What a great way for Austin to kick off Pride Week! The man who made sure the Enterprise sailed through outer space smoothly before he commanded the Excelsior, Mr. Sulu! He’s also an accomplished voice actor for Adventure Time (Ricardio), The Simpsons (Wink, Sushi Waiter), Futurama (himself), Avatar: the Last Air Bender (Fire Nation prison warden), Clone Wars (Neimoidian general) and obviously the Star Trek cartoon from the Seventies.
George is also in Austin to promote his new book and a musical he’s loaning his assistance to; it’s about the Japanese Americans forced to internment camps during WWII, one of FDR’s uglier, inappropriate decisions.
It was a great honor to meet Mr. Takei (or sir, as I addressed him out of respect). I congratulated him on his relatively recent marriage to Brad (he was there, many recognized him from George’s FaceBook posts). I can relate, my parents don’t like my wife, thankfully my ‘rents are not a government that can deny Somara spousal rights.
Since my friend Nelson is a huge Star Trek fan, I had to get an autographed photo for him. To keep the tremendous line at Dragon’s Lair moving, I just took an autographed headshot so Nelson could have his personalized. It balances out, I got face time with George.
My brief chat? Telling Mr. Takei how cool it was to see him in an Archie comic. He said, it was a thrill because he grew up reading them. He never thought he’d ever be in one. I have it too. It’s pretty well done without any pandering.
Now I gotta’ see the Voyager episode when Tuvok tells Janeway about his time as a young officer on Sulu’s Excelsior.