I never got the Uhura moment in Star Trek's 1996 series until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds explained it

I've always loved the scene in Star Trek: The Original Series where Uhura casually MacGyvers a subspace bypass like it's no big deal. Yes, the one in Season 2, "Who Mourns for Adonais?", where Uhura demonstrated remarkable engineering skills and reestablished contact with the landing party. The landing party and Captain Kirk were in danger, trapped on a planet controlled by a commanding being who claimed to be Apollo and demanded the crew worship him. As the being welcomed Captain Kirk and the landing party to his strange planet, he proudly exclaimed,

"Your fathers knew me. And your father's father. I am Apollo."

Meanwhile, as Uhura attempted to restore communication, Spock requested a progress report and urged her to hurry. She replied,

"I am connecting the bypass circuit, sir. It should take another half hour. Mr Spock, I haven't done anything like this in years. I could build the entire communication system. It's very delicate work, sir."

To which Spock replied,

"I can think of no one better equipped to handle. Miss Uhura, please proceed."

At that time, it seemed like some classic Trek moments where a bridge officer could do the impossible. However, watching it now, after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, I realize how Lt. Uhura casually accomplished one of the coolest things in the series!

The missing piece of Uhura's story and Hemmer's connection: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Let's be honest— as groundbreaking as Nichelle Nichols' Uhura was in the '60s, TOS never provided her with much backstory. She was the voice of the Enterprise, the woman who could hail anything in the galaxy, but we rarely witnessed what else she was capable of. The engineering moment stood out because it suggested depths that the original series never explored.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Celia Rose Gooding played a younger Uhura, shedding light on how Uhura acquired her exceptional skills. Uhura was a member of the USS Enterprise, commanded by Captain Christopher Pike, and studied communication rotations. Interestingly, Cadet Uhura was very enthusiastic about learning new things, and Captain Hemmer served as her perfect guide. It is from the Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise that Uhura learned her technical skills, as we watched Cadet Uhura bond with Hemmer, her mentor in engineering, initially struggling with self-doubt but gradually discovering her knack for systems work.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds understood that it needed to provide a backstory for Uhura's engineering skills. Additionally, making Hemmer her mentor was a stroke of genius. Their scenes together—him pushing her, her resisting, and then slowly realizing her worth—make the film interesting and iconic.

Viewers always crave good prequels, and Star Trek excels at this. Prequels not only explain things but also enhance the original material, making it better and easier to understand. Now, when I rewatch TOS, I don't just see Uhura randomly fixing a circuit; I see Hemmer's student applying his lessons in practice.

How does Strange New Worlds elevate Uhura's legacy in Star Trek?

The real win is how Star Trek: Strange New Worlds retroactively gives Uhura the complexity she always deserved. Nichols played her as eminently capable, but the 60s writing rarely let her shine beyond the comms panel. Now we know she was multitalented- a linguistics prodigy who could rebuild a circuit board before breakfast, a woman who carried both personal tragedy and professional brilliance.

Nichols fought for Uhura to be more than just a pretty face at the console, and now, finally, the franchise has given her the full dimension she envisioned. The subspace bypass wasn't a quick fix; it was Uhura showing us who she'd been all along.

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Sometimes the best retcons don't change what came before; they help us see what was always there. Fifty-five years later, Uhura's most random skill suddenly makes perfect sense. And that's the mark of great storytelling.

Also read: I had no idea that this OG Star Trek character's name was banned from The Next Generation.

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