George Takei Books

In this collection of historical poetry we find the voices of interned Japanese Americans of the 1940's. The internees recorded their lives through Tanka poems. The structure of this book begins with introducing how traumatic this event was to the people who experienced it. The history of their lives and the pictures of the poets/authors are introduced in the beginning of the book. The illustrator is an important contributor to this book and its beauty. Each section is carefully laid out in sequential historical order. First we read poems entitled, " The Arrest". These poems describe people first taken into custody. " Hawaii Internment Camps " tells the history of those few that were interned in Hawaii. The next section, " Being Shipped to the Mainland Internment Camps" reveals the agony of these people. The section entitled " Mainland Internment Camps" tells of their terrifying experiences. " Son Dies in Italy" signifies the loss a parent feels when his son dies in World War II. "Death at the Camp" reveals how death was a part of the life at the camps. The last section is appropriately labeled " Homecoming." The humiliation, agony, loneliness and despair experienced by over 110,000 people is put into terms that have emotional intensity via this collection of Tanka poetry. It is a book that is tactfully organized, with poems that say enough to get a picture, but not too much. The complimentary drawings add to the overall beauty of this book. Most children ages 10-12 would appreciate and understand the content.

Interesting book about George Takei and the life of being a Japanese-American. He told some things about the period that Nikkei were interned in WWII that I didn't know about.

I had a copy of this book when it first came out, but I lost it and thought it was out of print. I was delighted to see it still available and ordered it, especially since I have the TV series and movies on DVD now. I this book, author Phil Farrand goes through each and every episode of the Original series and the six feature films. In each he discusses changed premises, plot oversites, equipment oddies, and props that don't work like they should. Also he points out scenes that were cut when the show was syndicated, and what stills where shown during the end credits. Also Farrand also includes what are called tote boards, that lists things like the number of times Kirk's shirt gets torn, number of people who slap Spock, number of times McCoy pronounces someone dead etc. This book is a must for fans of Classic Star Trek.
PS, in the episode The Savage Curtain, during a fight scene, Kirk is on his back, and he draws up his legs to push away his opponet, his pants cleary split!! I laughed until i almost could'nt breathe.

Kirk and spock are sweeping the floor when spocks notices a man using small tools, the sceen cuts and shows the man's hand picking a a sharp looking tool, then the sceen changes back to Kirk and Spock some words are passed then sceen shows the man's hand again doing the same motion.

For example he picks on one Trek ep for mentioning the Euygenics Wars of the 1990's and the fact that in the real life 1990's the Eugenics wars never took place. Also, he mentions inconsistencies beween the TOS and TNG shows. If these are nitpicks they should be in the TNG nitpickers guide. Also I hate when he talks about how Miri would be a shorter show if they (the landing party) could talk to the ship. Wrong author Phil! It would be a different show if they could talk to the ship.

I loved this book. Whenever I'm in need of a laugh I still return to it. Every blooper, every continuity problem and and every single episode is discussed in this very funny guide. The author was obviously a huge fan of Star Trek.

Phil Farrand does a wonderful job here of pointing out things the creators of Trek got wrong (and right!)--small things most of us would never give a second thought to. My favorite glitch:

"Return of the Archons--Just after Festival begins, Kirk & the others scamper for cover. In one shot, a rock about the size of a cantaloupe arches down and whacks a crew member on the top of his head. Surprisingly, the man seems unaffected, and the rock simply bounces off. Now that's the kind of guy you want to take on landing party missions!"

I couldn't stop laughing for about five straight minutes after I read this one. If you like Star Trek, and you like to laugh--get Phil Farrand's Nitpicker's Guides for Trekkers. You will not be disappointed.

mix some of the best characters in science fiction with an author who KNOWS how to write then and what do you get? A fantastic star trek book.

this books reads like a great, classic star trek episode. Character interaction, a seemingly impossible situation, interesting subplots..everything a fan of star trek likes about the show is in this book..

And the villains...a book like this is usually only as good as its villains and I found the romulans' depiction quite...fascinating, as spock would say. And the villains aren't all romulan either ;)

with lots of tense moments, great dialogue, good character intereraction , a large plot with possibly disastrous repercussions, AND some nice nods and tie ins to several of the original series episodes, and you have a great read on your hands.

highly recommended.

