Star Trek with Captain Uhura

I remember that episode well. What a stinker!! (I watched these as a kid, don't own them on DVD yet.) I always thought that episode was strangely out of place in the Star Trek universe. Worst of all, it wasn't entertaining. The only episodes that I think were worse, or as bad were Spock's Brain and Plato's Stepchildren. P U!

I'd put that ultra-low budget "gunfight at the OK corral" at the bottom, myself.

The episode "Turnabout Intruder" does have one saving grace. The only Captain's Log ever done by a Captain of the Enterprise who was a woman. When the switch of bodies took place, both characters made "log entries". William Shatner's voice as the insane Doctor Janice Lester hiding in Captain Kirk's body. Sandra Smith's as the helpless Captain Kirk trapped in the body of the "insane" Doctor Lester.

Unfortunately, most of Shatner's, and ALL of Smith's narration dialogues have wound up on the cutting room floor over the years. Have to have the full episodes to get the proper effect. The difference in the narrations are quite striking.

Playing the madwoman in a man's body, Shatner's narration delivers his usual hyper-exited performance.:p:(:eek: But Smith's narration is another story. She gives a calm and measured (if slightly nervous) log entry that shows just how trapped her character (Kirk) is. Just what you would expect from Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Thinking of the ship, and crew, first. Maybe she was a fan of the show?:D

Most of Sandra Smith's scenes as "Captain Kirk" are cut out and/or reduced in the syndicated released versions that went out over television in the 70's and 80's.:( Too bad. She was a better Kirk than Shatner.:)
 
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Catspaw was in the first few episodes of the SECOND SEASON. I think they pretty much had things standardized by then. And I never saw DeSalle in Engineering. Is it possible his "assignment" as Deputy Chief Engineer was something they came up with later? Say, by the fans? Or as background, and not canon? I'm not saying DeSalle WAS Chief-of-Security, only that it would have been a good idea to have one, that's all.

You are, of course, correct. I was confused because DeSalle appeared in a couple of first season episodes. Mind you, he does seem to change jobs frequently - as well as assistant engineer, he was also a navigator.

The interesting part about Ohura's costume is that in her first couple of episode she did appear in command gold to start with, only later switching to operations red. It's as if some executive were uncomfortable with the implication that she could take command.

Cheers,
Nigel.
 
You are, of course, correct. I was confused because DeSalle appeared in a couple of first season episodes. Mind you, he does seem to change jobs frequently - as well as assistant engineer, he was also a navigator.

The interesting part about Uhura's costume is that in her first couple of episode she did appear in command gold to start with, only later switching to operations red. It's as if some executive were uncomfortable with the implication that she could take command.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Actually, in both pilots, everyone wore gold.

As far as DeSalle, I think it was to provide another white male face in the command structure in episodes where most of the cast got stuck on some planet somewhere. In such episodes, there isn't a whole lot of things to do on board ship. Hence, you need DeSalle to fill in. Once the second season started, Chekov took over as navigator for good, leaving DeSalle without a regular job.

I wonder, and this might just be worth a thread, but why did TOS refuse to even HAVE a Chief-of-Security except as an invisible voice on the intercom? I have found only one exception, where there WAS a serious attempt to create a recurring role for a Security Chief. "The Devil In The Dark." Lieutenant Commander (Commander?) Giotto, (Actor Barry Russo), as Security Chief was sent to the surface of Janus VI to help keep miners from taking the law into their own hands.

Though in one of TOS' many technical goofs they issued him a redshirt with full commander strips. Ironically, the "goof" was actually correct. Just as Spock in the first season was only a Lt. Commander, why do you have TWO ranks spacing the Captain from everyone else? Just how BIG WAS Shatner's ego? The first officer AND the Security Chief need the RANK to deal with officer barratry when it arises. Spock's Pon-Farr, Kirk's "Amok Time" and "Turnabout Intruder", just to name a few.

I think you're right about changing Uhura's shirt color. Thinking on it now, at least they didn't put her in blue. No one commands in that color. And being in redshirt didn't specifically keep you from command, after all.

Talleyho!
usertron2020
 
Not a chance. It would have been like launching Gunsmoke with Miss Kitty as the Marshall. Nobody would believe it or watch it.
Well, in 1966 they did launch "Pistols ´n´ Petticoats "
an utterly feminist western series, where absolutely every male was the image of ineptitude, and the gals were super-gals...
 
I hope this doesn't get me reported, or banned, but can't anybody see the difference in racist backlash over an interracial kiss that is black/white vs one that isn't? The virulence factor is exponentially higher. This is nothing to be proud of, which makes Star Trek's actions all the more remarkable. BTW, I certainly DID notice the race difference, even in the original airing, between Shatner and Nuyen. But when it's a woman as beautiful as Nuyen, the target audience generally doesn't mind much.:rolleyes:
Oh, agreed. 'Interracial' in the US is pretty much a code-word for black/white. While there might well have been (OK, would have been) resistance to White/Asian, say, it's just not the same.

As for Desi Arnes (sp?), while in the 60's Italians and Spaniards weren't 'white-white', they were certainly 'white' as opposed to black. (If you had a Swede and Desi, and said 'which one is white', they'd pick the Swede. If you had a black and Desi, and said the same thing, they'd pick Desi. There's a bit of context here. Heck, back in the bad old days, anglos in Canada could be heard (rarely, fortunately) saying to a Quebecois 'speak white'. Bleah. Boy, I'm glad we've moved beyond that.)


The whole 'Hispanic' thing as a grouping really had to wait until the black/white race barrier dropped a little. Before that you had 'white' Hispanics and 'black' Hispanics (and certainly 'brown' Hispanics), but the skin colour (/facial feature) part was more important than the 'Hispanic' part. Unlike today.
 
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