Scotty/Uhura: Why it's completely, ahem, logical
Yes, I am doing het meta now. Someone note this date, because it may never happen again. :D
But seriously, about a week ago I was sitting around in a meditative trance, thinking about pairings in Star Trek and I started thinking about Scotty/Uhura and really thought about how it could work and actually be a valid pairing. Heck, if you'd ask me a few months ago who I might ship Uhura with, I might have told you Uhura/McCoy, if anyone, because at least they have common interests in Spock and Kirk, respectively, and would love to facepalm all the time about the idiotic shenanigans they seem to get into. Even then, I sort of just bypass the question altogether in my fics and in others I just accept them with a grain of salt because, surprise, surprise, I'm too involved with Kirk and Spock to really give too much of a damn what all the other characters are doing (though I try to always sneak in McCoy BAMFery because he's my darling.) But now I want to talk about this strange pairing which seemingly makes no logical sense, because I think I've found a way to explain this ship.
Scotty/Uhura has always been a sort of crack pairing for me, and that's weird because it's actually canon, or as canon as one considers Star Trek: The Final Frontier (meaning you have to accept Sybok's existence as factual, and even Roddenberry said there are some things in there he doesn't consider canon.) I think what soured the pairing a little for me was that reboot Scotty/Uhura seemed to be the default answer to the age-old question, "Who matches up with Uhura if she's not dating Spock?" Many fic writers seem to love pairing symmetry, which is why Chekov/Sulu is insanely popular, even though we know for a fact that Sulu gets married and his daughter appears in Star Trek: Generations.
But why didn't this pairing draw me in? For one thing, they're not a pretty pairing. There's a reason a shitload of girls ship Kirk/Spock-they're hot as fuck. Also, Spock and Uhura are fucking hot as hell. Kirk and Bones are hot as hell. Simon Pegg is just average-looking to most fangirls, including myself. Plus he's sort of the goofy comic relief character. I know people who remember little about Sulu or Chekov or Uhura, but damn if they can't quote Scotty up a storm, namely because he gets the memorable lines and that crazed Scottish accent makes him doomed for funny side character purgatory. There's also an age difference of around ten years (Memory Alpha is grossly unhelpful and says Uhura was born in the 2230's. Gee, it could be a 8 to 18 year difference, thanks a bundle, MA) which makes Scotty five years older than McCoy.
But we're not shallow and neither is Uhura, so what would draw them together if it's not just looks? Let's look at their personalities. In TOS, Scotty and Uhura are pretty fun-loving individuals. Uhura likes to sing and dance for crowds while Scotty is always ready to socialize and makes plenty of light-hearted comments. However, they take their jobs seriously and have a passion for them. Scotty considers being confined to his quarters a treat because he can catch up on his technical journals and Uhura clearly lives and breathes linguistics, being somewhat of an expert in her field. She's also shown at one point repairing the wiring to her comm station, and Spock even calls her the best in her class.
I think it all comes down to making up ways they would be good for each other. And you know what? I can totally do that because reboot does it with Spock and Uhura. If they can take a hot couple of minutes of flirting from TOS (one of which that failed utterly) and make it a canon pairing, then surely I can take a pairing that was canon a long time ago and give it credence.
To be honest, I don't think Spock is good for Uhura. And no, I don't actually mean, "Uhura isn't good enough for Spock, so break up and let him get with Kirk his t'hy'la." No, this time I really mean that Spock is not a good match for her and that she's too good for him. Just look at how uptight reboot Uhura is. Where is her sass and fun-loving spirit? We pretty much only see it around Kirk, when she's at the bar with friends. From then on out, it's like all life was sucked from her. Consider that the next time we see her, she's already dating Spock. I don't like to point fingers, but it seems to me that Spock is influencing her to be a little too buttoned-down. This is so true of real life couples, you know it is. It's human nature; we learn by mimicking others, and there's no one we mimic more than people we want to attract romantically because we, naturally, want them to want us. It's not always a conscious act, it's just what we do. I'm not saying that Spock sucks all personality from a person. Obviously not, or I wouldn't want him to be with anyone. I can't even say that Uhura influences him to be more human. Spock assigns Uhura to the Farragut to avoid impropriety and it's clearly not what Uhura wants, and then every other interaction we see between them comes after Vulcan is destroyed and his mother is killed, so therefore his behavior after that is not typical. I'd also like to point out that, though they kiss in the turbolift, he's still holding shit in and sort of brushes her off to maintain composure. I'd also like to point out that he loses his composure pretty spectacularly later on because of a certain someone else, but we're seriously veering off the point of this meta and I have a sickness.
The point is that, in my mind, Spock and Uhura don't work because their common interests are mainly intellectual. Sure, Spock plays his lirpa while Uhura sings, but you can tell his real love is chess, which we never see or hear of Uhura playing. I'm sure they have lots of subjects in common, but knowing all that I know of Spock and what little I know of Uhura, Spock doesn't need someone who gives him whatever he asks for emotionally like she offered in the turbolift; he needs someone who will give him what he needs, even if it's a slap to the face to get the engines going.
