Putting the Shatner "ego issue" from TOS to rest

[TrickyDickie]

I dug into my files and came up with this article from Motion Picture magazine back in the day. This is what Shatner and Nimoy said for the interview at the time, while Star Trek was still being filmed:

[jayrath]

That's really great. Thank you for sharing!

[Mr Awe]

^ Great article. The very last line is pretty ironic, especially given this thread!

Mr Awe

[TrickyDickie]

Mr Awe wrote:

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The very last line is pretty ironic, especially given this thread!

Mr Awe

Yes, that's exactly what I thought when I read it. Little did they know....

[A beaker full of death]

Funny Nimoy mentioning TMFU, since he and Shatner had several scenes together in that show.

[AtoZ]

Hollyweird is a strange world. It's often high school among adults, IMO.

I remember seeing Doohan at a convention here in Toronto back in June or July 1992. He was terrific but before too long he was ranting and raving about "that man" as if Shatner had slashed the tires on Jimmy's car the week before. When I read a few of the earlier posts and that Doohan had been doing this at conventions as far back as the mid-80's, to me it casts a dim shadow on the person giving the bitter account more than anything I might want (or not, as the case may be) to believe about Shatner.

Incidentally, Doohan appeared to be quite liquored up at that appearance, long before he started on the rant.

[TrickyDickie]

AtoZ wrote:

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Hollyweird is a strange world. It's often high school among adults, IMO.

A hard look at the complete 'big picture' pretty much hammers it home that the world in general is a lot that way....everything from 'road rage' to fighting for items in the stores on 'Black Friday' and on and on.

Reminds me of Burgess Meredith in the 'Grumpy' movies:

"Damn kids....!"

[Jonas Grumby]

YARN wrote:

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And suppose that line is in the film and Sulu is in command of another ship in later films. Are we going to follow the Adventures of Captain Day Player and his anonymous crew on his unbeloved ship or are we going to stick with the main cast on the Enterprise? This would have been a Denise Crosby move and for what? To get a fictional promotion in a fictional world?

The only way Takei's reaction to his "lost" promotion makes any rational sense is if maybe even at that early date he was already trying to lay the groundwork for his much yearned for "Captain Sulu" TV series.

Although...I'm not sure Takei's apparent belief that he could actually carry a TV series is all that rational either.

[Gary7]

TrickyDickie wrote:

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Yes, that's exactly what I thought when I read it. Little did they know....

Indeed. Thanks a lot for posting that, Dicky.

Incidentally, what's the story behind your use of Nixon and why Spock has steam coming out of his ears?

[TrickyDickie]

Gary7 wrote:

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Incidentally, what's the story behind your use of Nixon and why Spock has steam coming out of his ears?

I was born two weeks after The City on The Edge of Forever was first broadcast. Nixon is the first president I remember. The thing is, especially after Watergate, adults around me at the time called him 'Tricky Dickie' more than anything else and as a little kid I thought that was his real name. When I first signed on here, ten years ago this week, I was trying to decide on a good screen name. I remembered Spock's line in Star Trek VI...."Only Nixon could go to China." So, that's what I chose. A bit later, I came across Doug Little's wonderful piece of artwork that he created in 1982 of Spock mindmelding with Nixon....steam coming out of Spock's ears because he is overloaded by all of the weirdness rattling around in Nixon's head. Made the perfect accompanying avatar!

And, I can be tricky at times....like posting the photo last year of the Enterprise saucer that wasn't that at all. Just like to keep people on their toes and make things fun and interesting on occasion.

[Gary7]

^ Fun to hear about this, TD. I also remember Nixon quite well. My oddity is that I thought Exxon was his company and that he still owned it while being President. I'll never forget that New Yorker magazine front cover that showed a caricature of Nixon hanging himself, holding his own noose. Anyway, I didn't know anything about Doug Little before. Apparently he crafted that piece in 1982 for Lincoln Enterprises (Roddenberry's notorious Star Trek memorabilia stint). Just checked out the large resolution copy. Really great detail in it.

[TrickyDickie]

Gary7 wrote:

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^ Fun to hear about this, TD. I also remember Nixon quite well. My oddity is that I thought Exxon was his company and that he still owned it while being President. I'll never forget that New Yorker magazine front cover that showed a caricature of Nixon hanging himself, holding his own noose. Anyway, I didn't know anything about Doug Little before. Apparently he crafted that piece in 1982 for Lincoln Enterprises (Roddenberry's notorious Star Trek memorabilia stint). Just checked out the large resolution copy. Really great detail in it.

That's a great story too....Exxon....LOL! Immediately reminded me of Mel Gibson's line in Lethal Weapon 3 where he was using his mouth to siphon gas and got a bad taste of that brand!

Yes, Doug Little did a really great job with that.

I still laugh about the Nixon bio movie starring Lane Smith....when he raised his arms for the dual peace signs, he got the rumpling of the suit jacket just right!

[TREK_GOD_1]

Jonas Grumby wrote:

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The only way Takei's reaction to his "lost" promotion makes any rational sense is if maybe even at that early date he was already trying to lay the groundwork for his much yearned for "Captain Sulu" TV series.

Although...I'm not sure Takei's apparent belief that he could actually carry a TV series is all that rational either.

Takei's sense of TV history must have been poor, as the medium--up to that point--had a long stretch of spinoffs which failed to attract the public and/or reach the same level of quality of the parent series.

From Happy Days spinoffs Out of the Blue & Joanie Loves Chachi to Mrs. Columbo (starring some actress with the uncanny misfortune of leading another bad spinoff some 16 years later), The Sanford Arms & Grady (from Sanford and Son) or Galactica 1980, the public usually found spin-offs to be inferior--or at least watered down versions of the original concept.

Unlike every other series mentioned, Star Trek was a concept so tied to the "big three," that they were the literal heart and soul of the series, with everything else--including supporting characters--pulled into orbiting their world, not the other way around. As many have pointed out, Takei allowed convention/post-series fandom to convince him Sulu was more important that anything ever seen on the live action or animated series.

He should have paid attention to the merchandisng as his crystal ball to predict the chances of a Sulu show:

when TOS merchandising exploded in the early 1970s, he did not even earn being made into one of the famous Mego action figures and I do not recall him appearing more than 4 times (if that) on the Gold Key comic tie-in covers. Tie-in covers were a strong indicator of who was percieved as the face/draw of a property, so it was no surprise to see Kirk and Spock dominating almost every issue of that comic series. Takei's absense from two major forms of off-series ST should have clued him in on Sulu's true market value to the franchise.

Add the fact Nimoy had to fight for his character's use on TAS, and should have set off red alerts (heh) that to the general public--and TV producers, Sulu was not exactly ready for prime time.

[ssosmcin]

Hell, in the Power Records book and record sets, Sulu was drawn as a black man (while Uhura was a blonde white girl).

Takei was upset over the "don't call me tiny" line in Star Trek III, thinking the fans saw Sulu as some amazing hero. "They don't see Sulu as tiny." He totally didn't get it. He did admit he was wrong when it got a huge laugh (as intended), but it really points up that his ego is no smaller than Shatner's. If nothing else, it's larger since Shatner at least earned his!

[Dale Sams]

When I heard that Sulu was appearing on VOY...I thought for sure that Voyager would discover The Excelsior, and we would get a flashback story from Tuvok detailing "The Last Sulu Story"