Another solid biography from a Star Trek star. ( )

In Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, Nichelle Nichols chronicles her life from her family’s history in the late nineteenth century through her own career following Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in the 1990s. She describes her early work as a dancer and singer, how this led to performing on the stage and eventually television and film. From there, Nichols became a champion of NASA, helping to recruit astronauts for the space shuttle program through her Woman in Motion organization (this was later the subject of the documentary, Woman in Motion). Nichols’ account is revealing and personal, with humor and tragedy balancing each other. She never shies away from sensitive moments, but she does hold back when she feels it’s not for her to disclose details of stories involving others. Those who already admire Nichols will find more to affirm their admiration in this book and it also serves as a good introduction to her larger work beyond Star Trek. Finally, as nearly all of the original series cast have published memoirs, Nichols’ account works particularly well alongside them, especially as she refutes some of William Shatner’s claims near the end of Beyond Uhura. A must-read for any Trekker or those interested in twentieth century theatre. ( )

This was an overall adequate autobiography. I love Star Trek, but must admit that the first series is a bit too dated for me. I grew up with TNG, DS9 and Voyager and those are my true loves. However, I have always been interested in and root for women who go against the grain, and Nichelle Nichols is one of those women. Obviously not being alive at the time of TOS, it is hard for me to appreciate just how big of a deal it was to have a character like Uhura on a TV show, so maybe one of her greatest legacies is that I can watch a black woman character in the 23rd century and just think "cool, no big deal."

The memoir itself was, as I mentioned, adequate. There were a lot of people named Jimmy and Jim which I found confusing. One of her marriages was summed up in maybe two sentences. I was definitely more interested in the Star Trek aspect of the memoir and not the steamy personal life, so that was fine with me; it was a bit disorienting to be reading about Star Trek and then all of a sudden she mentions that she'd remarried. As far as the steamy personal life, there really isn't much of that in this book. Which is fine with me. To be honest, I found her writings about her work with NASA to be some of the more interesting content. I was hoping for her opinions about TNG but she didn't really discuss the Star Trek legacy after the three series and six movies that she starred in.

Recommended if you're a Star Trek fan. It gives a nice glimpse of what the world of shooting the show and movies looked like, and did give me a bit more insight onto how the show became what it is today. ( )

Nichelle Nichols' memoirs, and she led quite an interesting life apart from Star Trek. I hadn't known that she'd had a successful singing career, that she'd been Gene Roddenberry's lover for a time, or that the bitter feelings much of the crew had for William Shatner were so pervasive. Reading the entries in Shatner's book, and then hers, about their "heart-to-heart" talk is a revelation. At any rate, it was a pleasure to learn what a gracious, talented and humane lady she is, well a match for Uhura in strength of personality and character. ( )