The Romulan Empire is in deep trouble. A plague is rapidly killing them and the only cure is grown on the planet Canara in Federation space. Fearing that the Federation would use the knowledge to destroy the Empire, the Romulans attempt to take the antidote by force rather than ask for help. However, the Canarans are fiercely loyal to the Federation and strongly oppose the Romulans. While they cannot hope to resist by force of arms, the Canarans set destructive charges that will destroy all of the material that can be used to make the antidote to the plague.
As the story unfolds, we learn a great deal about the Romulan political system, the Praetor is the highest political figure and the position is currently being held by a greedy, self-serving individual. He sends one of the most loyal and effective Romulan commanders on what is a suicide mission into Federation space and also calls back into service an aged commander whose loyalty to the Empire is greater than any personal animosity he has for the Praetor and his political machinations.
There are two subplots that complicate the situation. The first is that the computers on the Enterprise recently underwent maintenance and the technicians decided that they needed more of a personality. Therefore, they programmed the main computer to have a personality, including emotions. The computer falls in love with Kirk and considers him the only person in the universe. It ignores all other members of the crew, so nothing works for anyone else. The crew is largely helpless to do anything about the situation, which is supposed to be amusing. I didn't find it amusing at all, and thought that this subplot was too much of a distraction to the real story. A simple reboot using core memory should have solved the problem.
The second subplot involved Admiral Iota, who hates the Romulans so bad that he barricades himself into auxiliary control on one of the Federation ships and fires on the Romulans. Once again, the crew of the ship is helpless to stop him. This is absurd; no Starfleet vessel would be constructed without some way to disable the weapons outside of auxiliary control. Furthermore, the idea that one man could barricade himself into an area and control the entire ship was one I found ridiculous.
The two subplots spoiled the story for me. Had the author concentrated on the inner workings of the Romulan Empire and the actions of the Praetor and the Romulan commanders, the story would have been much better.

The timeline for this story is immediately after the original series Star Trek episode, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday". This is where the computer has been reprogrammed to be seductive and affectionate -especially towards Kirk(of course)!

The characters -Romulan and Enterprise, are handled competently.

Some guest appearances:
Yeoman Janice Rand (not a love interest here!)
Ensign Garrovick (from "Obsession")
Lt. Kyle (Transporter Chief)

The plot is fascinating(as Spock would say) and unfolds excellently. The writing is professional and stays right on in the ST Universe. The plot is similar to the ST movie: "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", but here the Romulans face a disaster. Kirk and McCoy are not captured here either.

If you have to choose a few original ST books to read then choose this one amongst the others.

Read on...

This is by far the best of the numbered series of Star Trek novels up to the point at which it was written, with the possible exception of #7, "The Wrath Of Khan". The characters are handled competently, the plot is interesting, and the writing is fluent, professional, and lively.

There is a certain similarity between the plot of this story, and the plot of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", but that is no fault of this story, since it predates the other. There is also a certain similarity between its plot and that of "Dr. Strangelove", although this is not a comedy. This story is set in the time immediately after the original series Star Trek episode, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday"; the computer has not yet been reprogrammed, and is still overly affectionate toward Kirk.

If you enjoy Star Trek: the original series, you should definitely read this book; it is one of the better books in the Star Trek series. Even if you aren't a big fan, but are only lukewarm toward Star Trek, you should give this book a try.

Star Trek: Transformations -- A Captain Sulu Adventure. It was an intriguing title. It was on audio. I had only heard one other recording like it, so I decided to buy it. I'm glad I did. About 6 months before my listening to this tape, I had heard the CD Cacophony. The plot deteriorated in the middle of the recording, the casting was awful, most of the characters were unbelievable. All except for one outstanding personality and voice. He was familiar with his character, and did an outstanding performance. This character was Captain Hikaru Sulu, as played by George Takei. Takei delivered an even better performance in the first Sulu adventure, Transformation. This time all the characters were all believable. All three of them. The plot was great. I loved every minute of it, except when I had to exert energy to turn the tape over. Overall, Transformations is the audio tape to get! It is extremely awesome in the dark with headphones on. The 3-D sound and your imagination will bring the story to life.

Ambassador Worf out.

