Nichols Keeps on Trekkin'

At a time when many choose to retire, Nichelle Nichols is still bursting with enthusiasm for life and shows no signs of slowing down.

As reported by NewsOK.com, although seventy-five years old, Nichols has no plans to retire just yet. "I'm just getting started," she said. "One thing is I don't mind anybody else telling my age, but I don't use numbers, and maybe that's one thing. Because I don't think about it."

Nichols is in the midst of rewriting a show. "I had done a one-woman (stage) show in which I become twelve legendary black women entertainers," she said. "We really are about to reproduce that again, so I am in the middle of rewriting it." In addition, Nichols is working on the final book in a trilogy.

Although not in Star Trek XI, Nichols approves of the casting choices. "I had seen his character," she said of Zachary Quinto in Heroes, "and I thought, 'My God, he's such a handsome young man, how is he going to play (Spock)?' He's such a macho-looking guy on the screen, and then I saw him at a convention and I guess he had cut his hair, and I said, 'My God, he is Spock.' But when he had all that hair, I didn't see it. I said, 'What are they trying to do, glamorize Spock?' It was really funny."

Zoe Saldana will be playing Lieutenant Uhura, formerly played by Nichols. "She is so beautiful," said Nichols, who was able to meet Saldana on the Star Trek XI set. "She didn't know I was going to be there, and she was not supposed to be working that day, as I recall. And J.J. [Abrams] had her come in...and she walked in and looked around and said 'Hi', then stopped dead, turned back and looked at me and said, 'No way!' It was just beautiful. And she came over, and she was like, 'Are you you? Are you you?' And we sat and talked, and J.J. came over beaming with red cheeks. And we talked for about forty minutes more, just she and I, and it was lovely. It really was kind of like deja vu all over again."

According to Nichols, J.J. Abrams was courteous and respectful of the original actors. "He...[asked] me to come and have lunch with him," she said. "I think he got together with the other people (original "Star Trek” cast). Because everybody wanted to be in it, you know. And I think he was probably thinking about it. But he really wanted to make his statement, his movie. And this is his movie. And I just can't wait for it to come out to see how well it will be. I think it's going to be wonderful; I hope so anyway."

To read more, head to the article located here.

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