Thursday, October 30, 1997
George Takei shows us just where he has gone
BOOK: Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu navigates through his earthbound
journey
By Kristi Nakamura
Daily Bruin Contributor
At the age of four, the United States Government uprooted his
family and placed them in the World War II Japanese Internment
Camps. When he transferred to UCLA in 1957, he was the only Asian
American student in the Theater Arts Department. As an adult, he
worked on numerous political campaigns and served as a delegate to
the Democratic National Convention and also as a Los Angeles City
Council member.
But despite his rich personal history and extensive political
activism, George Takei is best known as Mr. Sulu, helmsman of Star
Trek’s Starship Enterprise and Captain of the Starship
Excelsior.
Today at noon, Powell Library will host the grand opening of the
College Library exhibit "A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans
and the United States Constitution" in Royce Quad. UCLA alumnus and
Japanese American activist Takei will be a keynote speaker at the
ceremony. Afterwards, Takei will sign copies of his autobiography
"To The Stars" in the Powell Rotunda.
"The only way the idealism of the system can be kept true is for
the people who practice it to practice it truly," Takei says. "You
realize that this democracy can fail and had failed in (the
Japanese Americans’) case, but at the same time we can make it
work."
With this philosophy and background, it is no surprise that
Takei has not only achieved a successful acting career, but has
also given back to Los Angeles and to the Japanese American
community.
Takei credits his father with instilling in him and his siblings
the importance of subscribing to a set of ideals that they were
willing to work to defend. Takei dedicates "To The Stars" to his
father.
In "To The Stars," Takei speaks candidly about his experiences,
both the painful and the proud. He paints an honest picture of what
it was like to be taken to the internment camps as an oblivious
child, only to have to face the reality of what had been done to
him and others of Japanese ancestry as he grew older.
Takei also writes engagingly about his struggle to succeed as an
actor. Here his journey took him from studying architecture at UC
Berkeley in an attempt to do something that would please his
parents to studying at the theater department at UCLA.
"I have two best supporting actor awards from UCLA and I’m
looking at them right now. They’re still up there," Takei says.
"They’re some of my warm, heart-warming memorabilia from my UCLA
days."
For a man who has achieved so much under such difficult
circumstances, Takei’s writing style is delightfully conversational
and down-to-earth. His autobiography is not bloated with
self-praise or egoism, but is graceful with historical and cultural
experience.
"To The Stars" combines Takei’s own personal story with details
of what it was like to be Mr. Sulu and part of the "Star Trek"
voyage. The story is told in a captivating manner that appeals even
to those who are not fans of the show. "To The Stars" offers
something for all readers. The story Takei tells is fundamentally
one of hard work, dedication and deserving human triumph.
The experience becomes universal because, to Takei, "Star Trek"
was far more than just his career or the rocket that launched him
to stardom. Behind the obvious storylines of every episode was the
idealism of the American Dream and a strong connection to his own
World War II experiences.
"Gene Roddenberry, the creator of ‘Star Trek,’ saw the Starship
Enterprise as a metaphor for ‘Starship Earth’ and the point that he
was trying to make was that there’s strength in our diversity,"
Takei says. "But that diversity could be a divisive force as well,
unless we have good leadership and people that can work as a team,
each contributing his or her best."
The cooperative diversity of the Starship crew was a visionary
concept that came at a time when the world was sharply divided by
the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the civil rights struggle and the
hippie movement. Takei says that the best part about playing Mr.
Sulu was the opportunity to be a part of a work that was so
integral in infusing television with ideas and affirmative
philosophy.
Takei had learned from his experiences at the Rohwer and Tule
Lake internment camps. He had watched many men and even some women
put on the uniform of the very people who were jailing them and
risk their lives to fight for the democracy that had failed them.
This was the same type of optimism and vision Takei saw Roddenberry
promoting in "Star Trek."
"It was that kind of idealism that made this America that you
and I enjoy today possible," Takei says.
An actor, activist and author, Takei has undoubtedly lived a
successful life. He inherited a challenge from the United States
government, who showed him what happens when democracy breaks down,
and from his father, who gave him the tools to respond with grace
and optimism.
Even before "Star Trek," Takei was asked to boldly go where no
man has gone before: beyond prejudice, pessimism and blame. To
understand the past and to learn from it. To go, past all
obstacles, to the stars.
BOOK: George Takei speaks today at noon in Royce Quad with a
book signing to follow in the Powell Rotunda. His autobiography "To
The Stars" is available for $12 from Pocket Books.
Pocket Books
A lost scene from "Star Trek IV."
Leonard Nimoy is seated in back.
Pocket Books
Mr. Sulu (George Takei, right) faces off against captain Kirk in
a "Star Trek" episode. Takei will speak today at noon in Royce
Quad.