George Takei Does Internet 'Star Trek'

By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Monday, September 25, 2006; 10:10 AM

PORT HENRY, N.Y. -- Prim Sulu has become a barbarian. With flowing hair and leather clothes, George Takei agreed to age 30 years for an Internet download episode of "Star Trek." The 50-minute production by Trekkie enthusiasts is being filmed at an old car dealership in the Adirondacks.

The new episode, "World Enough and Time," has Sulu being unexpectedly transported. "I find myself on another alien planet. I live 30 years of my life there. I have a child," Takei said.


George Takei poses for photographers on the red carpet before Comedy Central's
George Takei poses for photographers on the red carpet before Comedy Central's "Roast of William Shatner," in this Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 file photo, in Los Angeles. Takei agreed to age 30 years for an Internet download episode of "Star Trek." The 50-minute production by Trekkie enthusiasts is being filmed at an old car dealership in the Adirondacks. The new episode, "World Enough and Time," has Sulu being unexpectedly transported. "I find myself on another alien planet. I live 30 years of my life there. I have a child," Takei said. Then he returns to the starship Enterprise. "It turns out to be only a minute or two that's passed on the Enterprise. I'm a changed man." (AP Photo/Rene Macura, FILE) (Rene Macura - AP)

Then he returns to the starship Enterprise.

"It turns out to be only a minute or two that's passed on the Enterprise. I'm a changed man."

Standing in for William Shatner as Captain Kirk is the episode's producer, James Cawley of nearby Ticonderoga, who has financed 15 years of such "Star Trek" episodes from his earnings as an Elvis impersonator.

Cawley said the episode will be released in March as a free Internet download from his Star Trek New Voyages Web site.

"It's huge now," Cawley said. "It started out as my friends and me getting together playing 'Star Trek.' Now it's film crews donating their time. People take it seriously."

Including Takei.

"My coming back is crucial to the existence of the Enterprise," he said. "It's classic drama, and it's rip-snorting good."


© 2006 The Associated Press