At 89, Nichelle Nichols had a good run, but is gone too soon, nonetheless.
There’s a great article from 2016 when the show turned 50. I don’t normally copy an entire article, but this is such a great story and there’s no better time to share it.
It was the mid-1960s, the height of the civil rights movement. Police had beaten voting-rights demonstrators on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. A bomb had exploded in a Birmingham church, killing four little black girls. Malcolm X had been assassinated.
And every week, Americans watched a black woman on television. She was not a servant, but a lieutenant, fourth in command of a starship.
Singer and actress Nichelle Nichols played the role of Lt. Nyota Uhura on “Star Trek: The Original Series,” which turned 50 on Thursday.
After the first season aired in 1966, Nichols had plans to quit the show to join a Broadway-bound production.
But Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her otherwise, and in the process, underscored the role pop culture had in the fight for equality.
Nichols had just received the Broadway offer and told show creator Gene Roddenberry about her intentions to leave, she explained later in a TV Academy Foundation interview.
“He said, don’t you understand what I’m trying to achieve here?’” and encouraged her to take a weekend to think it over, Nichols recalled.
During that weekend, Nichols attended a Beverly Hills fundraiser where she was told about a “Star Trek” fan who was desperate to meet her. “I’m looking for a young man who’s a ‘Star Trek’ fan. So I turn and instead of a fan there’s this face the world knows, with this beautiful smile on it.”
It was King.
Nichols continued: “This man says, ‘Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am that fan. I am your best, greatest fan, and my family are your greatest fans. As a matter of fact, this is the only show that my wife Corretta and I will allow our little children to watch, to stay up late to watch because it’s past their bedtime.’”
King said he admired Nichols’s work and the role Roddenberry had created for her, one with dignity.
The actress thanked him, she later recalled on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” telling him she wished she could be out there, marching alongside him.
“He said, ‘No, no, no. No, you don’t understand. We don’t need you to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for.’”
Then, she broke the news to him that she was quitting the show.
His smile faded, Nichols recalled later, as he firmly told the actress that she couldn’t leave “Star Trek.”
“He said, ‘Don’t you understand what this man [Roddenberry] has achieved? For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing and dance, yes, but who can go into space, who can be lawyers and teachers, who can be professors — who are in this day, yet you don’t see it on television until now,’” Nichols recalled in a later interview.
He went on: “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed. Because, you see, your role is not a black role, it’s not a female role. He can fill it with anything, including an alien.”
Nichols was left speechless. “I just stood there, realizing every word he was saying was the truth,” she recalled. “And at that moment, the world tilted for me.”
A few days after that encounter, Nichols told Roddenberry what King had said. The “Star Trek” creator looked at Nichols, she recollected, and said “God bless Dr. Martin Luther King. Somebody knows where I’m coming from.”
Nichols stayed on the show, and said she never regretted that life-altering decision. She went on to help NASA recruit new astronaut candidates, many of whom were women and people of color.
Open thread.
Baud
This part may be the coolest of all.
J R in WV
I saw this story somewhere else, it really moved me, as I’m sure it moved a lot of other people…
She was quite a great person!
ETA: I fooled around trying for some snark, just long enough for baud to move into frist. There’s no snark available for this kind of story, just awe at what Gene and Uhura accomplished.
Baud
@J R in WV:
Dude, you got second. That’s prime real estate.
Paul in KY
Dr. King was such a great man!!
Seanly
I’ve read that story before but it’s bringing me to tears right now. I am a white cisgender hetero male and have been a huge Trek fan since I was a little kid watching the reruns in the 70’s. I would hope that I am taking Roddenberry and King’s lesson to heart. Diversity of color, race, sex, thought, religion, and even interests are all so important to creating a vibrant world that moves beyond it’s past.
I think I am brought to tears partly because so much of the fight for greater equality and egalitarianism seems to be turning against us. We’ve lost reproductive freedom and we stand to lose sexual and marriage equality. Now I’m seeing stories about how conservatives hope to call a constitutional convention and drag us back into the fugging stone ages.
I’m an atheist, but there’s no better word than bless for what I feel. So blessings to Roddenberry, King, and Nichols.
Nicole
I love this story so much. Thank you for posting it.
SiubhanDuinne
I have loved that story about Dr. King and Ms. Nichols since the first time I heard it. Makes me tear up, even now. Or maybe especially now.
Here’s NASA’s tribute to Nichelle Nichols.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-pays-tribute-to-nichelle-nichols
ETA: Click the “Read More” link in the NASA piece.
Immanentize
Two great humans and one great joke, TOS:
MisterDancer
Nichols was amazing on every level; I’ve never met her but people I know who have raved about her.
