HUGE Mr Sulu Spoiler

[Pauln6]

Technically, she wasn't an extra, because she spoke.

I agree that extras don't do as much, nearly as much, as main characters in terms of representation, but extras are nonspeaking.

But on the other hand, all roles are something that one can point to to say, "See, it does happen in the Star Trek universe, and we can see it."

Yup. Two crewman extras of the same sex holding hands on the Rec Deck or Ten Forward could have been a start a loooooong time ago.

Similarly, a blonde woman with a hair bun or beehive handing NuPike or NuKirk a PADD or coffee in the reboot would have been a start. It's a shame that start for Chapel was also an end grrrr.

 

[Jedi Marso]

When Kirk was out to screw every alien he ran across, what does that make him? I think we need a new word other than 'straight' or 'gay'. Or, to quote Frost and Drake in Aliens:

"We need to get some more of that Arcturian poontang!"
"Yeah, but the one you had was male!"
"Don't matter when the shit is Arcturian!"

 

[Pauln6]

When Kirk was out to screw every alien he ran across, what does that make him? I think we need a new word other than 'straight' or 'gay'. Or, to quote Frost and Drake in Aliens:

"We need to get some more of that Arcturian poontang!"
"Yeah, but the one you had was male!"
"Don't matter when the shit is Arcturian!"

Since Arcturians reproduce by cloning, technically they're neither male nor female. They don't swing both ways, they swing neither way.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The sad thing about George Takei's objection to the film's revelation about Sulu's sexuality is that I can't decide if it's genuine or stems from his need for attention. His feud with Shatner is the prime example; Shatner has no idea what it's about, but Takei brings it up for no reason except publicity. If Takei praised the film's creative choice, there's no story. But if he criticized the film, there's a story that gets people talking about Takei.

 

[Squiggy]

Uhura, a Sub-Saharan Black African is played by a mixed-raced woman who identifies as Latina. Outrage? No. Crickets? Yes

And there is not one green drop of Vulcan blood anywhere in Quinto.

 

[Squiggy]

I've never thought less of someone for their race, so no.. that's silly. You have no control over your race, and besides.... without Asians we wouldn't have Moon Bloodgood whose half Korean. Her marriage though broke my heart.

You also have no control on who gives you erections.

Unless you're telling me you had to make that choice at some point.

 

[JeffinOakland]

And there is not one green drop of Vulcan blood anywhere in Quinto.

Well, we can't have a Vulcan playing a Vulcan because Vulcans are make believe. Real Sub-Saharan Black Africans do exist. On Earth. They live among us. I've seen them! There are millions of 'em.

 

[Pauln6]

The sad thing about George Takei's objection to the film's revelation about Sulu's sexuality is that I can't decide if it's genuine or stems from his need for attention. His feud with Shatner is the prime example; Shatner has no idea what it's about, but Takei brings it up for no reason except publicity. If Takei praised the film's creative choice, there's no story. But if he criticized the film, there's a story that gets people talking about Takei.

I think he wants to underscore that this is not his doing. If there is a bad reaction from fans, he can say, 'Don't blame me!' If there is a good reaction, he can say, 'Well I was initially against it, but now I am pleased to see how well it was received.'

He's a smart guy. He saw the hate for the Ghostbusters sheboot, realised what dicks conservatives can be and, quite sensibly, he's just hedging his bets.

 

[Judith Sisko]

The sad thing about George Takei's objection to the film's revelation about Sulu's sexuality is that I can't decide if it's genuine or stems from his need for attention. His feud with Shatner is the prime example; Shatner has no idea what it's about, but Takei brings it up for no reason except publicity. If Takei praised the film's creative choice, there's no story. But if he criticized the film, there's a story that gets people talking about Takei.

Yes, and his tag at the end of his comments that mentions his desire to be in the new tv series. Totally self-serving. Wasn't he the one behind the whole "Captain Sulu and the Excelsior" series brouhaha?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Which is we're the first to see gay Sulu. 'Cept for Therin.

And Botany Bay, and jeanprouvaire.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

When Kirk was out to screw every alien he ran across, what does that make him?

Nonexistent, because Kirk didn't actually do that.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I was thinking of main characters, not extras without a name. Female extras are nice and all, but they don't do anywhere as much for female representation as main characters.

Madge Sinclair was no "extra". She simply chose to go uncredited in that film, IIRC.

 

[mos6507]

I think he wants to...

Some people just don't want to accept George's statement at face value and need to envision ulterior motives. Can't a cigar just be a cigar?

 

[Pauln6]

Some people just don't want to accept George's statement at face value and need to envision ulterior motives. Can't a cigar just be a cigar?

