Original subtitles

Well, yes, I am

following a specific formula

for making a Star Trek film.

A lot of excitement.

Beautiful locations, beautiful women.

That's a formula that's worked for over 20 years.

And there's no reason why it won't work for us.

Space. The final frontier.

This is the story of Stan Woo,

his 36-year mission

to make his own Star Trek film

alongside his best friends and his favorite movie stars,

to boldly go where no fan had gone before.

Personal log. Lieutenant Geoffrey Pond.

An unidentified object has locked onto my emergency

subspace transmitter.

The object has been broadcasting

a Starfleet signal every 30 seconds.

It is my duty to find the source of this signal

and keep it out of enemy hands.

I can only hope that Starfleet gets here before they do.

My name is Stan Woo.

In 1985, I produced a student film

set in a Star Trek universe

called Yorktown: A Time to Heal.

And it's just being released now, 36 years later.

Oh, my.

That's just like, uh,

some outfits I found on Melrose Avenue.

The hair was supposed to make up for my awful acting.

You know, give me some character.

But, yeah, I don't know if it helped or not,

but it gets a laugh now.

For people who don't know, Star Trek is a 1960s

television series about a crew exploring our galaxy.

Drama beyond the universe.

Adventures beyond the imagination.

Star Trek with William Shatner

as captain of the craft on an incredible assignment,

and Leonard Nimoy as his officer

who is more than human.

Star Trek.

I grew up in Mid-City, Los Angeles.

It was a mixed neighbourhood at the time, yeah.

Predominantly Black,

but we had a few Asian families on our street.

My mom was a homemaker.

My dad worked in his own noodle factory,

the Eastern Noodle Company.

When I was younger, I got stuck into the last room

in the house, way in the back.

It was an addition.

I was isolated back there.

So I hear every little noise,

and it gets kind of creepy back there.

So while I was watching Star Trek, you know,

Kirk has his little speeches about the unknown

and not to be frightened about the unknown.

I guess that was the attraction to Star Trek.

Dr. McCoy is right

in pointing out the enormous danger potential.

But I must point out that the possibilities,

the potential for knowledge

and advancement is equally great.

Risk.

Risk is our business.

That's what the Starship is all about.

There are basically two schools of science fiction

envisioning the future.

The dystopian or downbeat school,

which is huge,

and a very small, upbeat school.

Right? Star Wars, for instance.

It's about a dystopian empire that has subjugated

not just one world,

but a whole galaxy a long time ago.

It's very downbeat.

Star Trek said there were better days ahead

for the human race, and that's why I love it.

In the 1960s, America was turbulent with division.

It was a fractured country.

Dr. Martin Luther King has been shot to death

in Memphis, Tennessee.

It is not the end of violence.

It is not the end of lawlessness.

This is the city, in this area,

that is going to explode.

In 100 places.

Detroit is afire.

The war,

racial discrimination,

and political issues.

Tear gas has been used.

African Americans peacefully demonstrating for equality

were being attacked by "law enforcement officers"

with attack dogs and fire hoses,

or the Vietnam War dividing this country.

Law enforcement officers

were shooting at college students

advocating for peace in Vietnam.

None of that was being reflected on television,

save for Star Trek

because Gene Roddenberry thought in terms of metaphors.

Mass communications is our language today

between one another.

And we can't say, well,

let's not really talk about anything serious on television.

That is a criminal statement

and a criminal intention.

My father had an incredible life.

He was a World War II bomber pilot

for something like 80 missions

in the South Pacific.

After that, he hung up his wings

and became a police officer at the LAPD.

With those experiences all over the world,

I think my father really saw the the best of humanity

and the worst of humanity.

But what he did is he saw humanity.

And I think with his love

of of books and science fiction

and adventure,

he incorporated all of that into his storytelling.

Do we have any knowledge of a planet

that could have produced such a race of beings?

He's like, you want to talk about race relations?

You're gonna be half black, half white.

You're gonna be the other half.

I am black on the right side.

Lokai is white on the right side.

All of his people are white on the right side.

And we're gonna make you fight each other.

And this is how ridiculous

this entire issue is.

Anything that gets you to see a different point of view.

I mean, that's when Star Trek is at its best.

One of my favorite episodes, "Devil in the Dark,"

we go down to a planet.

There's a people who are mining crystals on that planet,

and there is a rock monster killing them.

And I think at first maybe they try to shoot the monster

or kill the monster.

And then Spock says...

This creature here is the mother of her race.

She had no objection to sharing this planet with you

until you broke into her nursery and started destroying her eggs.

I think Star Trek really talks about a future

where humanity learns that in order for us to evolve,

to get out of where we are now,

we need to embrace different ideas.

Let's put our differences aside, and let's see what happens

when we actually talk,

when we put our collective efforts together

and say, "You know what?

We can reach the stars if we do this.

That's not a bad idea. I think it's worth it."

Let's give it a shot.

Gene Roddenberry showed us

that there could be a positive future,

that we were somehow gonna come out of all of this disaster

that's facing us. Ecological disaster,

social disasters of any number of types.

The threat of nuclear war,

that somehow we would get past all that

and become better than we are today.

Take Putin, chain him to a couch and make him watch Star Trek.

Every single episode, every single episode,

over and over again

until it's hammered into his psyche,

into his subconscious, until he becomes a better person.

I've always felt that, yes,

Star Trek is must-watch television.

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.

And the ways our differences combine

to create meaning and beauty.

The Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Starship Earth,

and the strength of this starship

lay in its diversity

and working in concert.

When I was growing up,

the thing that excited me the most,

the image that stuck with me the most

was the briefing room.

It was where Kurt gathered all of these people

of different races,

of different genders from different planets,

and they worked together

to solve whatever the problem was.

Even though this is a show about the future,

there was something about that that said to me as a kid,

that's the way it's supposed to be.

That's what a meritocratic society looks like.

That's what a democratic society looks like.

That's what America is supposed to look like.

When Star Trek premiered, there was representation

on the screen of people who had never seen themselves

in positive lights before.

There's Walter Koenig playing a Russian

in the height of the Cold War.

Nichelle Nichols playing Lieutenant Uhura,

an African woman, in a role that was

completely non-stereotypical.

Progress report?

It's very delicate work, sir.

I can think of no one

better equipped to handle it, Miss Uhura.

As the only black girl in the seventh grade,

eighth grade and the ninth grade,

for me, for the classes I was in,

I was literally the only black speck that you could find.

And what got me through school, got me through that first week,

was I'm Nichelle Nichols.

The Uhura moment that really stands out,

and it's one of the very first episodes

that the audience would see,

Kirk and Uhura are both stressed out,

and they both snap at each other.

Try cutting them off!

Sir, if I could cut him off, don't you think I...

And Kirk apologizes to Uhura.

Sorry.

I would be willing to bet money

that never before on network television

had anyone seen a white commanding officer,

a white man,

apologize to his Black female employee.

That is an astonishing

damn near revolutionary moment.

Seeing this black face as the communiqué

amongst all of these white peoples in such a position.

