star trek sulu fencing

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Hikaru Sulu

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Hikaru Sulu was a male Human who served as a Starfleet officer during the latter half of the 23rd century and into the early 24th century . Over a period of four decades , Sulu served aboard at least three different Federation starships , including the USS Enterprise , and the USS Enterprise -A , before finally becoming the commanding officer of the USS Excelsior . ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before "; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

• 1 Early history
• 2.1.6 2270s
• 2.2 Serving at Starfleet Training Command
• 2.3 Stealing the Enterprise
• 2.4 Traveling back to 1986
• 2.5 Service aboard the Enterprise -A
• 2.6 Commanding the USS Excelsior
• 4.1 Skills and hobbies
• 5.1.1 Pavel Chekov
• 5.1.2 Nyota Uhura
• 5.2 Love interests
• 6 Key dates
• 7 Memorable quotes
• 8.1 Appearances
• 8.2 Background information
• 8.3.1 Name origins
• 8.3.2 Heritage
• 8.4 Apocrypha
• 8.5 External links

Early history [ ]

San Francisco , Sulu's birthplace, as viewed in 1986 .

Sulu was born in San Francisco , California on Earth during the second quarter of the 23rd century. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; TOS : " That Which Survives ")

During the late 2250s or early 2260s , Sulu attended Starfleet Academy in which he underwent pilot training. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Starfleet career [ ]

Service aboard the enterprise [ ].

Sulu in 2265

Sulu began serving aboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk in 2265 . ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ") He began in the sciences division serving as the department head for Astrosciences .

That year, he was present on the bridge as the Enterprise prepared to cross the galactic barrier . Following the ship's encounter with the barrier, he attended the staff meeting to discuss the effects it had on Gary Mitchell as well as Mitchell's acquisition of new mental abilities . There, Sulu briefed that " if you want the mathematics of this, Mitchell's ability is increasing geometrically . That is, like having a penny , doubling it every day . In a month , you'll be a millionaire . " ( TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ")

By 2266 , Lieutenant Sulu was a command division officer on the Enterprise , and was the senior helmsman . ( TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ")

That year, Sulu announced contact with an object approaching the Enterprise at light speed , and attempted several evasive maneuvers before sounding condition alert and calling the captain to the bridge. After destroying the object, he attended a department heads meeting in the briefing room where they discussed their findings. As the encounter ensued, he coordinated with the engineering decks .

Shortly after the Enterprise destroyed the object, Kirk later noted that his times were slow, and recommended they program and repeat a series of simulated attacks and evasion maneuvers until they were proficient. As the training continued, Sulu interrupted and announced that a new, larger object (about a mile in diameter) was approaching. He subsequently had to carry out several orders that Kirk issued to then- navigator Dave Bailey , as Bailey was so shocked by the alien presence he wasn't responsive to commands.

As the contentious encounter continued, Sulu counted down the minutes to a threatened destruction of the Enterprise which turned out to be a bluff threat posed by the commander of the second object. After Kirk used his own bluff, the second object turned out to actually be a disguise for the much smaller First Federation starship Fesarius , under the command of an alien named Balok . Sulu ultimately witnessed the departure of the first of several navigators to leave after having sat next to him, as Bailey ended up volunteering to stay with Balok as the first representative of the United Federation of Planets to the First Federation. ( TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ")

In early 2266, Sulu, like the rest of the ship's male crew, became infatuated with Mudd's women , due to the influences they conveyed from taking the Venus drug . ( TOS : " Mudd's Women ")

Sulu nearly freezing to death on Alfa 177

Sulu was included in a six-man landing party that conducted a survey mission on the planet Alfa 177 . While there, he grew fond of a dog-like animal , but also complained of the planet's temperature, noting initially how it was "nippy". Due to the Enterprise 's transporter malfunctioning (which killed the creature), however, he, Leslie , and two other technicians had to stay a long while on the planet's frigid surface.

As the surface temperature dipped to twenty degrees below zero, he reported back to the Enterprise that he couldn't " exactly call it balmy, " as the thermal heaters that were transported to the surface for them to use did not function.

At forty-one below zero, Sulu inquired if Captain Kirk could maybe " find a long rope somewhere and lower us down a pot of hot coffee ? " before adding, " rice wine will do, if you're short on coffee. "

As the temperature reached seventy-five below zero, Sulu used his phaser to heat nearby rocks . He then decided to " give room service another call, " because the " coffee's taking too long. " When Kirk answered the call directly, Sulu took that a " hot line direct to the Captain, " gave him the indication to inquire " Are we that far gone? " Kirk assured him that he gave the rest of the crew the afternoon off and that he was simply " watching the store , " before asking how landing party was doing down there. Sulu explained that they were doing " lovely, except that the frost is building up, " and that they were " using hand phasers to heat the rocks, " and that one of their four phasers had already quit. Sulu further pleaded to know if there was " any possibility of getting us back aboard before the skiing season opens down here? " Spock , who had just entered the conversation, told him to begin survival procedures , which Sulu understood as being from Spock's training program .

As time continued to press on, the surface temperature reached one hundred seventeen below zero, and leaving Sulu with little hope of further survival. The conditions made it no longer possible to clearly read the top indicator of the communicator as the cold was starting to penetrate it, befofe his near to final words reported that there were " two men unconscious . No time. No. Can't wait. No time. "

Not long after this, the ship's transporter system was repaired, and Sulu and the three others were beamed safely back to the ship, with each suffering from severe exposure and frostbite that Doctor McCoy was later able to treat. ( TOS : " The Enemy Within ")

Sulu's prized animate carnivorous plant , Gertrude .

A particularly bizarre experience Sulu had to face early in his time as the Enterprise 's chief helmsman happened when he wasn't even on the bridge . One day, Sulu was working on his hobby of botany in the ship's botany section when Yeoman Janice Rand came in with a tray of a food for the lieutenant, followed by a bizarrely acting crewman, Green .

Sulu became puzzled by the crewman's arrival causing a frenzied reaction in a carnivorous plant , whom he called Gertrude , whose response prompted Green to quickly exit. Sulu, along with Rand, subsequently discovered the reason that the plant had acted the way it had, when they found Barnhart dead in a corridor with blotches on his face and all the salt drained out of his body; it turned out the version of Green they had seen earlier was a shape-shifting M-113 creature , which was killed a short time later. ( TOS : " The Man Trap ")

Sulu as D'Artagnan when he was infected with the polywater intoxication .

In 2266, Sulu and the then-navigator Lieutenant Kevin Riley came under the effects of the Psi 2000 polywater intoxication after being exposed while they both tried to prevent Lieutenant junior grade Joe Tormolen from stabbing himself with a table knife in the recreation room . A bit later, Sulu left his helm post to go practice fencing . Unfortunately the intoxication just built into him to the point where he started fancying himself as the reincarnation of D'Artagnan , imperiling crew members in the corridors with a fencing foil.

This got so out of hand that he went back to the bridge that he assumed and needed to confront Kirk as Richelieu . Sulu even took Uhura under his "protection" as a "fair maiden". (Uhura told him, "Sorry, neither" and was able to break free of Sulu's grasp.) After Spock subdued Sulu with a Vulcan nerve pinch , Sulu was taken by two crewmen to sickbay . The majority of the rest of the crew became infected with the polywater intoxication until McCoy found an antidote to the intoxication, which worked on Sulu and he returned to duty. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Sulu was part of a landing party that investigated an uncharted planet , in the Omicron Delta region , that seemed perfect for shore leave , with McCoy telling Sulu the planet looked like a place out of Alice in Wonderland . But then McCoy saw first, a giant White Rabbit immediately followed by a little girl , both of whom spoke and dressed just as McCoy imagined characters from Alice in Wonderland would do. A short time later Sulu thought of an old-fashioned .38 police special revolver and ended up finding one just lying on the ground and he also took practice shots with it startling temporarily other landing party members.

Soon all of the landing party started having encounters with things and people that they thought of in their imaginations, including two people from Kirk's past. Sulu was attacked by a samurai warrior and also briefly chased by a Bengal tiger and strafed by a Second World War Japanese Zero aircraft . A short time later, a roughed-up Kirk ordered the landing party to stop thinking and talking. Fortunately a few minutes after that, an older man appeared and explained that the planet was designed as an " amusement park " and he was the Keeper of the planet.

The planet was not meant to be hostile and the results of one's fantasies are not permanent. Then McCoy appeared alive, and healed, with two cabaret girls from Rigel II on both of his arms (making Yeoman Barrows jealous, so he handed one off to Sulu and the other to Spock, with McCoy going to spend time on vacation with Barrows.) With the crises past, Kirk then ordered shore leave for the whole entire crew of the Enterprise on the planet. ( TOS : " Shore Leave ")

In 2267, Sulu, then Kirk, suddenly vanished from the bridge as the Enterprise was investigating a rogue planet composed of iron - silica . It turned out they had been abducted off the bridge by a being named Trelane , who considered himself the squire of the planet Gothos , but was in reality nothing but a willful child who was later scolded by his parents for not treating his pets, the Humans, with respect. Unfortunately before that happened, Trelane, yet again, plucked Sulu and then the rest of the bridge crew, from the bridge, and took them to Gothos. Fortunately a short time later, Kirk was able to dispatch of Trelane and his parents took him away from the Humans. ( TOS : " The Squire of Gothos ")

Sulu assuming command of the Enterprise , for the first time, from the helm while in combat with the Gorn

Due to his experience as a combat officer , in 2267 , Sulu assumed an authoritative role on the Enterprise bridge . Sulu was occasionally placed in temporary command of the ship. ( TOS : " Arena ", " Errand of Mercy ", " Spock's Brain ", " The Savage Curtain "; TAS : " The Jihad ")

An early instance of when Sulu was in command of the Enterprise , while still remaining at his post at the helm, was when the ship engaged the Gorn starship while they were in orbit above the Federation observation outpost on Cestus III . ( TOS : " Arena ")

Kirk and Sulu retrieving the evidence of Captain John Christopher 's encounter with an " UFO "

Following the Enterprise 's accidental transport back to 1969 from 2267, he assisted Captain Kirk in infiltrating the US Air Force US 498th Airbase Group in Omaha , Nebraska where they successfully retrieved photographic evidence of the Enterprise , after it was visually contacted by Air Force Captain John Christopher . ( TOS : " Tomorrow is Yesterday ")

For a short time Sulu fell under the mind control of the computer Landru on the planet Beta III , until Kirk and Spock were able to destroy the computer which allowed Scott to inform them that Sulu had returned to his normal reliable self. ( TOS : " The Return of the Archons ")

It was around this time that the Enterprise acquired a new chief navigator after having several that either had left due to other assignments or health reasons. That new chief navigator was young Ensign Pavel Chekov . Chekov remained primary navigator until the end of the first half of 2269 . Chekov also took over the duty of tactical officer from Sulu. The two became lifelong friends. ( TOS : " Catspaw ", " Space Seed ", " I, Mudd "; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Sulu and the rest of the Enterprise crew were overcome by the effects of the pod plants ' spores on the planet Omicron Ceti III . Along with rest of the crew, Sulu desired to leave Starfleet to live on the planet, but was cured of the spores, as the rest of the crew was, and he resumed his duties. ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ")

Sulu takes command of the Enterprise during the encounter with the Klingons .

The second time Sulu took temporary command was when Kirk and Spock were on the planet Organia and the Enterprise nearly went to battle with the Klingons. But the real non-corporeal Organians weren't going to allow a battle and immobilized both sides' forces causing on the Enterprise that all consoles and people became too hot to touch – including the captain's chair that Sulu was sitting in. ( TOS : " Errand of Mercy ")

Sulu's command console explodes in his face in 2267 .

Sulu was nearly injured when a technical malfunction caused the helm console to overload and explode in his face. Sulu was shocked unconscious by the explosion. McCoy diagnosed a heart flutter and gave him a dose of cordrazine via hypospray, after which Sulu recovered. ( TOS : " The City on the Edge of Forever ")

Sulu was attacked and thrown out of his helm seat by Spock when Spock raged out of control due to the effects of one of the flying parasites that had invaded the planet Deneva . Sulu recovered from this attack from the first officer and Spock were soon free of the parasite's influence. ( TOS : " Operation -- Annihilate! ")

On another planet, Pyris VII , a short time later, Sulu fell under the mind control of an alien named Sylvia and Sulu nearly killed Kirk and Spock until Kirk was able to destroy Sylvia's power source. ( TOS : " Catspaw ")

When the being Apollo jammed all power sources on the Enterprise , Sulu was able to rig all transmission circuits for maximum power generation. This eventually lead the ship to be allowed to destroy, with phasers, Apollo's strange radiated power source, his temple , which broke the ship free of his hold on them. ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")

Sulu listening to Chekov complaining

Sulu was one of many of the bridge crew who were thrown violently about when the Enterprise encountered and engaged the probe Nomad , and later in the year 2267, the planet killer . ( TOS : " The Doomsday Machine ", " The Changeling ")

When the Jack the Ripper entity took control of the Enterprise computer, Kirk ordered McCoy to have tranquilizers administered, to the entire crew, via hypospray to keep them calm. The tranquilizers definitely worked on Sulu because his main inquiry about the entity afterwards was, " Whoever he is, he sure talks gloomy? " And when Kirk told the bridge crew to not be afraid, Sulu responded with, " With an armful of this stuff ... I wouldn't be afraid of a supernova ! " ( TOS : " Wolf in the Fold ")

When the Enterprise was temporarily placed under the control of the M-5 computer as part of an experiment by Dr. Richard Daystrom , Sulu was one of twenty officers selected by the computer for the series of M-5 drills . ( TOS : " The Ultimate Computer ")

In 2268 , Sulu was again in temporary command of the Enterprise when they discovered the thought to be abandoned USS Exeter in orbit around the planet Omega IV . Instead it turned our that all of the Exeter 's crew, except Captain Ronald Tracey were dead from a virus that turned them into their base minerals that they contracted on the planet. The away team of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lieutenant Galloway beamed down to the planet to investigate further and Captain Tracey informed them they couldn't go back to the Enterprise because their ship's crew would be infected.

