George Takei will appear with the Minnesota Orchestra as part of a program featuring Star Trek and other space-bound sources.

As reported by StarTribune.com, Takei will replace Leonard Nimoy as guest host for the Minnesota Orchestra on February 1st and 2nd. Nimoy had to bow out due to his filming schedule for Star Trek XI.

Conducted by Sarah Hatsuko Hicks, the program will feature music from Star Trek and Star Wars as well as music from other space-type sources. Excerpts from Gustav Holst's The Planets, including Mars and Jupiter will also be featured.

"Music is an organic part of so many science-fiction films," said Takei. "When you're boldly going where no one has gone before, that also involves the spirit soaring, and music is the vehicle that transports you there."

The concerts will have a visual element as well as Takei's spoken accompaniment. Images from the Mars Exploration Rover and Hubble Space Telescope missions will be projected on a screen located above the orchestra.

To read more about this event, head to the article located here.

In other Takei news, Trekweb.com reported on the latest issue of Starburst Magazine which featured an extensive interview with Takei. He spoke about the fact that William Shatner would not be appearing in Star Trek XI. "Kirk's death was visibly seen on film," he said. "Science fiction is wonderful, but to be credible, there has to be some verities. With Spock, he's got a lot of special Science fiction things. We did one movie, The Wrath of Khan - where Spock dies - but we followed it up with a movie titled The Search for Spock. You can't finish a movie like that saying "Well, we didn't find him !" So Spock is a very special character, Kirk is a humanoid and Bill Shatner has to accept that."

To read more, head to the article located here.

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