Her impact on generations of people, esp. Black Women, to take their rightful place in American society may never be truly measured. Given Ronald D. Moore’s deep involvement and love of Trek, I sometimes have wondered how much of Nichols’ work w/NASA drove his and his team’s thinking around “recruiting Women, including Black Women” as a critical aspect of the Alternative timeline of For All Mankind.
And an interesting bit of trivia:
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
LOL, I don’t remember that at all! What a great comeback line!
Splitting Image
StoryCorps made a short video some years back about Ronald McNair, one of the astronauts killed in the Challenger disaster back in the 1980s. He was a good person in his own right, and was one of the people inspired by Nichols to sign up with NASA.
Eyes on the Stars
piratedan
as a young kid who was fascinated by all things science and science fiction, Star Trek shaped our attitudes as to what a future should be, namely people of all creeds, color and gender, fully participatory, no limits… all human.
oldster
My America, the land of promise I grew up with.
It’s on the ropes, but it’s not dead, and it’s worth fighting for.
RIP Nichelle Nichols. May her memory be a blessing.
Mr. Longform
Those first steps are so important. Uhura’s role was kind of underdeveloped – kind of a switchboard operator most of the time; and they played up her physical beauty a lot – those legs! – but without her in that role, who would have been the next one and the next one? I grew up in a very white, segregated community and was a young kid when the show aired, so I was not inclined to be overly enlightened. But I think the not-a-big-dealness of Uhura being on the bridge in that role was really important for people like me. It said, “this is normal” and we saw that.
Layer8Problem
@oldster:
It really is a “land of hope and glory.” That hope is worth fighting for.
She went ahead, and inspired people.
ALurkSupreme
Incredible story. Was amazed to see the tributes to her this weekend, as I never watched the show. Live and learn.
zhena gogolia
@ALurkSupreme: she was the best
Redshift
@Baud: I’ve loved the tributes from people who said they applied to the astronaut corps because of her. Because she, speaking for NASA officially, said in so many words that they wanted women and people of all races, explicitly breaking down any unconscious assumption of “what an astronaut looks like.”
Ruckus
@Seanly:
Martin Luther King was about humanity. He was about how some think humanity is only about them, he was about how humanity is about every human. We look different, we are shorter/taller, skinny/fat, intelligent/not so much, lighter/darker, blonde/black/gray/too much/not enough hair, we are all humanity.
Star Trek was about a time when we had realized that it’s about humanity, the total of humanity, not bits and pieces of it. Sure it was about it in a way that we could only imagine then but think of humanity at that time, 2/3 of humanity considered less than what it is – still humanity, for the bullshit concept that pale males were the only important part of humanity, IOW racism. And some benefit from that and really, really, really do not want to give that up and be – just another part of the whole.
I liked science fiction, in part because it celebrated the concept of beings being far different than what we see here on earth, being all the good and all the bad of that. Being bigger than just being us. There are Y Tube vids of people with lions for friends, animals that can easily kill and eat you and people befriend them and they reciprocate. And people hate because the color of skin? I believe a vast majority of humans on this planet need to grow the fuck up – and I know that most of them never will.
Old Man Shadow
Love that story.
And it still underscores how important representation is in the media.
When I was introduced to TOS reruns by my dad, I didn’t think anything of a competent, strong, intelligent Black woman being a senior officer on the bridge of an important starship.
I wish they had given her character more to do in the movies, but all of the bridge crew except the big three and Scotty seemed to have secondary roles.
I’m glad they brought the character back for Strange New Worlds and have already given her moments to shine as part of the ensemble.
Rest in peace. You were and will remain an icon.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
My mom and I were talking about this yesterday, and I was like…imagine having someone like MLK tell *you* how important you are. Like, damn.
Rest in peace and power, ma’am.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
@Immanentize: LOLLLLLLL
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’ve recommended it before and I’ll recommend it again. Track down the documentary “Woman in Motion” about Nichols and what she did for NASA recruiting. She tells the Martin Luther King story in passing. Her whole life is amazing.
The NASA recruitment program for shuttle astronauts was seriously behind their targets and rapidly running out of time. She saved it, pretty much single-handed.
FelonyGovt
@Mr. Longform: Her role reflected women’s position in society at the time- I always said that “Communications Officer” was a fancy expression for “Secretary”- but those of us who watched the show as it was originally aired were in awe of her.
Betty Cracker
I misread the sentence in the OP that says, “There’s a great article from 2016 when the show turned 50,” as “when she turned 50,” i.e., Ms. Nichols. I was thinking 2016 to the present probably aged us all more than six normal years would!
