George Takei and Second Two of TOS

[Keith1701]

As part of my "STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS" Challenge, I started watching STAR TREK ENTERPRISE Seasons 1 ~ 4, and then onto STAR TREK, THE ORIGINAL SERIES. Currently, I'm on Season 2, and on the DVD sets there have been interviews with the cast and crew. George Takei was noted to say that many of his extra lines for Season two of TOS was cut short and given to Walter Koenig, since George was still filming the "The Green Berets" in Georgia.

My question, the first episode of Season 2 was "Amok Time" which George was in the next seven episodes. Does anybody know, How many episodes George missed to filming The Green Berets??

 

[Christopher]

^Actually the first episode produced in season 2 was "Catspaw." "Amok Time" was shot fifth, but was aired first because the network wanted to lead off with a Spock-centric episode.

In production order, the episodes Takei missed were #9 of the season ("The Apple"), #13-21 inclusive ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "Bread and Circuses," "Journey to Babel," "A Private Little War," "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "Obsession," "The Immunity Syndrome," "A Piece of the Action," "By Any Other Name"), and #23 ("Patterns of Force"). So I think it's likely that it was that block of nine consecutive episodes that he missed due to The Green Berets, and the other two were just episodes where he wasn't needed.

 

[Keith1701]

^Actually the first episode produced in season 2 was "Catspaw." "Amok Time" was shot fifth, but was aired first because the network wanted to lead off with a Spock-centric episode.

In production order, the episodes Takei missed were #9 of the season ("The Apple"), #13-21 inclusive ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "Bread and Circuses," "Journey to Babel," "A Private Little War," "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "Obsession," "The Immunity Syndrome," "A Piece of the Action," "By Any Other Name"), and #23 ("Patterns of Force"). So I think it's likely that it was that block of nine consecutive episodes that he missed due to The Green Berets, and the other two were just episodes where he wasn't needed.

Thank You, so much, I was confessed what George was saying on interviews about Walter on Season 1 DVD's.

With STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS less than a week away, I'm not sure that I will finish with TOS before May 17.

 

[MarsWeeps]

I heard that he would've played in "Gamesters" instead of Koenig if he hadn't been filming The Green Berets.

 

[GameOn]

With STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS less than a week away, I'm not sure that I will finish with TOS before May 17.

I rewatched TOS earlier this year and season 3 felt like a real grind. I'd suggest just watching the better episodes first then watching the others later on.

 

[T'Girl]

In production order, the episodes Takei missed were #9 of the season ("The Apple"), #13-21 inclusive ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "Bread and Circuses," "Journey to Babel," "A Private Little War," "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "Obsession," "The Immunity Syndrome," "A Piece of the Action," "By Any Other Name"), and #23 ("Patterns of Force").

I wonder, in how many of those episodes would Takei's character have had more than a (typically) minimal role in? I think he would have been wrong for the Chekov scenes in 'Apple and 'Tribbles, although he could have been added to the bar fight in 'Tribbles.

But I can see him replacing Walter Koenig and being a better choice in 'Gamesters. It would be interesting to see Sulu's reaction to Tamoon's line "If my Provider is pleased, we may even be selected for each other."

In 'Syndrome either actor could have done equally well in the Chekov scenes.

In the rest of the noted episodes, Takei participation would have been slight.

 

[Valin]

^Actually the first episode produced in season 2 was "Catspaw." "Amok Time" was shot fifth, but was aired first because the network wanted to lead off with a Spock-centric episode.

In production order, the episodes Takei missed were #9 of the season ("The Apple"), #13-21 inclusive ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "Bread and Circuses," "Journey to Babel," "A Private Little War," "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "Obsession," "The Immunity Syndrome," "A Piece of the Action," "By Any Other Name"), and #23 ("Patterns of Force"). So I think it's likely that it was that block of nine consecutive episodes that he missed due to The Green Berets, and the other two were just episodes where he wasn't needed.

I would have liked to hear Sulu's comeback to Scotty in "The Trouble with Tribbles" : "Scotch was invented by a little old lady in Tokyo."

 

[Botany Bay]

I always felt George was very lucky to get his seat back seeing the show was under enormous budgetary pressure at this point, and the ship seemed to sail on just fine without him for six months.

You have to give a lot of credit to Roddenberry, Justman and the newly appointed producer Lucas for letting him come back in the circumstances.

 

[Garrovick]

^Actually the first episode produced in season 2 was "Catspaw." "Amok Time" was shot fifth, but was aired first because the network wanted to lead off with a Spock-centric episode.

In production order, the episodes Takei missed were #9 of the season ("The Apple"), #13-21 inclusive ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "Bread and Circuses," "Journey to Babel," "A Private Little War," "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "Obsession," "The Immunity Syndrome," "A Piece of the Action," "By Any Other Name"), and #23 ("Patterns of Force"). So I think it's likely that it was that block of nine consecutive episodes that he missed due to The Green Berets, and the other two were just episodes where he wasn't needed.

"I, Mudd" was produced immediately before "Tribbles" - George Takei does appear in the early part of the episode which was set on the Enterprise, but he doesn't appear at all once they beam down to the planet. I often wondered if perhaps he had to leave for "The Green Berets" during the shooting of this episode and thus only appeared in the Enterprise scenes (assuming those scenes were the first to be shot). I know that any given episode is not filmed in the order that it is shown, but in this case I figured that, since there are no other scenes on the Enterprise after the first act, those scenes might have been shot first.

 

[Christopher]

^It's logical that the scenes on the standing sets would've shot first, since that would've allowed more time for building the new sets.

