"So Near the Touch", a George Takei comic about social distancing

[rfmcdpei]

The current coronavirus pandemic in Canada and the wider world has made me think of a few things. One of these is the apparently overlooked story "So Near the Touch", the story in the first annual of the second DC Comics run of Star Trek comics published in July 1990.

Co-written by George Takei and Peter David (different sources suggest that Takei provided the story), "So Near the Touch" is centered on the world of Datugan, a Federation trading partner that was so eager to export an energy-generating ore that it irremediably polluted its environment. The very people of Datugan have been so contaminated by pollution that two individuals cannot risk bodily contact, else they self-combust. They are doomed.

The Federation, feeling some responsibility for this catastrophe, has initiated a grand project of rebirth, to use in vitro techniques to let the Datugan species continue on a clean new world. The Enterprise-A is assigned to escort a medical team lead by one Corazon Kohwangko to Datugan to help start off this project. Sulu, who has a romantic history with Kohwangko, is pleased to be reunited with her. On arrival at Datugan, the mission encounters unexpected trouble from Datugans opposed to this program.

"So Near the Touch" is an effective short story, setting a credible romance for Sulu with an interesting partner against the backdrop of a dying world with people desperate for help. (Reading this now gives me some insight into Takei's upset with the movies' portrayal of Sulu as gay; here, Takei literally wrote Sulu as straight.) I find that it resonates particularly with me now, living under conditions of COVID-19 quarantine, deprived of direct contact with anyone for fear of infection. Takei and David got the corrosive impacts of isolation quite nicely.
​

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Co-written by George Takei and Peter David (different sources suggest that Takei provided the story)

Most likely they co-plotted it together, with Takei making suggestions on the characterization and maybe a few bits of dialogue, and experienced comic book writer Peter David doing the final script. Most novice comic book writers, especially ones more versed in TV and film scripts than comic book scripts, tend to make most of the same first-timer mistakes. Like asking for more than one action in a single panel, forgetting that while you can imply motion in comics, it's still just a single static image per panel. Takei working with PAD would've prevented stuff like that from happening.

(Reading this now gives me some insight into Takei's upset with the movies' portrayal of Sulu as gay; here, Takei literally wrote Sulu as straight.)

Yes. But it's also worth noting that Takei wasn't yet out back in 1990. If Takei had written Sulu as gay (not that he wanted to, apparently), no doubt people would be wondering why he did that. I also just can't see Paramount licencing going for that back in 1990. And it was also, to provide a little historical context, not that long after DC Comics debuted an unfortunately very stereotypical gay character by the name of Extrano, so I can't see them being terribly eager to go there, either.

I find that it resonates particularly with me now, living under conditions of COVID-19 quarantine, deprived of direct contact with anyone for fear of infection. Takei and David got the corrosive impacts of isolation quite nicely.

I hadn't thought of this comparison, but it's an extremely apt one.

I've always liked this story, as it's a nice character piece for Sulu, and thankfully the humor doesn't go too overboard, the way it can in many PAD stories. I had it incorporated into my Star Trek Timeline back when I was including the comic books and novels more. And the art by Grey Morrow is wonderful as always. The likenesses are dead on, and he captures the flavor of Trek in many places.

Here's a little more info on the issue, including the cover if anyone here wants to track it down (Be warned that the summary spoils the ending, though): https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_Annual_Vol_2_1

I'm friendly with editor Bob Greenberger and cover artist Jerome Moore. I'll shoot them both a line and see if they have any tales to tell about the production of this Annual. With Takei's involvement, I'd imagine it was one of the more memorable issues of that volume!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Just thought of one bit of trivia I already knew: Jerome obviously used the poster of the 1976 version of A Star Is Born as reference for the kissing couple on the cover. Those shaggy 70's hairstyles are unmistakably Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand!

 

[rfmcdpei]

Most likely they co-plotted it together, with Takei making suggestions on the characterization and maybe a few bits of dialogue, and experienced comic book writer Peter David doing the final script. Most novice comic book writers, especially ones more versed in TV and film scripts than comic book scripts, tend to make most of the same first-timer mistakes. Like asking for more than one action in a single panel, forgetting that while you can imply motion in comics, it's still just a single static image per panel. Takei working with PAD would've prevented stuff like that from happening.