Nichelle Nichols was an icon as an actor but even more so as a human being. Though she lived a good long life, the world is sadder without her in it
ETA: @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Seconded. I’ve been a Trek fan all my life and had no idea how much Nichols had done for actual space exploration and what an amazing woman she was until I saw that documentary.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
“Galaxy Quest” did a wonderful job of satirizing how underused Uhura was, by having Sigourney Weaver do nothing but repeat whatever the computer says.
Benw
Great story! RIP Nichelle Nichols.
Ben Cisco
I spoke a little yesterday about Ms. Nichols’ impact on my life. I’m watching “Woman In Motion” right now, and it’s all I can do not to cry all over again. I wish I could adequately express what she meant to me.
Thank you, WaterGirl, for posting this!!
WereBear
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I would love to see more of that blended into her character in future/back to the past episodes.
I cried when I heard. To know that she was fourth in command if the guys didn’t listen gave me a lot of hope for my future at the time.
Mike E
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Galaxy Quest went after the pigeonholed existence of typecast roleplayers which Sigourney Weaver played perfectly as a sexy sidekick siren to attract a male audience. Ms Nichols’ role wasn’t one of the Big 3 (Kirk Spock & McCoy) so her Uhuru doesn’t fit your description….if anything, it transcends the other prominent supporting cast members by being memorable without toting as much of the feminine baggage (Chapel, Rand et al) or being distilled down to a stereotype (Scotty & Chekhov).
NotMax
Repeating from yesterday.
Internet will be replete with Star Trek clips, but let’s meander in a different direction, shall we?
She brought a heaping helping of class to The Adventures of Captain Zoom while at the same time being true to its inherent tongue-in-cheekiness.
;)
Wag
@Paul in KY: Agreed. Gene Roddenberry as well!
And Nichelle Nichols, and George Taki, and everyone else who was involved.
Wag
@Mike E: In thinking about it, Sulu and Chekov were an important part of Roddenberry’s vision as well. Humanity was able to rise above our warlike past, and past enemies (Japan in WWII, Cold War Russia) were vale’s members of the team. And with TNG, he brought the Klingons into the fold, making his vision with Sulu and Chekov more explicit.
Lacuna Synecdoche
There’s a rotating tag the says something like:
Maybe that tag should be deleted?
I mean, yes, it’s humorous in a lot of contexts, but … It’s kind of jarring when it pops up on top of an obituary – as it just did for me – or a war update, or a post on a natural disaster, etc.
Ken
I think the main way the Uhuru role influenced me was that it wasn’t treated as anything special. A black woman was on the bridge of a spaceship, in the command chain, and in the Trek universe that wasn’t unusual, and didn’t require any special notice or explanation.
(Although, the few times it was noted were all the more jarring because of that. The Abraham Lincoln episode, anyone?)
Steeplejack
Noted even in North Korea!
NotMax
@Wag
Incrementally, as Chekov didn’t show up until the second season. And was initially portrayed as a mockable stereotype (“Russia inwented it first.”)
Geminid
@Wag: Gene Roddenberry was credited as chief writer for Have Gun,Will Travel, the western series starring Richard Boone. Despite very different settings, there are similarities between the shows. Boone sometimes gets captured and roughed up by outlaws, who want him to betray somebody. Boone gives a speech about the Indomitabilty of Man and then cleverly turns the tables on the bad guys. Captain Kirk does the same thing except it’s aliens and not outlaws who torment him.
guachi
In 1968 Gail Fisher would land a prominent supporting role in Mannix and become the first African American woman to win an Emmy (1) and a Golden Globe (2).
There was a sea change in TV in the late ’60s and early ’70s. It’s as if Hollywood realized Black Americans exist. All sorts of shows started centering Black characters and storylines centered on Black guest stars, such as Mannix and Mission: Impossible. Star Trek was a little ahead of the curve on this
I don’t think it’s a coincidence at all that Star Trek, Mannix, and Mission: Impossible are all Desilu Productions.
NotMax
@Geminid
His initial pitch to Desilu* was it would be “Wagon Train to the stars.”
*Yes, if it weren’t for Ms Ball there well may never have been a Star Trek at all.
NotMax
@guachi
Also too, I Spy.
Earlier, Car 54, Where Are You? had black actors in recurring secondary roles.
cain
I do appreciate all the characters in star trek and others. I often joked that the future doesn’t seem to have any Indians in it despite the billions of us here. I’m always curious what happened to my people in all of these scifi shows that we no longer have a presence anywhere despite our huge affinity to science and engineering.
J R in WV
Wagon Train to the Stars.
Amazing. Wife broke up when I read that to her!
Thanks for sharing that with us.
Miss Bianca
@guachi: Aside from Star Trek (which I did see back in the days when it was first airing, but being only 3-4 years old at the time it kind of scared me, so I didn’t become a fan of the original series till much later in life), the first TV show I remember prominently featuring a Black female lead character was Julia, with the exquisite Diahann Carroll.
