Sulu's partial absence due to John Wayne

[Melakon]

I think George Takei was great as Sulu and did fine work, though sometimes I thought he needed another take. I've seen him more than once at conventions and he's terrific with an audience.

Then he got to chance to do a John Wayne movie during hiatus, and you can't blame him for wanting to get the exposure in a feature next to a Big Movie Star. But the shoot ran long due to bad weather and he was late getting back to Star Trek.

So he gets back, and all of a sudden there's this new guy sitting next to him getting lines that used to be his, he has to share a dressing room with this interloper, and in the final indignity, they have to share the same script copy.

I know George has discussed these feelings he had it about it all, but does he acknowledge how lucky he was Star Trek even let him come back to the show? I can understand Roddenberry letting him back on in Season 2, but I'm almost surprised Frieberger didn't cut him. Not due to George's work, but Frieberger's tendency to try different things salvaging a series. They could have said take a walk, we're giving Walter more attention this year.

 

[Maurice]

Roddenberry may have been an absentee landlord in Season 3, but he was still calling the major shots, so Frieberger would have have to go to Gene to get permission to dump any of the regular cast, day players or not.

 

[Botany Bay]

Whoever decided to let him come back deserves a lot of credit. He was probably lucky to be allowed to return given the budgetary situation, the poor ratings, and his character doing basically nothing of note for a whole year.

Can't blame George for taking the movie role though. After Roddenberry handed things over to Coon mid-season one, Sulu's lines really got reduced to near nothing. Coon seemed to prefer giving Scotty, and later, Chekov, more time in the spotlight.

Never knew about George having to share a script copy. That budget sure was tight!

 

[2takesfrakes]

I know nothing about the Animated Series, so I looked it up, a little bit, and found out that Leonard Nimoy discovered that FILMATION was only interested in hiring the Big 3. He told them that he wouldn't sign on, unless they took on George and Nichelle, at least, because it was they who brought the ethnic diversity to STAR TREK - and by extension, to a somewhat lesser degree - all white television. And this couldn't have been more true for George Takei, than during The Original Series.

George has even stated it, himself, that "STAR TREK used me and I used STAR TREK." So, I doubt - very seriously - that he ever felt his job was threatened by Walter Keonig. Even before Chekov came on the scene, though, Shatner still had his contractual stipulations, making him the #1 star of the show, which had already forced George and Nichelle into the background.

And it's common knowledge that Takei didn't want to be in STAR TREK II, for sure, because he was concerned about his image and didn't want to keep playing the villiage idiot who drove the bus, all the time. So, they wrote that dialogue for him, in the shuttle, talking about his upcoming Captaincy and that hit the cutting room floor. He eventually became Captain, of course and, somehow, a Family Man ... all very strange additions, when it was past the point of making any difference, really, one way or the other.

Again, I suspect strongly that George wasn't confused about having been established on STAR TREK and never felt threatened by Walter, in any way. Unfortunately, George just didn't have the chops to make it outside of STAR TREK. Thank Providence for those early conventions, in Hotel Lobbies and so forth ... keeping food on the table.

 

[Melakon]

Roddenberry may have been an absentee landlord in Season 3, but he was still calling the major shots, so Frieberger would have have to go to Gene to get permission to dump any of the regular cast, day players or not.

That's a good point, and I did consider it, but wasn't sure how much control Freddie had.

I suppose if George's job was on the line, Shatner and/or Nimoy would have gone to bat for him too.

 

[Christopher]

So he gets back, and all of a sudden there's this new guy sitting next to him getting lines that used to be his, he has to share a dressing room with this interloper, and in the final indignity, they have to share the same script copy.

Well, that's not quite right, since Takei's filming break for The Green Berets didn't begin until nearly halfway through season 2. He was in all but one of the first dozen episodes filmed that season, and worked with Koenig in seven of them. So he had time to get acquainted with the new guy before his three-month break.

