she knew everything that was happening on the ship, when she said stuff, everyone listened, and she looked good while doing it and was always cool and collected -- how can such a combination not be totally hot!?

Now she's what, in her sixties? The woman is still sexy-smart incarnate. Zzzzing!



[I find myself thinking, okay, world: since you didn't let me grow up to be Tina Turner, can I be Nichelle Nichols instead?]

Comments

[nyx-greenfire.livejournal.com]

I saw Nichelle at DragonCon. She is simply amazing. In fact I was named after her. My parents love science fiction and loved her as Uhura. They also admired the things she had done as far as promoting space travel, and being a role model. I was born a few years after the show premiered.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

See, now that is a cool origin of a name. (Not to mention how awesome it must've been to meet someone and tell her that she'd made such an impact on your parents!)

I mean, sheesh. I got named after someone my mother described as a college classmate who "smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, cussed like a sailor, and drove like a bat out of hell." Then I met my namesake, and... well, it's been several decades and no sign of slowdown in the hellraiser category. I remain dubious as to whether this is good, or bad... ;-)