Watch The 'Captain Sulu' Star Trek Fan Film That Put George Takei In The Big Chair

At the beginning of Nicholas Meyer's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Captain Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) is in command of the USS Excelsior, a prototype spacecraft with a newfangled transwarp drive allowing it to travel faster than any ship yet built. The Excelsior was first glimpsed in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," and Sulu, still serving on board the USS Enterprise at the time, stared at new the ship in utter awe. He couldn't have guessed at that moment that he would one day be its captain. 

Sulu's captaincy gave the character a satisfying arc. When audiences first saw him in the original "Star Trek," he was a helmsman bearing the rank of lieutenant. In "Star Trek VI," made 25 years later, he was finally in command. If one accepts expanded universe lore culled from ancillary books and the like, Sulu would eventually become an Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Starfleet Command. Sulu's arc inflamed a Trekkie's imagination, picturing a broad series of adventures for Captain Sulu that we simply never got to see. The closest we ever came was a trio of audio adventures produced in 1994 and 1995, each starring Takei. 

After the release of "Star Trek VI" in 1991, Takei announced openly that he'd like to star in a Captain Sulu TV series set on board the USS Excelsior, an understandable desire. Sadly, Paramount didn't have any serious interest in a Sulu series, and nothing was ever put into production. 

There was one "sort of" pilot episode for a Sulu series, however, which was released in 2007. The fourth episode of the high-end fan series "Star Trek: New Voyages" not only posited a possible future for Sulu, but secured the participation of George Takei, reprising his role.

When it comes to fan films, "New Voyages" is perhaps one of the best ever made. The series, created by James Cawley and Jack Marshall is not officially canonical, but it's fun to pretend. The productions were slick, and the budgets higher than most fan films, and "New Voyages" attracted multiple former "Star Trek" actors to appear in their various projects (there have been ten episodes to date). In addition to Takei, "New Voyages" boasted appearances from Walter Koenig, Grace Lee Whitney, and Denise Crosby. 

Legally, the fan series was allowed to persist thanks to a special agreement from Paramount, who said that "New Voyages" could use licensed characters and imagery, provided they make no money from the endeavor. It is truly a labor of love. 

The fourth episode of "New Voyages," "World Enough and Time," was co-written and directed by Marc Scott Zicree, who recently posted the hour-long adventure on his YouTube channel. In a brief introduction, Zicree said that he always considered "World Enough" to be an unofficial pilot — maybe more of a proof-of-concept — for a potential Captain Sulu TV series. Although it had been 16 years since "Star Trek VI," Takei was still game to play Captain Sulu, and clearly there were enough Trekkies who wanted to see him back in the role. 

Whitney also appeared as Janice Rand, and Majel Barrett's voice was used for the Starfleet computers, just like on the original shows. The episode also featured the character of Demora Sulu, Hikaru's daughter, previously played by Jacqueline Kim in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations." In "New Voyages," she was played by Mimi Chong.

The story of "World Enough and Time" is a time-travel plot that involved two versions of Sulu, and was original conceived by co-writer Michael Reaves as a possible story for the stalled 1970s TV series "Star Trek: Phase II" (which would eventually morph into "Star Trek: The Next Generation"). "New Voyages," it should be noted, takes place shortly after the events of the original "Star Trek" series, and featured a new cast of actors playing the familiar Enterprise crew. In "World Enough and Time," the young Sulu was played by John Lim.

The plot: The Enterprise encounters a trio of Romulan warships that attack one of its shuttlecraft. When the Enterprise retaliates and destroys the Romulan ships, it accidentally opens up a rift in time, and the young Sulu is sucked through. Scotty (Jeffrey Quinn) is able to beam Sulu back on board in moments, but wasn't fast enough, and Sulu appears back on the ship 30 years older. What was only a few moments for the Enterprise was a partial lifetime for Sulu on a distant planet called Caliban. Indeed, Sulu even has a new daughter, Alana (Christina Moses), whom he fathered on Caliban. She, too, is beamed through the space hole. 

The episode ends with Scotty learning how to restore the younger Sulu, but he would need the older Sulu's body to do it. The older Sulu understands what is required, and seemingly sacrifices the last 30 years of his memories in order to be made young again.

It was the sight of Sulu on the bridge of the Excelsior with Rand that Zicree liked, though. It wasn't so much a Sulu pilot as a tantalizing taste of what might have been. A Captain Sulu series? The network wasn't interested, but it would have been great. Unfortunately, "World Enough and Time" will have to do for now.