TO BE TAKEI – The Review

Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot with George Takei, Brad Takei, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols.

It’s the voice. That mellifluous, basso profundo, deep down rumbling that issues words, sentences, entire speeches with such authority, sincerity and such relish that we cannot but pay attention. We hang on every word because we hear the intelligence, the humor, the irony and most of all the joy of someone who is in love; with life, with his partner, with acting, with being in the world and a part of human society, with the absolute joy of living. That voice is as recognizable and distinctive as Orson Welles, John Huston, Ed Begley or Roger Corman, that voice takes us by the hand and reveals to us a life lived full out, in every sense of the word; complicated, tragic, loving, generous and most of all fun.

It appears to be a lot of fun to be George Takei and he wants us all to know why. Here is an irresistible documentary about the one member of the original Star Trek crew who is now a super star in several media all at once, especially the social media that has evolved over the years.

Unless you have lived in a cave the past few decades, even if you are not a fan, you must be aware of George Takei’s involvement with a little thing called Star Trek. In that ground breaking and rule breaking series from the 1960s George Takei was one among several actors portraying a multicultural crew exploring deep space from the deck of a little plastic model. A multi cultural crew that not only got along within the confines of an intergalactic star ship but who all seemed to be on the same page as to their mission,” to explore strange new worlds”…and you know the rest.

Takei was the iconic Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise, an Asian who did not speak in mono syllables and was trusted with steering that little model through all manner of adventures.

I recall his involvement with the Star Trek movie franchise and occasional roles in low budget projects like Oblivion in 1994. I remember being curious when he came out of the closet a few years ago and then announced his marriage to his long time partner Brad Altman after California finally decided to allow gay marriage. I was not aware of how busy he has been professionally. Check his IMDB page, the man has worked almost nonstop since Star Trek went off the air; film, television and stage including a lot of voice work. I was overjoyed to see him in Larry Crowne, not only with a major role but easily stealing every scene he is in.

George Takei has also been very busy as an activist, speaking out about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, a subject he knows all too well. George and his other family members lost everything when they were forcibly moved out of California and put in a series of concentration camps. George admits that he hurt his Father deeply when he questioned his lack of resistance to being interned. And he admits that he never got around to apologizing to him. We don’t expect that kind of brutal honesty in a show business biography. The internment of Japanese Americans was one of the more disgraceful episodes in American history along with the treatment of Native Americans, our history of slavery and any number of other home grown atrocities. George Takei recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day while surrounded by guard towers, barbed wire and attack dogs. Just for a moment, please, think what that must have been like.

George Takei has also taken a great risk in finally coming out about his sexual orientation. Like a great many Hollywood actors he kept all that hidden away for fear of destroying his career. He and Brad bicker back and forth like any married couple. We see them on the road, at conventions, at speaking engagements. In one amazing scene that actually recalls The Big Lebowski we see them attempt to scatter the ashes of a family member, funny and horrifying at the same time.

Takei speaks very passionately about gay rights, about the injustice visited on Japanese Americans and we see how wonderful a guest he is on talk shows both radio and television. Amazingly he is treated with a great deal of respect… by Howard Stern! Of all people!

But for those of us who are true Movie Geeks it is the Star Trek years we most want to hear about, and TO BE TAKEI does not disappoint, no sir and no ma’am!

Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig (who appears to be a genuine friend to George, and still looks boyish despite a bald head and wrinkles), Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner are all present; to talk about the glory days of a struggling NBC show that almost got canceled after the second season. And we hear quite a lot about George Takei’s contributions. George himself is fond of the episode Naked Time in which he got to use a fencing foil and run around the Enterprise sets without a shirt, and he even snuck in some stealth gay subtext, I’m not kidding, watch it and see, George himself points it out.

On that particular issue I was not aware of a segment of Star Trek fandom that produces fiction and images of gay sex between Kirk and Spock! Nimoy discusses this and says he has seen some of this material. I personally would think if Spock went that way it would have been Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott that he may have yearned to cozy up with, on those long, long nights in deep space…….so cold out there! And how ironic that in the rebooted franchise Spock is now played by Zachary Quinto, an openly gay actor!

I had heard about the cost of obtaining celebrity autographs and here we see George and Brad set up shop at a fan convention, 35$ for an autograph, which I understand is actually quite reasonable these days. George will autograph whatever you have but they prefer if you buy a photo or a copy of George’s autobiography “To The Stars” from George’s table. Brad takes his role as George’s assistant and business manager quite seriously. To get George’s autograph you have to go through Brad first.

George Takei also has one of the most liked and friended Facebook pages, visited by hundreds if not thousands of people every day. He really is a master of all media and is constantly on the move from one engagement to another.

TO BE TAKEI is a wonderful piece of work, an intimate, warts and all portrait of an American show business icon. And as I said it is his association with Star Trek that brought him to this stage of his life, and our interest in him. The punch line to this entire documentary, the icing on the cake so to speak, is George Takei’s comments to William Shatner at Shatner’s celebrity roast! I will not even hint at what he says, it is worth your time to watch this wonderful documentary just for this incredible showdown! Priceless!

We also hear quite a bit about Shatner’s no show at George’s wedding, Nimoy was out of the country working, but Shatner had no such excuse. Even cast members from other Trek shows were at the wedding. I’m not sure but it would appear all this had some bearing on George’s comments to Shatner. Seriously, don’t miss this one, TO BE TAKEI is filled with priceless moments.

And finally let us all keep in mind that Kirk may have been the Captain, but Sulu steered the ship! Speaking of which “Mr. Sulu, take us out, warp factor 3!”

TO BE TAKEI opens in theaters and available on all VOD platforms
including iTunes and Amazon Instant Video
August 22nd