I am well aware that she is too young for me, but I can exercise a fan’s prerogative here if I wish.   I think Zoe Saldana is seriously hot.   I thought so when I first saw her in Drumline and I’ve never once changed my mind.  

So how did I respond when she was tapped to play Uhura in the 2009 Star Trek reboot?  Frankly I was a lot more excited about the idea of her playing this role than the reality of it.   I did like the movie, but what was actually their second chance to finally deliver the Uhura Show… never came to fruition.

This whole thing began bouncing around in my mind a few days ago when I happened to stumble upon news that the, as yet untitled, sequel is planned for June 2012. This has, of course, prompted discussions all over the blogosphere about whether the new alternate timeline introduced in the successful, 2009 reboot will prompt the writers to introduce new villains and completely new situations for the Star Trek crew to deal with… or will they reconceive the original storylines and villains that fans will immediately recognize.   

On this point I have no real preference. I think that JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk did such a credible job on the reworked Star Trek film, that I trust them to provide a suitable sequel.   These days the studios are too savvy to rush a sequel through to completion before it’s ready and at least as good as its predecessor.   There is simply too much money at stake and these days the name of the game is risk.  A sequel to an established brand is low risk to break even whether the production team messes it up or not. 

My point is personal.  I need a lot more Uhura.

In fairness, Zoe had unbelievably big shoes to fill.  In her day (which incidentally was also my day) Nichelle Nichols was a television goddess.  My father and I would tune in to watch the Uhura Show faithfully, whenever it came on.  The most famous episode was probably “Plato’s Stepchildren” which aired in November 1968 and is still being incorrectly touted as the first inter-racial kiss on television.  It wasn’t.  I believe Sammy Davis Jr. laid one on Nancy Sinatra in December 1967, during a variety show “Moving with Nancy.”   

Aside from all of that, it was frustrating because we really had to be satisfied with snatches of Uhura here and there.  She was almost always a wonderful part of the background, but rarely did they give her the kind of air time that someone of her caliber deserved.   She would get more lines as the show was reintroduced to the movie theaters, but by this point she had become a beautifully matured woman… and no longer possessing the amazing face and form that could make a man’s heart skip a beat.    

So, as I mentioned… I am a big fan of Zoe Saldana, and while I am not naïve enough to expect this next Star Trek installment to emerge as the New Uhura Show… somebody still owes me.