George is a really good guy...no doubt, so check it out...and hear what he had to say when I talked to him just a few years back.

Thanks George!

George "Sulu" Takei Field: Actor Website: www.GeorgeTakei.com Email: Fan Mail Form

Battlestar Galactica: Resurrection recently spoke with George Takei, "Sulu" from the original Star Trek series and movies. We discussed his work and his thoughts regarding the future of Star Trek.

BGR: Well, to start with.. how did you begin your acting career? ..what was it that drew you to the field?

GT: As far back as I could remember, I have been a "ham." I was always performing as a child for my parent's guests. I guess it was inborn. As to what drew me to acting, I first became aware of a performer's magic as a kid in one of the World War II American concentration camps in Arkansas. About once a month, they would show us an old movie in the camp mess hall after dinner. They were usually Hollywood movies from the '30s. However, occasionally, they showed old Japanese samurai movies. But the sound track was missing so a man accompanied the screenings by providing the dialogue. One man provided the voice for the samurai hero, the Shogun, the beautiful princess and the fearful servants. I was mesmerized. I found the narrator more fascinating than the film itself. This was when I first experienced the power and the magic of an actor's art.

BGR: What was your first serious acting role?

GT: My first serious acting role was in an episode of Playhouse 90 titled "Made it Japan." It starred Dean Stockwell, E.G. Marshall, Harry Guardino, Dick York, Robert Vaughn and Nobu McCarthy. This was a live telecast of a 90 minutes drama. I write extensively on this first and heady experience of working with these outstanding professional actors in my autobiography, "To The Stars." Do pick up a copy and read my discovery of Harry Guardino's secret acting trick when doing a long monologue in a live telecast drama.

BGR: Do you think that you were automatically drawn to the sci-fi genre?

GT: No. I was automatically drawn to the prospect of working regularly. When my agent called to tell me about an interview he had set up for me with a man named Gene Roddenberry, I knew nothing about him. When he told me that it was a sci-fi project, it did nothing for me. But when he told me that it was the role of a regular character in a pilot film for a television series, I was really excited. It would mean regular work.... if I got cast. I desperately wanted the role.

BGR: I'm sure everyone must ask this...but was it intimidating to work with John Wayne?...actually along the same lines, what is the difference in doing film as opposed to Television production?

GT: I was awe struck when I went in for the interview. Here was a man I had seen so often on that giant screen in close ups. And here he was right in front of me telling me about this movie he was producing and starring in. A face so familiar that I knew every squint and wrinkle. It was an unforgettable experience. But he was not an intimidating guy. Very down to earth and exactly like he was on screen - decent and straight-forward.

As for the difference between film and television, very simply put --- money. The budget is much bigger for a major feature film than for an episode of television. So you have more time, more care to details and better everything, sets, costumes, props etc.

BGR: When you started on Star Trek, did you have any idea.. deep down.. that it would be the success that it has proved to be?

GT: I knew we were working on a quality project, produced with much care and integrity. But in television, it is all a big throw of the dice. One never knows whether it will hit or not. When the ratings didn't come in, we worked that much harder to earn the ratings. But it didn't come in time to save us from the disastrous numbers of the third season.

BGR: What were your first thoughts on hearing that the show was canceled?

GT: Disappointment. Sadness. But not unexpected. We were proud of what we did, but the ratings gave us the foreshadowing of the cancellation to come.

BGR: Since the premiere of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, do you feel that the TOS film met their potential?

GT: The original series films seemed to fit the now famous "odd" "even" phenomenon of the Star Trek movies. The even numbered ones always seemed to be better than the odd numbered ones. Odd ones usually turned out .... well, ... odd. My favorite is Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country or "Captain Sulu to the Rescue."

BGR: Now that we've seen The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and now Voyager... do you think that the franchise has benefited from the various Trek incarnations... since the premise has drifted a bit from the original themes of ST?

GT: The Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry that saw the human future as a bright one, where people confident of their capacity for challenge worked together in concert to overcome common adversaries, seems to have strayed a bit. Deep Space Nine was much darker and pessimistic. The Voyager crew seemed to suffer from more internal conflict than from without. I wonder if the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry has benefited from these more recent incarnations.

BGR: What was it that personally motivated you regarding Excelsior?

GT: To demonstrate Sulu's capacity for leadership as well as his loyalty to his friends. Also to prove that there was no "glass ceiling" with Star Fleet. The meritocracy that Star Fleet was had to be, in fact, verified with Sulu's promotion.

BGR: Do you feel that an Excelsior series will re-energize the franchise?... and how?

GT: Most definitely. It will knock your sox off. Just give us the opportunity.

BGR: While the same can be said regarding Universal and Battlestar Galactica... why do think Paramount seems to be so reluctant to embrace the fans desires?... It is a given that the fans make or break a television program/film, so in that sense do you find the studios attitude to be counter-productive?

GT: It is absolutely baffling. The marketplace has been well defined and sustained by the fans. Why the studio has to constantly be reminded of this simple fact is eternally puzzling.

BGR: What do you see as the future of Trek?... especially the potential legacy of Excelsior?

GT: As Spock would say, "There are always possibilities." Certainly with the Excelsior, there are a myriad possibilities. Who is the mother of Sulu's daughter? What happened to that woman? What happens with the daughter. What happens with the Excelsior in that 80 year span between Star Trek VI and the next generation? There are endless story lines that could be developed.