This information from Tracey was later discovered by McCoy to be untrue. Then the mission became to stop Tracey from interfering with the society on the planet which was in a clear violation of the Prime Directive of the Federation. Tracey also made it very difficult to the landing party to stay in contact with the Enterprise when he had their communicators confiscated and then hidden from them. Fortunately, a short time later, Spock was able to get a native of the planet to help him get a message to Sulu, via one of the communicators, to beam down with Lieutenant Leslie and another security officer to arrest Captain Tracey. ( TOS : " The Omega Glory ")

When the essence of the alien Henoch was in possession of Spock's body he terrorized Uhura, inflicting tremendous pain on her. Sulu started to turn around to protest and Henoch turned to him and said, " Must I make an example of you too, helm? " Sulu them backed down, but fortunately for the crew they didn't have to deal with Henoch much more after that. ( TOS : " Return to Tomorrow ")

Sulu and the rest of the bridge crew under the mind control of the Starnes children.

In 2268, after the Starnes Exploration Party children were brought aboard the Enterprise from the planet Triacus , no one on board knew that the children were under the influence of the alien Gorgan , who had given the children the ability of mind control. This mind control had already caused the deaths of the children's parents and was the way in which Gorgan hoped to achieve galactic dominance by way of other children. The children used their mind control on Sulu, Chekov and Uhura to make them believe that the Enterprise was still orbiting Triacus, when in actuality Sulu and Chekov had set course for Marcus XII , the intended next target for Gorgan.

This also caused Kirk, unaware of the change of course and departure from the orbit of Triacus, to have two crewmen have their molecules beamed into and spread throughout space and to their deaths. Kirk called Sulu from the transporter room to inquire about the change of course, but Sulu insisted the ship was still in orbit around Triacus despite clear evidence to the contrary seen by Kirk and Spock. After Kirk arrived on the bridge and tried to shake Sulu from the mind control, Gorgan appeared there and urged the children to up the level of the mind control. That's when Tommy Starnes planted in Sulu's mind the image of if the Enterprise diverted course away from Marcus XII, the ship would be destroyed by any number of swords that were formed in rings around the ship. Sulu was freed from the mind control once the children were freed from the influence of Gorgan. ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ")

Sulu was rendered unconscious by the Eymorg Kara when she boarded the Enterprise and used her control bracelet in order to steal Spock's brain . He was later part of the bridge discussion, with Kirk, Chekov and Uhura, regarding where to look for Spock's brain, in the Sigma Draconis system , when it was stolen by Kara. ( TOS : " Spock's Brain ")

When Spock mind melded with Medusan Ambassador Kollos to guide the Enterprise back to normal space from being stranded in an uncharted void of the galaxy , by the then dead Larry Marvick , Spock-Kollos took over the helm console from Sulu and was assisted in the task by Chekov at navigation. Unfortunately Spock-Kollos forgot to put back on the visor, which caused Spock to go temporarily insane while still on the bridge. In this temporary insanity, he pushed very hard backwards, Sulu and Chekov, who were trying to help him with Sulu ending up being pushed into the Captain's chair on his rear end. Fortunately Sulu recovered quickly, and Spock did so as well, a short time after that. ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

Sulu ( first row, second from left ) attends Kirk's memorial service

When Kirk was trapped in the interphase of Tholian space aboard the USS Defiant and was thought possibly dead, Sulu attended Kirk's memorial service . Fortunately Kirk was beamed aboard the Enterprise a short time later, still alive. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

Sulu, Kirk, and McCoy in the Kalandan outpost 's central chamber with a likeness of Losira

Sulu was part of a four-man landing party that went to investigate an unusual planet whose size was approximately that of Luna , yet mass and atmosphere were similar to Earth and geologically was only a few thousand years older. But even before the landing party made it to the planet, they got to witness as they were in the process of beaming down a mysterious woman touch the shoulder of the transporter operator and killing him. But the mystery and danger didn't stop there. Shortly after the landing party beamed down to the planet, the planet was struck by an unusual and strong earthquake for a planet so young geologically.

Then senior geologist D'Amato said his tricorder registered an almost immeasurable powerful energy burst. Kirk couldn't raise the Enterprise with his communicator and Sulu discovered the Enterprise wasn't even in orbit anymore, effectively stranding them. Sulu and McCoy both tried to theorize what might have happened to the ship, with Sulu suggesting it blew up and McCoy suggesting it hit the planet. But Kirk rejected both theories due to the lack of residual radiation . The landing party became concerned because there was no sign of water, and only a virus-like plant parasite on the planet, and all the vegetation was poisonous to humans. The landing party split up to look for evidence of any other lifeform . Sulu's tricorder registered a sudden magnetic reading that quickly dissipated, as though a door was opening and closing. McCoy's medical tricorder registered a lifeform that was there one minute, then gone just a few minutes later.

Then Kirk tried to contact D'Amato but he got no answer so he informed McCoy and Sulu about D'Amato not answering and they went to go find him. When the three of them ran to where D'Amato was they found him on the ground dead. McCoy ran his medical tricorder over D'Amato's body and reported that all of D'Amato's cells had been disrupted from the inside. When Kirk attempted to use his phaser to dig a grave for the man, the surface of the planet withstood the force. Further tricorder readings revealed that the planet was an artificial body. A short time later, as night time approached, Kirk and McCoy tried to sleep, while Sulu stood first guard. Then the mysterious woman from the transporter room appeared and shut-off D'Amato's tricorder which was set for automatic distress. She then told Sulu that she was for him, by name, and she needed to touch him.

Sulu realized who she was and shot his phaser at her and that seemed to keep her back, but then Sulu's phaser started failing on him and he tripped on some rocks and she was able to touch Sulu's shoulder which made him scream out in pain. Kirk and McCoy came running and the woman insisted she still needed to touch Sulu, but Kirk wouldn't let her. The woman then touched Kirk, but nothing happened. Kirk asked her how she could destroy people, but the woman insisted she didn't want to destroy anyone, she then disappeared like a door closing. McCoy discovered that Sulu's shoulder had suffered from the same cellular disruption as had been evident in D'Amato's body. The three men realized that the woman's destructive power was directed at one person at a time.

When the woman reappeared the next morning she was there to touch and kill Kirk. Sulu and McCoy, acting as shields, were able to stop her from killing Kirk with him making several inquiries about her. She called herself Losira , the commander of this station , that killing was wrong but she must do so to defend the station although the people who once lived on the station were no more. Kirk sensed her confusion and loneliness but she suddenly disappeared as if a door was closing, yet again. The men then followed tricorder readings and found an underground door to the planet's central chamber. Once they got to the central chamber's computer room, three versions of Losira appeared with each threatening to touch and kill either Sulu, Kirk or McCoy.

Fortunately they held them off until Spock and Lieutenant Lemli beamed into the room, from a still surviving Enterprise , and Lemli used his phaser to destroy the computer which made the three images of Losira disappear saving Sulu, Kirk and McCoy. They then got to see a recorded image of Losira welcoming her fellow Kalandans to the colony and explained that it had been destroyed by a disease that they accidentally produced when they created the outpost and as the last survivor Losira did not believe she would survive until after help arrived and had set the station's defense mechanism on automatic, using images of herself to defend against other lifeforms. McCoy then surmised that the disease must have wiped out the whole entire Kalandan species, and the image of Losira was waiting for a people who had become extinct thousands of years ago. ( TOS : " That Which Survives ")

By 2269 , Sulu was recognized as a specialist in weapons and navigation . ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

That year, Sulu's ability to speak was affected when the Zetarians attacked the Enterprise as the ship was trying to reach Memory Alpha , with Sulu saying afterwards, " I couldn't utter a sound! " Apparently as helmsman, Sulu's speaking was considered by the Zetarians to be the most important part of Sulu's brain to render useless in him during the attack. Later while the landing party was on Memory Alpha , Sulu was left in charge of the bridge while taking orders from Kirk on the planetoid 's surface. ( TOS : " The Lights of Zetar ")

During the concert given on board the Enterprise for the crew by Dr. Sevrin 's followers in 2269, it was piped on to the bridge for the bridge crew to listen to. Sulu ended up tapping his fingers on the helm console and moving his head with the beat, until Scott gave him a stern look. Later, when Dr. Sevrin and his followers hijacked the Enterprise from auxiliary control and applied ultrasonics , Sulu was knocked out with the rest of the crew. Sulu slumped on the helm console when he passed out from the ultrasonics. He'd come to find out that Dr. Sevrin and his followers had stolen the shuttlecraft Galileo II and were headed into Romulan space to get to the planet " Eden " and during the process of hijacking had also stranded the Enterprise in the same Romulan space. Fortunately before the Romulans could discover that the Enterprise was there they found Dr. Sevrin's followers and saved them and got out of Romulan space. ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

Later that year, Sulu piloted the ship during a star charting mission on the far reaches of and the ship was pulled into a black star , Questar M-17 , due to its gravitational pull . Sulu told him that the helm wasn't answering due to hyper-gravity, and they were " ... two minutes right ascension off course and ... drifting farther, captain. " But that just made things worse, so Kirk ordered forward scanners on the star on the main viewscreen. Sulu then told Kirk that they were still falling towards the star, so Kirk ordered full reverse thrust. But that just made things even worse and the ship continued to fall towards the black star. So Kirk ordered Sulu to flank speed ahead to make orbit around the black star which did work. Sulu put them alongside of an ancient insectoid starship , after Kirk ordered it.

This marked Sulu's fourth time in temporary command, as he took over the captain's chair when Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott beamed over to investigate the long abandoned vessel. After the Enterprise initially lost contact with the landing party, he acknowledged transporter chief Kyle 's good work transporting the landing party off the ship. At the same time, however, an ancient magnetic organism returned to the Enterprise in the transporter beam along with the landing party.

As organism began to take over the Enterprise , Sulu reported that it had activated and targeted ship phasers before destroying the insectoid starship. Sulu noted that manual override didn't work. ( TAS : " Beyond the Farthest Star ")

Sulu doubled as the ship's tactical officer during the Enterprise 's defense of Mantilles against a large cloud creature that threatened the planet. ( TAS : " One of Our Planets Is Missing ")

Sulu again doubled as the ship's tactical officer during the Enterprise 's encounter with the IKS Devisor . He also had direct control of the robot grain ship 's that the Enterprise was escorting to Sherman's Planet , and was responsible for attempting to fly them into the Devisor during the last ditch effort to stop the Devisor . ( TAS : " More Tribbles, More Troubles ")

Sulu joined the landing party that investigated a newly discovered planet at the periphery of the Milky Way Galaxy , where he discovered and picked up an interesting mobile plant, called a retlaw plant . This mobile plant poisoned Sulu, with McCoy having trouble saving him. Fortunately the intelligent plant like beings who were native to this planet, they called Phylos, gave Sulu an antidote to the poison, which saved him. A short-time later, the landing party was attacked by flying plant creatures, with Sulu trying to shoot them with his phaser and failing to do so. ( TAS : " The Infinite Vulcan ")

After it was discovered by Lucien 's fellow Megans that the crew of the Enterprise was practicing magic in the alternate universe that the Megans resided in and their planet Megas-Tu was in, the crew of the ship, including Sulu, were transported off the ship and on the planet and were promptly put into 17th century style pillories as punishment. The crew, including Sulu, were in the Megans interpretation of 1691 Salem and were put on a similar Salem witch trial and were nearly put to death courtesy of Megan Asmodeus ' prosecuting legal tactics. Fortunately Spock, as a Vulcan defense counselor, pleaded successfully for the crew's release in that humanity had grown away from the hatred, fear and bigotry of 1691. ( TAS : " The Magicks of Megas-Tu ")

Sulu on the Shore Leave Planet in 2269 .

Near the end of 2269 Sulu suffered the first of two assaults by computers. And the first assault could be considered a series of them. Sulu was part of the first landing party that beamed down to the Shore Leave Planet when Kirk ordered shore leave for his crew. Everything seemed to be fine on the planet, with McCoy again seeing the white rabbit and Alice following him and Uhura finding time to sing near a lake, but then McCoy was looking at a stately ancient looking antebellum southern mansion and dreaming of mint juleps when he was taken out of his reverie by the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland and some card soldiers chasing after him with the Queen yelling, Off with his head! McCoy got away and Kirk had the landing party beamed back aboard demanding an explanation.

Then everyone noticed that Uhura had not beamed back. As it turned out, the master computer had kidnapped Uhura and was holding her hostage but at first no one could figure out why. Shortly after, Sulu, Kirk, Spock and McCoy beamed back down and discovered part of the reason as to why the master computer was acting up when the Keeper's headstone was found and it revealed that the Keeper had recently died. But still that didn't quite explain why the computer was acting the way it was and against it's protocols to be a relaxing amusement park for the visitors on shore leave and it even started attacking the Enterprise itself.

