You just can't mistake the
voice, even if where you're
hearing it is a bit shocking. Its rich, deep tone, well-enunciated nouns,
immediately says you're hearing George Takei. You don't have to even be an animation
fan to understand that.
After all, Takei has been
working in animation for over 35 years, starting with Filmation's Star Trek: Animated Series back in 1972
where he returned to his role of Lt. Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Enterprise. From
there, his unmistakable basso has been heard in such cartoons as Disney's Mulan, Batman Beyond, Kim Possible
and Chowder.
Now he is the voice of a
new villain, Lok Durd, on Star Wars: Clone Wars . Interestingly
enough this makes Takei the first actor, and still so far the only, to work for
both Star Trek and Star Wars.
"I don't consider it
jumping ship," says Takei. "The Star Trek
philosophy is to embrace the diversity of the universe, and Star Wars is part of that diversity. I
also think Star Trek and Star Wars are related beyond both having
the word "Star."
Not that he doesn't
acknowledge differences, either.
"Star Trek is science fiction,"
said Takei. "Star Wars is
science fantasy. Based on the episodes I worked on, I think with Star Wars: Clone Wars we're
starting to see a merging though. It does deal, philosophically, with some of
the issues of the time, which is always something Star Trek was known for. War, Peace, Technology, Humanity,
Sacrifice and Courage; these issues. I found that engaging.
"The other thing I found is
in doing the Star Wars
animation, especially when compared to the Star
Trek animation, it was really working as an actor. I was actually
working with other actors. When we did the recording (for Clone Wars—ED) the had the entire cast
there. So we were able to bounce off of each other. You get a better idea of
the characterization that way, the vocal rhythms of the other characters.
"When we did the animation
for Star Trek, they were
actually trying to be accommodating by setting their schedules around ours. So
we came in individually. So it was often the case that when I was coming in,
Leonard (Nimoy, Mr. Spock) was leaving. When I went into the recording booth,
they would have the script with my lines underscored with a colored pen. I
would just read my lines according to how that scene was played. I never played
with Leonard. Then when I was leaving, Jimmy Doohan (Scotty), would come in and
do his lines."
In other words, Takei much
prefers doing what in animation parlance is called "radio style" as opposed to
doing it in isolation.
"You know I grew up in the
age of radio," Takei pointed out. "That was my main boyhood form of
entertainment; lying on the living room floor with my ears affixed to the
radio. I loved shows like The Phantom,
Cisco Kid and even Happy
Theater when I was younger. To be able to see actors who can act
with only their voices was just a real treat. It reminded me of the loss of
radio acting. [By the time he started acting] Radio dramas have disappeared.
What we do have now is books on tape, which I find wonderful. I've done some of
those. Otherwise, radio acting is now gone.
"I found that when I acted
alone in the recording booth than when I did it with other actors. You know,
the Star Trek animation was in
the early 70s. I honestly found that to be very unsatisfying. I didn't know how
Leonard read his lines. All I would get is some cues from the director. He
would go 'Do it a bit louder,' 'Do it a little bit softer' or more intensely or
internalized. At the same time I was trying to hear the lines that Leonard said
before me in my mind's ear.
"With Star Wars I was bouncing off the actor,"
Takei said. "We were all together in the same studio. Yes, there were those
glass windows there with the technical people on the other side. Still, to
bounce off other actors is just wonderful, especially after that Star Trek experience. That was purely
solitary acting with the director talking to you through a headphone. That
wasn't fun at all."
For the record, Takei truly
enjoyed working with the likes of Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano), Matt Lanter
(Anakin Skywalker) and Dee Bradley Baker
(the various Clones).
"They were all exceedingly
talented actors," he said. "The actors who played the Lurman, the kind of Irish
accent that they had, were just marvelous. I would talk to them between takes
and during the break, and just go back to being completely American. I couldn't
believe just how well they could make characters vocally."
One also gets the feeling
Takei enjoyed playing his character, who is humongous, slug-like and
exceedingly pretentious villain.
"They seem to think my
voice is 'fat.' That it sounds 'obese.' In fact, grotesquely obese," Takei
laughed. "They showed me a drawing of the character I was supposed to voice and
the first thing I thought was 'Oh no! Not again!' because I had done the voice
of the First Ancestor in Disney's Mulan.