Okay, she might as well have been sitting

in the president's office.

That's how important being on the bridge is.

If you're by the captain, you somebody.

Captain, we're coming under attack.

George Takei was there playing Sulu

just 21 years after the end of World War II,

when Japan was the enemy.

That image affects certainly young,

malleable minds growing up,

but also adults who may be

getting fixed in their thinking,

getting them to stop and say,

"Oh, oh, I didn't think of that.

Oh, what do you know?"

Let's be clear. Black people don't need to be told

that they have full humanity

and dignity and intelligence.

Asian people don't need to be told that.

That Asian people have got full humanity and dignity.

They know that. They know that through their own experience

and their families, they know that Black and Asian

and Latino and Native American

are three-dimensional people worthy of respect.

It's the white audiences that needed to be educated.

This was doing work that was for the benefit,

in many ways, of people of colour,

but it was white consciousness

that needed to be raised.

When you look at the '60s,

one of the most tumultuous moments in American history.

Star Trek is projecting a future

in which we've worked it out, right?

And not only that, but on this ship,

there's a place for everybody.

There's a seat at the Starship for everybody,

including Asians.

I mean, you're growing up and you're watching TV.

You just want to, you know,

see somebody that looks like you on a show.

And that... And I like what I saw on that show.

My dad's like,

"Oh, he's going off the deep end here,

you know, putting on these costumes and so forth."

Yeah.

My name is Da Han, and I'm the director

of Yorktown: A Time to Heal.

I was in film school, and I ended up meeting Stan

at the same school I was going to.

We later became really good friends

and collaborators and just partners in crime.

I didn't know how much Stan was involved

in Star Trek other than that.

A couple of times he brought in a prop, he brought in a costume.

Then I started to realize, "Hey, why are you doing this?

What's what's this about?"

He said, "Well, I'm going to conventions,

uh, and I make props."

I went, "Wow, you can do that? Okay."

Well, then this is starting to seem

more and more realistic.

So yes, let's make a film.

It was always we're up there

and in the classroom at lunchtime.

We were just, like, dreaming about making

some science fiction film.

So we decided to try to make

our own, short Star Trek.

I wouldn't call it an episode. Just a short film.

One of the criticisms of...

You know, that I got in those days,

why are you spending this kind of money

on someone else's property?

You're never able to sell it.

Because we wanted to play Star Trek.

That was the whole motivation.

We couldn't go out into the real world

and, you know, play with the phasers and so forth.

We'll get, what do you call it,

a 5150 and taken away.

But we have a camera there, and makes it more appropriate.

Well, uh...

My name is Gaston Biraben.

I was the director of photography

and the camera operator of Yorktown: A Time to Heal.

I was not a fan of Star Trek,

so it was a very different experience for me,

a new experience to get into that world,

which to me was kind of fascinating.

I played the lead character,

but I also included a lot of my friends

from high school, from college.

I'm told the camp was made for one.

Hey, I know that guy.

My name is Steve Goodpaster,

and I played Brent Shandow in Yorktown

36 years ago.

We also found this.

Damn, I look good.

Now I'm in film school,

and I'm making 16-millimeter films at that point.

And my first film was actually starring Charlie Dell,

who was, you know, he was an accomplished actor.

And so I challenged Stan

because I'm already working with professional actors.

So I said, "Hey, Stan, how about if you get William Shatner?"

And then Stan, "Oh, you know, whatever."

He'd kind of grumble and grunt and everything.

And that night,

I had this crazy idea.

Stardate 7112.4.

Log entry by Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu.

Sulu is my favorite character,

and I thought it would be really neat to have him in my movie.

I was criticized for having Mr. Sulu on Yorktown

just for...

In fact, having. Mr. Sulu.

George is a great actor.

You know, you have to give him more to do.

Stan is a practical joker.

You don't want to believe Stan until it actually happens.

And then he's telling you George Takei

is gonna be in your film.

I go, "What?"

He finally says, "You know what? No, it's real."

"Are you sure it's real?"

"Oh, yeah. We got George Takei."

When the original footage

for Yorktown was made,

George Takei was actively playing Sulu

and being, you know, well paid as a Hollywood actor for it.

And a kid asked him, "Would you be in my film?"

George always was a role model for me

since I was in the first grade.

He was the only Asian on

television that I can relate to.

So this is sort of my way of paying him back.

At the time, a man named Michael Woo,

a distant cousin of mine,

was running for Los Angeles City Council.

So my dad was volunteering on the campaign.

He was working, stuffing the envelopes.

And George Takei volunteered there, too.

George was passionate about politics,

and he wanted to support Michael's campaign.

We were going to a fundraiser

for Michael, and I approached George at that dinner.

I went to the bar, got a glass of burgundy.

Hey, how are you doing, George? I have a burgundy.

"And, uh, by the way..."

He seemed like that passionate young man

who was gonna do it come hell or high water.

So I thought, yes, okay.

That's not too many sweats off my back.

Maybe I have to sweat a little bit.

He said, "Sure," and gave me the home number.

You know, things were different in 1985.

Hikaru, have you noticed the shroud lines?

A drone must have landed here.

It was strange because I remember seeing Star Trek

when I was very young on TV.

And then all of a sudden I see that in the set,

which was fascinating to see the people really into it.

That they're really putting their life in there.

No, it was just a way for me to meet hot chicks.

Ow!

Can I terminate you, dear?

"Can I terminate you, dear?"

Where's the medical?

Stan, he was making sure, you know,

everybody was doing good because it was getting warm.

And a lot of insects buzzing around there.

It was hot up in the mountains, uneven ground,

and wearing high-heeled boots.

It's a student film.

You go in knowing what it's gonna be,

but they're doing their best

and I'm gonna give them my best.

And it looks like I was having fun.

♪ Oh, you've been married ♪

♪ Wedded ♪

♪ Matrimonial lives, oh yeah ♪

Uh...

Oh. Wait. Cut, cut.

It was so easy to work with him.

Didn't complain.

Maybe the homemade dolly

that we had wasn't going

as smooth as we wanted.

Maybe reflectors falling apart.

What we thought was a disaster, you know,

he had his sense of humor, his laugh.

He just has this infectious laugh

which caused me to laugh,

which he thought was funny.

And it just turned into a vicious circle.

He was very friendly. He was like a neighbour.

I remember his political views. We would talk about politics.

He was very open about it.

We were able to have fun.

Well, when the flies were going in my mouth,

George said,

"Oh, showbiz is not what you expected."

My cheap nickel imitation.

Yeah.

I recognize a little bit of me

when Stan was starting his project.

I was absolutely smitten with acting.

The theatre.

It's a passion of ours,

and we recognize others

who share that passion.

From the time I was in junior high school,

I loved acting.

My parents knew that,

but they tried to guide me

into a more likely to be successful career path.

But all during that time,

there was that fire burning in me.

I want to be an actor.

But the path for an Asian American actor

is not easy.

I think Asian Americans,

since the beginning of our presence in this country,

have fought to have a voice

or be able to tell our own story.