In trying to find away into the master computer's control room, the four men were chased into a cave by two pterodactyls and trapped in the cave for quite a few minutes by a giant Cheshire type cat . Then Spock formed an idea to make it appear through an injection as if he was near death, which did work and let Spock be taken into the underground master computer room and Kirk following but unfortunately McCoy and Sulu weren't as lucky. Then Sulu and McCoy were chased by a two-headed dragon . Fortunately for Sulu and McCoy this didn't last long as Uhura reasoned with the master computer that it was serving a useful need and also wasn't a servicing slaves (humans) of the so-called sky machines . With the crises gone, Sulu and McCoy settled down to a nice picnic with Alice, the white rabbit and the two-headed dragon. ( TAS : " Once Upon a Planet ")

McCoy with Kirk's assistance treating Sulu's broken right leg with a microscope laser when all of them were miniaturized.

After the Enterprise was struck by a flash of light, that Spock described as spiroid epsilon waves emanating from a planet in the Cepheus star system, the crew, including Sulu, started shrinking and was miniaturized to fingernail length at 1/16th of an inch . As the bridge crew continued to shrink and couldn't reach the various stations' controls, Kirk ordered them to improvise as best they could. Sulu and Arex had ladder stilts built for them to reach the controls. Sulu also got impatient and a bit angry and decided to solve their crises by firing phasers on the planet; he bent down to move the helm scanner to target the planet for maximum firing, but Kirk and Spock tried to stop him from doing so.

Whether Sulu heard them or not became a moot point when the arrow of the scanner hit him and he fell to the bridge floor, breaking his right leg. Kirk and Arex helped take him to sickbay. In sickbay McCoy was having a difficult time trying to set his leg, when Nurse Christine Chapel , who was fretting about them not being able to use the bone-knitting laser which was too large for them to use at that height, came up with an ingenious solution of using the microscope laser that was usually used to heal the inner ear to set and heal Sulu's right leg.

Chapel's idea did work and Sulu did heal. Later Sulu was part of the crew that helped to rescue the Terra 10 colonist 's mutated descendants from the unstable planet so they could be relocated to a more stable planet in the galaxy. Sulu was returned to normal height, along with the rest of the crew, by use of the transporter saving their original molecular structure in the pattern buffers . ( TAS : " The Terratin Incident ")

When the Enterprise went through the Delta Triangle space-time warp, Sulu, along with the rest of the crew suffered from temporary vertigo . ( TAS : " The Time Trap ")

Sulu, Uhura and McCoy in a vicious blizzard.

The last assault that happened to Sulu during the Enterprise 's original five-year mission also was the second one by a computer and this time it was the Enterprise computer itself that assaulted him and two other members of the crew. In the first few weeks of 2270, Captain Kirk hid the ship, from Romulan battle cruisers that were attacking, in a space energy cloud not realizing this would turn the ship's computer into a practical joker. Many practical jokes were played on various members of the crew.

To get away from the practical joker, Sulu, McCoy and Uhura decided to get themselves away in the holographic re-creation room. The computer played a series of practical jokes on the three of them, trapping them in a deep hole in a forest, trapping them in a raging blizzard and then in a garden maze. An Enterprise security team kept on looking for them but couldn't. But fortunately a second team was more successful and saved the three crew members before any more harm could come to them. Another trip through the cloud rid the computer of the practical jokes, but the Romulan starships that followed them through were then left with the practical joker effect with Kirk stating that at some point in time he might be willing to share with them how to shake the effect. ( TAS : " The Practical Joker ")

The final illness that Sulu suffered from happened in the form of the Dramia II plague where Sulu collapsed on his helm console after turning a wicked shade of blue as did the rest of the crew. Fortunately, Dr. McCoy found a cure to rescue Sulu and the rest of the infected crew. ( TAS : " Albatross ")

Sulu appearing as he would have as a child (right)

In 2270 , upon entering an anti-matter universe , the Enterprise crew experienced the effects of accelerated reverse aging. Sulu, as with the rest of the crew, was first reduced to pre-adolescence and had no idea what the helm was, how to run the helm or what the controls were in front of him. Eventually Sulu was reduced to infancy. Fortunately after returning the ship to their universe, the crew was able to return to their normal age by using the transporters. ( TAS : " The Counter-Clock Incident ")

Following the conclusion of the Enterprise 's historic five-year mission, the ship returned to Earth the same year. ( VOY : " Q2 ")

As a lieutenant commander in the 2270s

A year after returning to Earth, the Enterprise underwent a major eighteen month refit under the direction of her new captain, Will Decker . By the end of the refit, Sulu had been promoted to lieutenant commander , and with the encroachment of the V'ger entity, he again served under his old captain, then- Rear Admiral Kirk. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

Demora Sulu

Sulu had one daughter, Demora , who was born during the 2270s , and later assigned to the USS Enterprise -B in 2293 . She held the same position as her father, at the ship's helm. ( Star Trek Generations )

Serving at Starfleet Training Command [ ]

Sulu performing during Saavik's Kobayashi Maru scenario

In March 2285 , Commander Sulu was a participant in Saavik 's Kobayashi Maru scenario at Starfleet Training Command .

Some time after the scenario, he piloted travel pod 05 with Kirk, McCoy, and Uhura over to the Enterprise , for Kirk's inspection , expressing delight in visiting his old ship once again. Kirk was glad to have Sulu along, stating, " Well, I for one am glad to have you at the helm for three weeks . I don't think these kids can steer. "

Sulu piloted the Enterprise out of dry dock and was given the go ahead by Captain Spock to "indulge yourself" on the ship's course heading. Shortly into the training cruise that followed, the Enterprise received a distress call from Regula I , Starfleet Command ordered an investigation by the Enterprise .

With Rear Admiral Kirk assuming command from Spock, the cruise was cut short and Sulu plotted a course for Regula I. The Enterprise became involved with Project Genesis and Khan Noonien Singh's attempt to steal the Genesis Device , with Sulu responsible for weapons control. Eventually, Kirk was able to stop Khan, but not before the latter had wrought extensive damage upon the Enterprise , requiring Captain Spock to sacrifice his life to save the ship. Sulu attended the funeral of Spock. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Stealing the Enterprise [ ]

However, Admiral Kirk and his senior staff stole the Enterprise from Spacedock One to save their friend Spock, who had given his life to save the Enterprise following the encounter with Khan. His katra , implanted in Dr. McCoy, was successfully merged with his body on Vulcan . Their mission was successful, but the Enterprise was sacrificed orbiting the Genesis Planet . ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

Traveling back to 1986 [ ]

In 2286 , Sulu piloted the Klingon Bird-of-Prey , HMS Bounty , as the Enterprise crew returned to Earth to face certain court martial . Upon their arrival, they found Earth under attack by an unknown alien probe , which was later determined to be attempting to communicate with the long-extinct humpback whale . The Enterprise crew traveled back in time, to Earth's 1986 , in an attempt to locate a humpback whale and to thus save Earth from destruction.

Piloting a Huey 204 in 1986

While in the past, Sulu, Scott and McCoy were assigned to convert the cargo bay of the Bounty into a whale tank. To accomplish this, the three visited Plexicorp , a plexiglass manufacturing plant.

There, in the Plexicorp yards, Sulu discovered a Huey 204 , an aircraft which he had a nostalgic admiration for. He described it to its pilot , as like something he flew in his Academy days.

Sulu was able to borrow the Huey to carry the enormous panes of plexiglass, that Scott and McCoy procured, and hauled them across San Francisco, to Golden Gate Park . Upon his return to the helm of the Bounty , Sulu had difficulty remembering how to fly the Bird-of-Prey after being used to flying the Huey.

Following the dismissal from their court martial, and while en route to their new assignment, Sulu was counting on being assigned to the USS Excelsior . He was pleased, however, to be assigned to the newly commissioned USS Enterprise -A. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Service aboard the Enterprise -A [ ]

Sulu in action on Nimbus III in 2287

One year later , while the Enterprise -A was still in Spacedock One , she and her crew were assigned to resolve a conflict on Nimbus III ; the planet of galactic peace.

He piloted the Galileo 5 down to the planet, where they eventually found Sybok , Spock's half-brother. After being captured by Sybok and his Galactic Army of Light , Sulu piloted the shuttle back to the Enterprise -A, where he tested his pilot skills by flying it into the shuttlebay manually. After it was revealed that it was Sulu's first attempt at such a feat, Kirk reassured the passengers, " He's good. ...Really. "

Sybok subsequently commandeered the Enterprise -A, and Sulu piloted the ship as they traveled to the center of the galaxy, where he hoped to find " Sha Ka Ree ". Sybok was able to coerce Sulu to his cause and served as his liaison, leading search parties of Sybok's followers to find Kirk, Spock, and McCoy who had escaped from the ship's brig and following Sybok's orders as he had Kirk's. With Kirk back in command of the Enterprise , Sulu again followed the captain's leadership. As the crews of Klaa's Bird-of-Prey and the Enterprise -A co-mingled aboard the Enterprise , Sulu and Chekov following Klingon officer Vixis into the observation lounge , while Chekov confessed to Sulu how he admired her "wonderful muscles." ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Commanding the USS Excelsior [ ]

Sulu on the Excelsior during the battle with three Klingon battle cruisers in the Azure Nebula

In 2287 , Captain Sulu assumed command of the USS Excelsior . ( PIC : " The Star Gazer " commemorative placard ) While he displayed a more authoritarian manner once taking command of the Excelsior , contrasting his more easygoing, laid back demeanor shown previously, he was still very loyal to both his new and his old crew. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; VOY : " Flashback ")

In 2290 , he led the Excelsior on a three-year mission cataloging gaseous planetary anomalies in the Beta Quadrant .

On the return trip home, in 2293 , the Excelsior encountered a subspace shock wave resulting from the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis . The Klingon Empire was thereby forced to negotiate peace with the Federation . Following the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon , Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy were accused of the crime, and sentenced to lifelong prison sentences at Rura Penthe . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

In violation of Starfleet orders, Sulu decided to mount a rescue of Kirk and McCoy. Ensign Tuvok confronted Sulu about the breach of orders, but to no avail. Rather than order him to keep his peace and return to his station, or allow Commander Janice Rand to relive the young Vulcan of duty, Sulu acknowledged what he was doing was illogical and explained why he was rescuing his old friends.

To conceal the Excelsior 's approach to Qo'noS , Sulu ordered the Excelsior on a five hour journey through the Azure Nebula to obscure their approach, and it was there that the vessel encountered a Klingon battle cruiser, commanded by Captain Kang . To evade Kang, Sulu ordered that the volatile sirillium gas in the nebula be ignited as they exited it. Shortly after, the Excelsior was attacked by three Klingon battle cruisers , and Sulu was forced to turn back. During this battle, Dimitri Valtane was fatally injured. Sulu never entered the incident into his official log . ( VOY : " Flashback ")

The Excelsior , however, played a key role in the Khitomer Conference shortly thereafter, by assisting the USS Enterprise -A in its battle at Khitomer against General Chang 's prototype Bird-of-Prey , and by arriving at the Conference in time to arrest Fleet Admiral Cartwright . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Sulu remained in command of the Excelsior until 2320 , when the ship was decommissioned, having carried out hundreds of exploratory and first contact missions. ( PIC : " The Star Gazer " commemorative plaque [2] (X) )

Sulu's career was honored by Starfleet with his holographic portrait being placed in Starfleet Headquarters . It was viewed at one point by Kathryn Janeway , who noted it looked nothing like an image of Sulu from Tuvok's memory that she also saw. Tuvok explained that holographic image resolution was less accurate than the technology that was later developed in the 24th century.

Captain Janeway later opined that Captain Sulu belonged " to a different breed of Starfleet officer, " who served during a rougher time, and that " It's not surprising they had to bend the rules a little. They were a little slower to invoke the Prime Directive, and a little quicker to pull their phasers. Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today. But I have to admit, I would have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that. " ( VOY : " Flashback ")

A hallucination of Sulu

In 2381 , Brad Boimler passed out from dehydration , and while briefly classified as clinically dead , he hallucinated that he was in Idaho at Kirk's ranch . Believing he was about to meet Kirk, based on the name on the mailbox , but discovered it was actually Sulu, which he found to be "even better". According to Sulu, he took the ranch "off Kirk's hands," because " He had to go and time travel , or who knows what. The man could never relax . " He offered to let Boimler feed the horse , Atlas , while he explained to randomness of death , following the death of William Boimler . This Sulu explained that, " I've lost many friends. Some heroically, some tragically. The randomness of death is merely a reflection of the unexpected joys we find in life. " When Boimler was found he could live that explaination, Sulu told him that he was " Happy to help a fellow Starfleet officer looking for answers. " Not wishing to waste the opportunity, Boimler began bombarding Sulu with questions, such as wanting to know " what it was like working with Spock and Uhura? Was it weird using the crystal buttons on the Enterprise . Ooh, did you practice daily with the sword ? I'm, uh, kind of a sword guy myself, so... " but before he finished, Sulu warned him that "the horsey is going to bite you now", and Boimler abruptly awoke in sickbay . ( LD : " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus ")

In 2384 , Hologram Janeway noted that both Captains Kirk and Sulu were "Starfleet legends". To the Enderprizians , Sulu had at least one namesake on Planet 0042692 , Sool'U . ( PRO : " All the World's a Stage ")

By 2401 , Sulu was honored by having a ship named after him, the USS Hikaru Sulu . ( PIC : " The Star Gazer ")

Personal interests [ ]

Skills and hobbies [ ].