Judging by the amount of consternation this simple tweak to a fictional character's back story is generating, I'm going with... no.

 

[mos6507]

There's always been consternation over nuTrek. Most recently, the use of the Beastie Boys and the motorcycle jump in the first trailer. Only this time people who don't like the creative decision are being branded bigots or (in the case of Takei) accused of being an insincere self-promoter.

Note that Takei would not have been involved had Pegg not made this move and brought it to Takei as an offering in the first place. There was no way for Takei to avoid having to weigh in on it.

 

[Commander Richard]

Made this post two days ago...

I see that Sulu thread. I have a theory about what the spoiler is and in two weeks I'll see if it comes to pass. And if I'm right, I don't think that George Takei would be happy about it.

I was right that he wasn't happy but I was wrong about what the spoiler was. I thought that the big news was that Sulu would be getting his own command by the end of the movie and I didn't think that Takei would like seeing Cho get a ship and potentially stealing the 'Captain Sulu' limelight he should have had all these decades.

Well, now the real news is all over the internet. I don't see it as a retcon since we never knew much about Sulu to begin with. I was surprised to see that George hated it and that Pegg went ahead despite that disapproval but George has his reasons and I don't know his entire thought process, and Pegg had an idea that was too good to pass up. I don't have much else to add except that it fleshes out the Sulu family some more. I have some ideas about Demora's parentage, assuming that nothing specific is revealed in the movie, so that should be fun to discuss.

If Sulu is gay in both timelines, how do we know Demora isn't Sulu's biological daughter? It's almost a medical fact now that the sperm of two men can be grafted together so that a child would have two biological fathers, there's even some strong evidence that given genetic modification sperm could be 'mutated' into an egg that could be fertilized. Perhaps by the 23rd century this is a medical fact?

Yeah, that was my idea. The ban on genetic manipulation for the average Joe might be a problem though.

 

[Terok Nor]

I initially thought it was a nice move when I thought it was to honor George but now that I know he's against it I'm conflicted. I still think having a gay character in Trek, new or old, is a good move but I disagree with them saying it's a tribute to George. How can it be a tribute if he's dead set against it? I also disagree with Simon Pegg's comment that creating a new character who is gay would be tokenism. It's only tokenism if there's nothing more to the character apart from being gay. If NuTrek had brought in some brand new regular characters from the start it could just as easily be revealed in Beyond that one of them is gay. This reinforces why I don't particularly care for reboots. I prefer fresh characters and storylines.

All that said, I don't think there's much on screen to contradict TOS Sulu being gay. He never had a love interest male or female to my recollection. I understand it was not Roddenberry's intent for him to be gay but I really don't see how this makes any difference to anything that happened to Sulu in TOS or the TOS movies. It just wasn't relevant to any of the plots. Besides, there are quite a lot of characters who are gay or bisexual in he Mirror Universe but are straight in the Main Universe so there is previous form for changing an alternate version of a character from straight to a member of the LGBT community.

 

[TRON JA307020]

When Kirk was out to screw every alien he ran across, what does that make him? I think we need a new word other than 'straight' or 'gay'. Or, to quote Frost and Drake in Aliens:

"We need to get some more of that Arcturian poontang!"
"Yeah, but the one you had was male!"
"Don't matter when the shit is Arcturian!"

They were all female humanoid aliens. Its not like Kirk got it on with the Horta.

 

[ISS Enterprise]

There's always been consternation over nuTrek. Most recently, the use of the Beastie Boys and the motorcycle jump in the first trailer. Only this time people who don't like the creative decision are being branded bigots or (in the case of Takei) accused of being an insincere self-promoter.

Note that Takei would not have been involved had Pegg not made this move and brought it to Takei as an offering in the first place. There was no way for Takei to avoid having to weigh in on it.

GREAT POST! Agree 100%

 

[Campe]

This should not be as big of a deal as it is. Cho's Sulu is gay. Great. Takei doesn't see this as the right way. His opinion and he's entitled to it. It should end there. Personally I disagree with Takei, but it's his right to voice whatever opinion he might have.

The number of fans who have shown their hatred is frankly appalling. In the 23rd century, race, color, credo, sexual identity aren't supposed to make one damn bit of difference. Isn't this what we're striving for? We're supposed to believe in this future but instead so many fans are making outrageous statements about how it's wrong that Sulu is gay. The worst comment of all I've seen is that being gay is some sort of sickness. I'm not gay but I have, in various capacities, worked with many gays and lesbians in my day. Never once made an ounce of difference to me. And I certainly don't see it as a sickness. And I'm disgusted by those who do.

This is just another sign of how far we as a people have to go until we reach the ideals Star Trek teaches.