WASHINGTON — It seems “Star Trek”, the cosmic 1960s TV show starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, was more revolutionary than we initially thought.
In with Entertainment Weekly, Takei said he once asked show creator Gene Roddenberry why the series didn’t feature LGBT characters. Turns out the show had already pushed the envelope in 1968 with an on-screen interracial kiss between characters Captain Kirk and Uhura.
That episode was “Plato’s Stepchildren” and it was blacked out in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, Takei recalled. “Our ratings plummeted,” the actor told EW. “鈥淚t was the lowest-rated episode that we had.”
“And [Roddenberry] said, 鈥業鈥檓 treading a fine tight wire here. I鈥檓 dealing with issues of the time. I鈥檓 dealing with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and I need to be able to make that statement by staying on the air.’聽He said, 鈥業f I dealt with that [LGBT] issue I wouldn鈥檛 be able to deal with any issue because I would be canceled.鈥欌��
As Takei explained, his character was named after the Sulu Sea off the coast of the Philippines.
“[Roddenberry] had a map of Asia pinned on the wall and he was staring at it, trying to get some inspiration for the Asian character,” Takei said. “He thought, ‘Ah,聽the waters of the sea touch all shores, embracing all of Asia. And that鈥檚 how my character came to have the name Sulu.鈥�
Watch Takei’s video interview below.