This was a thouroughly interesting story that held my attention for its duration. The 3-D sound was great and listening with headphones made it come alive! What bothered me about it was that the story is comprised of log entries and letters so that there is virtually no interaction between the actors. It therfore gave the impression of being closer to an audio book than an audio drama, except that the readers read their parts in the first person (mostly). I was hoping for more, as I suppose I'd been a bit spoiled with all the wonderful Doctor Who audios out these days, but I am certainly looking forward to the others in this series and hope that Star Trek uses the full cast audio realm more in the future.

As a big fan of the original series and of the character of Sulu, it was great to see him made Captain at last in Star Trek VI. These wonderful audionovels allow fans who want more to get just that. Mr. Takei is a wonderful actor who has a great distinctive and effective voice. The excellent vocal cast on this audio novel also was a pleasure to listen to. It definately transported the mind to the final frontier... It is great to listen to on long drives or trips on planes or trains. Much like the now 'ancient' radio programs of old, audio novels let you use your best entertainment center, your imagination to it's fullest. Having a familiar and treasured character like Sulu connects you to the story in a great way. This was one of the best of the Captain Sulu audio series. Scary at times, a great mystery to unravel. All of the Captain Sulu stories in fact are quite good and I'd love to hear more...even better let's see a Captain Sulu series! Afterall the Adventure should always continue!

Alternative to "First Contact" (movie). Vulcans arrive earlier and possible changes to Star Trek universe, could have been better written but still a good read. "Strangers from the Sky" can be read in a day and one night. Enjoy.

A controversial best seller has been sweeping through the Federation and the Enterprise was no exception but when Dr. McCoy offered his copy to Capt. Kirk, Kirk was oddly resistent to reading it. When he finally began reading though he found that he could not put it down, that it even began to invade his dreams and sent him on a pilgrimage to one of the locations of the story. Had Kirk's obsession with the book driven him to madness?

When McCoy called in Spock to help him save Kirk they discovered that Kirk was not the only one who had a strange reaction to the novel, leading them all to question what was fantasy and what was reality. After all, everyone knew when Vulcans and humans first made contact and it was long before Kirk and Spock were born. Wasn't it?

Bonanno has woven a compelling story, her characterizations of the Enterprise crew that we all know and love is excellent. They, and the rest of the characters in the book all come to life as reasonable, believeable and engaging. She also manages to keep the various threads of the story interesting as they begin to wind their ways towards the climax.

This is a definite 'don't miss' for fans of the series and would also be enjoyable to anyone with more than a passing interest in classic Trek, particularly the earliest episodes.

This is the rerelease of a book written in the early-to-mid 80's. It's still a great read. Bonanno brings the strengths of book-writing to a film property - flash backs, out-of-sequence story-telling and a wider landscape, and makes it all work.

Since it was written pre-almost-everything-else, there are a few anachronisms that must be forgiven, but I didn't find them distracting. The characters are spot on, the dillemma interesting, and the pace brisk. I remember reading this when it was first written and really enjoying knowing what was going on after the TV show and before the second movie. This time it takes a bit to re-orient where everything takes place (has this happened yet? No? Okay...)
The new characters are likable and instantly accessible. Of all the 40th Anniversary books, this is the one to read.

While the book is good, my problem with it is the new foreword by the author. She mentions that the book was written six years before the official first contact between humans and Vulcans depicted in the movie "First Contact" set in 2063 - wrong. That was not the first contact between humans and Vulcans in the STAR TREK universe. The TRUE first contact in the official cannon STAR TREK universe was depicted in the STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE episode "Carbon Creek" in which a Vulcan science vessel observing the launch of the Earth satellite SPUTNIK 1 on October 4, 1957, crashed and it's survivors had to interact with humans (the humans not knowing that they were aliens, of course) while waiting for a Vulcan rescue ship to come for them. A minor objection, of course, but MWB should have realized this.

You won't find a better book in the Star Trek genre. Well written, close to canon. Bonanno captures Kirk,Spock and McCoy thoroughly, you can hear their voices as you read the story. Excellent, if you are a Trek fan don't miss this classic.

I just finished reading George Takei's autobiography the other night. This guy has led a fascinating life.

