Here Comes the Groom Warp Factor 6

In a way I grew up with Takei and the rest of the gang. First saw the show around 1977 and since I loved science fiction and there were very few shows like that at that time (UFO, Space 1999) it was appealing.

Because of my interest in behind the scenes Star Trek and because of the view point coming from anybody that even had a smattering of humility I read Takei's book . Even after reading the whole thing I had no idea he was gay. I don't discriminate against gay guys just against ego maniacs like Shatner.

He crusaded for the right to get married despite inevitable ridicule. That is courage in my book. What some people may not know that despite all the characters being essential to the original Trek series of movies, Only Nimoy and Shatner were paid any significant amount of money to be in the movies. The others including Takei were so typecast with Trek that the producers got away with offering the rest of them peanuts to be in the cast. But it is in that discrimination that Nichols and Koenig bonded with Takei and that was obvious with yesterday's wedding.

I attached a video of George Takei's thespian ability . It was suggested by a guy at work. At our place many people smart enough to be engineers but very few scholars. My friend I will qualify as one of the few scholars we have employed under us. He was telling me that a bunch of them saw this movie and during this scene they commented on the city and how it must have brought back memories for Mr. Sulu. Not knowing back then what we know now. Warp Speed Sir.

If you want to see him in a different role, watch John Wayne's Green Berets . I'm sure the set reminded him of his youth where he and his family were sequestered along with other Japanese Americans in a camp because of World War II. Maybe not the worst thing in the world but you can't get me to sign up for that. I did mention him in a previous blog and you can hear him and get an idea of what he was about here:

Link

even though again Stern and the gang are exploiting him. Still I can not deny it's comedic value. He has been through a bit in his life and from afar I believe he deserves his happiness.

Ed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/people_george_takei

By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

1 hour, 12 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - George Takei and his longtime partner, Brad Altman, have agreed to live long and prosper together.

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Takei, 71, and Altman, 54, were married Sunday in a multicultural ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum that featured a Buddhist priest, Native American wedding bands, a Japanese Koto harp and a bagpipe procession.

The couple, both clad in white dinner jackets with black pants, made a grand entrance to the tune of "One Singular Sensation" from the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line." They stepped into a circle of yellow roses and lilies, where they shared a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and were wed by a Buddhist priest.

The couple, who have been together for 21 years, wrote their own vows.

Altman said that he had called Takei many things during their two decades together — "life partner, significant other" — but that their marriage represented "a dream come true for me."

"I can add 'my husband' to the list of things I call you," he said.

Takei called his longtime partner an "organized, detail-obsessed, punctuality-driven control freak."

"I'm easygoing with details, so we're a good fit," he said in the trademark baritone recognizable to all "Star Trek" and Howard Stern fans.

"I vow to care for you as you've cared for me ... and to love you as my husband and the only man in my life," Takei said as he held Altman's hands.

The priest then pronounced them "spouses for life." A bagpiper played as the newlyweds walked out, followed by friends, family and a few members of the press.

Takei said he and Altman chose to make their wedding public — and have been outspoken gay-rights advocates for years — for the sake of democracy.

"We have a relationship that's been stronger and longer-lived than some of our straight friends, and yet we were not equal," Takei told The Associated Press before the ceremony. "What this does is give us that dignity; (it's) being part of the American system and being whole. We're making the American system whole as well, as America is becoming more equal."

Such activism is nothing new for Takei. He participated in the civil rights movement, served as a Democratic delegate in 1972 and fought for redress for those — like his own family — who were forced into internment camps after World War II.

"I grew up determined not to be marginalized," he said. "That served as an incentive for me to be proactive."

He and Altman were among the first couples to receive a marriage license in West Hollywood when the state began granting licenses to gay couples on June 17.

"A quarter century ago, when I first met Brad, (marriage) was the farthest thing from our imagination," Takei said. "But what seemed impossible at one time becomes, over the passage of time, more and more 'what if' and 'why not.' We have to participate in moving society along to be a better democracy."

Wedding guests included "Star Trek" stars Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols, who served as best man and best lady, Hollywood executives, local and national government officials and the couple's relatives from around the world.

Keeping with the multicultural theme, guests dined on Asian/Baja Californian fusion cuisine and took home Japanese tea-ceremony treats in boxes printed with the phrase: "May sweet equality live long and prosper."

The "Star Trek" star and his manager plan to honeymoon in Argentina and Peru.