I believe Scotty is a good match for her because Scotty can help her lighten up. They'd be the stars of any party they go to, both being social butterflies. Plus, Uhura is so passionate in TOS and full of whimsical delight. Try talking about the moons of Vulcan to Spock, see how far that gets you. Sure, Spock can be passionate, but it's not the same sort of passion. Just watch Scotty throughout The Lights of Zetar and how he is with Mira and how he defends the girl in Who Mourns for Adonis. Jesus, he goes toe to toe with fucking Apollo, how's that for being a great boyfriend? This is Scotty smitten, and he's all about lavishing great praise on his intended and being charming as all get out. Dear lord, he could charm the scales from a snake. You just know Uhura would love that, given her fondness for poetic language and for how she values her appearance (I'm not saying she's shallow, just that it's canon that she liked the idea of eternal beauty and was terrified when her face turned ugly in an illusion. Hell, I'd love to have a guy call me beautiful and pretty.) The name of the game is passion.
The best juxtaposition I can give of this is in the episode The Changeling. As Uhura is interrogated by Nomad for singing, Scotty angrily orders Nomad to stay away from her, getting himself killed and he's just lucky that Nomad happens to know how to put him back together again. Now let's look at The Apple, in which we see Spock watching a deadly plant aim at Kirk, and he jumps in front of the thing, clearly panicked and he almost gets killed for his trouble, and he's just lucky that he's green-blooded. The same situation, and in both Scotty and Spock overreact to a threat to someone they care about. And did you fucking know that The Apple is the episode right after The Changeling? That's right, it's "let me help" all over again, except this time we're cementing pairings. I even posted it on tumblr when I was rewatching some Scotty/Uhura scenes, see?
In reboot, I imagine that it will be an uphill battle for Scotty with Uhura, simply because he's friends with Kirk and they met at a very awkward moment. I find it telling that not only do we get Kirk's reaction to Spock and Uhura kissing on the transporter, we get Scotty's reaction. It's like we're meant to understand that there's something up with the direction this universe is going, because both Kirk and Scotty are like, wtf? In my mind, Scotty/Uhura is the classic case of nerdy plain guy gets pretty girl. Uhura would fall in love with him not at first sight or second sight, but more like a realization one day when you realize that someone has been really good to you for a long time. Scotty would treat her like a lady because he's a gentleman, but they'd also be partners because they sort of are the secondary captain and first officer when Kirk and Spock are off trying to get themselves killed. Who the heck couldn't fall for a guy like Scotty and who wouldn't want a lovely headstrong woman like Uhura?
But seriously, about a week ago I was sitting around in a meditative trance, thinking about pairings in Star Trek and I started thinking about Scotty/Uhura and really thought about how it could work and actually be a valid pairing. Heck, if you'd ask me a few months ago who I might ship Uhura with, I might have told you Uhura/McCoy, if anyone, because at least they have common interests in Spock and Kirk, respectively, and would love to facepalm all the time about the idiotic shenanigans they seem to get into. Even then, I sort of just bypass the question altogether in my fics and in others I just accept them with a grain of salt because, surprise, surprise, I'm too involved with Kirk and Spock to really give too much of a damn what all the other characters are doing (though I try to always sneak in McCoy BAMFery because he's my darling.) But now I want to talk about this strange pairing which seemingly makes no logical sense, because I think I've found a way to explain this ship.
Scotty/Uhura has always been a sort of crack pairing for me, and that's weird because it's actually canon, or as canon as one considers Star Trek: The Final Frontier (meaning you have to accept Sybok's existence as factual, and even Roddenberry said there are some things in there he doesn't consider canon.) I think what soured the pairing a little for me was that reboot Scotty/Uhura seemed to be the default answer to the age-old question, "Who matches up with Uhura if she's not dating Spock?" Many fic writers seem to love pairing symmetry, which is why Chekov/Sulu is insanely popular, even though we know for a fact that Sulu gets married and his daughter appears in Star Trek: Generations.
But why didn't this pairing draw me in? For one thing, they're not a pretty pairing. There's a reason a shitload of girls ship Kirk/Spock-they're hot as fuck. Also, Spock and Uhura are fucking hot as hell. Kirk and Bones are hot as hell. Simon Pegg is just average-looking to most fangirls, including myself. Plus he's sort of the goofy comic relief character. I know people who remember little about Sulu or Chekov or Uhura, but damn if they can't quote Scotty up a storm, namely because he gets the memorable lines and that crazed Scottish accent makes him doomed for funny side character purgatory. There's also an age difference of around ten years (Memory Alpha is grossly unhelpful and says Uhura was born in the 2230's. Gee, it could be a 8 to 18 year difference, thanks a bundle, MA) which makes Scotty five years older than McCoy.
