Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Asian-American actor Takei attributes his success to his role as Mr. Sulu on the Star Trek TV series and in six full-length motion pictures (1966-1991). Starting with his Japanese-American family's internment in a WWII high-security camp in northern California, this lively memoir reveals the author's upbeat but pragmatic nature. The boy's early fascination with the theater, abetted by supportive parents and a B.A. and M.A. in theater from UCLA, led to his discovery when he was 27 by Gene Roddenberry, creator/producer of Star Trek. While Takei's film credits include Ice Palace, Green Berets and Bridge on the River Kwai, most of the book, of major interest to Star Trek fans, deals with behind-the-scenes accounts of the series' filming and production. (Oct.)
To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu
by George TakeiView All Available Formats & Editions
Best known as Mr. Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise™ and captain of the Starship Excelsior, George Takei is beloved by millions as part of the command team that has taken audiences to new vistas of adventure in Star Trek®—the unprecedented television and feature film phenomenon.
From the program’s birth in the…
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Overview
Best known as Mr. Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise™ and captain of the Starship Excelsior, George Takei is beloved by millions as part of the command team that has taken audiences to new vistas of adventure in Star Trek®—the unprecedented television and feature film phenomenon.
From the program’s birth in the changing world of the 1960s and death at the hands of the network to its rebirth in the hearts and minds of loyal fans, the Star Trek story has blazed its own path into our recent cultural history, leading to a series of blockbuster feature films and three new versions of Star Trek for television.
The Star Trek story is one of boundless hope and crushing disappointment, wrenching rivalries and incredible achievements. It is also the story of how, after nearly thirty years, the cast of characters from a unique but poorly rated television show have come to be known to millions of Americans and people around the world as family.
For George Takei, the Star Trek adventure is intertwined with his personal odyssey through adversity in which four-year-old George and his family were forced by the United States government into internment camps during World War II.
Star Trek means much more to George Takei than an extraordinary career that has spanned thirty years. For an American whose ideals faced such a severe test, Star Trek represents a shining embodiment of the American Dream—the promise of an optimistic future in which people from all over the world contribute to a common destiny.
Editorial Reviews
Ray Olson
"Star Trek"'s Mr. Sulu may be famous for fictional adventures out among the asteroids, but his own life, especially the early years, down on terra firma has been adventurous, too. To begin with, adventure stemmed from the accident of birth. The first child of a Japanese American mother and Japanese immigrant father denied U.S. citizenship because of the naturalization quotas then in force, Takei went with them into internment camps, first in Arkansas and then in California, during World War II. After the war, the family settled in East L.A., where George began school and a lifelong appreciation for Latino culture. Later, his father managed a crosstown move that put George into a mixed-race, up-and-coming, middle-class neighborhood, and his first adventure in political action occurred when teenage George found summer work picking strawberries and discovered the paymasters cheating Mexican pickers. Takei relates the incidents of these and his subsequent years establishing an acting career and continuing to express his social ideals (he even ran for the L.A. city council) in an anecdotal style that sounds as if he's honed it at many a Trekkers' convention. They're darn good stories and less predictable than his "Star Trek" memories, which tend to reinforce what Trekkers already know: for example, Bill Shatner is a tad egoistic, and Nichelle Nichols is pretty wonderful. So boldly go and read his book.Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9780743434201
- Publisher:
- Gallery Books
- Publication date:
- 03/10/2015
- Sold by:
- SIMON & SCHUSTER
- Format:
- NOOK Book
- Pages:
- 416
- Sales rank:
- 448,338
- File size:
- 14 MB
- Note:
- This product may take a few minutes to download.
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