Human rights activist and the once and future Mr. Sulu, George Takei, has entered the fray among his two sci-fi colleagues, William Shatner and Carrie Fisher, in hopes of quelling their YouTube dispute over which sci-fi franchise is better, Star Trek or Star Wars. As the debate between the two quickly accelerated from professional disagreement to vile personal attacks (the latter of which was mostly from Shatner), Takei’s entreaty for the warring actors to put aside their petty animosity is an effort to unify the “Star Friends” and focus on what he perceives to be the true threat to their legacy: the Twilight movies.
The feud between Shatner and Fisher, which WebProNews covered last month, began when Shatner proclaimed Star Trek, the sci-fi television show he starred in, as superior to Star Wars, the sci-fi vehicle that Fisher was a part of. Fisher replied with a playful prod to Shatner’s declaration along with a couple of good-humored jabs at Shatner himself, but then Shatner accelerated the debate into a territory of pure venom with a very invective video he recorded for YouTube. In his video response, he launched insult after insult towards Fisher. Fisher, at least publicly, never dignified his attack with a response.
Although the issue seemed to have simmered down following Shatner’s last response, Takei, who co-starred next to Shatner in Star Trek, has possibly resurrected the feud but with the mission of peace. In a video address released last night, Takei implores Shatner and Fisher to call a truce and focus on the greater threat of “vampires that sparkle and mope and go to high school.”
“Sci-fi fans be warned,” Takei declares, “there are no great stories, characters, or profound life lessons to be had in Twilight.” He follows up with a campy appeal to take up arms against pithy supernatural creatures and hopefully “rid the world of this vampire menace.” The full address can be viewed below:
It remains to be seen if Takei can broker peace among the embattled sci-fi stars, or if they even care enough to continue this dispute. While Takei presents the olive branch between Shatner and Fisher, what I really wanna know is if that painting he’s standing in front of in that video is a portrait of himself. If so, then forget about his “Star” Friends. He wins.