J R in WV
@cain:
Your people are probably making too much money in Bollywood musicals to fool with American ideas? Just a thought. I see them on the big flat screen at my favorite Indian restaurant, while I wait for my carry-out. Amazing dance routines!
guachi
@NotMax: I had to check but I, Spy was one year before Star Trek and a Desilu production as well.
Layer8Problem
@Miss Bianca:
Her telephone interview with Lloyd Nolan as her boss-to-be was funny, at least as a product of its time. It’s on Youtube.
Jay
@Immanentize:
as it’s an Open Thread, missed your roof posting yesterday.
1” x 4” strapping, with a 1” to 2” air gap, if the strapping is in good shape, is fine for wood shingles, roofing tiles or metal roofing,
but, due to Climate Change, the issue of Ice Dams in many regions had come up. What happens is when snow falls, on the warmer parts of the roof, if temperatures are right, the snow melts on the warmer parts of the roof, ( eg. the peak), the water runs down to the eaves under the snow, ( the coldest part of the roof), and refreezes, forming an “ice dam”. As this cycle continues, the sheet of ice gets bigger, and because ice expands as it freezes, it can push it’s way through any gap in the roof from shingle overlaps to metal seams. When it warms up, the ice melts, dripping into the attic, causing damage.
The BC Building Code, ( minimal standards) currently requires a sheathed roof, with a single layer of a waterproof sealant* layer covering the eaves and 3 feet of the overlap, with either 20lb roofing felt or one of the new roofing membranes covering the rest.
* eg. Blueseal
Sheathing can be T&G OSB or OSB with metal joiner clips every 8”, ( minimum code), pressure treated OSB, T&G or clips, ( better), or plywood ( T&G or clips), best.
When I was a contractor, I always recommended BlueSeal-ing the entire roof. Had a customer have a tree fall on their roof. Broke a bunch of the rafters, shear some of the sheathing, but the BlueSeal kept the water and snow out until we could get the tree off, and had a dry period where we could repair the roof.
On the barn, if it’s actual “press board”, not OSB, it’s not going to last at all. Pressboard, if it gets damp or wet, quickly reverts to sawdust.
There are lots of online calculators that can provide you with a close estimate of your roofing materials cost. The rough rule of thumb for roofing is labour = material costs.
If you are looking at asphalt shingles, look for “reflective” shingles, ( not available in Canada) or the lightest colour available. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter. If a metal roof, ( lasts several lifetimes), a “cold roof”, where 1” lathing holds the metal panels above the roof, forms an air gap, again, cooler in summer, warmer in winter.
StringOnAStick
I was 8 when Star Trek first aired and my best friend loved it so I watched it too. I realize now that it made it completely normal to see women, POC, races other than my white small town monoculture, and they were in positions of respect and power. That exposure at that young age is really effective; I suppose that’s why the wing nuts and Christianists are all in on home schooling and strict co from of what their kids watch. My Christianist sister got rid of their TV so the kids wouldn’t see anything unapproved.
NotMax
Nichols’ recollections about “that kiss.”
Geoduck
Re: Lucille Ball and Star Trek. According to the book Inside Star Trek, when the show was initially being pitched, she evidently got the idea that “Star Trek” was about a group of USO actors performing in the Pacific during WWII. At another point, one of the producers was on-set trying to keep the show grinding along on its shoestring budget, and realized that the woman helping out with backstage cleanup by pushing a broom around was Ms. Ball.
And while Ms. Nichols was the trailblazer that has been described, she was also human: as IST also mentions, she was one of the many women with whom Roddenberry had extramarital affairs.
Baud
@NotMax:
Haha. That’s awesome.
Baud
@J R in WV:
I read that as “broke up with me” and was about to console you.
sab
My one year in boarding school, the girl in the next room had all three seasons of Star Trek on tape. This was before VCRs. She had taped all the seasons on a little reel to reel tape recorder. So every night she listened to an episode before she went to bed.
schrodingers_cat
In the sexist universe of TOS, Uhura was the one bright spot on the bridge. TOS hasn’t aged too well. IMHO.
Sure Lurkalot
@Geoduck:
I broke the news of Nichelle Nichols’ death to my DH at breakfast. Later on, he told me that he read a retrospective that mentioned her relationship with Roddenberry. I went exploring and came upon this wiki about Roddenberry’s personal life and he was a prolific womanizing sleaze. Did not know that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_life_of_Gene_Roddenberry
I’m always somewhat amazed and appalled by blatant infidelity and carousing…in this case, how it pretty much lasted for a whole lifetime.
Matt McIrvin
@cain: Arthur C. Clarke wrote HAL 9000’s creator in “2001” as an Indian, Dr. Chandra–but in the movie, HAL says “Mr. Langley”.