We were saddled by a long history of stereotypes.

There's a lot of horrible, horrible representations

out there of characters that are truly just,

you know, in this day and age, no one would stand for it.

But back then it was okay.

Villains.

Clumsy effort, Mr. Bond. You disappoint me.

Comic buffoons.

Or the silent servant.

Go inside.

Take it to the station.

Oh!

There's the Asian woman as Dragon Lady.

Overly sexual, but also, like,

inscrutable and kind of dangerous.

Chinatown is a den of opium and vice.

There is Fu Manchu.

The world will hear from me again.

Yellow peril stereotype

representative of sort of.

Asia's encroaching power

and gonna take over the West.

You've also got Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Oh, darling, I am sorry, but I lost my key.

But that was two weeks ago!

You cannot go on keep ringing my bell!

Which is like a white guy, Mickey Rooney,

made up to look grotesquely Asian.

Asian representation, for the most part,

for a long time, was just marked by absence, by invisibility.

You'll watch, like, the cop dramas,

and they'll eventually have an Asian

playing, either like a detective or a criminal,

or something to that effect, but not in a central role.

Not in a role that allows people to say, "You know what?"

That's an important role.

That's an important role for me.

I could be inspired to do something like that in my life

because of that role, because of the way

"that this character is being portrayed."

And that was one of the things that my father

was very concerned about.

Your casting opportunities will be very limited,

and the few opportunities that you're likely to get

are going to be stereotyped.

It's going to be more of an embarrassment

than something that we can be proud of.

You have to be very selective in what you do,

and that means you won't be working too much.

These were the advice of a father who lived through

that whole other generation

that I did not experience.

America has always had its hand internationally

in different conflicts, and so many of that time

it's in Asia, right?

The face of the enemy is

is Asia.

World War II against Japan.

Korean War against North Korea and Communist China.

And then Vietnam War against Vietnamese.

And then the '80s, the auto trade wars

between the Japanese auto manufacturers and GM.

The way that has played out in so many ways

is that the Asian face is meant to represent

our anxieties about invaders,

our economic anxieties.

You see the way that American propaganda

has caricaturized Asians as unclean,

as undignified, as sort of

inhuman.

You have Asians

who are blamed for the onset of COVID

in, you know, in the United States.

Go back to whatever Asian country you belong in.

Go back to China.

You said communist China?

Well, isn't that where you're from?

No, it's not, motherfucker.

- Where are you from? - I'm from the US.

Well... Look, I don't wanna to talk about this anymore.

Yeah, no shit. You're on camera.

When you have politicians blaming China,

calling it the kung flu or the China virus or whatever.

The invisible enemy, the China virus.

Wuhan...

Kung flu.

That's a green light for everyone else.

It trickles down from there, right?

Anti-Asian violence. Hate crimes in this country

skyrocket,

tripled in this country over the last couple of years.

And that's just the stuff that's reported.

I can guarantee you that any Asian person that you meet

who's grown up here has endured some kind of slur

being mocked for being Asian.

You know, I remember I was in middle school

and I was at the bus stop waiting.

And this car pulls up at the red light.

You know, music's blaring. It's a group of teenagers.

And as they drive by,

one guy's hanging out the passenger side.

And he looks at me. He pulls back his eyes

and he's like, "Ching-Chong, ching-Chong."

And they speed off.

That moment happened to me in five seconds

when I was 12 years old.

I've never forgotten it.

Those guys drove up.

They forgot about it by the next light.

Uh, but it has, you know, is stuck with me

as something that's like, wow,

there really are people here who don't really see me

as a... I don't know,

regular American human kid, you know.

At the age of five,

I was incarcerated by my own country,

the United States,

in a barbwire prison camp

run by the United States military

in the most desolate places in the United States.

They were American prison camps

for people of Japanese ancestry,

and we were incarcerated for only one reason.

The fact that we looked like the people

that bombed Pearl Harbor.

December 7th, 1941.

A date which will live in infamy.

It was a horrific bombing.

Over 2,400 people were killed,

300 aircrafts were destroyed,

and that terror swept across the country from coast to coast.

Japanese Americans were yelled at on the street,

spat at,

called ugly, racist names.

My father's car had three letters painted on it.

J-A-P. "Jap."

Then Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066,

which authorized the rounding up

of over 120,000 Japanese Americans,

all on the West Coast,

and put them into barbwire prison camps.

I was a five-year-old child.

My brother and I were standing by the front window,

just gazing out at the neighbourhood,

and suddenly we saw two soldiers

marching up our driveway.

They carried rifles with shiny bayonets on them.

They put the the bayonet at my father and said,

"Get out of the house. We have the president's order."

It was terrifying to us.

My father

gave my brother and me a box each

that was tied in twine,

and he hefted two heavy suitcases.

And we followed him out onto the driveway.

And we stood there waiting for our mother.

When she came out, she had our baby sister in one arm,

a huge duffle bag in the other,

and tears were streaming down her cheek.

That morning, the terror of that morning

is seared into my mind.

I'll never be able to forget it.

We were taken out to the swamps of Arkansas.

It was a journey of three days and two nights.

My parents explained it to us

as we're going on a long vacation

to the country on a train.

And Henry and I were excited.

We're going on a long vacation

and a train trip to boot.

We'd never been on a train.

And we saw a soldier

at both ends of each car,

and we thought that was the way we went on train trips.

But I knew what vacations were

because we went on weekend vacations,

and I couldn't understand why the grown-ups

were all so sober

and some even sniffling.

When we started school

in one of the tar paper barracks,

I could see the barbwire fence and the sentry tower

right outside our schoolhouse window

as I recited the words.

"With liberty and justice for all."

Too young to understand the stinging irony

in those words that I feel today.

Liberty and justice for all.

We were incarcerated for almost five years.

Sulu to Captain.

Kirk here.

Captain, I was making

a standard magnetic sweep.

From zero, I suddenly got a reading

that was off the scale.

When Gene Roddenberry,

at the audition was describing the show

and the character to me,

I desperately wanted that

because it was a groundbreaking opportunity

on so many levels.

You see all the stereotypical imagery

since the beginning of cinema.

That is all informed by the way

that Asians have been viewed on a political level,

on an economic level,

as just unwelcome and as invaders,

as the foreign enemy.

So when you see that,

and then on the other hand, you see Star Trek

kind of offering this other vision of the future,

something like Sulu,

that goes a long way towards creating empathy,

humanizing somebody, right?

Someone who looks like this

as a part of the leadership team,

a dynamic member of the bridge crew.

When you see a character like George

as Sulu making these decisions,

being part of the centralized story

and having an effect on the narrative,

as a young Asian man,

like in my 8-to-10 year-old age,

that's important, you know?

That's something that I'm like, "That could be me."

He got to drive the Enterprise,

which was the coolest thing.

But the thing that actually I remember most is his voice.

Mr. Spock, here's something.

There seems to be a radiated energy pulsation

coming from the planet.

He had no accent.

He had no discernible,

uh, stereotypical Asian accent.

