I missed this one when it was playing at Hot Docs earlier this year, but I’m glad that I had a chance to catch up with it now. As life long Star Trek fan, it’s nice to know what it’s like To Be Takei.

Of course, George Takei is now as well known for being a gay icon as he is for piloting the U.S.S. Enterprise for all those years on Star Trek. The film touches on some of that, and it touches on his Star Trek career as well as his struggles being an Asian American actor in Hollywood.

The interesting part of the documentary concerns Takei’s childhood as one of millions of Japanese immigrants and the second generation Japanese-Americans who were interned by the government during the Second World War. Takei’s memories of the camp are as powerful as they are insightful, this is a part of history that’s still woefully under-taught for, perhaps, understandable reasons.

Speaking of discomfort, William Shatner is also interviewed in the doc.

You can read my review of To Be Takei here on Nerd Bastards.