Star Trek legend George Takei, who originated the role of Mr. Sulu, may have acquired new popularity with his role on Heroes but he’s still perfectly willing to talk Trek. In an interview with the UK’s Daily Record, Takei calls Trek “an amazing phenomenon,” despite the low ratings his show received during its original run.
At the beginning of each episode we’d say we were on a five-year mission, but it wasn’t the Klingons we did battle with, it was the program executives at Paramount who aborted our five-year mission after just three.
Takei also discussed Sulu’s role in the new Star Trek movie:
Sulu, Spock and Kirk have just finished Starfleet Academy and are about to become members of the Starship Enterprise. But there is one thing. I was 27 when I first did Sulu but John [Cho], who is meant to play a younger Sulu, is 35 so there will be pressure there on his acting prowess.
In addition, Takei has confidence in Simon Pegg, who will be playing Scotty in the new film. Takei explains that he and James Doohan, who originated the role of Scotty, were old drinking buddies and that the secret to playing the Scottish engineer is to “drink lots.”
Jimmy was an Irish Canadian, but he claimed he’d drunk enough whisky [sic] to be seen as a Scot. I’m sure Simon Pegg can follow in Jimmy’s footsteps and serve his time in Scottish pubs.
Takei also touched on his relationship with William Shatner… or lack thereof. Takei is close friends with the other surviving members of the Trek cast, except for the Shat.
Bill is a magnetic actor but he is not the easiest person to work with. Working with him made for trying times and we wasted hours trying to resolve those difficulties. But we are professionals and when we appear we are there as professionals. However, Bill has lost out on a friendship with us. The rest of us have a wonderful relationship and he’s been deprived of that.
See Glasgow’s Daily Record for more.
A Return to Heroes
In a seperate interview with iF Magazine, Takei reveals that he is coming back to Heroes (this Monday). He also talks about where the Trek references on the show are coming from
It’s not just the writers. Did you notice the license plate on my limousine…NCC? It turns out the props master Richard Clark is a rabid STAR TREK fan and when he was planning the license plate he seized on the opportunity to put in a very subtle connection to his passion for STAR TREK. STAR TREK fans are everywhere. The sword fighting scene was a result of a writer named Bryan Fuller, who now has his own series PUSHING DAISIES, remembered that Sulu had that fencing sequence and thought it would be fun to have Kaito Nakamura in a sword fighting sequence. So it was all Bryan Fuller’s inspiration.
For more go to iF Magazine
Listen to this man Mr. Pegg. Do your part for Trek!
I wonder what Shatner’s problems, whether real or imagined, actually are?
Honest comments regarding the Shat, from someone who knew him. Takei is, as always, an eloquent speaker.
The comments on this site seem to be very critical of Simon Pegg, but hey, if Takei thinks he can do it, who am I to argue? And what’s with that piece of hair that doesn’t seem to want to stay put on Sulu’s head? I think he needs more product or something.
Ouch!!
stinging words about William Shatner there,,,
I thought they resovled any ill feeling ??
#5 but Takei wouldn’t have much of interest to say if he didn’t bring Shatner into the conversation, would he.
He does seem to still be of the opinion that his character was equal to Kirk! He wasn’t. Either in the way he was written or in the performance he gave.
Look at Wrath- would it mattered one jot if Sulu hadn’t been in it?
Shat had no reason to even notice Takei on the set most of the time.
We don’t know how honest his comments actually are, do we? As far as I know, Takei always felt that Sulu should have been given more airtime, so maybe there’s still some envy lingering. And maybe he would’ve liked to have some of that “magnetic” acting quality, as well.
I can understand Takei’s anger, I mean who wants to play a button pusher?
It’s pretty telling that if the rest of the cast can get along together and became very close friends, but still 40+ years later there’s still animosity between Shatner and the rest of them (sans Nimoy), the problem isn’t with the rest of them.
Do people not remember the horror stories told of Shatner counting his lines in the script to see if he had more than everyone else (or at least Nimoy)? And then demanding the “problem” be fixed?
After watching his self absorbed “Star Trek Memories” video back in the day when he and Nimoy discussed Trek it’s clear what Shatner thought of the rest of the cast. Based on his opinion you’d think he saw the rest of the characters as “Lt. Leslie”, “Lt. Hadley”, “Lt. Brent”, or merely as any of the other nondescript semi-regular background characters that appeared in the series. They weren’t. What he suggests is akin to claiming that Pumpkin Pie can go without the additional spices because the main attraction is the pumpkin itself (or at the very least the spices get far too much credit for making the pie what it was and that they should know their proper place on the food chain).
Star Trek was Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. However, without the presence of any of the rest of the “regular” cast – we might have seen one theatrical film and no more, if we were even that lucky.
