20 Movie Scenes That Should've Been Cut

16. Uhura's Fan Dance - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Alien Romulus Get Away From Her
Paramount

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the consensus-worst Trek film and it isn't even close. 

William Shatner's sandpaper-rough directorial debut is full of creative missteps, one of the more memorable of which is Uhura's (Nichelle Nichols) infamous fan dance.

On the planet Nimbus III, Uhura needs to distract a number of goons so they can be captured by the Enterprise's crew, and she ends up performing a nude dance, her modesty covered only by some strategically held fans.

The blatant fan service in the most literal sense feels incredibly out of place for Uhura as a character, not to mention the indignity of a male star-filmmaker reducing one of the most prominent female characters in all of sci-fi to a base sex object.

In fairness, Nichols herself reportedly enjoyed filming the scene and had no issues with it, but it feels off both in terms of the film's overall tone and how Uhura has been presented throughout Trek up to this point.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.