Garrett Wang, who is best known for playing the eternally low-ranking Ensign Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, disclosed in the Delta Flyer Podcast that he creates with fellow Voyager alum Robert Duncan McNeill, that back when Voyager was in production in the 1990s, he almost ran over the legendary actor, Harrison Ford.
In recounting this near-disaster, Wang described driving through the Paramount Studios’ parking lot, he recalled speeding around a bend and Harrison Ford appeared out of nowhere, right in front of Wang’s car ‘I’m actually speeding around the parking lot, and I come around this one bend and this guy in a suit walks between two cars, right in front of my car, so I slam on my breaks,’ Wang said.
When he realized who the gentleman in the suit actually was, Wang’s first thought was “Oh my god, I almost killed Han Solo!” I would have been hated by nerds everywhere.”
Thankfully, no one was hurt in this parking lot episode, but think about this for a minute in a geeky nerdy way…had Star Trek’s Ensign Kim actually hit and harmed or killed Star Wars’ Han Solo, the eternal debate between fans of the two franchises could be decidedly more belligerent. As it is, many fans debate on social media which fictional universe is better, Star Trek or Star Wars. That debate is, and should be, ongoing and be both passionate and logical.
This reminds me of a comment made by George Takei (Hikaru Sulu from the original Enterprise) some years ago, where he said, in effect, that Star Trek and Star Wars fans should unite in a grand Star Alliance to fight the real enemy: The Twilight Franchise! I thought that was a hilarious comment, especially as, having seen the first of the Twilight movies, and going “ugh, glittering vampires?”
Regardless, it is a good thing that Ensign Kim did not run over Han Solo and Indiana Jones. The fictional movie world is a better place with Han alive. BTW, have you seen the recent Star Wars movies…?