A Matter of Shatner's Perspective

You know Shatner always seemed proud of his role as Kirk. I don't think I've ever said he'd never want to play Kirk again. I think he's said he was happier as Denny Crane or something.
I think its just us fans, fandom and other cast members he doesn't have time for.

 

Yeah. He didn't grow up a Star Trek fan like we did, and on top of that, it's harder to romanticize it when you saw the sausage being made. And he didn't strike up close friendships with a lot of the people at work.

That's just... normal.

 

I think it’s worth remembering that sci-fi was rarely taken seriously when Ford was growing up. A lot of it was cheap shlock (and, yeah, kiddie crap), which I find endearing but probably wasn’t so appealing to an actor trying to carve out a career. And then to have to live in the shadow of the franchise’s unexpectedly huge success ... I could see that being difficult, maybe even a little perplexing. We know Alex Guinness had a difficult relationship with the SW franchise, going so far as to make a small child cry when he made him swear to never watch the movies again.

Ford should be proud he helped bring such public interest and acclaim to science fiction, but I doubt Han Solo is high in his list of his best work.

 

I'm sure that Shatner's exaggerating when he says he "never watched" Star Trek. I think what he means is that it's not something he seeks out to watch for pleasure, which is certainly valid. Lots of actors don't enjoy watching themselves onscreen.

 

He does seem to be going out of his way to say "look, it's a show I did over 50 years ago, I don't remember anything about it other than the same stories I've told you for 5 decades and I don't care anymore. But....if you want to come to Ticonderoga and tell me how awesome I am, it's your money. Also horses."

I used to go to a lot of smaller conventions and it was always a thrill to meet an actor from a show I loved. For me. Not for them. Sometimes the actors would be super appreciative over being remembered (David Hedison), enjoyed talking about the work (Robert Culp) or simply reveled in the attention (Larry Hagman and Jonathan Harris were great fun). Then there were others who acted like they would rather be getting root canal (Robert Vaughn) or just wanted you to buy bootleg merch (Gil Gerard).

After I snapped out of my fandom mindset, I realized these were just regular people and the moment I finished asking my stupid question, I was gone from their minds forever.

Except for Elvira (Cassandra Peterson). She remembered me from a previous con because I kept her company (at the request of a staffer) while her limo was delayed and kept fans from bothering her. She was sweet and funny and thanked me months after the fact.

Eh, I don't miss it. I'm too old to care about them as people. They did a job and moved on and I revisit their work when I feel like it. Actually, I'd probably like Shatner more now that he's a curmudgeon....

 

The actors’ and production crews’ lives went on after TOS was canceled, just like mine did after being laid off several times. I never looked back because I was more concerned with acquiring my next paycheck.

 

He probably watched it in first run on NBC, like almost all actors would, just to see how the episodes were looking "as presented to America." But once and done. He didn't care about reruns; that work had already been QC'd.

And when you're working to learn lines in a new script, the last thing you would ever do is cherish any memory of the previous script. That's once and done, too. If anything, you make a point of forgetting it. Some actors don't even learn the plot, because just memorizing their own lines is all they can handle. I'd be like that.

So I'd say he's being entirely honest about not remembering the episodes, but probably inaccurate in thinking he never even saw most of them. If you're home at 8:30 and your show is on, you give it a look.

 

There are numerous film and television actors who never watch anything that they've done. While I don't think it's true William Shatner has never seen a single Star Trek episode or film; Yes I doubt he goes out of his way to watch it, or if it's on, he stays on it to watch it.

It WAS a job, and one I'm sure he was happy to have at the time. I'm also certain he was satisfied with the compensation he received for doing the Star Trek films. But hell, I'm not going to rake him over the Kohl's <-- FU autocorrect - coals because he's not interested in watching himself, or a genre he's not really interested in personally. Even if it were true he'd never seen a single episode after he'd filmed it, that wouldn't bother me or make me any less a fan of his work. I watched the show because I enjoyed the work he and the other actors did.

What they do with their free time is their business, not mine.

 

Imagining Shatner sitting down to watch Insurrection or Nemesis or Beyond with a big bucket of popcorn.. Then turning it off after about 20minutes

 

I give it 3 minutes.

 

I wouldn't even necessarily go that far. He probably watched it at the time or at least the dailies at the studio. And he may have run into it in his motor home in the early 70's and watched for a bit, but I don't get the impression he watched them unless he had to, say for a book project or something. Actors can be hyper critical of their own work and often they look at it and it's a gut punch. "I thought that came off better." It was mostly likely a great performance but the critical eye of the actor who performed the scene might see it differently.

Sure, he was the heroic lead in a network series. He ate it up. Then it was over. And absolutely the films gave him a great payday and revived his career. He hasn't been out of the public eye since. After ten years of making him suffer, Kirk was finally good to him.

I love Kohl's. Their liberal return policy kept me in new outfits as I lost 130 pounds in 2015. Great store. Could be less expensive, though.

He's gone on record as always enjoying science fiction. He's certainly performed in and written enough of it. But I'm sure he always wanted to be a general actor and not just a "science fiction" actor like so many other Trek veterans wound up doing. At least he never fell into the "Stargate" trap, which seemed to be the franchise for Cast Off Star Trek actors.

100% this. Richard Basehart hated his time on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but I loved his work. Larry Hagman resented being second banana to Barbara Eden for 5 seasons of I Dream of Jeannie, but man he's incredible in it, even though he was throwing tantrums and apparently urinating on the set. As long as they do the job they're paid for, I don't care.

 

And I'd replace Beyond with Into Darkness.

 

Hagman urinated on set? That's disgusting!!! I can understand a meltdown or tantrums but that is taking your dislike too far unless they were refusing him his human rights to visit the lavatory if so then I'm all for showing the tinpot dictators the rules!
JB

 

That was what Barbara Eden put in her bio, which really ticked him off. He did cop to having a lot of psychological issues with the series and his place on it at the time.

He was a totally different person on Dallas, where he was basically in charge and confident in his place on the series.

 

I guess the alcoholism didn't help Hagman's stability at the time.

 

Alcohol makes you do funny things....

 

Darren McGavin hated working on Kolchak: The Night Stalker, so much so that he asked to be released from his contract early, which left several planned episodes unfilmed. Years later he refused to reprise the Kolchak character for The X-Files, though he did end up playing another character instead.

I think that most people end up hating their jobs, regardless of what they are, I certainly hate mine after thirty years.

 

I remember reading somewhere, a few years back, Shatner said he watched some of A Piece of the Action.

 

I seem to recall Mr. Shatner once joking that he only remembers these things by the girl who was in it. Ask him about an episode where he played a love scene or did a lot of flirting, mention the actress and he might remember it.

Or maybe not. The man is 90 years old after all.