More than forty years ago, George Takei became U.S.S. Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu, one of the bravest adventurers in Gene Roddenberry's multi-cultural vision of our future. Now, one half of the "Harold & Kumar" team has taken the torch, and he's high on the script that will soon bring us a "Star Trek" reboot.
"The shoot went great; it was just a dream," marveled John Cho, the new Sulu in J.J. Abrams' highly-anticipated "Trek" film that will go where many have gone before in May 2009. "It is really, explicitly living out a childhood fantasy. So, it was just about as good as it gets for me."
Lucky enough to be one of the new Trekkies whose predecessor is still with us, Cho prepared for the life-changing role by peppering Takei with questions. "With George I was like ‘How is this going to change my life? How are you going to guide me through this process?'" he laughed. "Because there's only a handful of people who know what it's like to have been on that cast, and to have lived through what they lived through. I was just curious to know what was in store for me."
He also poured over old episodes of the classic show as if he were a Borg studying Species 125, searching for details on his daunting new role. "I was looking at those episodes and I was like, ‘This guy is fit!'," Cho laughed, observing that Takei seemed to take his shirt off whenever he could work it into the script. "That guy was gym-ready before there were gyms!"
Asked whether we'll see Cho without his shirt on in May 2009, he could only grin as if Kumar had handed him a water-based pipe (containing tobacco, of course). "I don't know," he laughed, cryptically. "I can't divulge anything."
Do you agree with the casting of Cho as Sulu? What Takei qualities do you hope he brings to the big screen?
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