He was an excellent pilot and was familiar with many types of vessels, both historic and contemporary. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Sulu was a recognized expert on the subject of antique firearms and small arms, especially Earth projectile weapons. ( TOS : " Shore Leave "; TAS : " The Slaver Weapon ")

He also enjoyed swordplay, in particular fencing (although he was once asked if the purpose of fencing were actually shish kebab ) with this activity reminding him of some of his favorite characters of Earth history , namely the French musketeers and the Japanese samurai. This later became one of things he was known for as part of his legacy. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ", " Shore Leave "; LD : " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus ")

While under the influence of the polywater intoxication , Sulu left the bridge to go to the ship's gym , figuring that a light workout would take the edge off. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

Sulu performing an impressive body throw on Agmar

Sulu was also an advanced judo and aikido practitioner, capable of defending himself against opponents much larger than himself. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ) His martial arts skills impressed even his captain. In 2269 during a mission to Phylos, Sulu was attacked by a Phylosian named Agmar. Using a body throw self-defense technique, however, Sulu easily disposed of the assailant. Afterward Kirk asked Sulu to teach him that particular technique. ( TAS : " The Infinite Vulcan ")

Sulu experiencing rural life

Sulu was an avid botanist and spent much of his off duty hours tending to his rare and delicate plants , which he had collected from all over Federation space in the Enterprise 's botanic garden. ( TOS : " The Man Trap ") Sulu also shared his personal interests with his shipmates, including Kevin Riley , who once complained that " Last week it was botany he was trying to get me interested in. I was supposed to be collecting leaves , plant specimens . " Sulu, however, told him that his attitude was "all wrong". ( TOS : " The Naked Time ") Sulu's interest in botany was part of his role during the visit of the initial scouting party to the Shore Leave Planet . ( TOS : " Shore Leave ") He later admitted his unfamiliarity with rural life, during a landing party mission to Omicron Ceti III, where he was also reviewing the planet's plant life, explaining that, " When it comes to farms , I wouldn't know what looked right or wrong if it were two feet from me. " ( TOS : " This Side of Paradise ") Knowledge of his interest in botany as a hobby became known to Tongo Rad , who was himself said to "reach botany", and that it was also one of his favorite of studies. This was all part of their ploy to take over the Enterprise . ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

Later in life, Captain Sulu enjoyed a cup of hot tea in the mornings . ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country ; VOY : " Flashback ")

Relationships [ ]

Friendships [ ], pavel chekov [ ].

Chekov became Sulu's closest friend among the Enterprise officers after joining the bridge crew in 2267, and they often shared jokes, observations, and opinions with each other while on duty. Both of them were at a loss to figure out what was going on when the Enterprise kept changing course back and forth between Vulcan and Altair VI , but by the time Captain Kirk finally settled on Vulcan they were a step ahead of him and already had the course change ready to lay in. ( TOS : " Amok Time ")

Chekov looked over at Sulu with a smile when Kirk used the corbomite bluff against the Romulans, which suggested that Sulu had filled him in on what "corbomite" was, since Chekov was not on the bridge the first time Kirk used that trick against the First Federation and Balok. ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

They both expressed surprise at Scott's attraction to the bookish Lieutenant Mira Romaine , although Sulu wondered aloud if Scott had even noticed her brain yet. ( TOS : " The Lights of Zetar ")

Sulu and Chekov also confided in each other. When Chekov was the only member of an Enterprise landing party not afflicted with rapid aging, he complained bitterly to Sulu about the large volume of tests to which he had been subjected to by Dr. McCoy and the medical department. Sulu tried to make him feel better by reminding him that at least he was going to live. ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

Prior to the appearance of the Beta XII-A entity , Sulu was apparently the only member of the senior staff who knew that Chekov had no siblings dead or alive. ( TOS : " Day of the Dove ")

Sulu and Chekov mutiny against the captain when Dr. Janice Lester was in control of Kirk's body

When Dr. Janice Lester used a life-entity transfer to switch bodies with Captain Kirk, Sulu and Chekov formed a united front against the captain after the captain ordered the executions of Spock, Lester (with Kirk in her body), Scott, and Dr. McCoy, both reminding the Captain that the death penalty was forbidden and later refusing the captain's orders to place the ship in standard orbit at Benecia to strand the prisoners there. Sulu and Chekov simultaneously took their hands off their station's controls. This act of joint defiance threw Lester into a rage that almost broke the transference between her and Kirk and was the start of getting Kirk back into his own body. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ")

Sulu and Chekov get lost while hiking together in 2287

During shore leave rotations while the Enterprise -A was brought up to working condition, Sulu and Chekov decided to take their leave together and go on a hiking trip. Ironically they wound up getting lost, though Sulu with characteristic good humor told Chekov that they were still making good time. When Sulu lied to Uhura about being caught in a blizzard as an excuse for not being able to find their way back to the pickup zone, Chekov rolled his eyes but gamely (though unsuccessfully) tried to support his friend's claim by blowing into the communicator. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

There is only one known instance of open conflict between Sulu and Chekov, and it was neither one's fault. When the interphase region near Tholian space drove Chekov temporarily insane he snapped and attacked Sulu, who happened to be the closest person to him. Several members of the bridge crew quickly restrained him and kept Sulu from being seriously injured. And when Chekov finally collapsed due to Spock trying to calm him, Sulu allowed Chekov to collapse in his helm chair and cradled Chekov's head in his hands so it wouldn't fall onto the helm console until the medical department and security teams could take him to sickbay . Sulu later told Spock that Chekov had exhibited several spasms of pain beforehand. ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

Nyota Uhura [ ]

Early in the five-year mission, there were hints of Sulu's future relationship with Uhura. When she temporarily took over the navigation station during combat with a Romulan vessel in 2266. He paused a moment to assess her as she sat down. ( TOS : " Balance of Terror ")

While Sulu was under the effects of the Psi 2000 polywater intoxication, he made his way to the bridge armed with a sword and grinned when he saw Uhura, declaring her a "fair maiden" (despite her protest that she was neither) and promising to "protect" her. ( TOS : " The Naked Time ")

In 2267, Sulu and Scott were the first two bridge crew to come to Uhura's aide when she had her memories probed and then wiped clean by the probe Nomad , leaving her in a foggy daze. Sulu also assisted a command division ensign in helping Uhura to sickbay. ( TOS : " The Changeling ")

Eventually becoming close friends, Uhura was willing to keep his secret when he didn't want to admit to being lost while on a hiking trip in 2287. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Love interests [ ]

In 2268, Sulu was briefly interested in one of Doctor Sevrin's followers, who encouraged him to join their movement. When Kirk asked him to explain what he was doing, a flustered Sulu couldn't provide an answer. ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

A female companion

The following year, during the Enterprise 's encounter with a being who called himself Lucien, it was found that members of the crew could perform magic as part of their being in the alternate universe that Lucien lived. Utilizing this magic, Sulu conjured for himself a beautiful female companion. As the two prepared to leave the bridge, Uhura wished him " good luck, " only for the female companion to suddenly change form into Lucien, who scolded the crew for misusing the magic. ( TAS : " The Magicks of Megas-Tu ")

A few years later, Sulu again fell under the infatuation one would have being in the presence of the Deltan Ilia . He was ultimately rebuffed when told that she was celibate. Ilia also looked back at him when his back was turned, but nothing came of it. ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ).

Key dates [ ]

• First half of the 23rd century : Born in San Francisco , California .
• 2265 : Assigned to USS Enterprise as head of the astrosciences department.
• 2266 : Transferred to the command division and was assigned to the helm station with responsibilities as shift tactical officer .
• Daughter Demora Sulu is born.
• Held the rank of lieutenant commander .
• 2286 : Assigned to USS Enterprise-A as helmsman.
• 2287 : Promoted to captain and assigned to the USS Excelsior as commanding officer .
• 2290 : Begins a three-year mission cataloging gaseous planetary bodies in the Beta Quadrant .
• 2293 : Takes part in the Battle of Khitomer
• 2320 : Retires

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Try to cross brains with Spock, he'll cut you to pieces every time. "

" May the great bird of the galaxy bless your planet. "

" Why do people have to call inanimate objects 'she'? "

" I'll protect you, fair maiden. "

" No animals, no people... no worries. Just what the doctor ordered. "

" He wanted her back, he got her. "

" So much for the little training cruise . "

" Don't call me Tiny. "

" I'm trying to remember how this thing worked. Got used to a Huey . "

" Are you kidding? "

" Nice to see you in action one more time, Captain Kirk . Take care. "

" You'll find that more happens on the bridge of a starship than just carrying out orders and observing regulations. There is a sense of loyalty to the men and women you serve with. A sense of family. Those two men on trial... I served with them for a long time. I owe them my life a dozen times over. And right now, they're in trouble and I'm going to help them; let the regulations be damned. "

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Where No Man Has Gone Before "
• " The Corbomite Maneuver "
• " Mudd's Women "
• " The Enemy Within "
• " The Man Trap "
• " The Naked Time "
• " Charlie X " (voice only; uncredited)
• " Balance of Terror "
• " The Galileo Seven "
• " Shore Leave "
• " The Squire of Gothos "
• " Tomorrow is Yesterday "
• " The Return of the Archons "
• " This Side of Paradise "
• " Errand of Mercy "
• " The City on the Edge of Forever "
• " Operation -- Annihilate! "
• " Catspaw "
• " Metamorphosis "
• " Friday's Child "
• " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
• " Amok Time "
• " The Doomsday Machine "
• " Wolf in the Fold "
• " The Changeling "
• " Mirror, Mirror "
• " The Deadly Years "
• " I, Mudd "
• " Return to Tomorrow "
• " The Ultimate Computer "
• " The Omega Glory "
• " Assignment: Earth "
• " Elaan of Troyius "
• " The Paradise Syndrome "
• " The Enterprise Incident "
• " And the Children Shall Lead "
• " Spock's Brain "
• " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
• " The Empath "
• " The Tholian Web "
• " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
• " Day of the Dove "
• " Wink of an Eye "
• " That Which Survives "
• " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
• " Whom Gods Destroy "
• " The Mark of Gideon "
• " The Lights of Zetar "
• " The Way to Eden "
• " The Cloud Minders " (stock footage)
• " The Savage Curtain "
• " Turnabout Intruder "
• " Beyond the Farthest Star "
• " One of Our Planets Is Missing "
• " The Lorelei Signal " (no lines)
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles "
• " The Survivor "
• " The Infinite Vulcan "
• " The Magicks of Megas-Tu "
• " Once Upon a Planet "
• " Mudd's Passion "
• " The Terratin Incident "
• " The Time Trap "
• " The Slaver Weapon "
• " The Eye of the Beholder " (no lines)
• " The Jihad "
• " The Pirates of Orion "
• " The Practical Joker "
• " Albatross "
• " The Counter-Clock Incident "
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek Beyond (picture only)
• VOY : " Flashback "
• ST : " Ephraim and Dot " (archive audio)
• LD : " Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus " (dream)
• " Holograms All the Way Down " (hologram)
• " Walk, Don't Run "

Background information [ ]

Toyota as stunt-Sulu

Sulu was played by George Takei .

Takei's stunt double in the episode "Catspaw" was Vic Toyota .

Casting [ ]

Takei recalled his first meeting with Gene Roddenberry in an interview: " “I went there to audition with the hope that I might be a series regular,” Takei explained, recalling his audition for the first-ever Star Trek series. “There’s an interesting way that I met Gene Roddenberry. I was taking a shower, so when I wrote the information down, I was dripping wet.”

“And the ballpoint pen that I use to write down the information got a little smeared.And when I went to […] meet the producer, it looked like what I had written down was ‘Rosenberry.’ I was to meet a man named Gene Roddenberry, but it looked like ‘Rosenberry .’And so, when I walked in, I told him that I’m George Takei here to meet Mr. Rosenberry.”

“And you’re nervous enough as you are, but then when you’re corrected and realize that you’d mispronounced a producer’s name, that really throws you off. But then, when I walked in to meet Gene Roddenberry, he called me George ‘Takai,’ which is a mispronunciation of the ‘ei’ in my surname.”

“I told him of a difficulty I had with his name, but I said, ‘I don’t object to being called George ‘Takai’, because that is a Japanese word which translates into English as ‘expensive. ‘And if you want to call me ‘George Expensive,’ I’d be more than happy to have my agent accommodate you.’ And from that point on, Gene always said, ‘Takei is okay!'” " [3]

Name origins [ ]

According to George Takei, Roddenberry named him after the Sulu Sea , which he thought of as touching all the shores of Asia. [4] It has been conjectured by Michael and Denise Okuda that "Sulu" was an anglicized version of the Japanese word tsuru , the word for the red-crested crane, a national treasure of Japan and a symbol of leadership, courage, and long life. ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home text commentary ) However, in the book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , production executive Herb Solow stated that Gene Roddenberry named Sulu after him, as a joking tribute to his surname, which can be (incorrectly) pronounced "Sulu".

