Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we continue the "Best Of" series for The Original Series characters with a look at Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu. Here are some of his most memorable quotes and appearances.
https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp190
Sulu is a helmsman and astroscientist on the original Enterprise's five year mission. He has many passions including fencing, and he gets to show this off when the crew goes a little crazy in the episode A Naked Time:
Sulu: Stand, no farther. No escape for you. You'll either leave this war bloodied, or with my blood on your swords.
Sulu is often caught in much less lighthearted situations, as when he leads a stranded away mission crew on a frigid planet in the episode The Enemy Within. However, one of Sulu's unique character traits is on full display here, as he can be witty to help make it through the toughest of situations.
Sulu: Can you give us a status report, Captain? Temperature's still dropping. Now 41 degrees below zero.
Captain James T. Kirk: We've located the trouble. It shouldn't be much longer.
Sulu: Do you think you might be able to find a long rope somewhere and lower us down a pot of hot coffee?
.....
Sulu: I think we ought to give room service another call. That coffee's taking too long.
Sulu often did not have much in the way of substantive plot points and dialogue, but when he did, we often saw a moral compass which was valuable to have in the chain of command, as shown in this quote from Turnabout Intruder.
Sulu: The captain really must be going mad if he thinks he can get away with an execution.
Chekov: Keptin Kirk wouldn't order an execution even if he were going mad. That cannot be the keptin.
Sulu: What difference does it make WHO he is? Are we gonna allow an execution to take place?
Chekov: If security backs him up, how will we fight him?
Sulu: I'll fight them every way and ANY way I can.
Like the other secondary main characters, Sulu found more good character development in the movies and in subsequent series. His appearance as the Excelsior's captain on the Voyager episode Flashback, while mostly about Tuvok, had some great Sulu truisms and beliefs.
Captain Hikaru Sulu: You'll find that more happens on the bridge of a starship than just carrying out orders and observing regulations. There is a sense of loyalty to the men and women you serve with - a sense of family...Let the regulations be damned.
That scene highlights what would've been a good era to see more of, Captain Sulu at the helm of the Excelsior. Although The Undiscovered Country and Sulu's brief stint in the command chair during Into Darkness were good glimpses of this, that would be a season of a new anthology show I'd sign up for in a heartbeat. What do Mike and Darrell think on this?
Sulu was a good character for adding both diversity and a healthy bit of lightheartedness to the show. Plus, actor George Takei has been a treasure to have as an ambassador of the series as well. If you want more of his best, check out his extensive Twitter and Facebook posts over the past few years.
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