When he was younger, he met Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. His first job in show business was helping to dub "Rodan" into English. Before "Star Trek", he did movies with Richard Burton and Alec Guinness. And during the run of the show, he did a movie with John Wayne.

Till I read this book, I also didn't know that he had spent 11 years on a commission in L.A. that was responsible for getting their subway system built.

Interestingly, he doesn't go into a huge amount of detail about the show, though he makes his (and other cast members') reasons clear for not liking Shatner. And given certain revelations about Takei's personal life over the last few years, any discussion about relationships outside of his family and career are strangely absent from the book. Still, it's a good read.

I do agree with other reviewers, however, that even with a length of 400 pages, this book seemed too short. Given that it came out in 1994, I would love to see Takei update and re-release it.

George Takai is great on the stern show, he has such a great sense of humour.

Oh Qua Tanzen Wan...

George Takei's autobiography proves to be an interesting reading material as he related to his life. First half of the book dealt with his life as a Japanese-American, dealing with wartime as well as post war racism. His story of his life in the internment camp was quite moving.

Unlike Jimmy Doohan's book, at least Takei remembered why he's so famous and why people wants to read about his life. Takei's book got interesting tidbits and background information on his role as Mr. Sulu and Star Trek material. As a Star Trek fan, I found this part of the book to be most interesting. It was interesting to read his take on John Wayne and the tribute Takei pay to him when Takei was working with him in Green Beret. I think that story need to be expanded a bit more. But Takei tells a good story from how he was initially interviewed by Roddenberry to the Star Trek VI movie when his character finally won the command of the ship of his own (and probably reduced Takei to a bit player on the film).

[...]

George Takei obviously didn't like William Shatner very much. Maybe it has to do with ego clashing or screen time sharing. In that, he joined with Jimmy Doohan in their dislike of Shatner. He probably didn't care about the way his character was being treated and in that he joined with Nichelle Nichols as only two minority members of the crew trying to improved their lot.

But overall, this proves to be a pretty decent autobiography, now that he's out of the closet, maybe George Takei can update his own book and relate to what it mean to be the only gay member of Star Trek (that we know of so far).

George Takei is a wonderful role model for Asian Americans in this country! As an Asian American actor in Hollywood, George had to endure quite a bit compared to some of his contemporaries but handled his experiences with great class! George refused to let himself be pigeonholed into stereotypical roles later on in his career and fought for dignity for his character Sulu which I greatly admired..

His book is a fascinating glimpse into a life of a Japanese American who was incarcerated simply because of his race during World War II..funny enough..even though the US was at war with Germany and Italy at the same time you never saw German Americans or Italian Americans incarcerated....

Although George and his family experienced this undignified treatment, George writes quite eloquently about his experiences and how they drove him to be the best he could be in his chosen profession..

He realized he had a great responsibility to his character in such a highly visible and popular TV show and fought to make his character more visible and succeeded! He peppers his book with anecdotes about his experiences on the set of Star Trek and his relationships with his fellow castmates.

As a writer George is very talented and he also has a website where he keeps a monthly journal of what's going on in his life and career:

http://www.georgetakei.com/

George is truly an inspiration and a talented writer. I think you will really enjoy his book!

When I saw this book at a used bookstore, I immediately snatched it up. As an original Trekkie, I try to read everything I can about Star Trek and the people who made it. While this is a good book and Takei has led an interesting life, I found myself wanting more information about his life in Star Trek than it contains. This is not to say that Takei has not led an interesting life, quite the contrary. His family was dislocated and interned as "potentially subversive" Japanese-Americans during World War II and he has been a political activist most of his life.
The problem is within me and I am no doubt similar to many others. We want to know all we can about Star Trek, and to that end, the personal lives of the actors takes on a secondary role. This is not to say that Takei doesn't spend a great deal of time discussing his life in Star Trek, he does. It is just that a lot of it is complaints about the arrogance of William Shatner and the personal conflicts in the actor's egos. There is also discussion about Takei's attempts to negotiate higher salaries and a greater role in the series and movies. He has some extremely nice things to say about Leonard Nimoy and his high level of integrity.
I enjoyed the book, the disappointment that I felt was personal, and I wanted less Takei and more Sulu. Takei has every right to make his autobiography about himself. However, more so far unpublished insights into the doings of Star Trek would have made the book more interesting to the diehard Trekkie in me.