Takei seems to recall the filming as taking place during the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2 and that his return was delayed, judging from the references I can find online, but the evidence doesn't back that up. His absence was from episodes 13 to 21 inclusive, in production order (though he was also missing from episodes 9 and 23). Perhaps it wasn't that the shoot ran long, but rather that he was called back for additional filming several months later. I found this earlier TrekBBS post asserting that there was a delay due to weather, but I haven't found anything to back it up.

 

[Cyke101]

Never knew about George having to share a script copy. That budget sure was tight!

Futurama had a funny and relatively obscure joke about it, too, so only a few people would get it. Melllvar made *almost* enough copies of his fan script for both the Planet Express and the TOS crews, but Koenig and Takei had to share the last copy. They were not happy

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

I had the good fortune to be a guest artist at a comic book convention back in the 80's seated next to Takei (I believe it was after Star Trek III). It was fascinating to see him operate up close to the visitors to the table, signing autographs and such. He really greeted and spoke to each person as individuals, not just spouting boiler plate comments and such. Quite an energetic individual, he was. I was very impressed!

A funny thing too, at the end: he had borrowed a pen from one of the guys with us, and as Takei walked off into the crowd, the guy called to George and said "Hey, you've got my pen!". Apparently George hadn't quite heard what he said, and Takei just turned back to him and turned on this big smile and kept on going, pen and all.

 

[Hober Mallow]

And it's common knowledge that Takei didn't want to be in STAR TREK II, for sure, because he was concerned about his image and didn't want to keep playing the villiage idiot who drove the bus, all the time.

Wasn't he running for political office around this time?

 

[2takesfrakes]

According to Wikipedia:
"Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley appointed Takei to the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District, making him part of the team that initiated and planned the Los Angeles subway system. Takei was called away from the set of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1978 to cast the tie-breaking vote for the creation of the Los Angeles subway system. He served on the board from 1973 to 1984."

 

[GSchnitzer]

And it's common knowledge that Takei didn't want to be in STAR TREK II, for sure, because he was concerned about his image and didn't want to keep playing the villiage idiot who drove the bus, all the time.

Wasn't he running for political office around this time?

George's birthday is still a couple of weeks away, but this post describes George's two ill-fated forays into Southern California electoral politics.

http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/?p=2620

 

[Botany Bay]

Interesting. A classy decision to withdraw from the 1980 race to protect his old colleagues' residuals.

He came awfully close in '73 didn't he?

While disappointing for Takei, his lack of success meant he was available for the TOS films. It wouldn't have been the same without Sulu there.

A shame there was no social media back in those days. People I know who wouldn't even know what Star Trek is who follow him because they think he's just hilarious.

Happy Birthday, George

 

[HobartFloyt]

And here I thought Futurama was just going for a general joke about what happens to actors who aren't the leads. Shoulda known they had something specific behind that.

On another subject, like many superstars John Wayne had developed a retinue largely consisting of people he'd worked with over the years. It seems to me that Takei should have entered the Wayne orbit but did not, as shown by not doing any further work with Wayne or others of that group, and I wonder why. While yes, there would not have been many parts for an Asian actor at the time if Wayne had wanted it, it would have happened. We'll never know of course. About the only one who hasn't passed on is Takei himself and he isn't talking

 

[Christopher]

Considering that John Wayne thought he could plausibly play Genghis Khan, I don't think he was too concerned with ensuring that parts went to Asian actors.

 

[Melakon]

While George was playing Sulu on Star Trek, Victor Sen Yung was playing Hop Sing on Bonanza at the same time. Sen Yung's role was typical of the types of parts being offered to Asian actors at the time, as servants, houseboys, laundrymen, etc. If John Wayne had been making a western, he likely would have offered George one of those subservient roles that George didn't want to play.

 

[bbailey861]

So he gets back, and all of a sudden there's this new guy sitting next to him getting lines that used to be his, he has to share a dressing room with this interloper, and in the final indignity, they have to share the same script copy.