But then Clarke made Dr. Chandra a foreground character in the sequel “2010” anyway… and then Peter Hyams makes the movie, goes and casts him as Bob Balaban.
Old School
NotMax
@sab
Still have all the reels I recorded at the time of first airings (paused during ad breaks, which I kind of regret now*). TV had a headphone jack I used to connect to the recorder, so sound is first rate.
Brought the reel to reel machine (still have that too) along when worked at a summer camp. My cabin’s campers used to enjoy listening to the episodes after lights out.
*Except for one episode aired when I was out of town. Arranged for a friend, who was not into Trek, to record that one and it includes all the ads, including one during which the staff announcer flubs the title of another show the network was promoting.
trollhattan
@Matt McIrvin:
I get it.
Bob, Bob, Bob Balaban
Bob, Bob, Bob Balaban
Oh Balaban
Oh Bob Balaban
You’re rocking and a rolling
Rocking and reeling Bob Balaban
Doesn’t work the other way.
Matt McIrvin
@Sure Lurkalot: Oh, yeah, Gene Roddenberry was a grade-A creep and I think his casting of actresses was largely determined by who he was planning to have sex with.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Ivan Dixon!
eddie blake
the show was visionary. IDIC was just a revolutionary concept on 60’s broadcast tv.
the man was a man. warts and all
i’m pretty bummed by nichols’ passing. only kirk, chekov and sulu remain from the original cast
eta- was totally raised as a trekkie, mom was a big fan. can’t tell you how many times i’ve seen TOS all the way through.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Interesting!
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
I’m not sure that Chekov was portrayed that way as a mockable stereotype or specifically to mock Pravda. Pravda had an editorial criticizing Star Trek for not including any Russian crew members even though the USSR had been the first to put a man in orbit, and at that time it seemed possible they’d the the first to land a person on the moon. So the “Russians invented X” might have been a response to that specifically rather than a general stereotype.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Also too, Nipsey Russell.
Immanentize
@Jay: Thank you!
Do you know if rooftop solar can go on lath plus metal?
Also, one solution to ice damming (which I experienced here near Boston) in the central NY area is no gutters anywhere.
ETA insulating the attic floor (not the roof) also helps prevent the damming.
Geoduck
@Matt McIrvin: If it bothers you, HAL says Langley was his “instructor” and not his creator.
Also, Clarke went on record saying that each of the 2001 novels should be considered to exist in its own universe, and he made no effort to match up all of the details.
Roger Moore
@guachi:
I don’t think it was a question of them not recognizing that Black Americans existed. There was a constant threat by people in the South to censor anything that gave Black characters too strong a role. There were many movies that had Black characters who were easily edited out so they could have a version with them in most of the country and without them in the South. That kind of thing kept Blacks from having much chance. The Civil Rights Movement made that kind of censorship less palatable, which meant Hollywood could include Black characters without having to worry so much.
Immanentize
@Matt McIrvin: And Khan Noonien Singh was clearly (supposed to be) a sub-continent eugenics success.
Matt McIrvin
@Geoduck: Yeah, Clarke was not having any canon pedantry. “2010” was written as more a sequel to the movie “2001” than to the novel… but not exactly. He revised the backstory as he went along.
eddie blake
@Matt McIrvin: 2010 was a damn fine book. fun read.
Immanentize
@Roger Moore: Chekov, as I understand it, was first dreamt up as a response to the Beatles and the Monkeys to be the lovable comedy moptop to make STOS hip.
Speaking of Hip and Now! I still LUV “Way to Eden” and the groovy folk Meisters, including Spock.
schrodingers_cat
OT in the continuing David Hogg saga.
This nugget appeared on my timeline. Is it me or does it sound like a dog whistle?
zhena gogolia
@Immanentize: I wrote Chekov (Walter Koenig) a fan letter, and he wrote me back, in blue ballpoint pen on orange paper. The letter was about six pages long. But because he was chastising me for my snobbism (I had complained that he appeared in Tiger Beat, which I thought was beneath him), I was so embarrassed I gave the letter to the guy who had the locker next to me. I really regret that! I saw him years later, and he hadn’t held onto it.
Immanentize
@zhena gogolia: ugh! You should write to Koenig again with that story and see if he writes back! I bet he will!
Roger Moore
@Immanentize:
I think Chekov’s look may have been created as a response to the British invasion, but I don’t think that’s why they made him a Russian. That was a response to Pravda roasting them for not having any Russians on the crew.
Immanentize
DPRK News for the win (again!):
Matt McIrvin
@eddie blake: Unfortunately Clarke kind of slid downhill after that–the subsequent sequels are not good.
