The Allure of Uhura
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| Title: | The Allure of Uhura |
| Creator: | robert toomey |
| Date(s): | April 1968 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
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The Allure of Uhura is an essay by robert toomey.
It was printed in Spockanalia #2 in April 1968.
The Essay
One of the more stimulating intellectual aspects of visiting the USS Enterprise is watching a closed environmental system, predicated on an almost Utopian dream of organization, work its way out of problems which threaten the existence of the system. Perhaps less intellectual, but most stimulating, is watching the Enterprise's Communications Officer, Lieutenant Uhura.
With the disappearance of Yeoman Rand, Uhura stands alone as THE woman aboard the USS Enterprise. As if there were a time when she did not. Of course, there IS Dr. McCoy's aide, Nurse Chapel, who stepped forward once to throw herself at Mr. Spock, but she has been relegated to Sickbay where she belongs, leaving the field wide open for Uhura.
Adjectives fall like leaves: devastating, sensual, exciting, voluptuous, exquisite - sexy. But an entire thesaurus full of terms would not do justice to the subject. Her beauty is almost ethereal, accentuated perhaps by the setting of the Starship. Her figure is fantastic, a fact attested to during one incident, when she wore even less than the usual Star Fleet mini-uniform. It might be added here that on the same occasion Uhura came close to a romantic (sic) encounter, while stalling off a scarred pseudo-Sulu, to the blazing fascination of any male who saw.
Often, Uhura does little else than relay Star Fleet commands to Captain Kirk, admittedly the duty of Communications Officer, but a peripheral role at best. Recently, she has left the Enterprise no less than four times, and her active participation in danger has increased proportionately.
Still, very little is known of Uhura herself. That she is a fine singer has been proven on at least three occasions, and she also plays the lytherette. Her name, Uhura, is Congolese. She speaks Swahili and she comes from the United States of Africa, on Terra. Other than that, nothing is known of her background. To be the Communications Officer aboard a Starship must have required a great deal of training, and we may assume that she graduated with honors, but this is implied rather than stated. She has also shown herself to be quite competent in hand-to-hand combat and is not prone to hysterics in a crisis. Again, this is to be expected of an officer of Starship calibre. Often, she has shown that she can be counted on in an emergency that necessitates quick- thinking and coolness.
She has managed these things on all occasions without ever once losing any of her feminine appeal, if indeed such a thing is conceivable. She is reported to have once said, Mr. Spock, if I have to say 'Hailing frequency open' one more time, I'll blow my top! Why don't you tell me I'm a lovely young woman?" While this may not be the remark of a stern officer, it is certainly the way a 'woman' might be expected to react under the circumstances; although it might well be pointed out that she was certainly barking up the wrong Vulcan.
It has been said that beauty is where you find it. Aboard the USS Enterprise you find it in the delightful form (and delightfully formed) Lieutenant Uhura.