George Takei Reminds Us That AMC's "The Terror: Infamy" Is a Timely Tale

Takei39s involvement began when a neighbor whom he didn39t know approached amp160Alexander Woo cocreator executive producer and showrunner wanted to chat about the internment amp160In addition to having endured two internment camps Takei pictured at top has also studied as much as he could about this hideous chapter of historyquotThis is a subject very close to mequot Takei told MediaVillage amp160quotI have written about the internment gone on national speaking tours and to use a television series would be fantastic And so I came on board as a consultant amp160Alex said amp8216You are an actor amp160Would you like to act39 amp160Well yes I am an actor and he developed a character for mequotThe characters speak Japanese and Takei even learned a new dialect for this project amp160That sort of authenticity was crucial for Woo who was delighted to have 10 hours to tell this story amp160It39s one many Americans do not knowquotI can understand there is a great deal of shame but it is also something we need to confrontquot Woo said amp160quotThere have been feature films about the internment amp160The drawback is a movie is a single experience and you can wash your hands of it after you are done amp160As anyone who was watching Game of Thrones knows a television show is something that allows you to have a relationship with its characters over a long period of timequotInfamy introduces viewers to a vast cast of characters including ghosts amp160It opens with a woman wearing a kimono getting ready for the day putting on makeup fixing her hair amp160She looks at a family photo then commits suicide in a most unusual way amp160We realize pretty soon she is not of this dimension amp160Japanese ghost stories or Kaidon were the perfect vehicle for this story Woo saidScaring viewers while telling this chilling story was not an easy balance to achieve amp160This series had to mesh imaginary horrors with reallife terrors from the notsodistant pastquotWhat was challenging and yet at the same time felt like an opportunity was to tell the really important the story of the internment camps that I don39t think has ever been dramatized with this kind of scopequot David Madden AMC39s president of programming said amp160quotDramatizing it felt like a genuine opportunity and something that was really important to do respectfully and sensitivelyquotMadden praised Woo39s approach and dedication to history amp160As all involved and viewers will soon see the tropes of today39s rampant racism are all too obvious and profoundly disturbingquotThe parallels are pretty stark and apparentquot Woo said amp160quotWe met with so many people who lived through the internment amp160To them one of the great tragedies of that experience is it seems to have been forgottenquotTakei is acutely aware of how Executive Order 9066 from 77 years ago destroyed generations of families when 120000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes to 10 internment camps amp160At 82 he is among a dwindling population of those who can recall those days firsthandHe intends to ensure that people are made aware of this horror and what happens when hatred and suspicion fuel public policy and law amp160Takei who shot to fame on the original Star Trek even mounted a Broadway musical about the Japanese American internment titled Allegianceamp160amp160quotIt is an echo of what happened to us this sweeping characterization of a whole people as a potential threat to our national securityquot Takei noted of today39s toxic political environment quotWhen Trump was campaigning for the Republican nomination we were doing Allegiance on Broadway and I knew he did not know about the internment having done Celebrity Apprentice 2012 amp160I had lunch with him at that timeamp160 We discussed marriage equality for LGBT people amp160I sent him a personal invitation to Allegiance amp160He never responded amp160I made that invitation very public as well amp160We put a great big sign on an aisle seat in the orchestra that said amp8216This seat is reserved for Donald Trumpamp8217 People would go down with phones and take selfies and post themquotAlthough Takei clearly knows how to lighten the mood and have fun he was delighted that Woo wrote a line in The Terror Infamy where his character YamatoSan says Takeiamp8217s signature line quotOh myquot amp160Still he never loses sight of the gravity of this series and of his commitment to remind people not to repeat the crimes of the pastquotThis is the United States of America with those shining noble ideals of American democracyquot Takei said amp160quotAnd we have been reduced to this disgrace and inhumanityquotThe Terror Infamy premieres Monday August 12 atamp1609amp160pm ET on AMCClick on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of 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George Takei Reminds Us That AMC's "The Terror: Infamy" Is a Timely Tale

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Jacqueline Cutler

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George Takei Reminds Us That AMC's "The Terror: Infamy" Is a Timely Tale

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