Sulu's surname cannot be truly Japanese, as the Japanese language, while syllabic, does not contain the "L" phoneme in any form. In the Japanese version of Star Trek , his family name was consequently changed to "Kato", a common surname. ( citation needed • edit )

After almost thirty years of being called " Mister ", Sulu finally earned a given name, Hikaru, in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , though it had been used in fan circles since it was introduced in Vonda N. McIntyre 's 1981 novel The Entropy Effect . McIntyre created the name, taking it from The Tale of Genji , because she needed to write a love scene featuring Sulu, and she "couldn't figure out how to write a love scene where the protagonists called each other by their surnames." [5] "Hikaru" was also given in the script of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as the name of a young boy whom Sulu later realized was his great-great grandfather.

Heritage [ ]

In a deleted scene from TOS : " The Corbomite Maneuver ", Sulu revealed that he often enjoyed watching, during his boyhood, Fu Manchu movies about the Sino-Western trouble , in which the villains were Orientals. He never understood what the films were about but admittedly "loved" the antagonists in them. Wanting to be like those Orientals, the boy Sulu spent hours sitting in front of a mirror practicing their "drooping eyelids" and "mysterious expressions." ("Inside the Roddenberry Vault, Part I", Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault special features) In the second revised final draft script, Sulu, regarding his not having become like them in his adulthood, then remarked, " I can't figure out why I'm like this. I don't have a drop of Western blood . "

Regarding Sulu's heritage, George Takei himself said, " Sulu is a genuine 23rd-century human being as opposed to some of the other characters who tend to be ethnocentric. Like, for example, very Scottish to the point of having a brogue , or very Russian to the point of everything being 'invented in Russia.' Sulu is a person who considers the heritage of human culture, human history, his heritage and so his reference is a very broad one. " Takei felt the "pan-cultural heritage that Sulu feels" was made evident in such scenes as the one where the character, with his inhibitions loosened by polywater intoxication in TOS : " The Naked Time ", imagines himself as French swashbuckler D'Artagnan . " He's obviously a very capable, bright member of the Starfleet Officer Corps, " Takei continued. " He has great ambitions. His career pattern is essentially one that was molded on the example set by Kirk. He wants to follow in Kirk's footsteps. Sulu also has a lot of private life that we really have not had a chance to examine. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 27, No. 11/12, pp. 34-35)

Sulu was scripted to appear in " The Conscience of the King " (featured in the final revised draft of that episode's teleplay), but his part in the installment was evidently given to Lieutenant Leslie instead.

Sulu was likewise scripted, only initially, to appear in " Court Martial " (at least referred to if not also making an appearance in the episode's first draft script, and appearing in the final draft and revised final draft of the teleplay). In the first draft of "Court Martial", he was mistakenly referred to as "Sumo". However, Gene Roddenberry addressed this issue (among others) in a six-page memo of script notes he sent Gene L. Coon (on 15 August 1966 ). Most of Sulu's involvement in "Court Martial" was ultimately substituted by Lieutenant Hansen . In the climax of the story, Sulu was also scripted to say the lines, " Variance fading, " and, " All secure, sir, " though those lines are spoken by Uhura in the final edit of the episode.

Sulu was additionally scripted to appear in " The Menagerie, Part I " and " The Menagerie, Part II ", although he was again substituted by Hansen instead.

Takei and Director David Livingston , taking cues for the depiction of Sulu in VOY : " Flashback " from the episode's script

After Sulu's appearance in Star Trek VI , there was a fan-based campaign to start a TV series based on the adventures of his crew during his stint as captain of the Excelsior . However, it never drew enough support for Paramount to start production on it. [6] [7] Nonetheless, Takei was featured as Captain Sulu once again for the 30th anniversary of The Original Series in the Voyager episode "Flashback".

Apocrypha [ ]

The novel Spock, Messiah! states that Sulu was born on Alpha Mensa V.

The comic " Who's Who in Star Trek 2 " states that Sulu was born in Los Angeles and gives his full name as "Hikaru Kato Sulu". His parents were named Hosato Sulu (a poet) and Momiko Sulu (a xenobiologist).

The "Kato" middle name also appears in Portuguese translations of Pocket Books TOS novels published by Editora Aleph .

According to The Best of Trek , Sulu's middle name was given as Walter. The FASA role-playing game seems to agree, giving Sulu's name as "Hikaru W. Sulu". Before "Hikaru" was canonically established as Sulu's first name, "Walter" was a popular choice in fandom as an alternate.

Sulu's first name was given as "Itaka" in the Star Trek newspaper comic strip . Its use was based on information from the fan fiction publication USS Enterprise Officer's Manual , by Geoffrey Mandel and Doug Drexler and published by Interstellar Associates in 1980 .

According to Star Trek II: Biographies , Sulu was born July 3rd, 2141, in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii to parents Liholiho Sulu and Kalea Graef Hatoyama. He has two siblings named Kamehameha Fujiwara Sulu and Liliuokalani Dani Sulu.

According to the Eighth UK Story Arc , Sulu was raised with a deep-rooted fear of the supernatural. His mother's name was Shimizu Hana Sulu according to Excelsior: Forged in Fire and "Iron and Sacrifice" in Tales from the Captain's Table .

In Dwellers in the Crucible , Sulu was sent undercover as a Romulan into the Romulan Star Empire after the Romulans kidnap six Federation hostages. While preparing for his mission, it was revealed that Sulu had a tendency to talk in his sleep. He eventually made his way to Remus and managed to send a short coded message to the Enterprise .

Three of Sulu's later adventures (during and post- Excelsior ) are chronicled in the audio-only Simon and Schuster Audioworks Captain Sulu Adventures series: Transformations , Cacophony , and Envoy .

According to William Shatner's novel The Return Sulu retired and entered politics, eventually being elected President of the United Federation of Planets and served three terms.

Sulu featured prominently in the novels The Kobayashi Maru depicting his academy days, Prime Directive wherein he works outside Starfleet, The Entropy Effect wherein he considers another career, and Home Is the Hunter wherein he was sent back to ancient Japan. In the DS9 novel Day of Honor: Armageddon Sky , an aged Starfleet officer identifying himself only as "George" is strongly hinted to be Hikaru Sulu.

According to the video game Star Trek: Starship Creator , Sulu married a woman named Yoshika.

In Star Trek Online , Hikaru Sulu's great-grandson Akira Sulu is stationed on the Earth Spacedock.

In Star Trek Cats , Sulu is depicted as a Japanese Bobtail cat .

External links [ ]

• Hikaru Sulu at StarTrek.com
• Hikaru Sulu at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Hikaru Sulu at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• Hikaru Sulu at Wikipedia

TOS: S1 – E4: The Naked Time

STARDATE: 1704.2

This may be one of the most famous episodes from the Original Series. Throughout, most of the cast are sweaty after contracting the strange disease, which we’ll learn about in a second. But this is the episode where Sulu chases his own crewmates around the ship with a fencing foil. This would inspire a scene in the Kelvin-timeline Star Trek (2009) film and many references and even a Christmas ornament.

The story had the crew of the Enterprise exploring a planet (PSI 2000) which Captain Kirk described as an “ancient world, now a frozen wasteland.” The Enterprise was tasked to pick up a team of scientists who had been studying the planet and then observe the planet’s destruction.

One thing that will strike the modern viewer immediately is the silly red biosuits that Spock and his companion, crewman Joe Toromlen wore to inspect the planet. The headpieces were not even attached to the shoulders of the suit itself. Spock wouldn’t be protected from someone else’s sneezes, let alone a freezing atmosphere or hazardous site. Oh well.

Mr. Scott and Mr. Spock working to figure out a solution to the Enterprise’s latest problem. Courtesy of CBS / Paramount

After Spock and Joe returned to the ship, Kirk asked if there was anything that would cause the ship to be in danger while observing the planet’s collapse. Scotty said that unless the crew were “taking showers while dressed” then the ship would be fine.

Later, in Rec Room, Area 3-9, Sulu and Crewman Kevin Riley tangled with Toromlen, who accidentally stabbed himself. The effects of the mysterious, yet undiagnosed disease was causing Joe to act erratically. As they wrestled with Toromlen, Riley and Sulu became infected as well.

A cool thing would happen as the infected crewmembers rubbed their hands together… almost a rattlesnake-like sound. This lets the viewer know that the person was being affected by the disease. Fun!

While the planet started to contract in size, Kirk asked Scotty to tie the controls from the bridge directly to engineering. Meanwhile, Toromlen died in surgery… McCoy cannot explain why this happened, saying that he must not have wanted to live. Kirk then supposes that something must have been missed in the decontamination scans when Joe and Spock have beamed aboard.

Spock sends Riley to sickbay, Lt. Uhura takes over his station. Next, Riley gives the disease to Nurse Chappel and Sulu starts running wild in the corridors of the ship with his sword.

Suddenly, the helm stopped responding, and Kirk was unable to raise anyone in engineering. Just as he was about to enter the turbolift, Sulu burst onto the bridge yelling “Richelieu, at last!” Richelieu is the name of a character in the Three Musketeers. Kirk and Uhura tussle with Sulu, and Spock subdues him with a Vulcan neck pinch. So for trivia’s sake, Sulu became one of the very first characters in Star Trek lore to be neck-pinched.

Somehow, Kirk and Uhura were able not to catch the infection while wrestling with Sulu, even though they make direct skin contact with the helmsman … uhh, swordsman. Hmm.

Scotty uses the phaser to try to cut through the wall in order to access the controls for the engineering door. Courtesy of CBS / Paramount

Scotty tries to burn through the walls to engineering with a phaser. Spock tells him that he’s going too slow. But then McCoy synthesizes an antidote to disease. But not before Nurse Chappel tells Spock that she loves him. Spock then is infected by Chappel. Spock then starts wandering the ship as he whimpers and struggles to control his emotions. 

McCoy gives the antidote to Sulu, who is completely cured. McCoy realizes that the disease is spread through sweat.

Kirk finds Spock feeling sorry for himself, but Kirk explains that if they don’t move quickly, the ship will be destroyed. Spock starts talking about love for his mother and Vulcan customs, then Kirk slaps Spock 2-3 times. It must have been one helluva slap because Spock then came to. Spock then slapped Kirk so hard that he flipped backward over a table.

While Kirk is infected, he starts talking about his love to the Enterprise , as if the ship were a human female. Hmm! As soon as Kirk steps back aboard the bridge, McCoy rips a hole in his uniform to vaccinate the captain from the effects of the disease.

Just as the ship is about to burn in the atmosphere of the planet, Kirk orders a recovered Sulu to point the ship back to where they came from. Spock and Scotty engage the new way to start the ship’s engines (after Riley turned them off while in engineering).

A strange noise affected the crew (and their ears), and caused suffering pain. This experimental formula that Spock and Scotty used to break free from the atmosphere caused the ship to surge back in time — three days in the past. This would be the same formula that would be used later in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The crew realizes that they are going backward in time after their engines “imploded.”

Spock announces that they are back to standard time, but three days in the past. Spock and Kirk then decide that they’ll “risk” going back in time if need be.

It seemed that this ending was a bit strange as if it did not fit the rest of the episode. There was no mention from the captain on how they would log the outbreak of the disease or how it might be treated in the future across other ships. No quarantine announcement. Just time travel and an abrupt ending.

TREK REPORT SUPPLEMENTAL:

This was an excellent entry, featuring a great plot and an exciting finale. Fans got to see almost the complete “original” cast in action, except for Chekov, whose character has yet to be introduced into the show. This, to many, is the episode where Sulu runs wild on the ship — and that’s it. But don’t let this summary fool you, nor the image of a sweaty George Takei. This was a good one — not some cliché, and worthy of some of the very best praise for an Original Series episode.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Directed by: Marc Daniels Written by: John D. F. Black Produced by: Gene Roddenberry Associate Producers: Robert H. Justman, John D. F. Black Director of Photography: Jerry Finnerman Production Designer: Walter M. Jefferies Music composed and conducted by: Alexander Courage

William Shatner as Kirk Leonard Nimoy as Spock

CO-STARRING

Stewart Moss as Tormolen Majel Barrett as Christine Bruce Hyde as Riley

DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand

George Takei as Sulu James Doohan as Scott Nichelle Nichols as Uhura William Knight as Amorous Crewman John Bellah as Laughing Crewman

Art Director … Rolland M. Brooks Film Editor … Bruce Schoengarth Assistant Director … Greg Peters Set Decorator … Carl F. Biddiscombe Costumes created by … William Theiss Post Production Executive … Bill Heath Music Editor … Robert H. Raff Sound Editor … Joseph G. Sorokin Sound Mixer … Jack F. Lilly Photographic Effects … Howard Anderson Co. Script Supervisor … George A. Rutter Music Consultant … Wilbur Hatch Music Coordinator … Julian Davidson Special Effects … Jim Rugg Property Master … Irving A. Fenberg Gaffer … George H. Merhoff Head Grip … George Rader Production Supervisor … Bernard A. Windin Makeup Artist … Fred B. Phillips, S.M.A. Hair Styles by … Virginia Darcy, C.H.S. Wardrobe Mistress … Margaret Makau Casting … Joseph D’Agosta Sound … Glen Glenn Sound Co.

Executive in Charge of Production … Herbert F. Solow

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

The Naked Time

• View history

"The Naked Time" was the 7th episode of Star Trek: The Original Series in the show's first season , first aired on 29 September 1966 . The episode was written by John D.F. Black MA , directed by Marc Daniels MA and novelized in Star Trek 1 by James Blish . A remastered version of this episode was aired in syndication, premiering on 30 September 2006 . An alien substance infects some of the Enterprise crew , stripping their inhibitions and forcing suppressed emotions to the surface.