SiubhanDuinne
@Matt McIrvin:
Speaking of pedantry, off-topic: Earlier today I wrote to a friend for whom I’ve agreed to do some informal proofreading, and tried to describe myself as a “laissez-faire pedant.” Except autocorrect DOES.NOT.WANT “laissez-faire.” First it kept trying to change “laissez” to “aliens,” and when I rejected that suggestion, it settled on “laid sex.”
Okay, then.
eddie blake
@Immanentize: “gonna clap my hands, gonna jump for joy, i got a clean bill of health from dr mccoy!”
zhena gogolia
@Immanentize: Haha, I’ve thought of it over the years . . .
HumboldtBlue
Breaking: Updated White House guidance says POTUS will “deliver remarks on a successful counterterrorism operation” at 7:30 tonight.
sab
@Immanentize: Running the house at a nippy 50-60° also helps.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue: They caught Alex Jones trying to break into the WH?
trollhattan
@sab: My July dream house!
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I watched a lot of Have Gun Will Travel reruns a few years ago. I remember watching it when it originally ran. The stories started out with Paladin hanging out in a fancy San Francisco hotel with a fancy lady when he gets a letter that sends him out on the trail. I was just a kid but I could understand that something good was going on.
SiubhanDuinne
@HumboldtBlue:
Hope one of our front-pagers will highlight this and provide a streaming link. Thanks for the alert.
Emma from Miami
Damn. Damn.
Star Trek was the first American TV show I ever saw (in rerun but hey…). We were recent immigrants. The upstairs neighbor had helped my dad get a small tv on credit. My sister and I came back from school and dad was watching this show about people traveling in space… I was hooked and still am.
Compared to the stuff one can see today, it’s a downright antique… klutzy, clumsy, and sometimes downright silly. And let’s not even talk about the social mores. But it blew a hole into the future for a lot of us. I had been brought up on science fiction in translation and this was… visible. It was there. It could be dreamed and it could be done.
Funny enough I was a recent enough immigrant that I didn’t realize how absolutely avant garde that crew was.
Fleeting Expletive
@Geminid: Where do you find Have Gun, WIll Travel streaming? I’ve been a big fan since we all sat around the TV watching every new episode.
Geminid
@Emma from Miami: How’s your Dad doing? Is he watching any Marlins games? Listening?
FDRLincoln
Gene Roddenberry was a sexist creep.
HP Lovecraft was a horrendous racist even by the standards of his time.
Roger Waters turns out to be a Putin-tool tankie.
So many great and brilliant artists are lousy people for some reason.
Geminid
@Fleeting Expletive: I watched Have Gun Will Travel on cable, RealTV or The Western Channel I think. I wouldn’t know about streaming, it’s something I hear about but have never done.
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
@SiubhanDuinne: “laid sex” sounds like the way a teenager whose never had sex would call it. “Yeah man, I totally got laid sex this weekend, it was awesome”
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan:
Hell, maybe they simply raided RNC headquarters.
@SiubhanDuinne:
Glad to help.
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue:
Reading elsewhere AP is saying we got al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri. In Afghanistan, so maybe we’re gone but not gone? Or DRONZ?
NotMax
@Geminid
Trivia:
In a reversal of the more standard order, the success of the TV show gave birth to a radio series a year later.
Ken
@Sure Lurkalot: That’s one of those cases where I think “The mere fact that this page exists tells me a great deal about its content.”
Ken
“The President’s remarks on the successful counter-terrorism operation will be followed by an announcement of his picks for the six new openings on the Supreme Court.”
Emma from Miami
@Geminid: My dad is lately watching futebol in the Spanish language channels. He considers it an art as opposed to the demolition derby of American football.
He is a bit depressed, due to the death of our beloved Pachi the schnoodle. But for his age and considering his family history, not bad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Roger Moore
@FDRLincoln:
Lots of people are lousy people, so it makes sense that at least as many brilliant artists would be, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ken:
HumboldtBlue
@trollhattan:
I’m seeing that as well.
Baud
@FDRLincoln:
Don’t get me started on Dorothy A. Winsor.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I guess were about to hear for all those people who ignored Biden getting us out of Afghanistan.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: DRONZE!!
trollhattan
@Emma from Miami: Big fan of Spanish language futbol announcers. Gooooooooooooooooolllllllllllll!!!!!!!!
sab
@Baud: Hisssss! Bite your forked t9ngue.
Geminid
@Emma from Miami: I’m glad to hear this, except for the part about Pachi. I hope your Dad cheers up some.
Steeplejack
@Geminid:
It’s still on MeTV now.
Layer8Problem
@FDRLincoln: That’s why we have Sturgeon’s Law. Or, rather, a corollary: 90% of the brilliant are assholes.