Uh, and that, for me,

was kind of mind-blowing.

It's like, wait a minute, where's that chop-socky,

you know, Chinese food delivery guy accent?

He doesn't have that.

Chekhov has an accent.

This is vodka.

You know, Scotty has an accent.

And I doubt if anyone has ever told you

of the marvellous fogs we have in Aberdeen.

And so it's interesting that they chose to depict

an Asian man very prominently,

you know, without sort of the thing

that has, you know,

stripped some Asian actors

of their dignity, really.

Oh, no more yanky my wanky.

The Donger need food.

Broken English, unable to communicate properly.

That is not there at all with Sulu.

Fencing tones the muscle,

sharpens the eye, improves the posture.

In the episode "Naked Time," George was originally supposed

to wield a samurai sword.

And to George he thought,

well, I am not "Japanese" Japanese.

I'm Japanese American.

I'd rather have a fencing foil. How's that?

And for him to say something like that in 1966,

when he was the only...

Or really the first Asian

in a non-stereotypical role,

he could have easily said,

"Yep, I'll do... I'll toe the line."

I'll do exactly what you want me to do.

I'll... I'll wield the sword.

You want me to put on the helmet, too?

I'll wear that.

How about the armour?

"I'll go with that."

No, he said, "Nope."

Stand.

No, farther.

Here we got George Takei as Sulu in "The Naked Time."

Probably the second-most-famous

shirtless Asian man in cinema history.

The first being Bruce Lee.

That's... You know,

that's iconic.

I mean, Asians, especially Asian men,

have historically been portrayed as meek, mild.

And so for Sulu to be just so out there,

it was a revelation for me.

I'd watch that show and watch him sit there.

"Warp eight, warp nine."

And then you're sitting there thinking, "Yeah!

This guy's doing something, and he looks like me."

And that was so important.

It allowed me to dream more than I think

that most young Asian men at my age did.

You know, like, oh,

I don't get to see myself represented

on screen all that much,

but in the future, in this future

there's a place for me there.

Just what the doctor ordered.

I'll fight them every way and any way I can.

Mr. Sulu, warp factor eight.

Aye, aye, sir.

Action.

I think it's incredible that George agreed

to be a part of it.

Most actors, I think, would

I don't want to say scoff at it, but certainly turn it down

because they're already making money,

and this could be harmful to the career

if it came out and was a bad movie.

I believe in someone who loves

what he's doing passionately.

And when I see that kind of driving desire

to do something,

and to do something as preposterous

as making a film out of their own pockets,

I admire that.

I knew that my agent

would not approve.

Student films don't pay.

You do it out of the goodness of your heart.

So if anything,

he discouraged doing that kind of film

because he said it makes it that much more difficult

for him to get better pay from the studios

if they know that you'll work for free.

But here was Stan, an Asian American

who knows that the opportunities

are gonna be challenging.

And he still wanted to do it.

And I thought, well, if I can help him along,

I'll do it.

All right, you got it, then.

You got a good long speech coming up.

Go ahead, George.

They say Sunday's a day of rest.

Today is Sunday.

I found this so wonderfully stimulatingly restful.

It was... I really enjoyed it. Working with good people.

People who were enthusiastic

and really concerned about doing a good job.

People that enjoyed themselves.

That's what, you know, this is all about, really.

And I enjoyed your company.

I know that this is gonna be a great success.

As we say in Starfleet or on Vulcan,

may you all live long and prosper.

Yeah!

We had George,

and I thought the film was, uh,

a little bit lopsided at that point.

I wanted to balance it out.

So maybe I want to get another talent in there.

We thought about using an Admiral Nogura.

Admiral Nogura was a character mentioned in Star Trek,

but he was never actually shown on screen.

Kirk is in the the tram station and he goes,

"I'm on the way to a meeting with Admiral Nogura."

I'm on my way to a meeting with Admiral Nogura,

which will not last more than three minutes.

They cut out the meeting

and just went straight to the space complex

where he beamed up to.

I was disappointed.

We were hungry for more Asian characters.

We heard Nogura and we wanted Nogura.

♪ You are beautiful ♪

James Shigeta

was a classic Japanese American actor,

and I thought he would be a perfect Nogura.

A lot of people will probably remember James Shigeta

as Takagi in Die Hard.

Mr. Takagi, I'm really not interested in your computer.

But of a certain era, James Shigeta,

for a minute, was like the Asian leading man.

He was one of the pioneers.

Um, as far as interracial marriages or romances.

What can I expect from you?

Everything.

Because I love you.

I think it might have caused people

to look at intermarriages

in a different way.

I know he was very proud of that.

Oh, hi, native.

Welcome back to Paradise.

You see James Shigeta in Paradise, Hawaiian Style.

It's like you're a little kid, and you say,

"Oh, I would like him to be my big brother"

kind of thing. You know, it's like some people,

they want to be a Brady or something, you know,

on The Brady Bunch, be part of that family.

But... Yeah.

Scene nine. Take one.

Action.

We've been sending surveillance devices

into their space for some time,

which, you know, is a treaty violation on our part.

The drone would be evidence of that violation.

Exactly. Your mission is not to recover,

but to destroy that evidence.

Your crew has been notified to resume duty.

Oh, the Star Trek film? Oh, my God.

Why the fuck did you do that?

Yorktown will have to run her new engines

under actual conditions.

I know that face.

He had never said he did this film.

And I'm not exactly sure why he did it.

This kid, basically this Star Trek fan,

asking this Hollywood superstar...

In my eyes, he's a Hollywood superstar.

Like, how did they get him?

I went out to his personal manager, Ruth Birch.

And...

Hey, when's Jimmy available?

And she'll say,

"Rome wasn't built in a day."

And then she said, you know, I can't get a copy

of a United Airlines commercial.

Jimmy just appeared in.

Then I had a contact.

I think her name was Teddy Wilson over at KABC.

And she was able to get me the broadcast schedule

approximately when the United Airlines commercial

was gonna air, so I set the Betamax

at the time to record

that United Airlines commercial.

Then I brought that over to Ruth.

Uh, not too long after that, she said,

"Hey, Jimmy's available," you know.

Well, there seemed to be

an Asian name that was producing it,

and I believe that might have had something to do with it.

I think Jimmy was overall a nice guy, you know.

And maybe Ruth talked him into it.

I don't know behind the scenes.

I'm just happy

he appeared in the film.

You know, the Asian American community in Hollywood,

very small at that time.

You know, when someone is trying to make it,

you would hope that someone who has some

degree of heat to their name is reaching back

and helping as opposed to being in it for themselves, you know?

He felt very close to his roots.

He was being supportive.

And he is always supportive.

You know, he's a little devil, but.

He was a very supportive person.

He's one of the good people that went too soon.

Don't touch it!

Sake's not my usual cup of tea,

but after what we've been through.

We'll have sherry.

Oh, my God.

We're not laughing at you, James.

We're laughing with you.

I would love to watch this with him.

Would that be funny?

Oh, my goodness.

What do you think he'd say?

