George Takei on Bill Maher 07/18/14

[ALF]

Takei was the final guest on Real Time With Bill Maher last night. Bill is sometimes hit-and-miss (often doesn't give guests a chance to speak) but this was a great one. They chatted about Star Trek (of course!) his rocky relationship with William Shatner and a bit about his family's Japanese internment camp experience as it applied to the recent immigration crisis of child refugees.

But the dirt about Shatner was entertaining and illuminating.

"...he is very self centered." - Takei, on Shatner

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/...-to-drive-the-enterprise-into-the-death-star/

“Not like you’re gonna drive the ship into a Death Star to spite him,” Maher said to Takei, who played helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the franchise’s original series.
“The temptation [was] there at times,” Takei replied, jokingly.

Takei also said that Shatner was the only member of the original cast not to know he is gay, though the rest of his Enterprise “crewmates” never brought it up publicly out of fear the news would damage his career prospects at the time.
​

I find it incredibly interesting that the cast knew Takei was gay way back in the 60s and kept it a secret all those years! Incredible. Takei described how he always brought along male companions to TOS-related functions. Bill also did a brief and silent impression of Shatner as Kirk that was very amusing.

He also mentioned that despite the tension, he and Shatner still got the work done because they were professionals.

Anyway, great interview, a lot of laughs and I highly recommend for any Takei + TOS fans.

 

[Green Shirt]

the dirt about Shatner was entertaining and illuminating.


He also mentioned that despite the tension, he and Shatner still got the work done because they were professionals.

I'm not taking sides in the decades long issues cast members had with Shatner, because Star Trek is what it is thanks to the talents of all those involved. But when does the complaining stop? How is this "professional"?

Haven't many of us learned over the years that holding a grudge can hurt the grudger more than the grudgee?

 

[Maurice]

George bitch slaps Bill any time he wants to get a headline. It's childish and tiresome.

 

[Melakon]

He probably calls up Shatner and says "Hey Bill, I'm going to talk shit about you on such-and-such show."

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Coming up for the 50 years anniversary, i think it's time to let this go, it is getting a bit silly now after all this time to still be publically trashing Shatner at every turn, now like he has worked with the guy in what, 20 plus years.

Come in George, move on.

 

[Gov Kodos]

George bitch slaps Bill any time he wants to get a headline. It's childish and tiresome.

This.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

George bitch slaps Bill any time he wants to get a headline. It's childish and tiresome.

QFT.

I sometimes try to give Takei a break by entertaining the notion that maybe he only does it because he thinks that what the audience wants to hear. But even if that were true, it's still long past tiresome.

 

[urbandefault]

I bet Shatner loves it. Keeps his name out there. "Say whatever you want, but spell my name right" and all.

 

[AirCommodore]

I have heard enough from other sources about what an asshole Shatner is, that I have no doubt that he can be a Class A douchebag. It doesn't matter to me. Captain Kirk is separable from Shatner. Bill being an asshole doesn't affect how I watch the TOS Trek shows or movies.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Takei is beyond infantile, and still milking something that never helped his so-called career. Meanwhile, Shatner moved on with successful performances before and after TOS/TOS-movies. Leave it to an insufferable whiner like Takei to make a few fan responses about a minor character to convince him that he (or the character) was intended for bigger things, when that was never the case.

 

[Push The Button]

Agreed, Takei needs to let this go. All of the surviving cast members are well into their senior years now, and it does no good for anyone to keep holding grudges for things that may have happened between twenty and fifty years ago.

 

[Danny99]

I'm glad I'm not the only one hoping Takei will drop this whole thing. Eventually, after years of being in an argument with someone who just isn't getting it, you realize they just aren't getting it and you write them off.

 

[Melakon]

If George really feels this way, it's going to wind up just like it did between Shatner and Doohan, with no resolution possible.

 

[urbandefault]

It wouldn't surprise me if at this point the "feud" is just being played for publicity. These two guys are too old for childish squabbles, but they both benefit from the perception.

"Oh, my!" indeed.

 

[Melakon]

It very well may be an engineered "feud", like Jack Benny and Fred Allen played up for years, with Shatner pretending to be totally bewildered by it.

 

[Armored Saint]

At least he's not a compulsive talkshiter like Dave Mustaine or Kerry King, but I agree he sould turn the page. We all know Shatner isn't an easy person to deal with it and he only had a good relationship with Nimoy and Kelley.

I still plan to watch this interview because I like both Maher and Takei.

 

[Melakon]

Dave Mustaine or Kerry King

I've never heard of either of those guys.

 

[Armored Saint]

They're important figure in Metal music history, but that's not important right now. They're basically unable to be interviewed without bashing on someone else and it's pretty lame to read. It's already uninteresting with these two major assholes, it's not much better when it comes from a cool man.

 

[Melakon]

Cripes, now I'm getting ads for something called Metalhead Dating.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It's become George's schtick. You know with Nichelle you'll get the MLK story and with George you'll get some cracks on Shatner. He was forcing it with Bill Maher though.