But we're not shallow and neither is Uhura, so what would draw them together if it's not just looks? Let's look at their personalities. In TOS, Scotty and Uhura are pretty fun-loving individuals. Uhura likes to sing and dance for crowds while Scotty is always ready to socialize and makes plenty of light-hearted comments. However, they take their jobs seriously and have a passion for them. Scotty considers being confined to his quarters a treat because he can catch up on his technical journals and Uhura clearly lives and breathes linguistics, being somewhat of an expert in her field. She's also shown at one point repairing the wiring to her comm station, and Spock even calls her the best in her class.
I think it all comes down to making up ways they would be good for each other. And you know what? I can totally do that because reboot does it with Spock and Uhura. If they can take a hot couple of minutes of flirting from TOS (one of which that failed utterly) and make it a canon pairing, then surely I can take a pairing that was canon a long time ago and give it credence.
To be honest, I don't think Spock is good for Uhura. And no, I don't actually mean, "Uhura isn't good enough for Spock, so break up and let him get with Kirk his t'hy'la." No, this time I really mean that Spock is not a good match for her and that she's too good for him. Just look at how uptight reboot Uhura is. Where is her sass and fun-loving spirit? We pretty much only see it around Kirk, when she's at the bar with friends. From then on out, it's like all life was sucked from her. Consider that the next time we see her, she's already dating Spock. I don't like to point fingers, but it seems to me that Spock is influencing her to be a little too buttoned-down. This is so true of real life couples, you know it is. It's human nature; we learn by mimicking others, and there's no one we mimic more than people we want to attract romantically because we, naturally, want them to want us. It's not always a conscious act, it's just what we do. I'm not saying that Spock sucks all personality from a person. Obviously not, or I wouldn't want him to be with anyone. I can't even say that Uhura influences him to be more human. Spock assigns Uhura to the Farragut to avoid impropriety and it's clearly not what Uhura wants, and then every other interaction we see between them comes after Vulcan is destroyed and his mother is killed, so therefore his behavior after that is not typical. I'd also like to point out that, though they kiss in the turbolift, he's still holding shit in and sort of brushes her off to maintain composure. I'd also like to point out that he loses his composure pretty spectacularly later on because of a certain someone else, but we're seriously veering off the point of this meta and I have a sickness.
The point is that, in my mind, Spock and Uhura don't work because their common interests are mainly intellectual. Sure, Spock plays his lirpa while Uhura sings, but you can tell his real love is chess, which we never see or hear of Uhura playing. I'm sure they have lots of subjects in common, but knowing all that I know of Spock and what little I know of Uhura, Spock doesn't need someone who gives him whatever he asks for emotionally like she offered in the turbolift; he needs someone who will give him what he needs, even if it's a slap to the face to get the engines going.
I believe Scotty is a good match for her because Scotty can help her lighten up. They'd be the stars of any party they go to, both being social butterflies. Plus, Uhura is so passionate in TOS and full of whimsical delight. Try talking about the moons of Vulcan to Spock, see how far that gets you. Sure, Spock can be passionate, but it's not the same sort of passion. Just watch Scotty throughout The Lights of Zetar and how he is with Mira and how he defends the girl in Who Mourns for Adonis. Jesus, he goes toe to toe with fucking Apollo, how's that for being a great boyfriend? This is Scotty smitten, and he's all about lavishing great praise on his intended and being charming as all get out. Dear lord, he could charm the scales from a snake. You just know Uhura would love that, given her fondness for poetic language and for how she values her appearance (I'm not saying she's shallow, just that it's canon that she liked the idea of eternal beauty and was terrified when her face turned ugly in an illusion. Hell, I'd love to have a guy call me beautiful and pretty.) The name of the game is passion.
The best juxtaposition I can give of this is in the episode The Changeling. As Uhura is interrogated by Nomad for singing, Scotty angrily orders Nomad to stay away from her, getting himself killed and he's just lucky that Nomad happens to know how to put him back together again. Now let's look at The Apple, in which we see Spock watching a deadly plant aim at Kirk, and he jumps in front of the thing, clearly panicked and he almost gets killed for his trouble, and he's just lucky that he's green-blooded. The same situation, and in both Scotty and Spock overreact to a threat to someone they care about. And did you fucking know that The Apple is the episode right after The Changeling? That's right, it's "let me help" all over again, except this time we're cementing pairings. I even posted it on tumblr when I was rewatching some Scotty/Uhura scenes, see?
In reboot, I imagine that it will be an uphill battle for Scotty with Uhura, simply because he's friends with Kirk and they met at a very awkward moment. I find it telling that not only do we get Kirk's reaction to Spock and Uhura kissing on the transporter, we get Scotty's reaction. It's like we're meant to understand that there's something up with the direction this universe is going, because both Kirk and Scotty are like, wtf? In my mind, Scotty/Uhura is the classic case of nerdy plain guy gets pretty girl. Uhura would fall in love with him not at first sight or second sight, but more like a realization one day when you realize that someone has been really good to you for a long time. Scotty would treat her like a lady because he's a gentleman, but they'd also be partners because they sort of are the secondary captain and first officer when Kirk and Spock are off trying to get themselves killed. Who the heck couldn't fall for a guy like Scotty and who wouldn't want a lovely headstrong woman like Uhura?