Demora Sulu


Demora Sulu was a Starfleet ensign serving aboard the   under the command of Captain John Harriman in 2293. The daughter of Hikaru Sulu, she carried on her father's legacy as helmsman of the Enterprise.

In 2293, during the christening ceremony for the Enterprise-B, Demora met one of her father's former commanding officers, James T. Kirk, for the first time since 2281, when she had been a little girl. Kirk expressed surprise at how fast time had gone by and congratulated her on her posting.

Later, Demora participated in a rescue attempt for two El-Aurian transport vessels which had become trapped in a severe gravimetric distortion emanating from an energy ribbon. She was also present when, at the conclusion of this incident, Kirk supposedly died while saving the Enterprise-B from destruction. ()

Appendices

Background information

Identity 
Demora Sulu was played by Jacqueline Kim. The character was the only daughter of any of the main characters from  and the associated films to appear onscreen.

Origins 
Demora's lines in the script for Star Trek Generations were originally written for Hikaru Sulu. ()

In a  draft of the Generations script, the helmsman of the Enterprise-B wasn't labeled with a name for scripted dialogue (in common with all other officers serving under Harriman's command) but was addressed as "Mr. Brooks" once in dialogue.

The writers of Generations considered making the character Pavel Chekov's daughter before settling on the relationship with Sulu. () Hence, in revision pages (dated ) for the third draft of the film's screenplay, the navigator of the Enterprise-B was introduced as "Demora Chekov" by her father, Pavel Chekov. Furthermore, in the fourth draft (dated ), the Enterprise-B navigator was introduced by McCoy (since he, Kirk, and Spock were the only visitors to the ship in that draft) as "Demora Chekov".

In the final draft of the Generations script (initially dated ), the character was again a helmsman and was introduced by Chekov but was now listed as "Demora Sulu", as these details remained from then on. In the same draft of the screenplay, the character was described as "a young, (mid-twenties) attractive, Asian female Ensign named Demora."  This character description was subsequently added to (the only revision in an entire revised page of the screenplay, dated 24 March of that year). The newly added text stated, "She's youthful, enthusiastic, and she clearly has a close friendship with Chekov."

Other changes to the portrayal of Demora Sulu in the final draft screenplay of Generations were in her conversation with Kirk and Chekov. Demora was initially to have thanked Kirk for expressing that the Enterprise wouldn't be the same without a Sulu at the helm and then offered to show Chekov the new inertial guidance system, before she and Chekov walked away from Kirk together.  In the aforementioned revision (the one dated 24 March 1994), she thanked Kirk for his comment, then "beam[ed] a wide smile at Chekov," who remarked that Sulu was surely extremely proud of her (a comment retained in the final version of the film). She replied, "I hope so," then offered to show Chekov the new inertial guidance system and walked away alone, leaving Chekov to remark to Kirk about her youthfulness (another remark which also made the transition to the screen). She was then joined by Chekov.

Portrayal 
Demora Sulu was the second Hollywood role which Jacqueline Kim acquired. "I just auditioned and I was called back... I got an offer for that," she said. () The actress filmed her scenes as Demora Sulu on . An initial two hours were allocated for her make-up to be applied.  Kim felt that a particular poise and serenity which Demora projects was a reflection of the actress' own personality, rather than a deliberate performance decision she made. Kim found her brief stint of playing Demora was a challenge. "It was one of my first featured roles in a film," she continued, "and I was so inexperienced that I was convinced that my make-up and hair people existed to just ruin my concentration. They're supposed to do your make-up and hair right before your close up, and I didn't know that... I thought that they always just showed up whenever I needed to concentrate. So it was very funny." Despite finding it hard to concentrate on Demora's close-ups, Kim enjoyed working on her part with Director David Carson and especially liked playing Demora in the moments when the Enterprise-B was being shaken, saying of the latter, "It was fun." ()

Reception 
In an article entitled "George Takei" which appeared in , Takei talked about Demora Sulu, discussing his take on his character having a daughter. He expressed an interest in finding out how Demora had been conceived by Sulu and an unnamed woman, as well as wanting to learn who her mother was.

Star Trek Generations Director David Carson approved of the Demora Sulu role. He remarked, "I thought having Sulu's daughter on the bridge of the Enterprise-B was a wonderful way of continuing the generations and speaking about mortality [...] To have a child of one of the originals on board the ship actually makes a greater point than producing everybody from the last series." (The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years, p. 316)

Apocrypha 
Demora is central to the plot of the following:
 The  The Captain's Daughter by Peter David (where her mother's name is given as "Susan Ling").
 The PC-based simulation Star Trek: Starship Creator (where her mother is named "Yoshika Sulu").
 The Lost Era novels Serpents Among the Ruins and One Constant Star by David R. George III.
 The short story "Iron and Sacrifice", from the Tales from the Captain's Table anthology, also by David George.

She was also referenced in William Shatner's novel Dark Victory.

In Star Trek Online, the 25th century Starfleet officer Akira Sulu names Demora as his grandmother. According to him, Demora Sulu eventually became captain of the Enterprise-B.

External links 
 
 

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Humans
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) personnel
Starfleet operations personnel