All language subtitles for beam.me.up.sulu.2025.1080p.web.h264-grashopr_track3_[eng]

[audio logo]

[Woo] 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.

[Takei]
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.

[uplifting music playing]

[Woo] 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.

[laughs]

[indistinct chatter on TV]

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

television series about a crew
exploring our galaxy.

[narrator]
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.

["Star Trek" theme playing]

I grew up in Mid-City,
Los Angeles.

It was a mixed neighborhood
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.

[newscaster 1]
This is the city, in this area,

that is going to explode.

[newscaster 2]
In 100 places

Detroit is afire.

[newscaster 3] The war,

racial discrimination,

and political issues.

[newscaster 4]
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.

[Eugene] 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.

[Kirk] 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.

[Greene] 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.

[Sawyer] 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 color,

but it was white consciousness

that needed to be raised.

[Yu] 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. [laughs]

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.

[Woo]
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...

[Biraben]
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.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Woo]
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.

[Goodpaster]
My name is Steve Goodpaster,

and I played Brent Shandow
in Yorktown

36 years ago.

We also found this.

Damn, I look good.

[laughs]

[Han] 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.

[Takei] Stardate 7112.4.

Log entry by Lieutenant
Commander Hikaru Sulu.

[Woo]
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.

[electronic dance music playing]

[Woo] 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.

[Woo] 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!

[woman]
Can I terminate you, dear?

"Can I terminate you, dear?"

Where's the medical?

[Goodpaster] 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.
[chuckles]

[Takei] 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... [laughs]

Oh. Wait. Cut, cut.

It was so easy
to work with him.

[Woo] 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.

[chuckling]

[laughs]

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 neighbor.

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

He was very open about it.

We were able to have fun.

[Woo] Well, when the flies
were going in my mouth,

George said,

"Oh, showbiz is not
what you expected."

[imitates Takei laugh]

My cheap nickel imitation.

[laughs]
Yeah.

[Takei] I recognize
a little bit of me

when Stan was starting
his project.

I was absolutely
smitten with acting.

The theater.

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.

[Takei] Villains.

Clumsy effort, Mr. Bond.
You disappoint me.

[Takei] Comic buffoons.

[screams]

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.

[Yu] 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!

[Yu] 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.

[suspenseful music
playing on TV]

[Yu] 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 [bleep]
Asian country you belong in.

Go back to China.

[man]
You said communist China?

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

[man]
No, it's not, motherfucker.

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

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

[man]
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.

[Roosevelt]
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 neighborhood,

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.

[train whistle blows]

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.

[children chatter indistinctly]

[camera shutters click]

We were incarcerated
for almost five years.

[dramatic music playing]

[music fades]

[device warbling]

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.

[Takei] 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."

[Yu]
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 marvelous 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 armor?

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.

[Wang] 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.

[Kirk] Mr. Sulu,
warp factor eight.

Aye, aye, sir.

[celestial music fades]

[man] Action.

[grunts]

[suspenseful music]

[both grunt]

[music builds]

[Eugene] 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.

[laughing]

All right, you got it, then.

You got a good long speech
coming up.

[man] 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.

[all] Yeah!

[applause]

[Woo] 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."

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

which will not last
more than three minutes.

[Woo] 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 ♪

[Woo] 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.

[Wing] 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.

[Woo] 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.

[man] Scene nine. Take one.

[director] 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.

[laughs]

Why the fuck did you do that?

Yorktown will have to run
her new engines

under actual conditions.

[laughs] I know that face.

He had never said
he did this film.

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

[Yu] 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?

[indistinct chatter]

[Woo] 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?

[Wing] He felt very close
to his roots.

He was being supportive.

And he is always supportive.

You know,
he's a little devil, but

[laughs]

he was a very
supportive person.

[dramatic music playing]

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

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

Don't touch it!

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

Sake's not my usual cup of tea,

but after what we've been
through.

We'll have sherry.

[laughs]

[laughing]

Oh, my God.

We're not laughing at you,
James.

We're laughing with you.

[laughs]

I would love to watch
this with him.

Would that be funny?

Oh, my goodness.

[director]
What do you think he'd say?

"Darling, I was
very good in that."

Oh, my God.

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

[Woo]
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.

[indistinct chatter]

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.

[man] I think that was perfect.

Yeah, that was perfect.

-[man laughing] Yeah!
-You think so?

-[man] Yeah!
-It feels awkward.