This is the best book that I have ever read that was written by a celebrity. It was written many years before it became the fashion for Star Trek stars to write science fiction books. I have read many of the other ones that have come out over the years and Mirror Friend Mirror Foe is the best so far. Of course with a co-author as good as Robert Asprin it would be hard to go wrong. The is a very good science fiction book to read even if you don't consider who the authors are.

I have just finished the book. I could feel how Takei was writing himself into Hosato (the protagonist).

Good action ,the ninja part was cool ,and the charecters were fine. What made the book a 4* instead of 5 ,is that it felt a bit clumsy when compared to books writen at about the same stage of sci-fi development ,a bit naive.

It was cute ,with Lucy ,Hosato's robot side-kick ,being his best friend.

Worth the read.

I'm impressed with this book every time I pick it up and read it. And I've read it several times. It has all the elements of a great Sci-Fi story. I'm still waiting for a sequel from the two authors.

If they made a movie of this book, they would probably re-title it "Ninja in Space". This is a pretty entertaining read, if you go in for this sort of thing.

A ripping good yarn, combining the irony of Robert Asprin with the first attempts of George Takei, the original Star Trek Ensign Sulu.

It's a futuristic ninja/spy thriller, well written and consistantly brilliant, without the lapses often found in many new author's fist books.

I believe gigantic kudos goes out to J.M. Dillard for making The Final Frontier a GREAT deal more entertaining that the absolutely dreadful film written and directed by William Shatner. For those who MUST read all the Trek novels available, certainly you will enjoy this more than you could ever hope to like the film version, but while it is light years ahead, you can only polish up this story so much.

And what about *the story*? Without question, Trek V has the most ridiculously contrived and laughable plot of ANY Trek story, either in written form, on TV or on the big screen. I was 100% caught up the the hype that the previews created before the film was released...I gotta hand it to whoever edited them together, because they actually made the movie look exciting and very worthwhile to look forward to...unfortunately the end result was just pure drivel.

So Spock has a brother who has abandoned all Logic and has embraced the lawless and violent traditions of the Vulcan past before the supression of emotions helped save their race. Moreover, he is a devout believer in the Almighty, too (I know, not only does it SOUND like a stretch, but they never pulled it off--not even remotely in the film). So Sybok (Spock's emotionally disturbed Bro) is determinded to not just embrace his emotions and belief in God, but he is hell-bent on Proving His existence, as well. Not an easy task in a Galaxy full of Athiests. The story just becomes even more silly as it continues. Word has it that after Leonard Nimoy's triumphant success co-writing and directing Trek IV (arguably one of the all-time best films in the ENTIRE franchise history) Shatner flatly refused to do another movie unless he was given the chance to write and direct as well...and unfortunately, the Final Frontier is the end result. One wonders how Paramount managed to Green Light the fantastic Undiscovered Country after such a disaster? At least they ended on a great high note.

One interesting side note: while Shatners writing of this movie is abysmal to say the least, he has shown unexpected finesse in writing later novels set in the Trek Universe, some of which can be viewed as the best in print (this is in part largely due to his co-writers who are easily the best Trek authors writing today IMO).

J.M. Dillard should once again be credited for taking such a horrible script and turning it into a MUCH better story than it otherwise would have been -- but you can only do so much with a crappy story, and Dillard did more than I felt would normally have been considered possible based on what was there to work with in the first place.

Yeah, so what they said. The movie was a bomb, and the book tells the story the way it should have been.

Trek books are a tricky thing. Novelizations are a tricky thing. This particular Trek novelization does everything it should, and more. The only problem is that an artist is only as her subject matter, and Find God in the Center of the Galaxy still remains a hokey premise.

But let's focus on the good things. Every major Trek player gets a focus in this novel, including Sulu, who had a big part in all of McIntyre's novelizations. I was glad to see Dillard continue his story in the same vein. We get to see his and Scotty's "secret pain", as well as several other characters in the movie who got left out.

All the characters have depth -- the three delegates, the Klingons, Sybok himself, even the funky-toothed guy drilling holes in the opening shot. Every one is three-dimensional. Example: Klaa (Klingon captain) is no longer a chip-shouldered upstart with delusions of grandeur. He's a Klingon worthy of Klingons, and his motives in pursuing Kirk are revealed as devious and calculating, rather than dumb and bumbling as they appeared in the film.

