Nichelle Nichols at FedCon 18 - Panel Report

FedCon 18 – Nichelle Nichols, the grand dame of Star Trek (5)

12 May 2009 622 views One Comment

It was another highlight in the succession of panels Friday night at FedCon 18. Despite her almost 80 years of age, Nichelle Nichols who played Lt. Uhura in the original Star Trek incarnation, came to Bonn, Germany.

After being greeted with a four minute standing ovation during the opening ceremony, she received another heartfelt and long welcome from the assembled fans. After all, she is one of the last cast members of the original show. A show, if I may say so, that has changed the SciFi genre and made all of what we enjoy today (scifi- and convention wise) possible.

Nichelle Nichols at FedCon 18

Nichelle Nichols is once more received with a long and thankful applause on stage

The first impression of Nichelle Nichols was that of a very warm, generous, and honest woman. This impression only solidified during the weekend. In addition, it became clear that she was not frail at all for her age but possessed an enormous amount of energy and charisma, on and off stage. She looks absolutely radiant and beautiful, one could immediately recognize her, even with the image of the original Uhura in mind. And since I am a woman as well, I was absolutely stunned to see her outfits, even more so her shoes. This lady was walking and dancing on stage in high heels that could easily be called stilettos. Classy!

Nichelle Nichols at FedCon 18

I am 27 and can’t walk in shoes like these for a long time. Nichelle Nichols does it at 80. This woman just rocks.

True, she took her time writing autographs and gave quite lengthy answers to questions, but then again she is quite old and she has a lot of stuff to talk about.

When asked how she came to Star Trek, Nichelle laughed and started her story with the words:

“Well, when my career was rudely interrupted by Gene Roddenberry and Enterprise…”

Over the laughter of the fans she explained that she had been a successful singer in Europe when she got the role of Uhura. At the end of the first season, she got the offer to take on a role on Broadway and had actually already informed Gene Roddenberry that she would be leaving the show. He was saddened by her decision and asked her to reconsider over the weekend.

“And then I went to this dinner event and the organizer asked me if I would mind meeting someone who said he was my biggest fan. At this time, the first season had aired and I was getting more and more attention from fans. I got up and turned around. And then I told the organizer: ‘I am afraid this fan is going to have to wait.’ Because I stood face to face with Dr. Marthin Luther King.
And he said: ‘No, I am your biggest fan.’ And he went on telling me how much the show meant to him and wife and children. That was right then when the Freedom Movement was going on.”

Nichelle went on explaining how she told Dr. King that she wanted to quit the show and that Dr. King was shocked by her decision. According to Nichelle, he was the first one who made her realize the impact she had on African Americans, women and their self-perception.

“A woman on the bridge of the flag starship. A black woman in charge of all the communication between that ship and Earth. Fourth in command.”

Nichelle Nichols at FedCon 18

Nichelle Nichols talks about how she met Dr. Martin Luther King and how it influenced her career choices

It was this very encounter, Nichelle concluded, that made her stay with the show. The audience in the Mainbridge – at least those who didn’t know this anecdote – were stunned before erupting in applause. For most of us in our twenties and thirties, the Freedom Movement and the name Martin Luther King are ‘ancient’ history, something to be learned from books and watched in documentaries. And there on stage was an actress that had actually lived through that history, had been touched by it and maybe even helped to shape it.

Now, forty years later, she was all excited about the re-imagination of Star Trek by JJ Abrams. Nichelle Nichols had been invited to the set of the new movie and met with Zoe Saldana, who plays her younger self. The young actress, Nichelle recalled, had no idea she was going to meet a TV legend and was stunned and excited to get to talk the original cast of her character Uhura. Nichelle Nichols earned another loud and long round of applause when she announced that she had chosen our convention, FedCon 18, over the premiere of the new movie.

“I was invited to the premiere, but they changed the date. And I told them, no, I can’t go, I have to go to this convention. It was scheduled a year ago.”

We also learned that Nichelle Nichols is about to go on tour with her own show that will involve singing and dancing and boy, did she give us a taste of that! This lady really rocks the stage. And she does not only have the voice, she’s got a hip move any tween would die for!

Nichelle Nichols rocks at FedCon 18

Nichelle Nichols got the moves and the voice to rock 2,000 people at FedCon!

She recalled how she started to sing, back in the days, and thought that she had two voices. One higher pitched singing voice, more for operatic pieces, and one deep soul voice. (And did she give us samples of both, dear Kosh!) When she got a singing job, she asked the instructor for which one of her voices she had gotten it, and he told her:

“What do you mean, two voices? It’s one, you are just missing the middle!”

Under loud cheering and laughter, Nichelle Nichols ended her panel after another sample of her singing powers and after giving us all the one and only true Star Trek greeting:

“Live long and prosper.” (complete with the hand sign)

Nichelle Nichols at FedCon 18

To yet another long round of applause, Nichelle Nichols leaves the stage with our Master of Ceremonies, Marc B. Lee, who keeps the crowd demanding for her

Thank you, Nichelle Nichols.

Additional information

For complete galleries of FedCon 18, please visit my photo site In The Moment.

If you are interested in re-living those great moments of FedCon 18, make sure to check out Fedcon.tv. The official FedCon DVD will be released around October, pre-orders can be send it now.