[Woo]
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."

[Han]
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...

[audio croaks out]

[projector buzzes]

[upbeat music playing]

Hi.

[Woo] I don't...
I never really, you know,

got into that that lifestyle

at the conventions.

I was just a casual fan,
you know?

[Wang]
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.

[laughing]

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.

[Lao] 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.

[Wang] 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.

[Siddig]
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 color
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 genderless

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."

[Ahmed] 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.

[man] 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.

[indistinct chatter]

[pop music playing]

[woman] 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.

[woman] 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.

[applause]

[Brad] 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.

[man on TV] 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...

[laughs]

[Takei] 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.

[Takei] 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.

[newscaster] 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...

[laughing]

You're already
telling them what to do.

Oh, that's funny.

[director]
Okay, quiet on the set.

[Woo] What you got, buddy?
Let's see.

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

[Woo] 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.

-[woman] Hello.
-Hey, how you doing?

-[woman] 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.

[Biraben] 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.

[Woo] That's a classic shot.

[Woo laughs]

And there's Da Han.

[Biraben]
Are you in touch with him?

[Woo] 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.

[boy] 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.

[Woo] John asked me
if I still had the footage,

and by that time I actually
located the footage.

[Atkin] 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.

[Woo] Sometimes, you know,
it takes fresh blood

to finish this kind of project.

[majestic music playing]

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.

-[all laugh]
-I'll keep going.

[Atkin] 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.

[Tesi] We have a sick bay.

Right now he's under sedation.

[Tesi] We have a complete
engineering room.

You can't mix matter
and antimatter.

[Tesi]
These are about as close

as you can get
to an exact replica.

No additional
Klingons detected.

[Tesi] 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.

[dramatic music playing]

Red alert. Shields up.

Weapons on.

[Davis]
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.

[upbeat music playing]
[no audio]

[Atkin] 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 colors
looked really sharp.

We didn't have to do
as much color correction

as I thought we would
have had to do.

[wondrous music playing]

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

[Woo] 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.

[Woo] Integrity.

That's John's
best quality there.

He's a straight shooter.

[boy]
Where did this guy come from?

From the Klingon planet.

Well, why does he do
a peace sign?

[Atkin] Why does he got
the bumps on his head?

[boy] No. Why does...

[Atkin] 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.

[somber music playing]

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?

[siren wailing]

[loud crash]

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."

[boy chattering indistinctly]

After a few months
after she passed away,

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

[Woo] 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.

[Atkin] 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.

[upbeat music playing]

[man]
Everybody have a seat.

[Atkin] The movie finally
premiered on April 2nd, 2022.

[man] Show me that card.

-Hey, Alan.
-Gaston.

-How are you doing?
-Is that Gaston?

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

[Biraben] 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?

[Atkin] The film was 36 years
in the making.

[Takei] 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.

[Woo] 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...

[grunting]

I really enjoyed the film.

[laughing]

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.

[laughs] 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.

[explosion]

[beeps]

Sir, the drone's
sensor clock is offline.

Remodulating now.

[applause]

[Woo] 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.

[rumbling]

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
theater 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.

[Woo laughs]
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.

[Woo] 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 fulfill 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
fulfill 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.

-[woman] Hi.
-[Atkin] Hi.

[woman] Hi, John.

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

Nice to see you.

[Woo] John's like family to us.

Oh, and he's doing well.

[Woo] The cast member,
Steve Goodpasture,

who played one of the heavies,

I talk to him
almost every morning.

[indistinct chatter]

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.

[Woo] George Takei sends me
a Christmas card.

We keep in touch that way.

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

[laughs]

[Woo] 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.

[tender music playing]

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.

[laughs]

Then this is like
the same jacket

that I guess
I was inspired by...

["Forever Young"
by Alphaville fades in]

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

♪ Heaven can wait ♪

♪ We're only watching
The skies ♪

♪ Hoping for the best... ♪

[Takei]
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.

[Chong]
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.

[laughs]

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.

[cheers and applause]

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 color

makes no difference.

[Takei] 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.

[chatter and laughter]

♪ 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.

[Eugene] 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.

[Kirk] They had a dream.
A dream that became a reality

and spread
throughout the stars.

[Eugene] 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 ♪

[Sawyer] 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.

[Atkin] 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.

[Biraben]
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.

[Woo]
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.

[song fades]

[upbeat electronic
music playing]

[music continues]

[music continues]

[music fades]