"Darling, I was very good in that."

Oh, my God.

My dad financed the film then,

and I'm not sure if he even knew

we were making a Star Trek film.

He just knew we were making a movie.

You know.

My father's first language is Cantonese,

and he didn't understand some of the concepts in Star Trek,

and maybe that's why he was interested in it.

I think my dad, at least conservatively,

invested at least 10,000.

I don't know. It's like little bits.

You know, he would buy film here.

You know, I needed this.

And, you know,

he'll write a check for it.

Imagine, you wouldn't have been here

if not for Catherine's death.

I think that was perfect.

Yeah, that was perfect.

- Yeah! - You think so?

- Yeah! - It feels awkward.

I think I was concentrating

on how to do the post production and so forth,

and just got obsessed with the film.

And I was studying marketing at Cal State LA,

and when the film started affecting

my grades in the other areas,

then my dad just said, you know,

the film has to stop.

You gotta, you know, finish college, you know.

It was like... It was like cold turkey.

It was like, yeah.

Uh, it was hard to tell my... you know, my friends

that, uh, I have to stop, you know.

ABC.

I put all the footage

into this Paramount duffle bag.

I threw it somewhere in, I think, the spare bedroom.

Then I think my mom moved it or something,

and it disappeared, and I wasn't really working on it anyway.

And I said, "Maybe it'll turn up."

So somewhere along the way,

he told me he lost the film.

He lost everything.

And I'll be honest with you, um.

I was emotionally devastated.

You know, I spent four years working on this film,

developing it for us,

and you lose it. Okay.

The film was lost for years.

It was just like somewhere in my parents' house,

and they put their clutter on top of my clutter.

And I had other things to think about

like, you know, getting my grades back up.

Yeah, life just got in the way,

and that's why the film went kind of dark after that.

Imagine, you wouldn't have been here

if not for Captain Von Ryan's death.

And now it looks like all he needs

is a little bit more time...

Hi.

I don't... I never really, you know,

got into that that lifestyle

at the conventions.

I was just a casual fan, you know?

So what a convention is, uh,

is basically we're in the vendors' area right now.

So there are people selling collectibles.

And there's also things like panels,

a group of actors or maybe a single actor.

This is our first Star Trek convention.

We've done other, like, Comic-Con type things,

but this is our first Star Trek.

Seeing it live, and the amount of people,

like, how crowded it is, it's like, holy shit, it's big.

Nothing in pop culture had affected people

on this kind of a scale before.

We didn't have these buzzwords.

We didn't have cinematic universe.

We didn't have all these labels for things.

Star Trek was inventing them. And then eventually,

other media franchises got big.

And suddenly, Comic-Cons were not just old guys

going through dusty boxes of comic books.

Pop culture went viral because of that.

If you trace that line all the way back

to the roots, it's Star Trek.

Ah!

I find that most fans that come to conventions,

they initially come to see the actors and whatnot,

but they come back to see the friends they've met here,

the people that are cut from the same cloth.

Birds of the same feather.

How many more analogies can I go through here?

The energy is love and kindness.

Live long and prosper.

The friendships you form, that's so impactful,

so lifelong, so strong.

I remembered all my girlfriends that used to say,

"Where are all the good guys?"

I found them all. They're here.

Do you know the meaning of the word Trekkie?

It's a word that describes 25 million Americans,

the huge cult following

of the old science fiction TV series,

Star Trek.

Ten years after it went off national TV,

the enthusiasm and number of Trekkies kept growing.

I grew up wanting to be an astronaut.

Okay, in Star Trek, you saw that this was possible,

that people will live in space.

This fandom has existed for 56 years

in different permutations in different series.

From, like, the mid-1990s to 2005,

you had almost three series on at the same time.

Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and then you had Enterprise,

then you had the TOS movies, then you had the TNG movies.

That's a lot of Star Trek.

And then you go from series to series to series,

and people are starting to find

different parts of representation.

Sisko, the first African American captain.

I want to know why the Federation is willing

to risk a war with the Romulans

to form an alliance with a group of people

that we hardly know and barely trust!

Janeway, the first female captain.

I don't like being addressed as sir.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

Ma'am is acceptable in a crunch,

but I prefer captain.

I played the role of Ensign Harry Kim,

the operations and communications officer

on Star Trek Voyager.

I did not think

that I was basically the George Takei,

the Sulu for my generation

of Asian Americans growing up.

I didn't understand that until I started getting fan mail.

Multiple pages of telling me about the hardships

that they had endured, and that really seeing me

made them feel empowered.

My name is Christina Chong,

and I play La'an Noonien-Singh on Strange New Worlds.

Captain Pike. I've been assigned as acting first officer.

I've had a few messages from mothers, fathers

who've said a similar thing that their children,

you know, watching me.

And even not just being Asian, being of mixed descent,

has been so inspiring for them to see themselves portrayed.

My name is Alexander Siddig, and I play Dr. Julian Bashir

on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

We can't just leave these people.

They need our help.

There was no inference at all

to the race of Bashir

because I don't really like

my ethnicity to be front and center.

I don't want my colour to walk in the room before I do.

So I was really relieved

that he didn't have an Arabic accent

or they didn't have me pray.

You know, the amount of times I've prayed on TV...

So I was relieved not to be

intrinsically Arab or Middle Eastern,

but it was clear to people that he was.

And if you can introduce the Arabs,

um, to someone

who likes your character,

they're one step closer to liking a bunch

of other people, too, who look like you.

My name is Ian Alexander.

I play Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery.

She registered the problem on Deck 17

before it breached the hull.

Gray is a really bright, wonderful young person,

and he also happens to be transgender.

My parents are huge Trekkies,

so we watch, like, Next Gen as a family.

And I love how there's like an episode about, you know,

they go to a planet where people are gender less

and it's kind of the first, like nonbinary representation

that was on the show.

So the subtext has definitely always been there,

and I'm glad that now the subtext is real text,

and it's able to be explicitly talked about and say, yes,

this character is nonbinary.

Yes, this character is trans.

The representation is starting to become more granular,

and people are saying "That could be me,"

or, "That could be me," or, "That could be me."

I don't know if you know what cosplay is.

It's where we dress up in characters

from our beloved fandoms.

- Pickard. - Pike.

I am Seven of Nine.

Shari yn Yem from Lower Decks.

I love how hard everyone goes.

It is not a costume. It is a uniform.

I have been told by fellow trekkers

that I look naturally

like a Talosian.

I am cosplaying Sulu

from the Original Series episode "The Naked Time."

Hikaru Sulu in his civilian outfit.

He eventually becomes captain of the Excelsior,

and I love saying, "Oh my."

It's a lot of fun to go out in costume.

We do get some looks,

especially when you're by yourself

and go to the grocery store

right after an event. Its happened.

A lot of people just...

They wanted to just do the shirt and call it a day.

And I respect that. I probably should have done that myself.

- But... - No! You're killing it.

I feel like showing your fandom through what you wear

is probably a pretty big thing beyond just cosplay.