Steeplejack
@Fleeting Expletive:
It’s not available for streaming, according to JustWatch, but it is currently on MeTV.
zhena gogolia
Hope this isn’t inappropriate, but I keep waiting for a new thread. JL Cauvin makes the most of the Ivana Trump burial story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=299tK635mJQ
AWOL
@HumboldtBlue:
Whoopee.
Can I fly or enter a ballpark without being strip-searched by the ghouls at “Homeland Security” already?
It’s been 21 years.
Professor Bigfoot
@Roger Moore: I still remember the bitter disappointment from having seen “Star Trek” on the cover of TV Guide (remember that one? LOL) and discovering that *it would not be broadcast in Nashville, Tennessee.
IT ONLY TODAY occurred to me that that might have been more about Lieutenant Uhura than the bog-standard-Southern-religious stupidity I’ve always assumed.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Wait’ll you hear the stories about Quilting Fool.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
GQP anti-Biden framing: “He died with a drone, not from a drone.”
Booger
@FDRLincoln: I keep hoping Pete Townsend and Roger Waters will join up and form a band based on sneering contempt for anyone not named Pete or Roger. I would pay good money to stay home from that.
prostratedragon
@Roger Moore: A museum of the Hollywood blacklist would have a wing devoted to those who were listed or threatened with listing in the 50s because they either were Black or other of-color actors seeking more and better parts, or others who supported the idea.
Geminid
@Steeplejack: That reminds me how I’m better off without cable TV. I get little enough done as it is.
H-Bob
@cain: I recall that Patrick Stewart was a guest on a talk show with some Indians in Britain as the “hosts”. The grandmother asked him why there weren’t any Indians on TNG, and said “the Enterprise certainly would need IT support!”
MisterDancer
Hang on a tic. I will assert it’s not that simple.
Gene was not alone in creating Trek. Sure, the initial idea and energy? All his.
But Gene Coon created so much of Trek — he basically built the “Federation as an ideal” concept, ’cause that sure as hell wasn’t in either of the OG pilots for Trek. He also created the Klingon, building them as commentaries on (so far as we can tell, because he passed before the SF convention era really got rolling) the futility of the Red Scare and the Cold War, among other concepts.
And of course, there’s other key writers, like Fontana, Sturgeon, and yes, Ellison, as re-written as his epic story was. Roddenberry shaped the house, but he also swiped a LOT of ideas and claimed them as his own.
We know pretty well what Roddenberry w/o any filters turned out to be, because that was the 1st movie in many ways, even with a different director. The novelization is pretty much the only thing we have of Roddenberry’s that we are damn certain no one else had a major say in…and it’s not wondrous, no more so than his other projects, like QUESTOR TAPES.
Gene had a talent, for a while, for identifying how to sell concepts and write good plots from a 1960s’ POV — one-off tales that depended on pulp conventions while pushing and stretching those ideas with those times. He also was doing work so groundbreaking that a lot of people connected with that vision, and that did — and still does — mean a lot.
But if he’d been able to hold on fast to Trek, I think he would have dragged it to it’s death. Especially as the reason we don’t know a lot of the above contributions, is that Gene made great efforts to hide and dismiss those contributions, unless — like with Fontana — they could be retooled to make him look good on the Convention and interview circuits of the time.
Gene’s greatness as an artist (writer/showrunner) was, in other words, very narrow. His true gift was in being a husker, the kind of guy who creates, say, IDIC to sell trinkets, or writes horrible song lyrics to steal credit and money…or convinces women into sleeping with him.
And in doing all that, in not sharing the spotlight, in driving away creatives en masse, I assert he hobbled Trek’s potential, both during and for years after the Original Series’ run. If Paramount hadn’t ripped Trek away from him for WRATH OF KHAN and all the other movies, I suspect we’d not be talking about it as a viable franchise, today (TNG only happens due to the movies, and Roddenbery was already in ill health as that project was getting off the ground…)
Jay
@Immanentize:
Roof top solar can mount to anything, the type of mount and the work involved just changes. For their size, solar panels aren’t heavy.
Not having gutters can create their own problems, and dependent on the freeze-thaw cycles, often make no difference in ice dam issues. As climates and weather changes, often, what worked in certain areas before, don’t anymore.
Airsealing attic penetrations with spray foam, having good ventilation, and “super” insulating the attic does more for interior comfort, energy savings year round than preventing ice dams. Properly done, the exterior roof surface, is still in a separate environment than the interior of the attic, much like the exterior sheathing of the house.
On average, you might do one or two re-roofings in a life, as a home owner. If you do it right, it’s one roof for several lifetimes. Doing it “right” of course is dependent on installer skills and cost. If what you can afford get’s you to the grave, tight and dry, or is good enough for a resale, that’s often the choice home owners make, ( or are sold).
