George Takei, internet respond to Space Force logo's resemblance to Star Trek emblem

It seems that the U.S. Space Force is going to boldly go where Star Trek has already gone before.

On Friday, Donald Trump unveiled the new logo for his previously announced Space Force, a new space operations service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, which he founded in December 2019. And the internet had a lot of thoughts about its resemblance to another famous space logo — that of Starfleet Command from Star Trek.

George Takei, who played Sulu on the original 1960s TV series and six Star Trek feature films (as well as one episode of Star Trek: Voyager), shared Trump’s tweet announcing the logo with the caption, “Ahem. We are expecting royalties from this…”

Takei shared the tongue-in-cheek tweet, but it does bear mentioning that CBS currently owns the trademark to numerous Star Trek properties, meaning any potential legal action might be at their discretion.

Takei also tweeted a second message, writing, “I feel like Melania must have had a hand in copyi–I mean, designing this,” referring to claims that Melania Trump plagiarized Michelle Obama’s speech while appearing at the 2016 Republican National Convention. He also shared a side-by-side image of the logo with the caption, “There is nothing sacred anymore,” and another image questioning the results of a poll for other logos in the running.

The Star Trek actor was far from the only one to notice the similarities to the two logos, with everyone from CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta to numerous Star Trek fans weighing in on social media. At least, we can perhaps wish Space Force that they live long and prosper.

See below for a sampling of reactions:

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