Gotta go with Zoom Zoom-Shatner is Star Trek, period, and he was the key to the success, along with Nimoy. The others are all pretty lucky to have the success they’ve had thanks to those two, they oughta be grateful. Of course, Shat could also probably be a more down to earth guy with everyone else-but then he wouldn’t be Shat.
*sigh* – Star Trek was never about 1 person, it’s an ensemble piece. As much as Shatner created parts of the Kirk character, I’m sure the writers ( striking or not ) had something to do with it too. And the interplay between all the other characters was not all created by one man. Shatners issues with the rest of the cast and them with him has been common knowledge ever before Star Trek refound its feet in popular culture.
Saying that, I do agree that sometimes George seems to elevate his position a little high in the importance rankings, but he is always complementary of others around him and seeming gracious in his comments, so why not.
Anyhoooo, nice to see the guy busy.
God, can’t you Shatner suckups take a break for an hour? “Shatner is Star Trek, period.” Baloney! Shatner is a C-list actor with decades of trying to distance himself from Star Trek, followed by about a decade of trying to rape the cash cow in any way he can. Now he whines about not being in this movie and so many of you whine with him.
Takei’s comments are very calm and well spoken. He doesn’t attack or sneer at Shatner; he simply points out the lack of friendship from Shatner’s side.
#9 – You hit it on the head; Shatner’s line-counting days have left other with a bad taste in their mouths (just like that spiceless pumpkin pie you describe).
What about Takei’s revelation/confirmation of a plot element? “Sulu, Spock and Kirk have just finished Starfleet Academy and are about to become members of the Starship Enterprise.” Somehow, this phrasing bothers me more than any of the confirmed plot rumors.
It just doesn’t sit right with me–Kirk, Spock, and Sulu all leaving the Academy at the same time? For the same ship? That’s the Enterprise? Doesn’t seem to fit canon. After all, Spock was under Pike for 11 years on the ship, and Kirk served under Garrovick on the Farragut…
Instead of the endless “Shatner/not Shatner” nonsense (you’re all so full of Shat!), can’t we get back to the pointless bickering over rumors and hints of rumors about the actual movie? That’s so much more fun…
#12
We tried to take a break, but obviously Takei’s jumping the bandwagon. At present, Shatner’s all over the media with respect to STXI and Takei is trying to squeeze in his comments on his strained relationship with Shatner. This tells us nothing new about Shatner but it tells us a lot about Takei.
You’re right – all of this is not concerned with the film or with Shatner deserving to be part of this film. Instead, Takei, like so many others, keeps stressing Shatner’s difficult personality in order not having to acknowledge his artistic merits considering ST.
Talk about whining, talk about Takei. Talk about “raping the cash cow”, we’ll maybe talk when STXI receives its premiere.
Takei just may be jealous.Also it’s a know fact in Trek fandom that He stated that He hold’s Bill S. responsible for paring down his screentime as the captain of the Excelsior.
It’s just more of the sour grapes from George. Shat has managed to maintain a career beyond Star Trek while the others…well…have not. That’s unfortunate, but they need to cry about Hollywood producers and typecasting, not William Shatner. And by Shat’s admission, he wasn’t even aware of the hard feelings until he talked to Nichelle. So I don’t think Shatner has lost a whole lot of sleep over the “lost” friendships of actors he co-starred with 40 years ago. To him, they are probably no more than fellow actors that he worked with, no different that Adrian Zymed or Candice Bergan. He works with them awhile, has a good time on the set, then moves on to the next project, as I suspect many actors do..
Shatner is not Star Trek, never has been, and this is coming from a fan of Shatner. Star Trek is more than Captain Kirk, and that was proven when fans were writing in for how much love they had for a certain pointy-eared Hobgoblin played by Leonard Nimoy, who had been there since the beginning. Also with a famous activist convincing Nichelle Nichols to stay on as Uhura because she was the FIRST real role where a person of African descent was in a role where she was not a “mammy” or “waitress”. The characters were Star Trek, not the actors.
I also understand how Takei feels, from ST II,III, and V. His character was supposed to be originally promoted to being Captain of the “Great Experiment” long before VI happened. Which had been mention in the Okuda commentaries, books (including those written by Shatner), and novelizations of II and III.
The original series cast has stated how difficult he was to work with. Even WiIl Wheaton from the Next Gen has been brought to tears by this man when wanting to meet him while Star Trek V was shooting.
I may like the actors works, but I do believe what they have to say when it comes to working with the Shat. Takei is just stating what he feels.
Now back to the movie discussion:
Well I have a feeling it’s at different points when we see them leave the academy. When Kirk left, Spock was still on the Enterprise. Sulu might have been there but still working in the Science Division since he wasn’t a helmsman until Kirk’s tenure.
