Five years ago, September 2013, I brought my then eight year old daughter to see Star Trek Into Darkness. It wasn’t the first time we’d seen it and while we were walking to the theater she went over the things she was excited to see again, including “her, in her cool outfit!” I thought she was talking about Uhura’s red wet suit but she meant the smuggler disguise leathers.
When Uhura said “You brought me to speak Klingon. Let me speak Klingon.” and then exited the ship and walked out to meet the Klingons alone my daughter leaned over and asked with awe “What would they have done if they didn’t have Uhura?” I agreed and she grinned and turned back to watch her hero speak Klingon.
I thought of all the reviews I’d seen debating this scene and what it says about Uhura – that she fails, that she needs to be saved by a man, that she “doesn’t get to do anything empowering”. But my daughter watched it and came away thinking they would all be dead, and the movie would be over, if Uhura had not been there.
Uhura in her cool outfit speaking Klingon was the second most powerful thing she remembered from the movie. The only thing more powerful than Uhura in her cool outfit speaking Klingon was a volcano.
As you may recall from my Deanna Fashion Project, I love a tiny, feminine woman in kick-ass leathers acting like a boss.
This mottled shirt even resembles Deanna’s First Contact top. Also:
I am in love with this accidental parallel! Jessica Jones quietly stealth cosplaying ‘Nyota Uhura speaking Klingon’ from Star Trek Into Darkness – which she watched at 3am cuz she couldn’t sleep and it was on, and the guy in Sherlock (which she also started watching at 3am and now loves but she will never admit that so don’t ask) is in it (he’s boring and miscast but Uhura is boss and Spock is hot) – because she knows no one will ever notice (like if she wore a red dress, please, Jessica Jones does not wear red dresses) is my new favorite headcanon.
Anyway, Nyota doesn’t ever wear anything like this in any other appearance, but she matches Kirk and Spock and the general aesthetic of the scene. And I say this is what Nyota should have worn in Star Trek III and IV to match the others.