George Takei was so excited to do this shirtless episode. He spent all his free time doing push-ups for a week before they shot this.

they were going to give him a katana and have him be a samurai, but he didn’t want to be stereotypical, so he told the execs that he could fence and they wrote in references to the three musketeers instead

he could not, in fact, fence

he spent the weekend before shooting learning how

Not only that, but he found he liked fencing, kept it up, and became a master fencer.

When I had the privilege to hear him talk at AwesomeCon 2015, he informed us he is a master fencer. It was a very clear implication that he is still fencing at his advanced age. No wonder he’s so healthy.

He had far too much fun with this episode and it shows.

Hikaru Sulu, our first Space Pirate.

Reblogging for all this cool trivia

And also for George Takei running through the Starship Enterprise with a sword and cackling sinisterly

Reblogging for ALL of this, and for the coolness of George Takei still kicking butt with a sword to this day!

Reblog if you trust George Takei with a sword to protect you

“In the end, [Takei] loved his sword-fighting scene so much he held onto the rapier for several hours, poking stage hands with it and engaging in mock duels off the set.” – IMDB’s trivia