I expected something like that. A similar process went on with the Shatnerverse novels, IIRC.

Yes. But it's also worth noting that Takei wasn't yet out back in 1990. If Takei had written Sulu as gay (not that he wanted to, apparently), no doubt people would be wondering why he did that. I also just can't see Paramount licencing going for that back in 1990. And it was also, to provide a little historical context, not that long after DC Comics debuted an unfortunately very stereotypical gay character by the name of Extrano, so I can't see them being terribly eager to go there, either.

I think that Takei did have an image in his mind of Sulu being a heterosexual, and did not think his sexual orientation disqualified him from making that judgment. I do not think that this identification was necessarily forced: Takei was playing a character in a certain way, consistently across multiple media.

The analogies with COVID-19 did pop to my mind. I re-read it and "So Near the Touch" still holds up as a story well-told.

 

[Christopher]

I think that Takei did have an image in his mind of Sulu being a heterosexual, and did not think his sexual orientation disqualified him from making that judgment. I do not think that this identification was necessarily forced: Takei was playing a character in a certain way, consistently across multiple media.

But it's not really a "judgment," since it was at a time when it was the obligatory default. No decision was required, since the question couldn't even be asked. It was how he was used to playing the character because he never had a choice. That doesn't make it wrong to change it now that the option exists.

 

[rfmcdpei]

But it's not really a "judgment," since it was at a time when it was the obligatory default. No decision was required, since the question couldn't even be asked. It was how he was used to playing the character because he never had a choice. That doesn't make it wrong to change it now that the option exists.

It does not, no.

That said, having the Kelvinverse Sulu be gay as a tribute to Takei would work to me only if this was something that he wanted. I could easily imagine being insulted if it was decided that a character I was playing had to be queer because I was, no matter how I acted him or what situations the character was in. In a hypothetical alternate world where homophobia was not a thing, maybe Takei might have played Sulu as gay from the start. That world is not ours; Takei seems to have made the choice to have Sulu be heterosexual, opposite-sex-attracted to a significant degree.

There is a long history, in theatre and television and elsewhere, of straight actors getting praised for taking on LGBTQ roles even as out LGBTQ actors find it difficult to get any roles (or, at least, find it difficult to get typecast). It seems not impossible to me that Takei might have suffered this himself, or think to have suffered it; Takei's 1990s lobbying for a Captain Sulu series might have had a different outcome if Takei was straight. Deciding that Takei's most famous character has to be queer because Takei himself is queer no matter what Takei's portrayal of the character was or what Takei's take on the character is, especially since Takei's ability to play said character may have been limited by said sexual orientation, was a bit tone-deaf.

(Do I think a Kelvinverse Sulu being gay is impossible? Not at all. Do I think that there might be the space to describe the main universe's Sulu as queer? Sure, given the lack of detail given to his personal relationships; The Captain's Daughter describes Sulu's relationship with Demora's mother as a fleeting one-night stand, an exception made possible because of Demora's mother's exceptional characteristics. This is altogether different from the question of how and why they went about making Kelvinverse Sulu gay.)

 

[Christopher]

That said, having the Kelvinverse Sulu be gay as a tribute to Takei would work to me only if this was something that he wanted.

Well, who says it was a tribute to Takei? If you think about it, Sulu's the only TOS main character who was never given a romantic storyline (even if Uhura's are limited to that Salt Vampire illusion guy and the weird flirtation with Scotty in ST V), so he's the only one who could plausibly be gay. It's more process of elimination than anything else. (Mirror Sulu sexually harassing Uhura doesn't count, since that's more about power than attraction. For all we know, he harassed Mirror Chekov the same way.)

 

[rfmcdpei]

Well, who says it was a tribute to Takei?

Simon Pegg did.

Simon Pegg, who has co-written the latest Star Trek movie, as well as starring as Scotty, has responded to criticism by the actor George Takei at the film-makers’ decision to make the character he used to play openly gay.