This novel ties the movie into the others. Star Trek II-V form one continuous tale, without a whole lot of break in between. Yet they still make very little reference one to another. In this novel, we see a Kirk who was re-rejected by a dear love only months before, who lost his son very recently, and who is still coping with Spock's death and resurrection.

I have nothing but praise for the work of J.M. Dillard thus far. And this is no exception. If you, like me, consider Star Trek V the red-headed stepchild of the Star Trek series (no offense to all you red-headed stepchildren), then please read this novelization. Give it a shot. You'll like it. Or I'll buy you a Twinkie. (not really though)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier arguably had the silliest of plot concepts, and the touches of buffoonish humor did not help the movie much either.

Sybok, a renegade Vulcan from Spock's past, has managed to seize Nimbus III, the 'Planet of Intergalatic Peace'. But it is a ruse, what he really needs is a starship to take him to the center of the galaxy. Once there, Sybok believes he will meet God.

Dillard attempts to fill in the many character gaps in Shatner's Kirk centered story, giving each brainwashed member of the crew a chance to have center stage and a moment to shine. Thus it is more of an ensemble piece than the film. Dillard also clarifies some of the fuzzy plot points, making the hijacking and trip to God a tad easier to believe. There is also an honorable attempt to fit the concept of Nimbus III into the Trek Mythos rather than having it just be a gimmick jumping off point for the story. But despite all this hard work this novel is worthwhile reading only for those who would like to see a silly story told in a more well thought out manner. Strictly for Trek buffs.

The movie version of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" was an unutterable turkey, totally unconvincing on a number of levels. This book, while remaining true to the movie in most major plot points, varying only in minor detail, nonetheless manages to be a great deal more plausible and internally consistent, both with itself and with the established Star trek universe as a whole. The characterization is better, the plot flows more smoothly and makes more sense, and several details that were completely implausible in the movie are at least arguable here, if not completely acceptable. The book is quite enjoyable on a simple action-story level, and on deeper levels it is at least as good as most Star Trek stories, better than some if also not as good as others.

Definitely recommended for any "Trek" fans who would like to see the movie version turned into a viable story, and if you actually liked the movie, there's nothing here not to like.

Star Trek V, the Novel, is much better than the movie. There is so much more depth and adventure that the movie really shows that it was cut up pretty badly in post production. Even though this is one of the weakest of the Star Trek movies, it is still great reading!

I do not want this to be a case of one-upmanship but I cannot resist pointing out that the authors' descriptions of Toru Matsumoto on pages 12, 43, and 97 are factually incorrect.
The authors say on page 12 that Toru Matsumoto emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s. However, it was in 1935 that Toru Matsumoto first visited the United States. Moreover, he did not emigrate to the U.S. then but just visited the country to attend the 2nd U.S.- Japaese Students Conference.
On page 43, the authors state that Toru landed in San Francisco. It is incorrect; he landed in Seattle. And it was his brother Tsuyoshi, not a friend, that arranged for him to meet Jay and Mary.
On page 97, the authors write that Toru Matsumoto was living in New York city with his American wife Emma. Emma was not an American but a Japanese citizen then.
Lastly, Toru Matsumoto was never an American citizen throughout his life. He came back to Japan in the wake of WWII and remained in Japan until his untimely death in 1979.
For further details, please consult my Between Two Worlds: Matsumoto Toru and His Age (M.A. Thesis: Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM).
Otherwise, the book is a good introduction to the subject.

This book is one of the few that actually tries to tackle the long story of struggle and assimilation by Japanese Americans into American society. It starts off with an intro by George Takei and then dives into the history of emigration, era of laborers in Calif and Hawaii, settlement by families, the concentration camp experience, and the post war assimilation. The best part of the book is the numerous pictures and quotes from books/newspapers from famous figures in Japanese American lore: Yoshiko Uchida, Daniel Inouye, Isamu Noguchi, Ellison Onizuka, etc.. For somebody looking for easy reading material (without the philosophical discussion of racism that you may find in Takaki's books), I recommend it highly.