Bryce's Pipe Bomb Survival Guide*

This is a strange thought that I've been mulling over for a while. Before I get into it, I want to recount a conversation I had with a friend that let me realize how differently fans can perceive properties. So, the conversation had to deal with the decision to have Sulu be gay in the new Star Trek movies. George Takei had stated that he was opposed to the idea, on the grounds that it was a disservice to the character, because it would mean that Sulu had been closeted. A friend of mine had suggested that Takei was opposed to the idea because he was still in the mindset of the times (apologies if I didn't summarize their argument perfectly, we were both drinking on a river). My theory was that if you think of Star Trek as an existing universe, the movies take place in the same universe, albeit after being diverted from the original timeline just before the birth of Captain Kirk. If you buy into that, then you're saying that Sulu's sexuality was changed by the differen