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George Takei To Play Star Trek's Sulu Again
Tycoon Guy writes "TrekToday reports that George Takei has agreed to play Hikaru Sulu in an upcoming episode of the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages. He's the second actor from the original Star Trek series to come onboard; another episode will feature Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov. And here's what really makes this news great: Takei's episode will be written by none other than David Gerrold, the SF writer who also brought us Star Trek's Tribbles."
Yeah, I was pretty impressed also with George. He can certainly take a joke and that laugh of his is totally infectious.
He was also very forthright and VERY open about his personal life. Something you just don't see in other actors much. You could tell that Stern was trying to rattle him with all kinds of questions, but George didn't falter at all. Good for him.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
TOS is dead. TNG is maybe dead. ENT is certainly dead. But people like Star Trek, and a new series would be welcomed by the audience, if it was good enough. The problem is not that the world is tired of Star Trek, the problem is that the last Star Trek series were not that good as the first ones (TOS and TNG). I agree with those guys at startrek.com that it is time for a new Star Trek series, in the style of TNG, with new actors and a new ship, set 20-30 years after TNG. Most of the galaxy is still unexplored!
I hear people say this stuff all the time about Roddenberry. "The franchise lost its soul" and so on. Pure crap. The problem is that everyone remembers the good episodes from TOS in years 1 and 2 and forgets the bad ones from year 3. _Spock's Brain_ anyone? TOS was going downhill badly in season 3 and Roddenberry didn't care. In fact, he is responsible for some of the low points in TOS history, such as the episode where Spock first talks about "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" (IDIC), which was little more than a badly disguised way to sell some IDIC trinkets and pocket some cash. Roddenberry was often all about the money, which is something his fans overlook.
:-) is so revered by some here.
To be blunt, the first year of _The Next Generation_ is terrible. Have any of you seen those episodes recently? They are often appallingly bad. Folks, the truth is that TNG didn't get better until Roddenberry started having less and less to do with it and it hit its peak after he died. For those of you who really liked _Deep Space Nine_, the series would have been absolutely impossible in that form had Roddenberry lived, since he would have strenuously objected to the religious aspects of the show. He was very proud of being an atheist and although it's kind of subtle in TOS and just below the surface in TNG, he viewed the future as a place where religion had no place. Given the general hostility in Slashdot to religion, no doubt that plays some role in why "Saint Roddenberry"