 

[JoeD80]

I always felt George was very lucky to get his seat back seeing the show was under enormous budgetary pressure at this point, and the ship seemed to sail on just fine without him for six months.

You have to give a lot of credit to Roddenberry, Justman and the newly appointed producer Lucas for letting him come back in the circumstances.

One works these things out with the producers beforehand. Takei still had a contract with them; he had to come back.

Same thing as with Colm Meaney on DS9. They gave him time off for films every year because he asked for it.

 

[feek61]

I believe that the shooting for GB was broken-up due to weather and GT had to go back for shooting. I think his leave from TOS may have been split but I have not looked at the episodes to confirm that but I did read that in a GB article some years back.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, like I said, he was absent from one isolated episode, then back for three, then gone for nine in a row, then back for one, then gone for one. So if The Green Berets did have a break in shooting and Takei had to return, then one of his two shooting periods must've been pretty brief.

 

[Noname Given]

I always felt George was very lucky to get his seat back seeing the show was under enormous budgetary pressure at this point, and the ship seemed to sail on just fine without him for six months.

You have to give a lot of credit to Roddenberry, Justman and the newly appointed producer Lucas for letting him come back in the circumstances.

What cracks me up about Mr. Takei is his constant:

"Star Trek was soooo wonderful, and such high quality; I'd never leave it if I had a choice; where's my 'Captain Sulu series?...et al..."

Because let's face it; overall he didn't have that big a role in The Green Berets (and I'm not at all faulting him for taking the role as it could have been a big boost to his overall acting career; and that's why he jumped at it); but he always acts like he was with Star Trek (TOS) front to back from day one; and rarely spontaneously mentions , "Oh yeah, I took about half of the second season off from Star Trek to go film The Green Berets with John Wayne..."

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

What cracks me up about Mr. Takei is his constant:

"Star Trek was soooo wonderful, and such high quality; I'd never leave it if I had a choice; where's my 'Captain Sulu series?...et al..."

Because let's face it; overall he didn't have that big a role in The Green Berets (and I'm not at all faulting him for taking the role as it could have been a big boost to his overall acting career; and that's why he jumped at it); but he always acts like he was with Star Trek (TOS) front to back from day one; and rarely spontaneously mentions , "Oh yeah, I took about half of the second season off from Star Trek to go film The Green Berets with John Wayne..."

He has to say he was loyal to TOS, as it keeps his ability to milk his connection alive. Rest assured, if The Green Berets boosted his career, one of two things might have happened:

1. He returns to TOS, and makes unreasonable demands for more lines ("wweellll, I AM climbing the ladderrrrrr, so it would be in your best interests to write episodes focusing on Suluuuu. Oh, and get rid of that guy from The Monkees. He annoys mmeeee!").

2. He bails from the series, tries his hand at being a "star" for a few years, but in the event he never turned into a strong B-lister, he would crawl back to TOS associations, right around the time of its big syndication/convention revival, and claim he was loyal all along.

 

[JoeD80]

I don't get the "either/or" mentality. It's perfectly normal to film two things at once and enjoy them both. Easy for Takei to support TOS even while on other projects. One experience doesn't detract from the other.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I don't get the "either/or" mentality. It's perfectly normal to film two things at once and enjoy them both. Easy for Takei to support TOS even while on other projects. One experience doesn't detract from the other.

The "either / or" discussion exists because it is not uncommon for TV stars to shoot a movie, and if they make an impresson, demand more from their series, or leave thinking they have hit the career jackpot.

 

[marksound]

Funny, I never noticed Takei wasn't in those episodes.

 

[Christopher]

I don't get the "either/or" mentality. It's perfectly normal to film two things at once and enjoy them both. Easy for Takei to support TOS even while on other projects. One experience doesn't detract from the other.

Exactly. Unless you're a series regular (which, remember, Takei wasn't), you can't make a living as an actor without taking multiple jobs. It's common for recurring cast members on one series to take gigs on other series during its run.

In fact, let me research that -- other acting jobs by TOS main cast during TOS's run.

Shatner: Gunsmoke episode "Quaker Girl"; movie White Comanche; CBS Playhouse episode "Shadow Game"; TV movie The Skirts of Happy Chance.

Nimoy, Kelley: None I can find.

Doohan: Iron Horse premiere episode "Rail Runs West"; Jericho (1966) episode "Eric the Redhead"; movie Jigsaw. (IMDb also credits him playing a recurring chauffeur on Peyton Place at the time, but Wikipedia seems to say he only played the role before TOS and the character was then recast.)

Nichols: Tarzan 2-parter "The Deadly Silence"; movie Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!

Takei: Mission: Impossible episode "The Carriers"; Felony Squad episode "A Blueprint for Dying"; movies The Big Mouth and The Green Berets; It Takes a Thief episode "To Catch a Roaring Lion."

Koenig: Mannix episode "Delayed Action."

Barrett: Please Don't Eat the Daisies episode "Just While You're Resting"; movies A Guide for the Married Man and Track of Thunder; The Second Hundred Years episode "Remember the Maine"; Here Come the Brides episode "Lovers and Wanderers."

Okay, so Takei did more guest appearances elsewhere than most. But considering how few Asian-American actors there were in the business at the time, it stands to reason that each of them would've been in fairly heavy demand.

 

[T'Girl]

Nichols: Tarzan 2-parter "The Deadly Silence"; movie Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!

While I've never been able to independently confirm this, Nichols supposedly had a on-going singing career a the time. The way I heard the story, she would do her day work on Star Trek, then be a lounge singer in the evening.

True, or idle convention talk ... hard to say.