Woman in Motion tells story of how Star Trek's Uhura changed NASA forever

[LiberalArkie]

Actress Nichelle Nichols will forever be remembered for playing Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series—one of the first Black women to play a prominent role on television—as well as engaging in the first interracial kiss on scripted television in the US. Less known is her equally seminal role as an ambassador for NASA in the 1970s, working tirelessly to bring more diversity to the agency's recruitment efforts. That work is highlighted in Woman in Motion, a new documentary directed by Todd Thompson that is now streaming on Paramount+.

Thompson himself was not a hardcore Star Trek fan growing up, although he had seen most of the movies and was certainly familiar with Nichols' portrayal of Uhura. His producing partners were fans, however, and when they told him about Nichols' contributions to NASA, he decided it was a story that had to be told. Over the course of production, he interviewed dozens of people about how Nichols inspired them and also spent a considerable amount of time with the actress herself, now 88.

"She's the definition of Hollywood royalty for me," Thompson told Ars. "How she carries herself, how she treats others, how she engages with you—she's so incredibly magnetic. What she did was so paramount to giving us a blueprint of where we need to go, how we need to be, if we're going to make any sort of progress here on Earth and beyond the stars. I was very humbled by the responsibility to tell her story and tell it the right way."

Woman in Motion starts out as a fairly standard biopic, exploring Nichols' early days as a dancer and singer. She had wanted to become the first Black ballerina, and by age 14 landed her first gig at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago. She subsequently toured the US, Canada, and Europe with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before settling in Los Angeles in 1960 to pursue acting. "Her journey wasn't a straight line," said Thompson. "It was very zig-zaggy, and yet it had a definite direction, unbeknownst to her at the time. All the stars lined up in a very nice way."

Snip

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/woman-in-motion-tells-story-of-how-star-treks-uhura-changed-nasa-forever/

[FailureToCommunicate]

1. She made it so.

[Hekate]

3. Yes she did, and she lives long and prospers as well...

That first Star Trek series was among the greats. 🖖

[KPN]

2. Neat!

[housecat]

4. yes, and Star Trek is the gift that keeps on giving

[Yavin4]

5. Nichelle was going to quit Star Trek until she had an encounter with Martin Luther King

Her story also shows that in addition to all of the amazing things that Dr. King accomplished, he was also a Trekkie.

[pazzyanne]

7. We are in good company if we love Star Trek! nt

[Warpy]

6. It was still 1950s, she was a secretar-ish type, the other famale character was a nurse

and any other women were seen only in passing, as temporary characters or interplanetary sex starved harlots. The character wasn't much, but having her on screen every episode was. Kudos to her for portraying her character as a seasoned professional in her field, not a people pleaser. Her character was one of the only reasons I managed to get through the original series in reruns.

NASA wouldn't have budged had the laws covering employment for women not changed.

As an aside, I remember s male teacher going on at length in a junior high science class about how difficult it was to find astronauts who were small enough to fit into the space capsules (and if you've ever been to the Smithsonian, you know how small that was). I piped up, "why don't they just train women?"

It was the first time I ever saw a whole roomful of people try to rebooot at once after their systems crashed. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't been so infuriating.

[Skittles]

8. hey

what I saw, as a teenaged girl, was a beautiful black woman who was not a cleaning lady or a hooker - that was enough to impress me back then; yes INDEED

[Warpy]

14. You're right, that part was huge

and she never simpered, she was a strong character in her own right even if they did dress her like a cocktail waitress. All the women on that show had to dress like cocktail waitresses or worse.

[ChrisF1961]

9. The 1950s?

Wasn’t Star Trek on in the late 60s?

[Warpy]

10. Missed a word, 1950s mentality

Sorry about that.

The post WWII years were a disaster for women with brains and ambition.

[WarGamer]

11. very cool story...

[ProfessorGAC]

12. K&R!

That was a fun read!

[hunter]

13. Uhura was my first television crush.

Uhura repairing a communications console was the hottest thing I'd ever seen in my life.

[Permanut]

15. All that and she was hotter than a dilithium crystal.

[Earth-shine]

16. Here's an image that DU will truly appreciate.

?w=980&q=75

Ask yourself, whose smile is bigger?

The mighty Obama is reduced to being a mere fanboy.

[uponit7771]

17. +1

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. What a nice story!

I love glimpses into the histories of interesting people. This was no exception.