A lot of people wear New York Yankees, you know,

jerseys and will probably never play for them.

In the past, people have criticized costuming

as this fictional thing that doesn't matter,

but I think people are finding ways now to tie this activity,

this hobby, with doing real good for real people.

And there are groups that raise money for leukemia

and Alzheimer's, and they do it all while wearing a costume.

You have found yourself at New York City's

one and only Star Trek centric variety show.

♪ Every day is so wonderful ♪

♪ And suddenly... ♪

We are a group of artists and entertainers

that get together to raise money for charity

while also, through my artistry as a drag queen,

I get to embody the characters that I always loved.

♪ Oh ♪

♪ So don't you bring me down tonight ♪

♪ No matter what you do ♪

♪ No matter what you say ♪

Characters are for everyone. Anybody can be anyone.

Body type doesn't matter. Ethnicity doesn't matter.

Gender doesn't matter.

It's actually kind of beautiful.

My favorite character would be Geordi La Forge.

And why is because he's a blind engineer.

And I'm a blind engineer as well.

One thing we love about Star Trek in general

is how inclusive it is.

You know, you look around the convention here,

you see people from all walks of life.

You see actors and actresses from all walks of life,

all different disabilities as well

as you walk around here.

Well, it gives me a sense of confidence.

It's a confidence builder

to celebrate my unique face.

As a trans person, the first time I came out

and I was looking for ways to be myself,

it was going to a Halloween party

wearing a Starfleet red engineer's

or communications officer's dress, like Uhura.

I realized through that experience,

I didn't have to hide myself,

any part of myself, or explain it away.

I could just be.

You feel like you're okay,

that what you're doing is okay,

that who you are is okay, and that that sense

of acceptance is something

that so many communities want.

If you love something enough,

there is no other justification needed.

So I grew up going to conventions.

And my mother and my father would often say, you know,

Star Trek is where it is because of you, the fans.

He loved the fans,

and he knew that it was the fans

that kept Star Trek on the air.

And he knew it was the fans that were part of this world

that believed in that idea of making it a better place.

Gene Roddenberry

gave George the role in Star Trek.

The fans made Star Trek eternally popular.

George is forever grateful to the fans

for basically giving him that Star Trek platform

to allow him to be the advocate that he is.

So he loves the fans. He goes that extra mile.

And I've seen him do that for decades.

So this concept of the student film being something

that nobody had to twist George's arm to do that,

George's normal instinct would be to help somebody

in that situation, and I think that it was something

that he thought would be a hoot to do.

Hikaru, have you noticed the shroud lines?

The drone must have landed here.

Listen to that voice.

Seeing George from the mid-1980s

is almost emotionally touching to me

because that's when our relationship

was first starting out, and that's...

That's my George that I fell in love with

on that screen right now. That beautiful smile.

You don't think Jeff.

Brad and I have been together for 36 years now.

I was closeted as a gay man

most of my adult life

because I loved my career.

And society at that time was one

where one could not aspire to be an actor

and be hired if you were publicly known as a gay man.

Despite my activism on so many different social issues

in this country,

I was closeted

on the most personal issue.

Close friends and family knew I was his life partner,

significant other, lover.

But for public consumption,

I played along with the idea that George and I

were just colleagues and good friends

and running buddies.

California lawmakers

are now the first in the nation

to vote to allow same-sex marriage.

In 2005,

the California legislature

passed the Marriage Equality Bill.

It needed one more signature,

that of the governor of the state,

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Right-wing Republican.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill yesterday

to legalize same-sex marriage.

I mean, I think that it was very clear that the people

voted as a proposition 22 to be against it.

And I never wanted to turn over the will of the people.

I was raging angry.

And that night, Brad and I had a conversation.

I said,

"I think I've had a good enough career.

I'm ready."

And I spoke to the press

for the first time as a gay man

and blasted Schwarzenegger's veto.

You know, this is democracy.

And those people have a right to spout off on their values.

What they don't have a right to do is to to take their values

and their traditions and write it into law,

which applies to everybody.

On Thursday, California's highest court

overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage,

potentially making the Golden State

the second state after Massachusetts

allowing gay residents to marry.

Actor George Takei of Star Trek fame

and his longtime companion,

Brad Altman, were married on Sunday.

The two men were among the first couples

to receive a marriage license.

You know, on Star Trek,

we have this core value, IDIC.

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

And here we are, this much closer to that ideal.

You look like a movie star, don't you?

That windblown...

You're already telling them what to do.

Oh, that's funny.

Okay, quiet on the set.

What you got, buddy? Let's see.

Okay, I found these pictures in an album I had.

I mean, I have these in an album.

I don't know where my album is.

Today, I manage

presentation services for a community college.

I got into the union,

and then I became a sound editor.

- Hello. - Hey, how you doing?

- Good. How are you? - Oh, just having too much fun.

Yeah.

Currently, this is where I work,

driving big trucks and trailers

halfway to San Francisco and back each night.

I don't think I've seen this picture.

Wow.

We didn't talk any more about this film

because I thought it was, in a way, a finished chapter

as an unfinished film.

I've seen rumblings, on the internet,

people talking about it.

But, you know, that was about it.

Occasionally, I'd tease him about it. "Hey, what happened"

to that project?" And everything else.

And he would... You know, I mean, I guess

it was starting to become a little bit

of a sore spot with him. That was my interpretation.

George.

That's a classic shot.

And there's Da Han.

Are you in touch with him?

He's in China now.

I did hold a grudge. I'll be honest.

You know, Stan knows that.

We didn't talk for 20, 30 years.

Here we are.

Yeah, I felt very helpless through those decades.

Then, around September 2010,

I get this email from a John Atkin.

Oh, can you show me?

Yeah. I'll show you if I can find it.

Pretty sure they're in here.

Wow.

Hard to believe I had so much hair.

My name is John Atkin, and I am a Star Trek fan.

I've been a fan of Star Trek

ever since I was about four years old.

Yeah, I was about 12 years old when I read about.

Yorktown: A Time to Heal in a magazine called Starlog.

Uh, when I looked at all these pictures of them

in the costumes, it felt like it was like

a lost episode from the 1970s.

And so I was really drawn to that.

And I kind of assumed that the film was finished

and probably played at conventions and stuff.

But once I looked online, I couldn't find anything at all.

And so I thought, that's a bit odd.

It should be on YouTube or something by now.

So I reached out to about, I think,

five or six different Stan Woos.

And finally found the right one in LA.

John asked me if I still had the footage,

and by that time I actually located the footage.

Well, when Stan told me there were scenes

that weren't filmed, but that he would have liked

to have filmed, I suggested to him, well,

maybe me and some of my friends

can come down and film those scenes for you.

Sometimes, you know, it takes fresh blood

to finish this kind of project.

Commander, I'm picking up a faint signal from the drone.

It's coming from the shark vessel.

Star Vessel Najeer, this is Commander Evan...

Oh, shit. What's my name? Evan Foster.

I'll keep going.

Right now, I am sitting on the bridge

of the Starship Enterprise, which is just incredible.