I l,ove the Shat, but he got his reputation that hard way–he earned it.
Nimoy is a class act who seems to be able to get along with the rest of the cast without any problems. I am very happy to see him as Spock one more time and can live without Shatner in the film. I would prefer that he make an appearance but he dug his own grave so to speak when he cashed that paycheck for Generations.
But I do agree that George’s jealousy may still be showing a bit.
He’s just an actor. Shatner is just an actor. Sheesh, a little perspective!
The cold hard reality is that you could have had ST without Sulu, but you could not have had it without Kirk and Spock.
Furthermore, they are all lucky that the show got canned twice by NBC.
It is one of the reasons The Beatles reputation rose to legendary heights. They broke up! No soup for you! Ever again!
‘Leave ’em wanting more’ is the basic rule of show bidness. Had ST run for 5 or 6 years on NBC, and was cancelled with a whimper, this board would not exist, there would have been no movies, and Takei and Shatner would have been forgotten footnotes in TV land.
Are you guys close friends with everyone you work with? Me either. Shatner got along famously with De Kelley, Leonard is his best friend, and despite the claims of some here, I have yet to read where any Star Trek director ever had any problem with him. So what if he and Takei didn’t become buddy buddy? It says nothing about Shatner. Takei needs to let it go.
19- I agree. Shatner was brought in to be the STAR of the show. The fault should rest on Gene Roddenberry. He would tell all of the other actors that it was going tobe an ensemble show while knowing all along that Shatner was brought in to be the star. Shatner was even given a profit percentage clause in his contract . Would that have happened if everyone was on equal footing? NO! It was only later on after Spock became popular that Nimoy received such perks. I love all the characters but lets face it, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty and Chekov were brought in as supporting players who eventually received worldwide acclaim due to the popularity of the show
If one more person says someone (Shatner, fans, Takei) has to let go, I am going to let go and explode! Hah hah. Actually, I think the media has to let go. I mean, who possibly would even care what George Takei says about anything??? Star Trek fans. And don’t you think the fans have heard these stupid stories 1000 times by now? George Takei is fantastic, but the concept of true ensemble television didn’t come around until the very late 70’s with shows like Taxi. In the 60’s you had a few big stars and everyone else was just a add on. I would say that Takei has certainly burried the hatchet with Shatner, but they are not friends. So what? I’ve had jobs where I got along with everyone but haven’t spoken to them since.
If Star Trek was not a smash hit, we are discussing a 40 year problem! Who does not get along with who??! This issue would not even be talked about, long forgotten. Other people like Ellison even spoke about how Shatner was not an easy individual to get along with. Shat even said that Nimoy got more popularity than Kirk and that did not settle right with him.
I guess there is always someone in the workplace who rubs you the wrong way!! As a side serious note: I was curious did Takei’s sexuality ever bother the other actor’s back then?? How many more of that cast even MIGHT have experimented?? I mean NImoy said that he was a full blown alcoholic and contemplated suicide! It’s unreal.. People with REAL problems. Just a thought.
Awesome, I’m glad he’s making another apperance in Heroes!!
Re “… it was the programm executives at Paramount …”
Did he mean to say NBC and/or Desilu?
#7:”We don’t know how honest his comments actually are, do we? ”
No. We only know that they’re perfectly in line with comments by the majority of actors, producers and directors – Trek and otherwise – who worked with Shatner in the 60s, 70s and 80s and have been willing to talk about it.
He may have mellowed a bit in the last fifteen years or so. ;)
George Takei is awesome. I site the following as indisputable proof.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3136720862299489343&q=george+takei&total=228&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
I find it very interesting,
that i have never heard or read William Shatner EVER say a negative word about anyone. be it star trek, t.j. hooker or other.
When asked to respond to negative comments made by other trek members, Shatner responded, “theyre just selling books”.
so after 40 years, its very interesting to see who seems either bitter or for whatever reason, holding a grudge. as opposed to those who simply “went on” and perhaps let it go .
Star Trek was not conceived as an “ensemble” show. The captain was to be the ‘star’ and the stories were told from the perspective of the captain of the ship. Thus, we have the captain’s log voiceover. The secondary actors were just that, secondary. They were used to move the story along, not much about their personal lives, etc. Just story.
When trek became big the cast wanted more to do, so some have perpetuated the myth that the show was to have featured all the characters, but that the big three became the focus. Well sure, it would have been nice to have stories about the secondary characters here and there to develop them as people. But I prefer the idea of the story being told from the viewpoint of the decision maker, who is the dramatic focus of the ‘play of the week’. I care about only a few important characters in the drama who have responsibility for the lives of the crew, not replacable crewmembers who are along for the ride.
