Fun Trailer for ‘Beam Me Up, Sulu’ Doc About George Takei’s Fan Film
by Alex Billington
June 9, 2025
Source: YouTube
“Star Trek meant something to them.” Highway Child has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Beam Me Up, Sulu, a fascinating true story doc ready for release this year. It’s premiering at the 2025 Raindance Film Festival coming up this month in London, hence why the trailer is out. Here is their intro: “In 1985, student Stan Woo, with limited budget and resources, embarked on a mission to create a fan film based on Star Trek. A long-time admirer of the character Lieutenant Sulu, played by George Takei, Stan took the audacious step of approaching the actor to appear in his film. To his surprise, Takei accepted. Spanning 36 years, this fascinating documentary tells the story of the resulting production – Yorktown: A Time to Heal.” Finally the original fan film has been found all these years later and will be revealed! “With contributions from Yorktown’s cast and crew, Eugene Roddenberry, Garrett Wang (Star Trek: Voyager), and of course the one & only George Takei himself, Beam Me Up Sulu is both a fascinating story of youthful creativity and a document of the immense changes positive representation can inspire.” Yep this film sounds like it is going to pure joy to watch – and very much an uplifting story to tell. Check out the footage below.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Gregory & Schneider’s doc Beam Me Up, Sulu, from YouTube:
In 1985, actor George Takei decided to join a group of dedicated Star Trek fans to create a student film deep in the California forest—only for the footage to mysteriously vanish. Nearly 40 years later, Beam Me Up, Sulu unearths this forgotten moment, revealing not just a piece of fan history but a gateway into a broader story of representation, resilience, and the ongoing fight for inclusion in media and society. Beam Me Up, Sulu is a doc film co-directed by filmmakers Timour Gregory & Sasha Schneider, both making their feature directorial debut with this project. Produced by Sasha Schneider, Timour Gregory, Ashu Rai, Matthew Drake, Robert J. Sawyer. Executive produced by Eugene Roddenberry Jr. This is premiering soon at the 2025 Raindance Film Festival this month. Highway Child will then debut the Beam Me Up, Sulu doc in select US theaters + on VOD later on in 2025. Stay tuned for updates + release date. How does that look?