William Shatner's portrayal of James T. Kirk four decades ago was so good, that a few weeks ago, he made yet another person a fan of the
Original Series: himself.
"I haven't seen myself playing Capt. Kirk in a long, long time," Shatner told the Denver Post, before telling how he recently was stuck in bed after hip surgery and happened to tune into the Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action." Shatner said, "And I watched it now, from my perspective of 40 years later, and I thought, 'You know, that's rather good.' It's a starship captain trying to do the accent, the Noo Yawk accent, trying to play tough, trying to be one of the guys. It's not quite right, but it's what a starship captain would have done — a decent imitation, enough to fool those guys but not the audience."
Watching his own performance from the sixties, Shatner said Kirk was a "good hero," and added, "He made decisions. He was forceful. He was compassionate. He was the instigator. He fought hard and long physically and emotionally. He carried the dilemma of whether to intrude or not to intrude. It was all the classic forms of good Greek playmaking: The hero has the dilemma and resolves the dilemma."
Shatner dismissed any criticisms of the way the show looked, with sets constructed on a small budget, and visual effects that now seem dated. "I think that's what happens in Star Trek," he said. "Your eye goes past all the faults because you're concentrated on the actors and the plot."
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