BEHIND-THE-SCENES Page 1 Transcription from ST DVD by Janet. about transcription ST DVD screenshots and episode screenshots by Janet.

 

Captain Sulu

George Takei, who plays Sulu, in interview

George Takei: Well, doing [Star Trek Voyager], the guest shot on [Star Trek Voyager] began for me with a telephone call. A friend called and said: "Congratulations, George." I said: "For what?" He says: "I understand you're doing the guest shot on [Star Trek Voyager]." I said: "I am? I know nothing about it." He said: "Well, I saw it on the Internet." I said: "Oh well, you know, that's some fans' wishful writing on the Internet. I wouldn't give it much credence." But after I'd hung up with them, just to check it out I called my agent, and I said, "Steve, am I going to be doing a guest shot on [Star Trek: Voyager]?" He says: "Nope, don't know anything about it." I said: "I thought so." And I hung up with them and I thought, you know, that's what it was, some fan writing something on the Internet. Well, about two weeks after that my agent called me again and he said, "George, you know what, the Internet was right. You are doing a guest shot on [Star Trek: Voyager]." So from then I've been watching the Internet very closely for any information on that!

filming the episode

George Takei, who plays Sulu, in interview

David Livingston: I wanted to, for the audience's delight and hopefully surprise, I wanted to do a really cool reveal of Sulu, because we didn't really know where we were initially, so what we did, the ship was in distress, so that's always a justification for me to have liquid nitrogen pouring out of somewhere, so what we did was on the ship we created this big wall of liquid nitrogen, put the camera really well, and then had George walk through it in this very heroic pose and it was a great reveal of him. It surprised the audience and made him look really really cool, so that was fun.

[#44 Flashback]: first sight of Captain Sulu

[#44 Flashback]

Behind-the-scenes: Liquid Nitrogen

Tim Russ: Working with George on the bridge, as Sulu's character, and having him aboard as a guest was wonderful, not only from a nostalgic standpoint but also because he's a very good actor, a very wonderful personality, very warm, very giving, very easy to work with, and we had a good time, and some good laughs. And I thought it was a piece of genius storywise to place my character in the front of this ship, you know, that was established in the feature film. We saw this scene, we saw this moment.

[#44 Flashback]

[#44 Flashback]

In the film Sulu's cup of tea shatters. In [#44 Flashback] we learn that it was Tuvok who brought him that tea!

[#44 Flashback]

[#44 Flashback]

The shockwave following the explosion of the Klingon moon Praxis and its effect on the U.S.S. Excelsior is seen both in the feature film and also in [#44 Flashback].

[#44 Flashback]

[#44 Flashback]

George Takei: I thought it was a very imaginative idea to bring a connection between Sulu and Tuvok. It turns out that he was on the bridge of the Excelsior when the Praxis incident happened, and so there we had a story. And when my agent confirmed for me that I was doing a guest shot on [Star Trek Voyager] I was looking forward to working with the entire cast because I've been watching the series, and the only one I knew was Garrett Wang. I saw him in a play at UCLA when he was a student there, and I thought he was a good young actor, an up-and-coming young man. Now he's doing me at every convention that he goes to! So I was looking forward to working with the entire cast, and my only disappointment was that it was working with just Kate and Tim.

[#44 Flashback]

[#44 Flashback]