In honor of Nichelle Nichols upcoming appearance at ECBACC 2008 this weekend in Philadelphia, I wanted to share with you an episode from Star Trek: The Animated Series. It's called "The Lorelei Signal." In it the male members of the crew are mentally and physically taken hostage by a species of potentially immortal women who need the life force of the men to survive. To rescue the crew, Lt. Uhura takes command of the Enterprise and leads a rescue team of female officers to the surface. But will they make it in time?
This is very cool to me, though I feel there is not enough of Uhura in it. I have to say though, that when Uhura speaks as leader, she speaks strongly and people listen. Note: There is a showdown between the two sets of women, with the Enterprise crew tauting their lasers on stun, but I personally would have enjoyed some hand to hand with a little of martial art technique in it. In the end, it just reminds me of how I would love to serve on a ship where "Captain Uhura" is in command. (Please note how groovy and out of worldly the soundtrack is sounding.)
What's disappointing is that apparently the producers of the series were originally not going to hire George Takei and Nichelle Nichols to voice their own characters, instead opting to use James Doohan and Majel Barrett on double duty. It seems that Leonard Nimoy refused to sign on to the project unless all the original cast members were signed on to voice their own roles. He is also sighted as saying that "Sulu and Uhura were of importance as they were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast" as reported in George Takei's autobiography from Pocket Books. How logical, Spock!
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-74)
The Lorelei Signal, part 1 of 3, episode 104
The Lorelei Signal, part 2 of 3, episode 104
The Lorelei Signal, part 3 of 3, episode 104
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