Well, that's not quite right, since Takei's filming break for "The Green Berets" didn't begin until nearly halfway through season 2. He was in all but one of the first dozen episodes filmed that season, and worked with Koenig in seven of them. So he had time to get acquainted with the new guy before his three-month break.

Takei seems to recall the filming as taking place during the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2 and that his return was delayed, judging from the references I can find online, but the evidence doesn't back that up. His absence was from episodes 13 to 21 inclusive, in production order (though he was also missing from episodes 9 and 23). Perhaps it wasn't that the shoot ran long, but rather that he was called back for additional filming several months later. I found this earlier TrekBBS post asserting that there was a delay due to weather, but I haven't found anything to back it up.

Fort Benning, Georgia was the stand-in for Vietnam and filming took place there from 9 Aug - 15 Nov, 1967. Additional scenes were filmed at the Warner lot in Dec 1967. I wish I has more detail on Takei's shoots, but it's reasonable to assume that he wasn't available for Star Trek for a great deal of the Aug-Nov period. With the above dates, it would be fairly easy to cross reference Trek productions. If he was needed in Dec, he may have been able to manage to squeeze in both - although I don't honestly know if either of the studios would have allowed it. Takei did a good job in his role of Captain Nim.

Considering that John Wayne thought he could plausibly play Genghis Khan, I don't think he was too concerned with ensuring that parts went to Asian actors.

Howard Hughes' production of "The Conquerer" was written with either Marlon Brando or Yul Brynner in mind for the title role of Genghis Khan. They both passed (although I think Brynner could have easily pulled it off) and Lord only knows why Duke wanted to do it. It wasn't one of his finer decisions. I can only guess that because John Wayne was peaking in popularity in '52, when it was originally planned to be filmed (filming finally did start in '54), that no matter what role he did would make it a memorable production. They were right in that regards - it was memorable - just not for the right reasons.

 

[Christopher]

Fort Benning, Georgia was the stand-in for Vietnam and filming took place there from 9 Aug - 15 Nov, 1967. Additional scenes were filmed at the Warner lot in Dec 1967. I wish I has more detail on Takei's shoots, but it's reasonable to assume that he wasn't available for Star Trek for a great deal of the Aug-Nov period. With the above dates, it would be fairly easy to cross reference Trek productions. If he was needed in Dec, he may have been able to manage to squeeze in both - although I don't honestly know if either of the studios would have allowed it.

The 9 consecutive episodes that Takei missed were filmed between mid-August and mid-November 1967. "Patterns of Force," from which he was also absent, was filmed in the first week of December '67. So that lines up perfectly. But it conflicts with the claim that Takei did the film in the hiatus between seasons 1 & 2, which would've been from late February to early May '67.

 

[bbailey861]

The 9 consecutive episodes that Takei missed were filmed between mid-August and mid-November 1967. "Patterns of Force," from which he was also absent, was filmed in the first week of December '67. So that lines up perfectly. But it conflicts with the claim that Takei did the film in the hiatus between seasons 1 & 2, which would've been from late February to early May '67.

I have no doubt it's simply a case of age related mis-remembering. I am only in my 50's, yet I'm told that particular affliction affects me from time to time. At least that's what my kids and wife tell me, anyway.

 

[Keith1701]

Considering that John Wayne thought he could plausibly play Genghis Khan, I don't think he was too concerned with ensuring that parts went to Asian actors.

You might be right on this point.

 

[Christopher]

I have no doubt it's simply a case of age related mis-remembering. I am only in my 50's, yet I'm told that particular affliction affects me from time to time. At least that's what my kids and wife tell me, anyway.

And it's a natural enough thing to misremember, since it would be more typical for a series (semi)regular to shoot a movie in the hiatus between seasons rather than during a season. Maybe it was supposed to be in the hiatus, but the film's production delays changed that.