In Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 2, "Who Mourns for Adonais?," Lt. Uhura shows off her surprising engineering skills by rigging a subspace bypass circuit to restore communications. Captain Kirk and the landing party have been trapped on a nearby planet by a powerful being claiming to be the Greek god, Apollo (Michael Forest). In command of the Enterprise, Spock searches for the source of Apollo's power, and Uhura successfully manages to contact the landing party. It's a brief scene that makes me wish TOS had allowed Uhura to take a more active role more often.
Strange New Worlds Explained Uhura’s Surprising Skillset In Star Trek: The Original Series
Uhura Gained Her Engineering Knowledge From Lt. Hemmer
In the series premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Celia Rose Gooding made her Star Trek debut as Cadet Nyota Uhura. As a Starfleet cadet, Uhura had been assigned to the USS Enterprise of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) to complete her communications rotations. She studied under different departments, went on away missions, and learned from the senior staff members aboard the Enterprise. Described by Captain Pike as a prodigy, Uhura had a knack for pretty much everything, but she particularly enjoyed engineering, thanks in large part to Chief Engineer Lt. Hemmer (Bruce Horack).
Lt. Hemmer took Uhura under his wing, becoming a mentor figure and friend as he helped her work through her doubts about pursuing a Starfleet career. Uhura came to see Hemmer as a father figure, and he helped her look at things from a different perspective. It's no surprise, then, that Uhura would maintain an interest in engineering, if for no other reason than to keep Hemmer's legacy alive. Hemmer was an incredibly skilled and intelligent engineer, so Uhura gained her skills from one of the best, and she went on to prove her own ingenuity several times over.
Uhura Never Had A Backstory Until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Celia Rose Gooding Has Helped Make Uhura A More Fully Realized Character
Star Trek: The Original Series did not spend much time on its characters' backstories. Despite being one of the show's most recognizable characters, Uhura did not even receive a first name on TOS. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek finally gave Uhura the first name Nyota in 2009, but she didn't get a true backstory until Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In its 20 episodes so far, Strange New Worlds has revealed more about Uhura than three seasons of TOS and six feature films.
Before she joined Starfleet, Uhura planned to attend the University of Nairobi, where both of her parents taught. Tragically, her parents and brother were killed in a shuttle accident, and Uhura went to live with her grandmother, who had served in Starfleet. Uhura chose to follow in her grandmother's footsteps, but she sometimes questioned whether Starfleet was the right choice for her. Throughout the first two seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Celia Rose Gooding has brought new life to Uhura, and the young ensign has truly come into her