I’m a glue it and screw it guy. I’ve never had to fix anything I have built in over 50 years.
Use the estimation tools to figure out your costs for both the house and the barn, both low ball and highball, and use that info as a factor in your offer.
If you do get the house, schedule the work for spring or fall and make the crew happy. Reroofing or insulating in summer ain’t fun, when it’s 105f in the attic and you need kneepads to keep your skin from burning on the roof. Everybody tries to do it in summer, but working in those conditions is brutal. When I did the tree/house repair, it was August. 95f outside, 120f in the attic, and it took me twice as long as spring or fall would have. My guy’s would get “gummy brain” after an hour and I would have to send them down to rehydrate and cool off in a kiddie pool I had set up in the shade. We melted 3 airhoses and two extension cords on the job.
eddie blake
@MisterDancer: yeah, the first season of TNG is under roddenberry’s shadow, and his influence is very visible. TNG didn’t really become great until the third season.
Baud
@eddie blake:
Matt McIrvin
@MisterDancer: Roddenberry even wrote an awful, unusable set of lyrics for Alexander Courage’s Star Trek theme just so he could get some of the music royalties.
H-Bob
@cain: I recall that Patrick Stewart was a guest on a talk show with some Indians in Britain as the “hosts”. The grandmother asked him why there weren’t any Indians on TNG, and said “the Enterprise certainly would need IT support!”
Matt McIrvin
(ah, just noticed MisterDancer mentioned the music thing)
Matt McIrvin
@MisterDancer: …In that regard, Roddenberry reminds me of Stan Lee, another notorious credit hog and energetic huckster who didn’t always treat his co-creators well.
kalakal
@H-Bob: Yes, it was The Kumars at no 42
Roger Moore
@eddie blake:
Yeah, the first season really felt like it was more of a tribute to the original series than a serious attempt at being its own thing. That probably makes some sense. There was no guarantee TNG was going to be a success, so they wanted to make it as familiar as possible to fans of TOS in hopes of getting them to turn into loyal viewers. But it also feels as if Roddenberry was revisiting his greatest hits from TOS rather than trying to make something of his own. It was only after it could get out from the weight of that history and become its own thing that it could really move ahead.
FDRLincoln
@MisterDancer: this is all true but I do want to add a few additional points.
When he was younger, Roddenberry was an outstanding re-writer for dialog. Most of the first season episodes, including the classic Balance of Terror, and several of the second season were rewritten by him, often on the day they were being filmed. He had an ear for dialog and characterization that other writers did not. Bob Justman was very clear that a big part of the drop in quality in the third season was GR having lost interest in polishing the scripts.
By TNG days he had lost that skill, but still retained his huge ego, and the first season suffered badly.
That said, you are 100 percent right that he often stole ideas and took credit for things he shouldn’t have. He was a deeply insecure person.
Rokka
@Matt McIrvin:
The music for the theme is a variation on an old song called “Out Of Nowhere” that was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1931.
Matt McIrvin
@Rokka: Hmm… it’s definitely the same chord progression, but beyond that the melody is substantially different. Interesting connection though.
Villago Delenda Est
That Nichelle Nichols story is one of my favorites in all of Trek lore. Especially the part where Gene Roddenberry says “finally someone gets it”, refering to MLK Jr., who fully grokked what Roddenberry was trying to accomplish. Star Trek was “woke” from the very beginning, and reactionary dimbulbs are being their usual ignorant dipshit selves.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: Which is indeed part of the reason why DS9 was so epic. It rather deliberately threw off a lot of Roddenberry’s tropes and took the entire franchise to the next level.
columbusqueen
@Villago Delenda Est: Yep, that’s why it’s my favorite. BTW, isn’t Dr. Bashir Indian? I always took him as such, especially after we see his parents.
Villago Delenda Est
@columbusqueen: Memory Alpha, the Trek wiki, doesn’t have any specific, canonical information on Bashir’s ethnicity. Ronald D. Moore (the Klingon guy) commented that “In my mind, Julian was of Sudanese (like Alexander Siddig), Indian, or Pakistani extraction, but that the family’s roots were probably in England, hence the accents.”
Tehanu
@kalakal: The Kumars at no 42 wasn’t a talk show; it was a comedy about a guy who had a talk show in his house that was constantly being interrupted by his parents and his grandmother (played by his real-life wife). And it was a wonderful, hilarious show!!!
Re Lt. Uhura hardly being more than a secretary: well, TOS didn’t use her as well as they could have, but in several of the Star Trek novels by Diane Duane, all of which are well worth reading if you’re a Trek fan, Uhura gets to show off her advanced degrees and prestigious jobs after being on the Enterprise, like being the head of Starfleet Academy’s communications department. There’s also the novel Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan which focuses on her.