• 2.1.1 Episode characters
• 2.1.2 Novelization characters
• 2.2 Starships and vehicles
• 2.3.1 Shipboard areas
• 2.4 Races and cultures
• 2.5 States and organizations
• 2.6.1 Lifeforms
• 2.6.2 Materials and substances
• 2.6.3 Food and drink
• 2.6.4 Medicine
• 2.6.5 Technology and weapons
• 2.7 Ranks and titles
• 2.8 Other references
• 3.1.1 Adaptations
• 3.1.2 Video releases
• 3.2.1 Episode images
• 3.2.2 Adaptation images
• 3.3.1.1 Translations
• 3.4 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise .

The Enterprise is orbiting the planet Psi 2000 . On the surface are Federation scientists set to observe the planet's impending disintegration and final destruction. Lieutenant Commander Spock and Lieutenant Junior Grade Joe Tormolen beam down in contamination suits to a frost-covered science laboratory and soon discover the dead bodies of the lab's scientists. Many of the bodies are found dead in the most unusual of circumstances—like someone fully clothed in the shower. Meanwhile, Tormolen carelessly removes one of his gloves to scratch his nose , unknowingly exposing himself to a substance that jumps on his hand. Ultimately, the landing party returns to the ship for decontamination and further examination by Doctor McCoy in sickbay . Tormolen suddenly expresses anguish over the horrifying death scenes he witnessed on the planet, something that wouldn't have phased him as easily before the incident on the planet. He is answered with an order from the Captain Kirk to rest.

Later in the briefing room , the captain and his senior staff discuss the possible causes of the madness that drove the scientists to their deaths. Concerned about the planet's disintegration and crew efficiency needed for a standard orbit, Kirk asks his staff if the incident on Psi 2000 could duplicate itself aboard the Enterprise. Spock admits to limitations in their sensors , but Scotty is confident that the ship will be able to handle the extra stresses, as long as the bridge crew isn't affected in the same way as the scientists on the planet. Soon, the beginning stages of the planet's disintegration occur.

Nyota Uhura .

Later in the officer's mess, Tormolen is sweating, agitated by a pain in his hand. Nearby, Lieutenant Sulu is having a pleasant conversation with Lieutenant Kevin Riley about the art of fencing. Sulu and Riley's efforts to have Tormolen join the conversation trigger an emotional outburst from him. Tormolen suddenly brandishes his table knife and rambles on about the futility of humans colonizing space, shouting, " We have no business being out here, NO BUSINESS! " His emotional state quickly turns and he points the table knife on himself. Sulu and Riley try to calm him down and force the knife away from him. During their struggle with Tormolen, Joe falls on his knife and impales himself. Later in Sickbay, McCoy and Nurse Chapel fail to save Tormolen's life. In his report to the Captain, McCoy states that the cause of death had simply been Tormolen's loss of will to live.

The planet's breakup continues, and so do some of the crew's emotional states. Sulu and Riley, now at their bridge stations and showing signs of the infection, are lax in making course corrections. While Spock is busy at his science station, Sulu abandons the helm, leaves the bridge, and heads to the gym for some fencing. Back on the bridge, Riley, now infected, acts insubordinate to Spock, who orders him to Sickbay. Reporting briefly to Sickbay as ordered, Riley proceeds to flirt with Nurse Chapel, infecting her. Sulu, now fantasizing about being a 18th century musketeer, roams the decks of the ship with his sword and frightens off two crewmen. He then heads to the bridge and "rescues" Uhura. Spock finally knocks him out with his Vulcan nerve pinch.

The planet convulses, but the helm is unable to respond. A call to engineering is answered by Kevin Thomas Riley, who has expelled Scotty and crew and begins to sing and broadcast Irish songs. Without power, the Enterprise is twenty minutes from destruction, and the affliction continues to spread throughout the crew.

Meanwhile, Spock tours the ship, urging Scotty to expedite his efforts in re-taking engineering, ordering an infected crewman to stop romantically serenading Yeoman Rand, and checking on McCoy's progress. When Spock enters Sickbay, he finds himself alone with Chapel, who confesses her love for Spock, infecting him. Ignoring repeated hails from the bridge, Spock's emotional state quickly weakens, so he secludes himself in the briefing room, but not before suddenly breaking down and crying.

Engineering is retaken, but Scotty discovers that Riley has completely turned off the ship's engines. This requires a normal restart of at least thirty minutes. Furthermore, the ship is now spiraling down towards the planet and is only minutes from burning up in the atmosphere, unless they can restart the engines quickly. Scotty informs Kirk that suddenly starting the engines cold would result in a massive explosion of the ship, because matter and anti-matter can't be mixed cold. However, Kirk suggests to Scotty that a cold-restart with a controlled matter-antimatter implosion in balanced engines might be tried. Since this controlled implosion requires precise calculations, Spock's science knowledge is urgently required, but Spock still can't be found. Meanwhile, McCoy has discovered a cure for the affliction.

James T. Kirk .

Finally, Kirk discovers Spock alone in the briefing room in a sad demeanor, regretting his inexperience in expressing love. Kirk slaps him on the face, to which Spock admits to feeling shame over his friendship with the Captain. Kirk strikes him again, so Spock responds in kind, sending Kirk backwards flying over a table. Kirk, now infected, begins to display his suppressed emotions. He admits to Spock that he has "a beautiful Yeoman" and advises Spock that he's better off without love, and raps over his real true love, the Enterprise, and the price she exacts. Spock slowly returns to normal, who then proceeds to help a non-infected Scotty restart the ship's engines. Kirk is also slowly returning to normal and enters the turbolift to the bridge, Alone in the lift he quietly talks to his ship and raps, "I'll never lose you... never."

The Enterprise .

Entering the bridge, a semi-aware Kirk takes the center seat. His orders are confusing, but a cured Sulu is able to navigate an escape from orbit. While still in the center seat and fogged from the disease, Kirk slowly reaches out a hand to his beautiful Yeoman, Janice Rand, standing next him staring at the viewscreen, but knows he can't touch but for duty. Meanwhile, Spock and Scotty have finished the procedures on the checklist for restarting the engines cold. Finally, Kirk gives the order for restart. The controlled implosion is successful with an unexpected result -sending the Enterprise three days back in time. Spock ponders the new scientific possibilities that have been uncovered, but Kirk decides to orders a course ahead to the nearest Starbase .

References [ ]

Characters [ ], episode characters [ ], novelization characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], shipboard areas [ ], races and cultures [ ], states and organizations [ ], science and classification [ ], lifeforms [ ], materials and substances [ ], food and drink [ ], medicine [ ], technology and weapons [ ], ranks and titles [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ], related media [ ].

• TOS - The Janus Gate novel : Past Prologue
• TOS - The Janus Gate novel : Present Tense
• TOS - The Janus Gate novel : Future Imperfect
• TNG episode : " The Naked Now "

Adaptations [ ]

Video releases [ ]

Episode images [ ]

Adaptation images [ ]

Connections [ ]

Timeline [ ], translations [ ], external links [ ].

• " The Naked Time " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• The Naked Time article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 The Chase
• 3 Preserver (race)

Star Trek (2009)

John cho: sulu.

• Photos (22)

Photos 

Quotes 

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy : Well, congratulations, Jim. We've got no captain and no god-damned first officer to replace him.

Kirk : Yeah, we do.

[Kirk sits himself into the captain's chair] 

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy : What?

Hikaru Sulu : Pike made him first officer.

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy : You gotta be kidding me!

Kirk : Thanks for the support.

Lt. Nyota Uhura : I sure hope you know what you're doing...

Lt. Nyota Uhura : [sarcastically]  ... CAPTAIN.

Kirk : So do I.

James T. Kirk : So what kind of combat training do you have?

Hikaru Sulu : Fencing.

Hikaru Sulu : The fleet has cleared spacedock, Captain. All ships ready for warp.

Christopher Pike : Set a course for Vulcan.

Hikaru Sulu : Aye-Aye, Captain. Course laid in.

Christopher Pike : Maximum warp. Punch it.

[One by one, the rest of the star fleet jumps into warp drive, leaving the Enterprise behind. Sulu frowns at the console, puzzled] 

Christopher Pike : Lieutenant, where is Helmsman McKenna?

Hikaru Sulu : He has lungworms, sir. He couldn't report to his post. I'm Hikaru Sulu.

Christopher Pike : And you are a pilot, right?

Hikaru Sulu : Very much so, sir.

[he trails off, hitting buttons] 

Hikaru Sulu : I'm, uh, I'm not sure what's wrong here.

Christopher Pike : Is the parking brake on?

Hikaru Sulu : Uh, no. I'll figure it out. I'm just...

Spock : Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?

Hikaru Sulu : [Embarrassed. Without looking at anyone, he punches in the correct sequence]  Ready for warp, sir.

Christopher Pike : Let's punch it.

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The Lie That Led To George Takei's Favorite Star Trek Scene

"The Naked Time" was either the fourth or the seventh episode of " Star Trek ," depending on whether you adhere to broadcast order or production order. For the record, true Trekkies go by production order, while total losers go by broadcast order. In the episode, Kirk, Spock, and Lt. Disposable beam down to the planet of Psi 2000, only to find the planet's small research team mysteriously frozen to death. While there, they also contract a mysterious virus, which they take back up to the Enterprise. The virus, which spreads through touch, causes the infected to behave like they're drunk, lowering inhibitions, and inspiring unruly behavior among the crew.

In one of the episode's most famous scenes, Lt. Hikaru Sulu ( George Takei ), with his inhibitions lowered and his jersey joyously jettisoned, has given into his hidden D'Artagnan fantasies, taking up a rapier and charging about the hallways of the Enterprise, challenging crewmates to duels. The scene became so notorious and iconic that it inspired a swordfighting sequence in J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" film, wherein Sulu (now John Cho) grapples with a baddie on a laser platform. 

"The Naked Time" is also actor George Takei's favorite episode.

The Sword Scene

Takei tells this story in a video interview with the Television Academy : The writer of "The Naked Time," John D.F. Black, originally intended for Sulu to take up a Samurai sword. When visiting the "Star Trek" set, Black told Takei about his plans. Takei was diplomatic about it, pointing out that a samurai sword was "ethnically consistent," seeing as Takei was of Japanese ancestry. But he also had a suggestion. Takei, a 20th century man, didn't play samurai as a kid, recalling, rather, that he and friends would play Robin Hood in his backyard, inspired by the 1938 film " The Adventures of Robin Hood ." His mom even made him a Robin Hood costume. Takei says he got to play Robin Hood because it was his backyard and he had the costume. The other kids had to be the other Merry Men.

Sulu, Takei figured, was raised in the 23rd century, and wouldn't necessarily be inspired by samurai either, so he suggested to Black that Sulu have a rapier instead. Takei, game and energized, would duel his way into one of the series' more notable scenes.

Actors Are Masters at Everything

Could George Takei fence? Well, in his words , yes. But, as we learned from the recent film " Licorice Pizza ," if you ask an actor if they can do something, they will automatically say yes just to get the role. To quote Takei: "You never ask an actor if we can do anything, because if it's related to the part, we are masters at it. I said [to the screenwriter, about fencing] 'Oh, it's my favorite sport! I used to fence when I was young!" 

Takei then arranged to take his first formal fencing lesson at Falcon Studios on Sunset Blvd., and Takei's instructor, by magical coincidence, was Ralph Faulkner, the fight choreographer for "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and Basil Rathbone's fight double in that film. "The Naked Time" not only permitted George Takei to display his fencing skills and relive an actual childhood play scenario of his, but put him in contact with the very swordfighter he grew up watching. 

It's no wonder "The Naked Time" is Takei's favorite episode.

Hikaru Sulu

In 2290, Sulu assumed command of the starship Excelsior and began a three-year mission charting gaseous anomalies in the Beta Quadrant. Because of this proximity to the Klingon Empire he was instrumental in saving the U.S.S. Enterprise from destruction by dissidents who were out to destroy the Khitomer peace conference.

After a full career he was still on active patrol on the Cardassian border as a captain at age 113 in 2350, where he agreed to sponsor young Chakotay from Dorvan V for Starfleet Academy after befriending the youth.

Sulu was an active hobbyist with interests including fencing, botany, and the martial arts of his native culture; in fact, when the helmsman was infected with the Psi 3000 virus in 2366 he threatened the bridge with his foil. Another of Sulu's hobbies was old-style hand guns, although he had never managed to find a "Police Special" for his collection. He is also an accomplished pilot of craft from many eras and cultures, piloting with little warm-up both an antique 20th century Earth helicopter and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey.

He has a daughter, Demora, who attended Starfleet Academy and served as the first helm officer of the Excelsior-class U.S.S. Enterprise under Capt. John Harriman, when Kirk met his untimely death due to the Nexus Ribbon in 2293.

Screen Rant

Strange new worlds just secretly referenced sulu's most famous tos moment.

Strange New Worlds' medieval adventure continues an honored Star Trek tradition, and drops a touching reference to Sulu's most famous moment.

