#assignment underwater

New De footage y'all!

Back story: Barney's father got a letter from Barney's (De) wife saying Barney had died in Tokyo. The father asks Bill to bring Barney's body back to the states. Bill gets to Tokyo and is told by everyone to stop asking questions and to leave. Then the wife decides to come clean and takes Bill to De.

Full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEIYJgakYmc

Today in the Department of Before They Were Star Trek Stars, George Takei guest stars in "A Matter of Honor," episode 10 of the single season of Assignment: Underwater (original air date November 11, 1960).

There are a couple of caveats here. Firstly, the only copy I could find of this episode was a very lo-res kinescope, but I thought it was interesting enough to make up for the fuzzy images.

Secondly, I wanted to take a minute to talk about depictions of non-Anglo cultures in this series of posts. Sometimes, I'm comfortable just shrugging and saying "Times were different back then" and sometimes I'm not. I've skipped over episodes where the use of yellowface or redface seemed gratuitous to me, or where there aren't any other things going on in the episode that made me feel it was worthy of note. I'm still on the fence about other episodes, where the depiction of BIPOC aren't necessarily negative, but are just kind of ignorant, or reliant on stale storytelling tropes, where you can tell that the White screenwriters didn't really make much of an effort at research, or consultation with people in the culture they're depicting. (NB: I don't think any of this reflects on the actors involved; sometimes you just need to pay your bills and do the best you can with the scripts you get.)

This episode of Assignment: Underwater feels like it might be dipping its toe into that last category. Japanese and Chinese culture are kind of lumped in together, there's some "model minority" stuff going on with the Japanese-American family, and Italian-Americans don't exactly come out smelling like roses. But I thought the episode was interesting enough to make it worthwhile. It's available for free on The Internet Archive, so I encourage anyone who's interested to watch and make up their own minds.

Takei plays Ken Kitigawa, the oldest son of an immigrant family who are friends with the main character, who is in charge of some kind of U.S. Navy underwater rescue/civil defense operation. Ken has gotten involved with an organized crime syndicate, who are sending him to sabotage the boat of one of their rivals. The hero stops him in the nick of time, he agrees to turn state's evidence, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Other Trek Connections:

Takei's gangster boss is played by Stanley Adams, AKA Cyrano Jones in the Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles,"

I keep hearin' you're concerned about my happiness

But all that thought you're givin' me is conscience, I guess

If I were walkin' in your shoes, I wouldn't worry none

While you and your friends are worried about me, I'm havin' lots of fun

Countin' flowers on the wall That don't bother me at all

Playin' solitaire 'til dawn with a deck of 51

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo

Now don't tell me, I've nothin' to do

Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town

As long as I can dream, it's hard to slow this swinger down

So please don't give a thought to me, I'm really doin' fine

You can always find me here, I'm havin' quite a time

Countin' flowers on the wall That don't bother me at all

Playin' solitaire 'til dawn with a deck of 51

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo

Now don't tell me, I've nothin' to do

It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright

Anyway, my eyes are not accustomed to this light

And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete

So, I must go back to my room and make my day complete

Countin' flowers on the wall That don't bother me at all

Playin' solitaire 'til dawn with a deck of 51

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo

Now don't tell me, I've nothin' to do

Don't tell me, I've nothin' to do