To Be Takei

To Be Takei (2014) is Jennifer M. Kroot's documentary portrait of George Takei, available to watch online on iFILM. The film spans seven decades: a child behind barbed wire in a WWII Japanese-American internment camp, then a lieutenant at the helm of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek (1966–1969).

Takei came out publicly in 2005 and married his partner Brad Altman in 2008, during California's brief stretch of marriage equality. The documentary pulls in William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Lea Salonga, and John Cho — enough Trek alumni to feel like a reunion in parts.

The film's best material isn't the activism or the history, though. It's the footage of George and Brad bickering over logistics, finishing each other's sentences, and navigating daily life with five million Facebook followers who still want a piece of Sulu. Stream To Be Takei (2014) online on iFILM.