Takei was Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise, in the original TV series as well as the first six films. Pegg has said he intended the revelation in the new film that the character – now played by John Cho – is in a same-sex relationship as a tribute to Takei’s gay rights activism.

But on Thursday the actor responded by saying he thought the move was “really unfortunate”, as he felt it suggested sexuality was something that could be retrofitted. He also said his concerns had been ignored by the film-makers.​

I think that we can take from this story a belief that Takei did have a conception of his character that differed from the Kelvinverse responsibles', that he thought he was straight.

If you think about it, Sulu's the only TOS main character who was never given a romantic storyline (even if Uhura's are limited to that Salt Vampire illusion guy and the weird flirtation with Scotty in ST V), so he's the only one who could plausibly be gay.

This is true. I am reminded of how it made sense that, of the original 5 X-Men, it turned out to be Bobby Drake who was gay. All of those other X-Men had very high-profile relationships with partners of the opposite sex, Angel having a high-profile relationship with powerful telepath Betsy Braddock and Scott having relationships with two telepaths (Jean Grey and Emma Frost), while Beast being explicit in having come out during the Morrison run explicitly to play with identity and to hurt his ex who compared their relationship to bestiality. Bobby Drake, for his par, had no such high-profile relationships, just things which petered out.

There is, I suppose, the possibility of Jean Grey being bi. That has not been touched on, although it might be depending on what you think about variant covers.

Possibly the best X-Men slash story I've come across paired them.

It's more process of elimination than anything else. (Mirror Sulu sexually harassing Uhura doesn't count, since that's more about power than attraction. For all we know, he harassed Mirror Chekov the same way.)

The argument has been made, at r/daystrominstitute, that sexuality in the Mirror universe is seen as a method of dominating others, rather than as a reflection of innate tendencies.

 

[Christopher]

I think that we can take from this story a belief that Takei did have a conception of his character that differed from the Kelvinverse responsibles', that he thought he was straight.

Yes, that fact is well-established already and is not in dispute. I simply don't consider it significant, because the character doesn't belong to him alone. An actor's job is to interpret a writer's words according to a director's guidance. Actors have disagreed with writers and directors many times before -- e.g. Mark Hamill initially disagreeing with how Luke was portrayed in The Last Jedi -- but creating a character is a collaborative effort, and collaborators often disagree with one another, because that is the nature of human endeavor. In the case of disagreement over the portrayal of a film or television character, the court of final appeal is the director (or the executive producer on TV), not the actor.

And while I'm aware it's a feeble argument, every other openly gay person associated with Trek that I recall hearing from (e.g. David Gerrold and Andy Mangels) was quite approving of the decision to make Sulu gay and give the community some representation at last (however minimal it ended up being). So I see Takei's objection, like Hamill's, as being the predictable reaction of an actor who's interpreted their character a certain way for decades and is presented with an alternative view of the role, rather than something that's specifically about sexuality or representation. It's not the way he played the role, fine. But that doesn't make it objectively wrong. Especially since he's not playing the role anymore.

The argument has been made, at r/daystrominstitute, that sexuality in the Mirror universe is seen as a method of dominating others, rather than as a reflection of innate tendencies.

That was the original idea behind how Intendant Kira was played in "Crossover," that it was more about power and manipulation than sex, before the writers fell prey to the "lesbians are evil" stereotype.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

That said, having the Kelvinverse Sulu be gay as a tribute to Takei would work to me only if this was something that he wanted.

Yeah, that was weird.

"Hey, George, we're making Sulu gay as a tribute to you!"
"I'd rather you didn't. I've always seen Sulu as straight."
"Don't care! We're doing it anyway!"​

Maybe they should've just asked him first?

Takei's 1990s lobbying for a Captain Sulu series might have had a different outcome if Takei was straight.

Takei didn't publicly come out until 2005. His sexuality may have been known within the industry, but I doubt it was a big factor. I think the bigger factors were that he's not an especially bankable star, and he's not really strong enough of an actor to carry a series.