That was also a huge, enormously obese character. Lok Durd is also immensely
obese.
"Then when I saw the
finished product I couldn't help but realize it was amazingly well done. He's
just extremely flabby and loose he is. It made me wonder why I do all the sit
ups, push ups and other exercises I really do when they think of that kind of
character for my voice. I mean when Lok Durd moves, you can see his stomach,
arms and legs, all his flesh, just jiggle. The animation is just amazing! Oh,
the vanity of an actor!"
But when it was pointed out
what it would be like to do a live action of Durd, Takei openly admits he
prefers the animated version well over what the other way would have been.
"Thank God!," he laughs "I
just have to think of how hot and uncomfortable it would have been in the fat
suit alone."
Actually, from the sounds
of the process, Supervising Director Dave Filoni made sure that Takei had a
very clear idea about Durd long before they recorded him.
"They made sure I got to
see what the character looked like," he said. "I knew pretty fast how I wanted
to play the character. They also gave an outline of the character, how it was
conceived. I also got some stuff about him from the internet. When I reported
to the studio, I met the other actors. From there I just dove into it."
Not that the process of
creating Durd was to immediately jump into the recording booth, either.
"I do a lot of voice work,"
Takei stated. "In fact, I just did some this morning. Yesterday I was actually
in London, where I did some commercial work and today they had emailed me the
rewrites. So I went into a sound studio this morning and patched the rewrites.
So, you can say I'm used to working vocally.
"What's important with Star Wars, they made sure I had enough
material to have a hook before I went into the studio. So I had practiced at
home before the session. It helped me get a fix on the character. Of course, I
kept myself open for whatever thoughts the director had. Still, it was
listening to the other actors that was the real stimulation. That's what got my
juices going.
"After all the prep work,
what also helped was having a run through with the other actors. That was when
the director might give you some pointers. I remember him telling me to give
some lines a bit more power or punch, those kind of things. From there I would
go into the booth and do it."
The final result is a truly
memorable new addition to the SWCW
universe. One that, even though he won't say exactly when, appears to be a
recurring character for the series.
This led to another
interesting aspect for Takei. As one can imagine, he has a gigantic following
thanks to his long tenure on Trek.
As any comic book fan knows, he then took on a recurring role in the series Heroes. The end result is it increased
his fan base. He wouldn't be surprised if doing SWCW will do the same thing again.
"Any work that one does has
a way of expanding your access to the audience," says Takei. "As you probably
know, I'm a recurring character in Heroes.
Now when I do conventions, I've noticed that I'm being approached by a lot of Heroes fans with pictures of me as Kaito
Nakamura. Perhaps now, when I go to conventions I'll be approached to sign Lok
Durd photos. Maybe I'll even be invited to Star
Wars conventions. We'll see what happens.
"Last year, I did a British
reality show called I'm A Celebrity...Get
Me Out of Here!. There they got twelve celebrities from many
different arenas. This includes someone who was a member of Parliament, a woman
who is the Barbara Walters of British television, and a children's TV show
host. The only one I knew was Martina Navratalova, the tennis player.
"We were all sent to the
rain forests of Australia for three weeks, living off of basically only beans
and rice, facing various challenges. This show is enormously popular. It was
the highest rated show the weeks it was on. So I remember one day walking
around in London, in Piccadilly. People right and left were coming up to me and
saying 'Hi George! We loved you on Celebrity!'
So every work you do that becomes enormously popular adds to your audience
base. While I doubt if I walked down the street I'll be visually recognized as
Lok Durd, I'm sure Star Wars: Clone Wars
fans might stop me anyway. I would also say it has again expanded my sphere of
identification. "
Whatever else, Takei will
find that out starting this Friday at 9:00 p.m., when he makes his debut on Star Wars Clone Wars on Cartoon Network.
In Part 2 – It wouldn't
be an interview without some Star Trek questions. Among Takei's answers will be
about the recent losses of Majel Roddenberry and Ricardo Montalban, as well as
his opinion of the new Sulu, John Cho.
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