Did you catch  Strange New Worlds ' homage to a famous Sulu moment from  Star Trek: The Original Series ? If Starfleet had a dollar for every time an alien force infiltrated their ships and sent the crew crazy, they'd probably have enough cash to afford a better filtration system. Alongside transporter malfunctions and inevitable red shirt (or, indeed, Crimson Guard) deaths, Star Trek  crews losing their inhibitions is something of a tradition, and Captain Pike finally gets his turn in   Strange New Worlds episode 8 ("The Elysian Kingdom") when a godlike nebula-dwelling entity appears.

This lonely consciousness develops a kinship with Dr. M'Benga's sick daughter, Rukiya, and transforms the Enterprise's interior into her favorite fairy tale. M'Benga himself is the noble king, Spock's the treacherous wizard, Uhura plays the ice queen, and Pike gets to audition for Littlefinger. The Enterprise's helm officer - Lt. Ortegas, portrayed by Melissa Navia - becomes M'Benga's loyal knight, Sir Adya. Barely leaving her king's side, Ortegas proves a natural for the brave warrior gig. During a feisty confrontation against Queen Neve's Crimson Guard, Ortegas seizes a sword from her opponent and engages in a sword fight straight through the middle of an Enterprise corridor.

Related:  Strange New Worlds' Engineer Fixes A Star Trek: Discovery Problem

Lt. Ortegas swapping the Enterprise's helm for a shiny blade in  Strange New Worlds perfectly pays tribute to the ship's best-known helmsman, Hikaru Sulu .  Star Trek 's 1966 classic "The Naked Time" begins with an alien pathogen seeping aboard the Enterprise and infecting its crew, lowering characters' inhibitions and prompting all manner of strange behavior. The episode's most iconic moment sees George Takei's topless Sulu grab a fencing foil and charge through the Enterprise's hallways before reaching the bridge. Ortegas mimicking her predecessor (or successor, depending on your perspective) with a sword fight of her own in "The Elysium Kingdom" draws a neat link between these two Star Trek  Enterprise helm officers.

"The Naked Time" was solely responsible for  Star Trek 's habit of "infected crew" bottle episodes, with that tradition carried forth by  Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "The Naked Now" and beyond.  Strange New Worlds ' "The Elysium Kingdom" marks the latest entry in that prestigious lineage, and Ortegas' Sulu sword fight callback brilliantly confirms the 2022 episode as a spiritual successor to its 1966 inspiration. And, of course, the  Strange New Worlds Easter egg is even sweeter for passing straight from one Enterprise pilot to another. Helm officers evidently all harbor a repressed desire to swing a sword around their ship...

From a behind-the-scenes perspective, Ortegas' sword fight feels like a touching nod to George Takei's finest hour (not) in a  Star Trek shirt. Though Sulu enjoyed many highlights during his Starfleet career, few are as memorable as wildly brandishing a foil around a starship, sweat glistening off his perfectly toned abs. By remembering that famous scene,  Strange New Worlds duly pays its "The Naked Time" debt.

The adventures of Anson Mount's Captain Pike make zero apology for honoring the past.  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds deliberately returns to the spirit of  The Original Series and  The Next Generation , and revisits the episodic structure of a bygone age. "The Elysium Kingdom" marks  Strange New Worlds ' most direct homage yet, but this fantastical swords and sorcery romp avoids the pitfall of parody or platitude by keeping its head and heart looking toward the future... even if one foot stays firmly rooted in  Star Trek 's history.

More:  Why Strange New Worlds Should Ignore Nurse Chapel's First Star Trek Story

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues Thursday on Paramount+.

• April 25, 2024 | Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images
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TrekInk: Review of Star Trek Captain’s Log: Sulu

| January 13, 2010 | By: Alex Fletcher 34 comments so far

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SULU REVIEW

Set shortly after Sulu’s ascendancy to the captaincy of the Excelsior (around 2288-2290), the first issue of the new Captain’s Log anthology series is out and presents a story about a captain that fans keep clamoring for more stories about. Previous stories focusing on Sulu’s adventures have included the novel Forged in Fire and the Captain Sulu Adventures from Simon and Schuster Audioworks, but this is the first comic story to focus on Sulu’s time aboard the Excelsior since "Tests of Courage" back in the DC days.

Written by Scott and David Tipton, the story focuses on a carefully scheduled diplomatic encounter with the Tholians. As per usual, any time any schedule is made with the Tholians, something inevitably throws something of a wrench into the works. The story begins with Sulu and his new first officer, Cirpiano, fencing before a message from Admiral Renshaw interrupts them to inform them of the pending meeting with the Tholians about a Federation colony on Mirabi 5.

Like John Byrne in one of his recent Romulan stories, the Tiptons take this opportunity to (quickly) revisit an old episode from the Original Series television show, giving a brief summary of the entire episode in a single page of three panels (who knew that Star Trek could be summed up so easily?), quickly reminding the reader of Sulu’s prior encounter with the Tholians in "The Tholian Web". Between the opening fencing match and the recap, the stage is set for the events of the rest of the story as Sulu is forced to use his diplomatic wiles to avoid another disastrous encounter with the Tholians.

Federica Manfredi (from David Messina’s studio) provides the artwork for this issue, and her art is similar in style to Messina’s, but has enough differences to distinguish her. The likenesses of characters we know well (Sulu and Rand) look very close to the actors that portrayed them, the uniforms fit the era perfectly, and the display graphics in the background bring out a strong feel for what the bridge looked and felt like in both "The Undiscovered Country" and "Flashback". Her imagery of starships at warp looks and feels exactly like the style seen in the early movies, and does not attempt to retcon the more "modern" style onto the older era.

The colors, provided by 2B Studios, are vibrant and jump off the page, suiting the timeframe of the story. Most of the exteriors look like they came from the sixth movie, while the interiors have a comfortable combination of the movie era with the warmth from the Voyager era. Some of the most striking colored panels are those set in open space, as the star fields almost look like images from the Hubble telescope. One shot even shows a Tholian web, complete with the strands glowing in space, casting an eerie glow on the page.

David Messina presents the cover art, showing a static shot of Sulu in front of traditional Samurai gear, while the retailer’s image is a photograph of Sulu sitting in his command chair. The cover art has little to do with the story, but is a nice image of Sulu all the same.

This is a decent story to start off the "Captain’s Log" series, showing a day in the life of Hikaru Sulu. This issue shows the potential for the rest of the series. If the series can keep this level, then the anthology should be a decent one. This series will run like the previous "Alien Spotlight" series, with a different focus in each issue and a different writer. Also like that series, the issues will be periodic. Hopefully there will not be too much of a delay between issues. Look for an update from TrekMovie on the next planned issues of "Star Trek: Captain’s Log."

Captain’s Log: Sulu arrives in comic shops today, Wednesday January 13th, and you can also pick it up at TFAW.com .

Can’t wait to read it.

I have always been a Sulu Fan!

Not having read the comic I could be wrong here, but Constitution Class Schematic behind Sulu in the Turbolift…yeah Im one of THOSE ST fans lol. Looks great, the artwork especially!

Danno-good spot on that one.

@3: it’s not that you’re one of THOSE fans, it’s just that we all know the iconic images of the Enterprise and Excelsior. it’s an oversight to be sure.

Cover art doesn’t really look like him. The drawing one, not the photo, obviously.

@3 Maybe Capt Sulu had those installed because he secretly coveted the Enterprise.

Nicely done. Part of me wishes they’d gone with a Captain Sulu series. Another is just glad that George got a few choice scenes along that way. Again…nicely done.

AND… George comes back from the dead next week on Heroes!

What? Trekweb isn’t covering the Jay Leno debacle?

Seriously, I love these comic book columns. I don’t have the time or money to keep up with these myself anymore so I appreciate the rundowns.

George Take is still handsome guy, whew i finally got that out of my chest. BTW is Takei returning to Heroes?

Yeah the art’s ok but obviously the artist needs to study the subject matter more, mainly what Sulu actually looked like. And yeah #3, that’s a rather epic fail putting a connie class in the turbolift. If it had been just a blob in the background I could have over looked it but they put some detail into it. Also the corridors look like they did in the Enterprise from ST II and III, not anything like the excelsior. They do look good, though. And of course I’m being picky, but I think if youre going to spend the time to do a comic you should learn enough about the subject to draw it at least accurately. It was like the other comic where Spock’s blood is red. To some that’s a minor oversight, but the whole Vulcans-have-green-blood thing is pretty important to us Trekkies, who are probably the only ones that will read these. Still looks like this could be a good story, though.

…looks like he’s chewing his lip on the cover….(the drawing)

…looks like he’s chewing his lip on the cover….(

Or eating a lemon.

First thing I noticed too. Ha.

Good read, looking forward to the next issue

In Wrath of Khan they had the wrong schematic panels in the background a few times. THIS COMIC IS NOW CANON.

I think the Warp effect looks really, really strange. Just utterly bizzarre.

But other than that, it all looks pretty darn good. Might head over and see if I can get this. :D

I know it’s not him, but the character behind Sulu in the left-hand comic photo has a strong resemblance to Darth Vader.

I was dissappointed with the art in this issue. Most of the time, Sulu didn’t even resemble GT. And the aforemention of the Constitution Class ship in the backround. There is a scene where they meet up with a ship that is similar to The Grissom. In a later scene that ship has become a TOS Constution class! And finally, when the Excelsior goes to warp, the artist inserted the word ZOOM! behind the ship! There are other little things too, but that’d be nitpicking!

on the penciled cover it looks like Sulu is wearing gold instead of white…like in the photo cover. also the rank looks like it’s captain, but it looks like it was drawn the same way DC Comics drew the ranks in their first Star Trek volume of comic books (the second volume by DC had some great artwork and paid attention to the details like the rank).

Haha I noticed the Constitution 1701-A diagrams in the background. Not a big deal (though IDW always seems to make tiny little errors like that) and the comic was great. One question I had was on page 11, the Excelsior flies by an old Constitution TOS type ship. That part confused me since they are trying to rescue an Oberth class ship. Can anyone tell me why there’s just a Constitution ship just “there”? Did I miss something?

18. Thats not a character behind Sulu it is Japanese yoroi (samurai armor) shown presumably to tie Sulu to his samurai roots. Whats always intrigued me is that ‘Sulu’ is not a Japanese name as there is no ‘L’ in Japanese. I do believe though its actually Philipino IINM as in the Sulu Sea. In Japanese it would be Tsuru (Crane) so Ive always fancied that Sulu is either of Philipino/Japanese ancestry or his name is a 23d century anglicized version of the bird. The crane has a lot of significance in Japanese culture. That being said Im looking forward to this….”Ohhhhhhh my….”

George Takei recalled Gene Roddenberry wanted the character to represent all of Asia, which symbolized the peace of the Trek universe in spite of the numerous wars in the continent. Roddenberry did not want a nationally specific surname, so he looked at a map and saw the Sulu Sea. “He thought, ‘Ah, the waters of that sea touch all shores’,” the actor recalled, “and that’s how my character came to have the name Sulu.” In the book Inside Star Trek The Real Story, the character’s name is noted as a pun on the name of vice president of Desilu Studios, Herb Solow.

Thank you, WIkipedia.

I didnt like the “Easter Eggs” type shots of the Enterprise in various spots. It might be cool if they put the Enterprise in once or done a NCC1701 on the com link like when Shatner was on SeaQuest but to have 3 or 4 obvious Enterprise shots where they are not supposed to be is taking you out of the story.

@18: Ah, don’t you mean that Darth Vader has a strong resemblance to a samurai? ;)

#23 Yeah, what about Han Solo? :-)

When it comes to errors involving wrong ship graphics, dont forget “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”. The bridge of the Reliant features graphics of the refit Constitution class on a side console. It shows the saucer, nacelles, and secondary hull all separate from each other. The Reliant has no secondary hull and its saucer is different as well.

I hope they give Rand more than a cameo. The Excelsior command crew was woefully devoid of women. I’ll be miffed if the only one they’ve got is reduced to saying ‘Hailing Frequencies open.’ It’ll be like the bad old days.

#26 Maybe they’ll fix the graphics in a future Blu-Ray edition.

@20: I noticed this immediately.

Just adds that the cover art (not the photo, which is spot on) SUCKS.

The golden overstrap on the shirt, and the undershirt and collar color is clearly the yellow-gold of operations, and not the white of command. You can tell this by comparison with the Starfleet Delta of that era, which in the cover art is correctly white in the background. That shade of white should match the undershirt and overstrap, and it doesn’t.

It wouldn’t cost them all that much to have eagle-eyed Trek fans preview their works. They don’t give a damn, clearly.

@26: The “retcon” that only works when the Reliant under Khan is facing Enterprise, is that they’ve brought up the Enterprise’s specs… but that doesn’t explain away the Reliant under Terrell… unless we can retcon it as a prank being played by Kyle and Chekov?

I was a good issue over all, but they need to switch out the Enterprise A for the Excelsior on the MSD Displays. That was my only complaint.

The comic world has has had trouble in the past getting the right look on some of our favorite characters, remember Marvels DS9 “Super Wooooorf!”

The cover art for Sulu makes him look like the lead singer from X Japan

The Oberth becoming a Constitution and the 1701 graphics in the Excelsior really stuck out. Besides that I thought it was a good Sulu story.

I’m confused, is Sulu serving on the Enterprise? How does he hold two ranks at the same time? If you look at the pages before the flashback page, Sulu has the Captain’s rank on the shoulder strap, and an Admiral’s rank on his sleeve. I have one of these uniforms (which is the best by the way) and a smaller version of the shoulder rank is what is worn on the sleeve. It is refreshing to have a single story issue for a change, I wish they would do more like DC did.

