 When the animated Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1973, stations  in Southern California ran a different first episode than that seen  in the rest of the country. Actor George Takei (Sulu) was running  for a local political office and area stations were afraid that  running an episode in which Sulu appeared would require them to give  "equal" air time to Takeis opponents under the "fairness" doctrine  then enforced by the FCC. Instead, they ran an episode in which Sulu  did not appear.