Uhura Left Breathless

In a recent interview with iF MAGAZINE, actress Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek’s Uhura) talks about how it felt to walk back onto the bridge of the Enterprise after all these years:

“The nice part about it is it is 40 years later, and the nice part about that is we are celebrating the 40th anniversary [of the original series]. There’s not an age consideration, it’s already taken care of, and that was lovely to play. Then to have been away and come back on the bridge [of the Enterprise] that was in upstate New York that was just mind blowing. The set that young man [James Cawley – New Voyages creator] built over 10 years was absolutely breathtaking. Perfectly built to 98 percent scale, he had to accommodate the building that he is in, but the entire building is the starship Enterprise. It’s amazing what he did.”

“Stepping out of that elevator and onto the bridge for the first time, my line was to be ‘As I live and breathe.’ I had practiced it because I would be seeing Chekov and friends again, but when I came out and saw the bridge my line came out ‘(trembling voice) Well as I live and breathe.’ I was literally back on the ship, except that it’s a museum. That was quite a true experience for me. Then working and seeing so many of the faces of guest artists was really gratifying and lovely. The script for the most part was so well done.”

[The Enteprise bridge location shots were done on the set of Star Trek: New Voyages in upstate New York even though James Cawley’s production company is not directly involved with the Tim Russ/Sky Conway project.]

You can catch the entire interview with Nichelle at the iF Magazine Website.