Movies - TV
Nichelle Nichols Saw A Flaw In J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Series
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lieutenant Uhura on “Star Trek,” took issue with the secret romance between her character and Spock in J.J. Abrams' 2009 rebooted feature film.
On Reddit in 2014, Nichols was blunt: “That wouldn't have happened back in the original series, Uhura was a private person with a personal life separate from the rest of the crew.”
“Any serious fan [...] would know it would not have been possible, they'd laugh their heads off,” she continued. As far as Trekkies knew, Uhura didn't have any romances.
Abrams, however, acknowledged that he was not a Trekkie when he was hired to direct and deliberately sought to depart from the 1966 series and create his own unique version.
While Nichols found the romance between Uhura and Spock risible, she wholeheartedly embraced Zoe Saldaña taking over her role, saying, “I have no advice to Zoe, she's fantastic.”