Hailing Frequencies Open! Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek at 50

It's been 50 years since television viewers first entered the Star Trek universe.

The science fiction drama brought a progressive vision of the future to 1960s TV sets, as the crew of the starship Enterprise travelled the galaxy seeking peaceful contact with other worlds.

Among them: Lieutenant Uhura, representative of The United States of Africa and the ship's Communications Officer. 

Today Nichelle Nichols, the actress behind the groundbreaking role, joins guest host Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss her role on a show ahead of its time. She starred in all three seasons of the original series, the animated series, and six feature Star Trek films. 

Nichols is presently in Toronto with her castmates George Takei and William Shatner. 

WEB EXTRA | The idea for Star Trek came from the humane and utopian vision of its creator, Gene Roddenberry. This detailed comic strip from The Oatmeal shows us that the author himself has a pretty unbelievable story. 

Plus, here's a memorable love song sung by Uhura on the Starship enterprise.