George Takei explains why his Star Trek character was named after Philippines' Sulu Sea

George Takei is renowned worldwide for his portrayal of Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek television and movie series. 

 

In an interview with Big Think, the Japanese-American actor spoke about how his iconic character got to be named after the Philippines' Sulu Sea.

 

"The problem [Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry] had was to find a name for this Asian character from the 23rd century because every Asian surname is nationally specific," Takei said. 

 

"Tanaka is Japanese. Wong is Chinese. Kim is Korean. And 20th century Asia was turbulent with warfare, colonization, rebellion, and he didn't want to suggest that."

 

Rodenberry, according to Takei, was inspired by a map of Asia he had pinned on the wall.

 

"And he found, off the coast of the Philippines, the Sulu Sea. And he thought, 'Ah, the waters of the sea touch all shores, embracing all of Asia. And that's how my character came to have the name Sulu," said Takei.

 

 

In the same video, Takei, who is gay, asked Roddenberry why the sci-fi series did not feature gay characters.

 

"I did very privately bring up the issue of gays and lesbians," said Takei. "And he was certainly, as a sophisticated man, mindful of that, but he said — in one episode we had a biracial kiss, Captain Kirk and Uhura had a kiss."

 

"That show was literally blacked out in the South — Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia didn't air that; our ratings plummeted. 

 

"It was the lowest-rated episode that we had. And he said, 'I'm treading a fine tight wire here. I'm dealing with issues of the time. I'm dealing with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and I need to be able to make that statement by staying on the air.' He said, 'If I dealt with that issue I wouldn't be able to deal with any issue because I would be canceled.'" —JST, GMA News