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Shirtless Fencing Sulu

Discussion in ' Star Trek Movies: Kelvin Universe ' started by The Wormhole , Sep 15, 2008 .

The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

So all the while we've been discussing things from TOS that should be included in Trek XI, most notably SPOCK SHOUTING ABOUT THE WOMEN!! And yet, we've missed a rather important thing: Sulu fencing shirtless, like he did in The Naked Time. Think about it. Have a scene where any character walks into the Enterprise's gym and sees Sulu there, shirtless, practicing fencing. Or even better, remember a few months back there were rumours that Sulu would get into a sword fight with one of Nero's Romulan goons? What if it's a shirtless sword fight? Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. I think there's potential for something kick ass here. What do you think?  

Gepard Vice Admiral Admiral

The Wormhole said: ↑ Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. Click to expand...

M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

The Wormhole said: ↑ ... Or even better, remember a few months back there were rumours that Sulu would get into a sword fight with one of Nero's Romulan goons? What if it's a shirtless sword fight? Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. I think there's potential for something kick ass here. What do you think? Click to expand...

Samuel T. Cogley Vice Admiral Admiral

Just a trivial aside... Takei was on the Howard Stern show recently, and someone had referred to the time they oiled Sulu up for the sword fight. George made it known that was his own sweat, not oil.  

Gep Malakai said: ↑ The Wormhole said: ↑ Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. Click to expand...

M'Sharak said: ↑ The Wormhole said: ↑ ... Or even better, remember a few months back there were rumours that Sulu would get into a sword fight with one of Nero's Romulan goons? What if it's a shirtless sword fight? Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. I think there's potential for something kick ass here. What do you think? Click to expand...

Jackson_Roykirk Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

Samuel T. Cogley said: ↑ Just a trivial aside... Takei was on the Howard Stern show recently, and someone had referred to the time they oiled Sulu up for the sword fight. George made it known that was his own sweat, not oil. Click to expand...

Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

The Wormhole said: ↑ So all the while we've been discussing things from TOS that should be included in Trek XI, most notably SPOCK SHOUTING ABOUT THE WOMEN!! And yet, we've missed a rather important thing: Sulu fencing shirtless, like he did in The Naked Time. Think about it. Have a scene where any character walks into the Enterprise's gym and sees Sulu there, shirtless, practicing fencing. Or even better, remember a few months back there were rumours that Sulu would get into a sword fight with one of Nero's Romulan goons? What if it's a shirtless sword fight? Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. I think there's potential for something kick ass here. What do you think? Click to expand...

Ryan Thomas Riddle Vice Admiral Admiral

Sector 7 Vice Admiral Admiral

Sector 7 said: ↑ Gep Malakai said: ↑ The Wormhole said: ↑ Sulu and the Romulan meet. They nod heads. They rip their shirts off and then pull their swords out and fight. Click to expand...

CommanderRaytas DISCO QUEEEEEEN Rear Admiral

Manly, but not rugged. You can shave and dress up and even moisturise and still be a real man. Cute is better, so all the girls will be confused about who to cheer for during the fight.  

For decades I had no idea George Takei is gay. And I found him very attractive. Now that I know, I don't care. He's still attractive, and from what I've read, he is still an incredibly nice person. And I bet he'd still look terrific shirtless, running around with a sword!  

CommanderRaytas said: ↑ Manly, but not rugged. You can shave and dress up and even moisturise and still be a real man. Cute is better, so all the girls will be confused about who to cheer for during the fight. Click to expand...

Sector 7 said: ↑ George was always a very nice person, from the first time we talked (he grilled me actually) and throughout my Hollywood ordeal... he was always charming and a good friend. I don't think that will ever change. Click to expand...

Red Ranger Admiral In Memoriam

Actually, I hope Gertrude the animated plant makes a cameo! -- RR  

Red Ranger said: ↑ Actually, I hope Gertrude the animated plant makes a cameo! -- RR Click to expand...

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NYCC: George Takei on meeting Harlan Ellison, missing Leonard Nimoy & fencing snafus on 'Star Trek' set

Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

The U.S.S. Enterprise would not have gotten far without Hikaru Sulu at the helm, and Sulu only worked because of the man who portrayed him. George Takei blazed new trails as the character in the Star Trek franchise, appearing in the original series, the first six movies, and even Star Trek: Voyager.

Takei's career expands well past those stars however, as he has acted in such projects as Mulan ,  Kubo and the Two Strings , Archer , has played a version of himself on The Simpsons , and even ventured to the galaxy far, far away with roles in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the recent Star Wars: Visions . Oh my! 

Takei held a live panel as part of New York Comic Con 2021 and SYFY WIRE was there to learn from the legend himself. 

“I missed you all so much,” Takei began, as the crowd gave him a rousing welcome. He wasted no time in sharing gratitude for the fully-vaccinated audience, mentioning how he was surprised that so many others are currently “fighting to die.” 

“We Star Trek  people, and we who look to the future with optimism, we know better,” he said. “We live long and prosper. And we are gonna stay healthy.” 

Takei said he personally spent the pandemic working on another book. Titled “They Called Us Enemy,” the book is about him being imprisoned by the U.S. during World War II due to racial bias. At the other end of the creative spectrum, he’s soon going to begin working on a new movie with Mel Brooks. He’ll play an animated cat general who fights for a character played by Ricky Gervais. He referenced his recent work on Star Wars: Visions , joking that he’s loyal to Star Trek , but that he’s also “trying to pacify the Star Wars people.” 

A fan asked Takei about the famous sci-fi writer, Harlan Ellison, who wrote the script for the famous Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Ellison was famously unhappy with what was done to his script for that episode, and Takei remembers seeing him on the lot “having a rant about someone I don’t know.” He said that he saw him again later, and found Ellison to be perfectly nice. 

There’s one particular episode of Star Trek that Takei was is especially happy with, and it involves a virus that releases inhibitions. It is of course “The Naked Time,” the Season 1 episode where he breaks out his fencing foil. “It was absolutely powerfully written, a tense and dramatic story, and also very science fiction. For me, it was the most fun episode I ever worked on.” 

He’s started fencing lessons a few weeks before filming the episode, but practiced himself on the side. While doing so, he frightened fellow actor James Doohan (Scotty), who thought he was being attacked. Takei said that he was written up for “attacking actors” and is now on record for having attacked James Doohan with a fencing foil. “I was minding my own business,” Takei joked. 

When a fan asked about the dearly departed Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, Takei couldn’t express his love for Nimoy fast enough. “He was an extraordinary man, and an amazingly loyal friend,” he said, recalling seeing Nimoy in the play Equus before doing the same role himself. Nimoy told him that he was better, but Takei maintained “that was an outright lie.” 

Another fan brought up Takei’s work in the Broadway play Allegiance , which once again dealt with anti-Japanese resentments and racism following the attack on Pearl Harbor. “We were completely helpless,” Takei said, adding that his new book deals with the same historical period and his personal experience in it. He said growing up, he learned that he had to be “participatory in a participatory government.” 

Takei learned about democracy at a very young age, and as he said, he knows all too well “how fragile it can be.”

Click here to check out all of SYFY WIRE's continuing coverage of New York Comic Con 2021.  

• George Takei
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Picture This

George takei 'lost freedom' some 80 years ago – now he's written that story for kids.

Samantha Balaban

George Takei was just 4 years old when when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066:

"I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders... to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded..."

It was Feb. 19, 1942. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor two months earlier; For looking like the enemy, Japanese and Japanese American people in the U.S. were now considered "enemy combatants" and the executive order authorized the government to forcibly remove approximately 125,000 people from their homes and relocate them to prison camps around the country.

Book Reviews

George takei recalls time in an american internment camp in 'they called us enemy'.

Star Trek actor George Takei has written about this time in his life before — once in an autobiography, then in a graphic memoir, and now in his new children's book, My Lost Freedom.

It's about the years he and his mom, dad, brother and baby sister spent in a string of prison camps: swampy Camp Rohwer in Arkansas, desolate Tule Lake in northern California. But first, they were taken from their home, driven to the Santa Anita racetrack and forced to live in horse stalls while the camps were being built.

"The horse stalls were pungent," Takei remembers, "overwhelming with the stench of horse manure. The air was full of flies, buzzing. My mother, I remember, kept mumbling 'So humiliating. So humiliating.'"

He says, "Michelle's drawing really captured the degradation our family was reduced to."

Michelle is Michelle Lee, the illustrator — and researcher — for the book. Lee relied heavily on Takei's text and his excellent memory, but it was the research that both agree really brought the art to life.

"I'm telling it from the perspective of a senior citizen," Takei, 87, laughs. "I really had to wring my brains to try to remember some of the details."

So Takei took Lee to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, where he is a member of the board. They had lunch in Little Tokyo, got to know each other, met with the educational director, and looked at the exhibits. Then Lee started digging into the archives.

Movie Interviews

From 'star trek' to lgbt spokesman, what it takes 'to be takei'.

"I looked for primary sources that showed what life was like because I feel like that humanizes it a lot more," Lee explains. She found some color photographs taken by Bill Manbo, who had smuggled his camera into the internment camp at Heart Mountain in Wyoming. "While I was painting the book, I tried as much to depict George and his family just going about their lives under these really difficult circumstances."

Takei says he was impressed with how Lee managed to capture his parents: his father, the reluctant leader and his mother, a fashion icon in her hats and furs. "This has been the first time that I've had to depict real people," Lee adds.

To get a feel for 1940s fashion, Lee says she looked at old Sears catalogues. "What are people wearing? All the men are wearing suits. What kind of colors were clothes back then."

But a lot of information has also been lost — Lee wasn't able to see, for example, where Takei and his family lived in Arkansas because the barracks at Camp Rohwer have been torn down — there's a museum there now. "I didn't actually come across too many photos of the interior of the barracks," says Lee. "The ones I did come across were very staged."

She did, however, find the original floor plans for the barracks at Jerome Camp, also in Arkansas. "I actually printed the floorplan out and then built up a little model just to see what the space was actually like," Lee says. "I think it just emphasized how small of a space this is that whole families were crammed into."

One illustration in the book shows the work that Takei's mother put in to make that barrack — no more than tar paper and boards stuck together — a home.

"She gathered rags and tore them up into strips and braided them into rugs so that we would be stepping on something warm," Takei remembers. She found army surplus fabrics and sewed curtains for the windows. She took plant branches that had fallen off the nearby trees and made decorative sculptures. She asked a friendly neighbor to build a table and chairs.

"You drew the home that my mother made out of that raw space, Takei tells Lee. "That was wonderful."

Michelle Lee painted the art for My Lost Freedom using watercolor, gouache and colored pencils. Most of the illustrations have a very warm palette, but ever-present are the barbed wire fences and the guard towers. "There's a lot of fencing and bars," Lee explains. "That was kind of the motif that I was using throughout the book... A lot of vertical and horizontal patterns to kind of emphasize just how overbearing it was."

Takei says one of his favorite drawings in the book is a scene of him and his brother, Henry, playing by a culvert.

Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2022

George takei got reparations. he says they 'strengthen the integrity of america'.

"Camp Rohwer was a strange and magical place," Takei writes. "We'd never seen trees rising out of murky waters or such colorful butterflies. Our block was surrounded by a drainage ditch, home to tiny, wiggly black fishies. I scooped them up into a jar.

One morning they had funny bumps. Then they lost their tails and their legs popped out. They turned into frogs!"

"They're just two children among many children who were imprisoned at these camps," says Lee, "and to them, perhaps, aspects of being there were just fun." The illustration depicts both childlike wonder and — still, always — a sense of foreboding. Butterflies fly around a barbed wire fence. A bright sun shines on large, dark swamp trees. Kids play in the shadow of a guard tower.

"There's so much that you tell in that one picture," says Takei. "That's the art."

"So many of your memories are of how perceptive you are to things that are going on around you," adds Lee, "but also still approaching things from a child's perspective."

Even though the events in My Lost Freedom took place more than 80 years ago, illustrator Michelle Lee and author George Takei say the story is still very relevant today.

"These themes of displacement and uprooting of communities from one place to another — these are things that are constantly happening," says Lee. Because of war and because of political decisions ... those themes aren't uncommon. They're universal."

Takei agrees. "People need to know the lessons and learn that lesson and apply it to hard times today. And we hope that a lot of people get the book and read it to their children or read it to other children and act on it."

He's done his job, he says, now the readers have their job.

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Published Aug 8, 2016

Shirtless Sulu Bobbles Into Your Collection

Remember when Sulu showed off his fencing skills in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Naked Time”? Well, so does Bif Bang Pow!, which has captured that memorable episode with the first-ever Star Trek: The Original Series The Naked Time Sulu Deluxe Bobble Head – now available for pre-order at Entertainment Earth.

In continued celebration of the Star Trek 50th anniversary, this unique all-resin bobble is a great addition for collectors. Measuring 7-inches tall, the Star Trek: The Original Series The Naked Time Sulu Bobble Head features the muscular lieutenant brandishing his infamous sword as he stands on a delta-themed based.

The commemorative bobble head is intended for ages 14 and up. Go to entertainmentearth.com to pre-order. From bobble heads to Pin Mate figures and more, check out the complete line of Star Trek collectibles from Bif Bang Pow! at Entertainment Earth.

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