The ten-year-old inside of me

is just incredibly giddy being here.

So the Neutral Zone is an active film studio

that has sets built as if you were at Paramount in 1966.

We have a 360-degree bridge.

Lieutenant, contact the space station.

We have a sick bay.

Right now he's under sedation.

We have a complete engineering room.

You can't mix matter and antimatter.

These are about as close

as you can get to an exact replica.

No additional Klingons detected.

When the doors open, people sob.

People laugh. People yell expletives.

We do fan appreciation weekends,

and we have active film productions that are done here.

Keep going.

Red alert. Shields up.

Weapons on.

We're not the youngest people.

We're not the most fittest people.

We as a family, as this group of people,

we give each other the confidence to go forward

and put ourselves out there.

To me, a true fan film, you don't audition actors.

You bring your friends.

I enjoy walking around on the set

and looking at people just holding those scripts,

and I'm thinking, "I wrote that. I wrote that."

The latest one we did was called Borg Hunters.

It's not enough! Get the Borg blaster!

We filmed it here in this particular optometry office,

which has been lovingly created

or recreated into the interior

of a Next Generation -style ship.

Patients love it, and that makes working fun for me.

I portray Garrett Wang's character, Kim.

- Oh, you're playing me. - I'm playing you.

That's me right there.

The reason it is frequently not illegal

to make a fan film,

or any other work of fan fiction,

is the doctrine of fair use.

Fair use says that depending on the nature of the use,

how much of the work

ends up competing with the original work,

it may be perfectly acceptable under the law

to make this kind of derivative work.

So would people buy

your fan film or your fan fiction work

instead of buying the original?

Or are you only going to watch the fan film

after you've seen the original

because that's the only way the fan film makes sense?

If that's the case, then you're more likely to be protected.

I'd wanted to try to figure out

how many fan films there are out there,

and I have come to the conclusion

there are at least a thousand.

None of it ever would have happened

if Stan Woo hadn't been the pioneer.

It's just this foundational...

It's the lungfish of fan films.

It was the first one to come out of the water

onto dry land,

and we all walk in Stan Woo's footsteps.

In the early days, I even got involved

in some of the fan films.

I was proud to be a part of it,

and I really appreciated the love

that everyone had for it.

That translated into love for my father,

and of course, I want to be a part of that.

No, you can't make any money,

but have at it. Go have fun.

And fans love it.

So the original Yorktown

was all shot on eight-millimeter camera,

and it was really one of those eight-millimeters cameras

that families would buy to make home movies

with their families.

And we didn't know how it would look

because it had been sitting in cans for 30 years.

But we got really lucky.

All the colours looked really sharp.

We didn't have to do as much colour correction

as I thought we would have had to do.

One thing that took a long time were the special effects.

In the '90s,

I always imagine a kid

with a computer in his apartment

finishing the visual effects.

And essentially, that's what happened.

So I originally contacted Stan in September of 2010.

And my goal at the time was to wrap the film,

probably within two to three years.

Uh, it is now 2022.

Uh, so I've been on the project for over 12 years.

Integrity.

That's John's best quality there.

He's a straight shooter.

Where did this guy come from?

From the Klingon planet.

Well, why does he do a peace sign?

Why does he got the bumps on his head?

No. Why does...

So my wife Miranda

passed away six months ago.

Uh, my wife had Crohn's disease,

which was something that she had had

since she was about ten years old.

Um, a few months ago,

she had a really bad flare-up,

which caused a blood clot.

And it was very sudden and unexpected.

The day I found out about Miranda's death,

it was, like, devastating.

I was driving home,

and my Facebook message was just..."ding."

And I couldn't believe what I saw.

You know how it fades away.

And I had to stop the car

to see, was it really what I saw?

And it was, like, you know,

broke my heart to see that.

Yeah.

I didn't even mention Yorktown to him.

I just wanted him to, you know, have his space.

I didn't anticipate him, like,

still working on the film, you know.

My late wife Miranda's support over the years

was very special to me,

and she actually ended up playing the doctor

for a quick cameo in the film.

I want you, yeah,

right next to him.

We're cheating, okay?

When she passed away, I had to step away

from Yorktown completely.

I just couldn't work on it.

Um, and then after about three months away from it,

I remembered something my wife

had teased me about in the summer.

Um, I was showing her a rough cut

of the film that I had done,

and she teased me and said, you know,

"Are you ever gonna get this film done?"

And I assured her,

"Yes, yes, you know, it's gonna be done."

After a few months after she passed away,

I felt, you know what? I really need to get this done.

I thought it was gonna to be maybe a couple of years

before he could get it done,

but he's a real trooper.

Show must go on. And he finished it.

I couldn't believe it. After all these years.

Her passing away really gave me, you know,

I guess you could say a kick in the pants to get it done.

Uh, not only for all the fans and everyone, but also for her.

Everybody have a seat.

The movie finally premiered on April 2nd, 2022.

Show me that card.

- Hey, Alan. - Gaston.

- How are you doing? - Is that Gaston?

- Yeah, that's Gaston. - How you been, movie maker guy?

After all these years of not knowing what happened

with this film, he said,

"You want to come see the screening?"

I thought, "What?"

It's actually finished?

The film was 36 years in the making.

Thirty-six years.

Isn't that something? Now that's dedication.

That's what I sensed

when I first agreed to do it.

Is that the red carpet?

It was also an experience in the sense of,

what is the memory?

What is the memory we have of our life?

We're talking about something made three decades before.

So it's like going back in time to our youth.

The first time I saw the entire film,

I felt kind of sad about it.

It's been with me since I was 21 years old.

Aside from getting beat up twice by Stan.

I really enjoyed the film.

My wife seen snippets of the film.

I tried not to play it in front of her too much.

I'm kind of self-conscious about seeing myself on the screen.

And, like everyone brings up, it's Rambo hair.

I was trying to be Rambo in that thing.

Yeah.

It's got a, you know, modest reception, you know.

We got about 65,000 views on YouTube, yeah.

The uniforms look pretty good. They're not bad.

I really love the aesthetic and the fact that it was filmed

however many decades apart,

they managed to still keep it cohesive.

Sir, the drone's sensor clock is offline.

Remodulating now.

John created a masterpiece with it.

I think he really hit it out of the park.

It was amazing, exhilarating. And I loved it.

It was really well done.

I don't know what I was expecting from the film,

but I didn't think it was very good.

And I'm here because

my best friend is a Star Trek fan,

and she dragged me here.

You know, George Takei and and James Shigeta

were very strong in their performances.

Uh, some of the college kids, not so much.

Scanning magnetic interference on this planet.

No tricks, or you die where you stand.

Press this button.

The clock will deactivate for two minutes.

I'm not an actor. You can tell with this interview, right?

And I think part of the thing with fan films,

I think, is that it's kind of supposed to be bad.

I hope so, at least.

Weapons energized and locked on target.

Fire.

And no one could have thought that that was quality acting.

You have to recognize

that this is people dressing up to play Star Trek.

