Oh... 
MY!
Posted on 07/07/2016 5:47:16 PM PDT by SMGFan
When news broke that John Cho’s Hikaru Sulu would be revealed in the upcoming “Star Trek Beyond” as gay — in a tribute to original Sulu actor George Takei — the revelation was met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Except, as it turns out, from Takei himself.
“I think it’s really unfortunate,” the veteran actor and gay icon — who came out to much fanfare in 2005 –tells The Hollywood Reporter.
(Excerpt) Read more at zap2it.com ...
I think we keep calling him Chinese, Cho is actually Korean. He doesn’t look Japanese. Same problem with Linda Park playing Hoshi Sato on Enterprise. She didn’t look Japanese, either.
Cho’s biggest problem isn’t one that’s been mentioned. It’s age. Cho is 44, he is at least 20 years too old to be playing Baby Sulu. Added to the confusion, Sulu is supposed to be about a decade younger than Kirk (so that would make him, what, 12 in the reboot ?), but Chris Pine playing a, what, 19 year old Kirk (?) is almost a decade younger than Cho (made worse by the fact that Pine looks much younger than his age, projecting no maturity at all, even at almost 36 — curiously he and Macauley Culkin were born on the exact same day, and Culkin now looks like the Wrath of God).
It’s why all of this is such a joke. It’s a Star Wars fanboi’s revenge on Trek. Blow up Vulcan, check. Make Kirk into Mannequin Skywalker’s twin, check. Make Khan an English honky, check. Have a fag play Spock and make him a hot for Uhura, check. Make Sulu gay, check. Make the characters ages as confusing as a soap opera’s ? Check.
Faux Trek IS the punchline.
Yeah Cho is Korean, so if you said Korean I would have understood what you meant, I never heard anyone call him Chinese.
One Asian ethnicity playing another, I don’t have any issue with it, not very noticeable to me. For Sulu particularly, he was supposed to be a character for all Asia, the character was established as Japanese but Sulu isn’t a Japanese surname, so if a Korean or Chinese or Thai plays him, meh.
Park’s character, Hoshi Sato, was under-developed, the only outward hint of her ancestry being her name (source’s do say she was born in Kyoto, Japan, but that comes from the brief on screen flashing of a personnel file) which doesn’t preclude her being part-Korean. I think she really shined in the Mirror Universe episode where they actually gave her something interesting to do, she and the Black dude where terribly wasted and underdeveloped characters. The Black dude as helmsman of the ship could have been replaced with a rotating extra like post-Wesley TNG (other than Ro Laren, a shame she wasn’t in more episodes) and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Dr. Pulaski got more character development in one season of TNG then he did in 5 seasons, and probably more lines too.
I would not ascribe some kind of sinister “Star Wars Fanboi’s revenge” motive to Abrams , it’s was just horrible film-making from people who didn’t jive with the source material. Though some allege he put in Star Wars esque features in order to “audition” to be director for the new Star Wars movie, I could buy that.
They actually rejected the A-list Matt Damon from playing Kirk in 2009 because he was "too old" to be playing a Starfleet Academy era Kirk, yet they had no problem casting a then 37 year old actor to play a "younger" version of the character George Takei played when he was 22. Cho is a decent actor in his own right, but no one can buy him as Takei's character anyone than they can buy Cumberbatch as Montalban's character.
Putting Chevok in the '09 film made even less sense, canonwise. It's clearly established that Chekov is 21 to Kirk's 34ish year old captain in the original series. Setting the reboot 8 years earlier meant Chekov would have to be around 13 or so, and it made no sense for him to be in the movie so they can have the "original crew" since he wasn't even a bridge officer until the second season of TOS. Yeoman Rand was the original character for the 1st season, and its one of the many things the people in charge of the "reboot" have either ignored or completely forgotten about.
“The Black Dude” from Enterprise is now on “General Hospital” playing a psychiatrist (caught in a love triangle with the Black Lady Police Commissioner and Finola Hughes’s Anna Devane, nevermind she looks old enough to be his mama).
If they were going to cast a Korean to play Hoshi, they cast the wrong Park. I would’ve gone with Grace, as she’s arguably one of the most beautiful Asian actresses working today. Although that’s still not enough to get me to watch that Battlestar: Galactica reboot or the Hawaii Five-O one. Jiminy Christmas, can’t anyone come up with original material for a new show ?
Of course, Oprah was probably physically closer to Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura. Casting a very petite, teenybopper (who is very racially mixed) looking actress was ludicrous. Nichols was a mature woman who had already had a child by the time she played Uhura. The only complaint regarding her casting, who was supposed to be a native of Nairobi, Kenya, was that she was clearly too Americanized. I always figured she lived there for but a short time before moving to the American Midwest (St. Louis) to more jibe with Miss Nichols’ background, although that was contradicted by William Rotsler’s bio of the character in his books (which were later, partly, accepted as canon, as he was the person who gave her her first name of Nyota, never mentioned until Faux Trek, IIRC).
It’s too bad they didn’t cast a wide net to find someone who actually resembled a young Shatner instead of someone who, as I said, looks like a runway model with not even a hint of maturity or authority. He’s got the real Dr. McCoy’s eyes, which make him look even more like a male bimbo. Matt Damon playing the role ? Cue the Worf facepalm.
I wonder what they’re going to do about Chekov now, but with this upcoming farce, I hope it dies as swift a death as the poor Anton Yelchin, RIP.
Yeoman Rand, well, since they’ve gone full parody, here’s a meaty role for Caitlyn Jenner to play.
Oh... MY!
Well, I have to say I’ve re-gained some respect for Takei. Putting aside his FEELINGS out of respect for the guy who created the series is impressive......but he’s wrong about almost everything else.
And, that phrase was NEVER trademarked bu Dick Enberg!
I’m trying to figure out which franchise (Star Trek vs. Star Wars) is going to hell in a handbasket faster.
Yeah-- But I wish... 
I had!
Will this injustice ever end?
Cho is Korean. Takei, of course, is Japanese.
My mental impression of Janeway was forever altered by the actress’s portrayal of Red in Orange is the New Black.
Heh. I first read that as
“Why are there no museums in Star Trek?”
“Because it’s the future, son.”
It got a laugh, too.
I think that Enberg didn’t TM it was because Keith Jackson used it just as often.
Ahhh, the good old days!
Just be sure to wash up, and don’t eat all the Cheet-os.
>>Gays having gay kids. I guess this is the future.
Nope.
Pretty sure Romans chapter one is their future.
Nature has a way of fixing things when it gets abominated: It destroys the perpetrating culture by reducing its reproductive fitness and allowing it to be taken over by competitors.
You reminded me of an old Opie and Anthony skit from years and years ago.
They were talking about Star Trek.
Kirk: “Bones, you’ve... got to hook me up. That B**ch from Rigel 7 gave me the... botholian clap.”
Bones: “Damn it Jim! Stop screwing green women and you wouldn’t have that problem!”
“cast the wrong Park”
Haha, yes you’ve mentioned that before. Personally, I think I’d lean toward Linda.
I watched most of the new BSG, in the end it offended me on several levels, give me what some fanbois of that series derisively call “Bonanza in Space” anyday over Iraq war parables and other such nonsense.
My mom likes the new HI-50, and said she wishes she looked like Grace P. The show seems stupid to me. Apparently Hawaii faces violent terrorist attacks and major bank heists on a weekly basis, funny how it doesn’t make the news. Pete, have you seen it?
““The Black Dude” from Enterprise is now on “General Hospital” ...........”
Ensign Mayweather and Finola Hugues?! Weird. I think I missed my calling, I could write crap like that.
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