That being said, I do appreciate the contributions of the cast to the original show and the movies. The characters certainly have a reason to exist and have helped to make the Starship Enterprise an interesting place to visit.
I also thought relations with the cast and the Shat had warmed a good deal. Except of course for Walter Koenig. Perhaps George is referring to the past few decades of (missing out on) close relationships, and not the present.
I’ve always had the impression that Shatner was truly apologetic about incidences when his over-enthusiasm may have hurt some feelings. I have also suspected that, especially in Koenig’s case, it is a major case of sour grapes from not getting the center seat.
I have heard that the Shat and the rest of the Boston Legal cast have a hoot filming that show, and that they all get along just fine.
#28–excellent points, I agree completely.
Sounds a whole lot like Tina Louise who played Ginger (sp?) from “Gilligan’s Island”. She thought she was the star…until someone reminder her again of the show’s title…”Gilligan’s Island”. Yet she never really got it.
I wonder if time has mellowed the Shat to these problems? Has anybody heard if he is just as much trouble on Boston Legal with that cast?
#27-Excellent point.
And Shatner was the star. No doubt about it. Notice his name is always first?
To all of you who hate shatner so much, think of a more deserving person of your venom.
Personally I wish TOS had been a more ensemble show, because I tired of the stories always revolving around Kirk. Roddenberrys original plan was for this, but he compromised to get Trek on the air.
#27- dead on
Also if i recall;
Mr. Shatner told Mr. Takei
That since most of Star Trek 6
does’nt take place onboard the U.S.S. Excelsior,
that he (Mr. Sulu ) would have had more screen time ( more of a role)
if he was still on the Enterprise.
re: 34
Thankfully it did revolve around the big 3.
#34 trektacular: I agree. The first & second season episodes were more ensemble pieces (especially the first part of the first season), and those stories were much better – entertaining, imaginative, etc. than the third season, which was mostly Kirk centric and pretty lame.
BTW, FYI, Whisky is spelled correctly. Scotch is ‘whisky’ and other whiskies, such as bourbon and rye are ‘whiskey’.
Lx
#25 “they’re perfectly in line with comments by the majority of actors, producers and directors – Trek and otherwise – who worked with Shatner in the 60s, 70s and 80s and have been willing to talk about it.”
There you go again. Majority? Proof, please? As far as I know, Shatner starred in 7 Star Trek features and no one who directed any of those films ever had a negative thing to say about him.
#27 “i have never heard or read William Shatner EVER say a negative word about anyone.”
Good point!
#32 “Has anybody heard if he is just as much trouble on Boston Legal with that cast?”
No. Candice Bergen, James Spader, Mark Valley, and Rene Auberjonois have all said very positive things. They seem to love working with him. In recent years, many of them have participated in Shatner programs like the Comedy Central Roast or the TV Land special.
It’s strange most of the TOS cast hated Shatner the actor but they all liked him as director, even saying they wanted him to direct another one!
On this subject, I defer to Nimoy’s comment. I think I remember this right. He basically said that Shatner was under great pressure to carry the series. That’s an accurate statement, and coming from only one of two cast members who were even close to being rivals. Sure, the others should have had shows of their own eventually. Star Trek pidgeon-holed them and I think they blame Shat for that. On the other hand, if he had been a nice, sharing kinda actor in 1966 and let everyone else have a piece of air time… We’d be celebrating the glorious 29 episodes of TOS, if not the glorious 13. Shows in 1966 were NOT ensemble-oriented. That came later. Shatner had to own every minute of air time. I wish Mr. Takei and the others would lighten up.
Shatner did carry the show…to low ratings! BWHAHAHA
#41 Well said. Furthermore, if the supporting cast really want to gripe at the right people, they should gripe at the writers and producers who gave them so few lines! What did the Shat have to do with that? (there is a song in there somewhere)
#42-“Shatner did carry the show…to low ratings! BWHAHAHA ”
Riiiiiight. 40 years later. Even recently Takei referred to Shatner as “magnetic actor “. The sooner you all get over the fact Shatner is responsible for a VERY large part of Trek’s appeal, the better off you will be.
You guys just like ham.
Can’t stand ham.
If you’re referring to the television series “Star Trek” yes I loved it all.
No, I was talking about the Shatner brand.
#40
Leonard Nimoy has gone on record (in his book) saying that Shatner was a big part of the reason V flopped. It’s true, the directing is awful in that movie, it’s a huge part of the reason that it’s so terrible.
I can’t believe for one second that any of the others wanted him back as a director.
48. While filming Takei, Doohan, Nichols enjoyed him as a director whereas they despised him as a co-actor, evidently he treated them well on set.
Just to be clear, spelling “whiskey” as “whisky” is actually not incorrect. Look it up