Uhura's 5 Best Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes, Ranked

Starbuck, Dana Scully, Ellen Ripley, Leeloo, Zoë Washburne, Sarah Connor — the science fiction world is full of intelligent, tough-as-nails women for young girls to look up to. But decades before those ladies arrived on the scene, the world had Lieutenant Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the quick-thinking, hard-working voice of the Enterprise on "Star Trek: The Original Series."

A Nairobi-born linguistics and communications genius, Uhura served under Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter/Sean Penney) and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) before eventually moving into the Starfleet command program. Beautiful, brilliant, and fluent in 37 languages, Uhura is essential to the ship's operations and, as such, is one of the team's most respected bridge officers. She is also gifted in vocal music and dancing, and has a great eye for decor, as exhibited by the officer's quarters, where she pays tribute to her Kenyan heritage. 

Whether she's translating an alien language or charming the men of Enterprise, our favorite glamorous, green-earringed officer represents the best of both Starfleet and Earth. Although some might feel she doesn't get nearly enough screen time, every second with Nyota front and center positively sparkles. To pay tribute to the late great Nichelle Nichols, we're ranking Uhura's top five "TOS" episodes from adorable to downright amazing.

One of the cringier "TOS" episodes, "Charlie X" finds the Enterprise saddled with a clearly troubled orphaned teen named Charlie Evans (Robert Walker) whose odd behavior starts to become a problem when his handful of preternatural gifts are discovered. The sole survivor of a transport ship crash on Thasus, Charlie is picked up by the USS Antares crew and transported aboard the Enterprise to reunite with his living family. Once aboard, the 17-year-old begins acting rude and unmanageable. While somewhat understandable given his background, Evans' constant interruptions, sexually inappropriate behavior, and obsession over Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) are not a good look.

Despite his uncool behavior, the naturally kind-hearted Uhura attempts to make him feel welcome with an adorable little song that shows off her natural charm. It actually begins as a friendly rec room flirtation between Uhura and Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Spock is strumming his lyre in the corner and Uhura, who is caught up in a game of cards with Janice, can't help but sing along. Far from annoyed, Spock shoots her a smile, which she eagerly returns. At Janice's urging, Nyota breaks into song like an old-fashioned bard with Spock on accompaniment, crooning of how Spock is a handsome devil that could "rip your heart from you." For her second verse, she sings that Charlie is their "new darling," a favor he returns by silencing her voice.

While "The Naked Time" isn't an Uhura-centric episode, it gives the communications officer one of her most memorable retorts. Short but sweet, the moment shows how effective and sharp-witted Nyota's communications are.

After discovering a Federation outpost where the team appear to have succumbed to a mysterious infection, the Enterprise crew investigate while trying to reduce their potential exposure. Spock quickly identifies that whatever the culprit, it has driven the crew to madness — symptoms that soon appear among their own members. Once more in the rec room, Joe Tormolen (Stewart Moss) sweats profusely before brandishing a knife and having a full-blown crashout over the futility of life in space. Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei) helps wrestle the knife away, becoming infected in the process. And before you know it, Sulu is galavanting around the ship poking a fencing foil at everyone like he's in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Sulu crosses paths with Uhura aboard the bridge, coming in sweaty, shirtless, and swinging his sword around at his baffled crewmates. Ever the darling, Uhura takes a moment to understand what's going on before flashing her winning smile and asking Sulu to hand over the foil. The crazy-eyed Sulu swoops her behind him, pledging, "I'll protect you, fair maiden!" Wrenching herself away, Uhura replies, "Sorry, neither!" — as in neither fair-skinned, nor maiden (virginal). To this day, many are still surprised that this brilliant line made it on the air.

Uhura looking absolutely fabulous in her "Star Trek" uniform is as undeniable a law of spacetime as the Law of Relativity. But many — if not all — fans will say she never looked more stunning than in her mirror universe uniform, as seen in "Mirror, Mirror." After failing to work out a dilithium deal, Kirk and his away team beam back aboard Enterprise to find themselves in a parallel "mirror" universe where an evil version of Spock tortures a transporter room officer using a device called an "agonizer." 

The prime universe crew discover that they're all dressed differently from their standard Starfleet uniforms. For the men, this largely comes in the form of a wide gold sash around their waists. Meanwhile, Uhura receives an absolutely bangin' two-piece uniform: what basically amounts to a Starfleet Command-colored sports bra, a little high-low mini-skirt with the same gold sash, thigh-high black pleather boots with a built-in dagger sheath at the left thigh, and a gold band wrapped around her upper arm.

While the Star Trek blog Women at Warp noted that the look was likely meant to evoke "shock value," at the time, there's no denying how stunning Nyota is in the outfit. And apparently, it works for her. Although she first tells Kirk she's afraid, Uhura ultimately uses her charms and outstanding abs to dazzle all the mirror universe boys stupid. Her disarming of Sulu with little more than a flirty dagger tickle followed by a hard slap is positively Goddess tier.

If ever there was a pause-worthy moment in "Star Trek: The Original Series," it's the memorable kiss between Captain Kirk and Uhura in "Plato's Stepchildren." Considered by many to be Nichelle Nichols' best episode, "Plato's Stepchildren" is famous for its airing of an interracial kiss. While often incorrectly referenced as the first interracial kiss on television, the famous kiss was, in fact, the first interracial kiss to air on scripted U.S TV.

The episode finds a handful of Enterprise crewmen becoming living puppets for the entertainment of the Platonians. Not only is Uhura forced to kiss Captain Kirk, but Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) is also forced to kiss her longtime unrequited (and former) lover Spock, an experience she finds deeply humiliating.

In an EMusic.com interview (via TrekToday), Nichols said she didn't even consider the historic nature of the kiss upon first reading the script. "I just got the script, and I said 'Oh, wow, great! We're going to get a little romance in here!'" Nichols recalled. The kiss, the actor recounted, had originally been written between Uhura and Spock — but Shatner demanded it be him. Despite the executives worries over potential backlash, Nichols recalled the network instead getting a ton of supportive mail — the most received for any episode. As for the single racist letter Roddenberry says they received, the self-proclaimed segregationist Trek fan concluded that Kirk might as well go for it with a pretty little woman like Uhura.

Whether she is singing, charming, or strutting her beehive, Uhura never shines brighter than as the Enterprise's most skilled technician in "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Like "Plato's Stepchildren," "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is yet another wacky, fun-filled Hellenistic cosplay episode. This time, they come across a member of a "gallant band of" space travelers using the name of ancient Greek gods. Claiming they were once worshiped on Earth, Apollo (Michael Forest) demands to yet again be worshiped by the Enterprise crew. When he is instead met with disdain by Kirk's away team, Apollo fuses all of their phasers, rendering the crew's communication and transporter technology inoperable.

Luckily, Uhura is a genius who is handy with a 23rd century power tool. She uses her tech skills to rig a subspace bypass circuit, thus restoring the ship's communications. Using that rigged circuit, Spock  contacts the landing party and lets them know that, indeed, Apollo is a big old fraud.

While hard at work, Uhura remains focused on the task at hand and even advocates for herself, earning her superior officer's praise. When Spock prods her to hurry, Uhura insists needs more time for the "very delicate work," adding that if done incorrectly, she could blow the entire communications system. Spock replies, "I can think of no one better equipped to hand it, Ms. Uhura. Please proceed." And like the legend she is, that's exactly what she does.