Comicpalooza brings out stars
George Takei plots a course to Houston’s Comicpalooza
The local celebration of comics, animé, film and gaming promises some impressive star power — and many colorful fans.
GEORGE Takei has impeccable manners. “We’ve enjoyed an incredible, unimagined longevity, and that’s because of the fans,” says Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the “Star Trek” TV series and films.
“It’s good manners to go to these conventions and say ‘thank you’ for that undying support that they’ve given us.”
Takei makes his second appearance at Houston’s Comicpalooza Saturday and Sunday at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Takei is a social-media superstar. His Facebook page boasts 8.5 million likes, largely fueled by memes that go viral.
He also is a fierce advocate for LGBT rights. He and Brad Altman were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license in 2008 in West Hollywood.
Currently, he’s in the planning stages for the Broadway musical “Allegiance,” set during the Japanese-American internment during World War II. Takei says there’s another dream role he’d love to tackle — Willie Loman in Arthur Miller’s 1949 play “Death of a Salesman.”
“I’m still the age where I can play that,” says Takei, 78. “Willy Loman is a great, powerful male role for a senior person. I think I could do it with the appropriate adjustment, with an AsianAmerican family.
“The name Loman could also sound Asian depending on the way you pronounce it. Low-Maan. Does that sound Asian?”
Pending that dramatic departure, Takei talked past glories and present crusades:
Q: What keeps you motivated and inspired to tackle new things like “Allegiance?”
A: Life is a continuous series of reinventions. Mother Nature does it for
you. You age. I’m no longer what I was when I did “Star Trek,” but you find new things to engage you. My mission in life has been to tell the story and raise the awareness of the internment of innocent Japanese-Americans, simply because we happen to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. It was a most unconstitutional act. And because we really haven’t learned from it, something similar happened to Arab-Americans after 9/11. At the core, it’s racism. The word “Ferguson” appears regularly in headlines. It’s a very relevant story.
Q: You’ve also used your platform to educate people on equal rights.
A: We’re living through one phase of our history. But remember there was another phase of our history where black people were used as property, as chattel. We fought a bloody war over it, and that eliminated slavery. But racism still existed. Still to this day, there are efforts to make voting by AfricanAmericans as difficult as possible. The LGBT issue today is just like the slavery issue at one time or racial segregation during the Jim Crow years. We have to work to make our society a better society, a better democracy, to let people have full opportunity to be who they are.
Q: How is your husband adjusting to his own celebrity after the 2014 documentary “To Be Takei” and your Web series, “It Takes Two”?
A: He steals it, doesn’t he? He’s a funny guy. You know he gets recognized on the street. People want selfies with him. They ignore me. I’m absolutely delighted by that.
Q: Did Betty White offer any tips for staying youthful when you appeared on “Hot in Cleveland”?
A: Isn’t she amazing? She’s in her 90s, and there she is. Another one of my heroes is Angela Lansbury. Every season, she’s on Broadway in a new play. She’s a real trooper. They’re my inspirations, and I hope that I can be functioning like that when I’m their age. My grandmother lived to 104, and I hope I have her genes. One night she went to bed, and the next morning, she didn’t wake up. That’s the way I want to do it.
Q: What comes to mind when you think of Houston?
A: I remember being there on a blazing-hot summer weekday. During lunch hours, I saw runners in that murderous sun. These people, running in that kind of weather, could be courting disaster. It’s not a healthy climate to be running in. I used to be a runner. I had a running accident, and now my doctor has forbidden running for me.
Q: What’s continually surprising about events like Comicpalooza?
A: The original fans are now grandpas and grandmas. They bring their grandchildren to the conventions. Something genetic seems to happen by the third generation of “Star Trek” fans. The little fans automatically greet you with the Vulcan finger greeting. And they seem to have genetically developed pointy ears. I think it’s charming.