“Because Uhura knows what’s going to happen to Captain Pike…”
WARNING! The following contains SPOILERS from “Tomorrow’s Enterprise.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ season 4 finale allows fans the opportunity to catch a glimpse of “Tomorrow’s Enterprise” when Lt. Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) time-travels between the current stardate and the future. And one of the episodes most emotional moments unfolds when The Original Series Uhura gets the opportunity to visit with her former captain, Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), knowing the horrible fate that awaits her friend and commander.
Gooding said (per TV Insider): “I love the conversations between Strange New Worlds Uhura and Captain Kirk [Paul Wesley], [but] the thing that is just so much more meaty to me is the conversation between TOS Uhura and Captain Pike. I’m going to cry my eyes out."
Gooding continued by saying:
"I think because Uhura knows — Oh, because Uhura, oh my God! Because Uhura knows what’s going to happen to Captain Pike and for her to be like, ‘It just means so much’ […] I don’t mean to be selfish, but that conversation between TOS Uhura and Captain Pike, it’s like being able to talk to a dead relative.”
The Original Series Uhura Gooding portrays in “Tomorrow’s Enterprise” is from one year in the future. But the episode cleverly itself tiptoes around Pike eventually being injured by the deadly Delta rays, trapped in his broken body, and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
However, it’s clear from the way Gooding plays Uhura’s emotional beats during that incredible scene with Pike that her character finally has the opportunity to say everything she ever wanted to before her former captain could no longer communicate outside of simple yes-and-no questions.
“That conversation of these two characters that don’t really know each other,” Gooding said during the same sit-down. “Being able to be like TOS Uhura, ‘Hey, thanks so much. I appreciate you deeply. I know I cannot go with you on this journey, but I carry you with me every day.’"
Gooding continues:
"And Strange New Worlds Pike being like, ‘I hear you; you’re doing great. Not super savvy about all the time f***ery that’s going on, but I believed in you every step of the way, and even on this side of the veil, I believe in you now.’ It’s like, how do you go on? I don’t know how I did it.”
Obviously, Gooding is paraphrasing, but her interpretation of Future Uhura and Captain Pike’s emotional conversation is right on the money. What truly tugged at my heartstrings during that must-see scene, though, was when Pike told Uhura how much he enjoyed her calling him by his first name finally.
However, the flood gates really broke down for me when Uhura told Pike, “Everything I am in Starfleet, everything I learned is because you believed in me.”
“It was an honor, my friend,” Pike replies with tears in his eyes. And then, knowing she’d never see him again before the Delta ray accident, Uhura took Pike by surprise when she rushed to hug him tightly. “Thank you, admiral, for all of it,” Future Uhura whispers. Oh, I just lost it as the emotion of the moment truly moved me.
Were you as touched by Future Uhura and Captain Pike’s emotional scene as I was? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ season 4 finale, “Tomorrow’s Enterprise,” is now streaming on Paramount+.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
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