# Did Mr. Sulu ever have a romantic relationship in any of the Star Trek shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214 "2006-04-18T21:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/1 "2006-04-18T21:02:57Z")
Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/2 "2006-04-18T21:05:04Z")
Other than **Sulu:** “I’ll save you, fair maiden.” **Uhura:** “Sorry, neither.” I don’t think so. The books, yes. The TV shows, no. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/3 "2006-04-18T21:06:37Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just curious. Nope. Well, one is IMPLIED in the first next generation movie, since his daughter appears during the prologue; and of course he groped Uhura in “The Naked Time.” But not apart from that. (Counting seconds until the first gay joke.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/4 "2006-04-18T21:06:45Z")
He also had the hots for Uhura in _Mirror. Mirror._ Just got Uhura’s joke 30 years late. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/5 "2006-04-18T21:09:54Z")
No, TOS was too KSM-centric to give the extras much play. Note how much that changed when we got to the ensemble shows to follow… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/6 "2006-04-18T21:18:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > He also had the hots for Uhura in _Mirror. Mirror._. The subtlest of all the evil opposite cues in the entire history of the mirror universe, Sulu lusting after a woman. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/7 "2006-04-18T21:24:46Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > The subtlest of all the evil opposite cues in the entire history of the mirror universe, Sulu lusting after a woman. Oooooh. ^ :dubious: ^ ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/8 "2006-04-18T21:53:15Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > No, TOS was too KSM-centric to give the extras much play. Note how much that changed when we got to the ensemble shows to follow… KSM? Kirk, Spock, McCoy? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/9 "2006-04-18T23:07:36Z")
Wasn’t there a mention of a great great granddaughter in ST4? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/10 "2006-04-18T23:16:40Z")
He has a daughter in Next Generation, so presumably he found a girl somewhere along the line. As far as I know, Sulu’s wife/girlfriend/one-night-stand/whoever has never been seen, or even spoken about. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/11 "2006-04-18T23:26:16Z")
I don’t think you can necessarily assume that a guy had to Find Himself a Good Woman to have had children in the 23rd Century. Heck, that’s not even true today, in the 21st. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/12 "2006-04-18T23:38:01Z")
Well, according to the Sulu bio on [Startrek.com](http://Startrek.com), he was married. No mention of who that spouse may be though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/13 "2006-04-18T23:44:52Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > I don’t think you can necessarily assume that a guy had to Find Himself a Good Woman to have had children in the 23rd Century. Heck, that’s not even true today, in the 21st. A **Bad** Woman will serve just as well! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/14 "2006-04-19T00:02:46Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Wasn’t there a mention of a great great granddaughter in ST4? No. You’re thinking of a scene written, cast, but never filmed. Sulu was to have seen a small boy whom he recognized from photographs (or holophotos, whatever) as his great-great… grandfather. Come time to shoot the scene, the small boy cast in the role totally dried up and would not perform his lines. No amount of coaxing from Takei and director Nimoy could get the child to play the scene. Finally, Nimoy called it off and the scene was never restaged. Takei recalls that as the cast and crew were dispersing, he chanced upon the boy’s mother yelling at/shaking the child for freezing up, and he intervened and asked her to stop, etc. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/15 "2006-04-19T02:49:59Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > No, TOS was too KSM-centric to give the extras much play. Note how much that changed when we got to the ensemble shows to follow… Not to mention that, way back in the 60’s, it would have been most unusual for an Asian male to be cast in any sort of romantic role. Heck, it’s still a rare thing nowadays, 40 years later. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/16 "2006-04-19T02:51:01Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > KSM? Kirk, Spock, McCoy? Y.E.S. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/17 "2006-04-19T13:19:02Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > KSM? Kirk, Spock, McCoy? Okay, now I feel really effing old. And, also, to be honest and fair, with the exception of Kirk and his ladies, almost none of the other characters in TOS had noticeable relationships. Straight actors or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/18 "2006-04-19T13:47:09Z")
Wasn’t that Sulu making out with a woman crewmember (who was dressed up as a princess) down on the vacation planet? You know, the planet where McCoy sees Alice and the White Rabbit. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/19 "2006-04-19T14:11:41Z")
> [@Eleanor of Aquitaine](#): > > Wasn’t that Sulu making out with a woman crewmember (who was dressed up as a princess) down on the vacation planet? You know, the planet where McCoy sees Alice and the White Rabbit. You mean the episide _Shore Leave_? Yeoman Barrows was the one who was dressed up as a princess, and it was McCoy who developed a romance with her. (No actual making out.) Sulu’s role was to discover an ancient pistol and to be attacked by a Samurai. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214/20 "2006-04-19T14:20:11Z")
> [@Eleanor of Aquitaine](#): > > Wasn’t that Sulu making out with a woman crewmember (who was dressed up as a princess) down on the vacation planet? You know, the planet where McCoy sees Alice and the White Rabbit. That was McCoy. Who got run through with a lance for his trouble, then showed up later all better with a couple of outer-space playboy bunnies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mr-sulu-ever-have-a-romantic-relationship-in-any-of-the-star-trek-shows/353214.md?page=2)