They're not professional actors.

They haven't had theatre training.

They don't have IMDb pages

with their list of credits.

They're just exuberant fans

who bring a joy to the screen.

If you want to look at it as a film critic,

you want to go in there

and do the thumbs up, thumbs down,

you can do thumbs up on the latest CGI special effects.

And you got to do thumbs down on some other parts of it.

But that isn't the gesture that they were looking for.

They were looking for this one,

and I'm happy to give it to them.

May Yorktown: A Time to Heal

live long and prosper.

I'm gonna toot my horn.

I'm gonna say it's a GOAT of the fan films, yeah.

Yorktown is not good by most standards.

It's just... It's hard to watch.

But it is fascinating.

It is truly fascinating

that this got made, and it involved

people who you would not associate

with sort of a super amateur, low-budget fan film.

So as a relic,

as a pure piece of Star Trek love, it's amazing.

I can't do a thing!

We created something, and it worked.

I think Yorktown

will survive like a Star Trek series.

It's like a fanzine.

But in celluloid.

The whole point of Yorktown, to me,

was the bounty of friends.

It felt like a Little House on the Prairie episode

where Paul Ingalls was trying

to fulfil a contract to stack

all these bags of grain,

and he just, like, got exhausted

and fell to the ground.

And the town came in

and helped him fulfil his contract.

And I appreciate and want to thank

my bounty of friends all over the world,

all the people who helped me get the film done.

- Hi. - Hi.

Hi, John.

- Remember me, John? - Yeah, of course.

Nice to see you.

John's like family to us.

Oh, and he's doing well.

The cast member, Steve Goodpasture,

who played one of the heavies,

I talk to him almost every morning.

I keep in touch with our DP, Gaston Biraben.

This is exactly where we met.

Yeah.

I think it was one of those editing rooms.

- Yeah. - I think it was that one.

George Takei sends me a Christmas card.

We keep in touch that way.

- I was doing it to help. - We call this snowballing.

Jimmy was at our wedding.

We kept in touch, and when he passed away,

his brother Clarence found our Christmas cards.

I was surprised Jimmy kept those.

My dad passed away in 2007,

way before the film was finished.

But I think they'll be proud of seeing

what we finish after 36 years.

Yeah, you know, the fruits of his investment.

Yeah, would have liked that.

This is the tunic that George Takei wore

July 14th, 1985 for the Chilao Flats location.

So George did drop this at the end of the day,

and there we got the nicks to prove it.

Then this is like the same jacket

that I guess I was inspired by...

♪ Let's dance in style, Let's dance for a while ♪

♪ Heaven can wait ♪

♪ We're only watching The skies ♪

♪ Hoping for the best... ♪

What is it that makes people

do this Star Trek thing?

I think Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future,

a society that is enriched by diversity.

And because the audience is diverse,

there's something for everybody to find themselves in.

♪ Let us die young, Let us live forever ♪

As a writer, you can look at the whole world and say,

"I think I'll comment on selfishness,"

or, "I think I'll comment on greed."

In Star Trek, I was able to comment on diversity,

The beauty of diversity,

and that we should be pleased that the world has diversity

rather than longing that everything be the same.

I'm playing La'an Noonien-Singh

to continue Gene Roddenberry's vision

of diversity,

and to continue to speak that message.

We are all the same. It doesn't matter what planet,

what species you're from, what alien, you know, you are.

You probably cast me from some other dimension.

I'm really glad that that things have changed and progressed

with society to where we can openly talk about

having gay characters and trans characters,

and the Asian American actors have proved

that we are relevant,

that people do want to see stories about us.

You know, we all stand on the shoulders

of those who preceded us.

There were other Asian American actors in Hollywood

who went through the most arduous part of opening doors.

And so I stand on their shoulders and in turn,

other Asian American actors have benefited

from what I contributed.

I've got strong shoulders.

I'm proud of that.

I admire him so much, and I'm really grateful

for George Takei and for Nichelle Nichols

and for all of the pioneers

just leading the way in representation in Hollywood.

Because of their work, I'm able to work

and do what I do.

What I'm really trying to do is to make sure Star Trek

holds true to its values.

Star Trek is different than Star Wars.

Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars.

Absolutely love it.

But Star Trek is different.

It does talk about this better future.

And this is why it resonates with so many of us.

It is about being a brotherhood, a sisterhood,

a them-hood of everybody.

Where you come from, are there

a lot of people my size?

Where I come from,

size, shape or colour

makes no difference.

To see that society

and to see themselves

as part of that diversity

is what attracts that huge support

and love of the show.

It is all out of joy that these people are doing it,

and we all have our quirks, and we all have those things

about ourselves that people think are weird.

♪ Forever young I want to be forever young ♪

At the age of 58, I'm still dressing as her character.

Just shows what an impression

she made as a child to me.

All throughout my life,

I have experienced bullying, discrimination.

I've always known that I was different,

and Star Trek celebrates differences.

It just spoke to my heart.

There's stories that are heartbreaking

about people who've gone through traumatic experiences,

but they credit Star Trek with giving them that hope

and believing that they could become more

than what society or the people around them said they could.

And rose to the challenge and became something great.

You know, doctors and lawyers and teachers.

And for a TV show to do that,

I mean, that's what I'm so proud of.

I'm so proud of my father.

They had a dream. A dream that became a reality

and spread throughout the stars.

Star Trek was not just a TV show.

This became an idea

of what the future could be.

We believe that the future is better,

and we will push for a better future.

And we do that every year at a convention,

at a meetup, at a gathering online,

because we believe that the fight is real.

And we believe that vision that Gene brought from 1966 to now,

because it has to be better.

It has to be better.

So people can say like, you know what?

I'll fight for that, and I'll fight for that with you,

and I'll fight for that with you.

That's why Star Trek is important.

♪ Forever young ♪

I am just astonished by their commitment

to what ultimately,

they were legally barred from ever making a penny off of.

100%. I always want to put 100% in everything I do.

I'm inspired by my dad. He did things like that too.

Edward's only four,

so he hasn't seen the whole film yet,

but he's seen all of Daddy's scenes.

He gets really excited when he sees Daddy on the bridge.

It's always hard for me

to ever say what my father would think, obviously.

But he would be incredibly proud

of the people making Star Trek,

regardless of the quality,

regardless of how much money they put into it.

I think one of the messages in Star Trek

is that everyone has something of value to contribute,

and it's okay to make mistakes and not know everything.

But if you work together, you can exceed far beyond

whatever limitations you might have thought you had.

Yeah, not a good movie, but as an expression of love,

it's fantastic.

Before I became a professional,

we were able to make films with love.

Just that, with no other intentions.

That's how I remember this one.

Passion is an important thing. More people should have that.

Bravo to Stan.

He is a determined,

passionate lover of what he loves doing.

If I ran into my younger self,

"I would say," Just keep on going what you're doing,

but don't get too obsessed with it.

It will eventually get finished,

but I'm not gonna tell you how long it will take

"because it's gonna freak you out, kid."

Scene 14, take three.