It still makes me sad that Shatner and Nimoy were estranged when Nimoy died?
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I heard it was Shatner stealing lines from Doohan not Nimoy.
But maybe that was another episode.
And Windom is the only one I believe. Shatner and Nimoy are equally 'bad'. Takei, Doohan and all other guest stars, visitors are just liars and jealous of Shatner.
Probably Nimoy and Shatner aren't all that much different, fighting for their roles, careers. Perhaps Nimoy just had less roles than Shatner and could remember Day Players names. Perhaps Nimoy was as weary of the fan adulation as Shatner but hid it better. Not making fun of us. Its you and me Shatner looks down on as well as his former cast members. He doesn't have 'cool' fans.
You know but the man appears at conventions and openings and Star Trek probably wouldn't be there without him. I know some people say they should have stuck with Pike or XON should have been used in the movies instead of Spock. You've got to be kidding. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelly made Star Trek. Different actors. It wouldn't have worked. If Shatner and Nimoy rudely pushed their own agendas it appeared to have worked, OK sometimes both Kirk and Spock pulled answers out of thin air which should have been solved by someone else but you know drama, heroes.
Actually remember that when Star Trek Phase II was proposed and in pre-production; The only original cast member who said no to it was Leonard Nimoy; so the Vulcan character of "Xon" was created as a replacement, and was even going to be used in ST: TMP, as Nimoy originally turned the offer to appear as Spock in that film down too.I heard it was Shatner stealing lines from Doohan not Nimoy.
But maybe that was another episode.
And Windom is the only one I believe. Shatner and Nimoy are equally 'bad'. Takei, Doohan and all other guest stars, visitors are just liars and jealous of Shatner.
Probably Nimoy and Shatner aren't all that much different, fighting for their roles, careers. Perhaps Nimoy just had less roles than Shatner and could remember Day Players names. Perhaps Nimoy was as weary of the fan adulation as Shatner but hid it better. Not making fun of us. Its you and me Shatner looks down on as well as his former cast members. He doesn't have 'cool' fans.
You know but the man appears at conventions and openings and Star Trek probably wouldn't be there without him. I know some people say they should have stuck with Pike or XON should have been used in the movies instead of Spock. You've got to be kidding. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelly made Star Trek. Different actors. It wouldn't have worked. If Shatner and Nimoy rudely pushed their own agendas it appeared to have worked, OK sometimes both Kirk and Spock pulled answers out of thin air which should have been solved by someone else but you know drama, heroes.
William Shatner's career at the time wasn't doing so well as he was taking anything he could get including narrating and appearing in Scholastic documentary films, so I'm pretty sure he just was saying yes because it was a big paycheck compared to what he had been getting for the last few years.
My point? I'd say both of them were sick of Star Trek and wanted to put it behind them, because they didn't want to be typecast into just one type of character/role. Also remember that it was Leonard Nimoy's request to be killed off in 'Star Trek Ii: The Wrath of Khan", because he really didn't want to continue playing Spock at the time.
Yes a combination of a big paycheck and an offer to direct the film got "Star Trek III: The search for Spock" green lit, and after that I think both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had accepted and started to embrace Star Trek fandom a little more; and realize that the money allowed them to be able to launch their own projects and branch out into other things if they wished.
But yeah to reiterate: After the original series was canceled in 1969, neither one of them we're all that enamored of Star Trek fandom, or the cult status Star Trek and their two characters had attained one Star Trek became a big hit in syndication. It was a couple of decades before they both accepted what Star Trek and their characters meant to a lot of people; and embraced and then began to take advantage of that aspect a little more.
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Let's not forget Nimoy was in conflict with Paramount over uncompensated use of his likeness during the time of the attempted TV reunion, and only agreed to do TMP when Wise reportedly said "we have to have Spock" and Paramount cut a fat check to Nimoy to resolve the matter.
Nimoy didn't specifically request that Spock be killed off. He simply told Harve Bennett that we wanted Spock to have an interesting, substantial storyline in the movie, because he was unhappy with how TMP turned out. Bennett hooked Nimoy when he asked, "How'd you like to have a great death scene?" That interested Nimoy enough that he was willing to talk about what his role in the movie might be.
IIRC, Nimoy said in Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories book that the matter was resolved
EDIT: I was misremembering the details of this story. I just double-checked my copy of Shatner's Movie Memories book, and it was Paramount executive Jeffrey Katzenberg that Nimoy met with about his business concerns, not Robert Wise. Katzenberg flew to New York to see Nimoy in the play Equus, Nimoy told him all about his history with ST and the bad blood between him, the studio, and Roddenberry at that point, and Paramount settled the lawsuit within a few days. Nimoy says that he got the settlement check at 5 o'clock on Friday evening, and the current script for TMP arrived at 6. At 7 he got a call from Paramount asking if they could have a meeting the next morning. (Nimoy tells the story on pgs. 67-69 of the hardcover).
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Was there a story that Majel deliberately miscast the XON character so that everyone decided that they really needed Nimoy back as Spock. I'm not sure about whether that story relates to Phase II or TMP though.
I'd be surprised if Majel had that kind of power, unless she was acting as GR's stalking horse. And I never heard of her caring one way or the other about Nimoy.
But I can imagine the Roddenberries trying to force Paramount to pony up and get Nimoy back. That seems plausible.
The version I've heard was that Majel Barrett really wanted to preserve her character Christine Chapel's connection with the resident Vulcan on board the Enterprise for the potential Phase II series, so she was pushing for one particular actor as Xon who she could play off of in scenes. According to David Gautreaux, he was an older actor and he was pretty horrible.
This version sounds plausible to me, considering that Barrett persuaded GR to add her back on to ST as a new character in a blonde wig to "fool" NBC. I can't see her being so magnanimous or crafty as to deliberately push for a bad actor as Xon so that people decided they needed Nimoy back as Spock after all. I can see her working desperately behind the scenes to make sure that Nurse/Dr. Chapel still had something to do on the new show, however.
Well Bill started using the situation as part of his convention Q&A. It was quite sad, because they were truly close, at least during the 1980's and 90s for sure. In terms of The Captains thing, I don't believe it was even a clip which the team on that show filmed. I believe it was simply stock footage from either an interview or a previous convention appearance. As Bill said, he figured his NO was a joke, since it was basically nothing, and frankly other projects used Nimoy clips at will.
I do recall thinking it was odd that Nimoy appearance alone during 2011 cons, but he was doing a "farewell." I myself had inklings of a rift because they pretty much did nothing together for several years, and that included personal stuff. When Pierce Morgan interviewed him in 2014, he said "we no longer have that kind of relationship." That was a year before he died, and actually wasn't a big shock to me at the time. So when the funeral thing came about, again, I was not surprised as some of us suspected there was some type of issue between them. For all I know that is why Nimoy quit doing conventions (to avoid Bill).
In an interview a few years ago, Shatner was asked if he had anything of Leonard's in his office. He said no not really, only a photo of the two of them laughing. Said the laughter still echoes through the room, and that's all he has of him. I found that incredibly, truly sad. As Adam and Bill mention in that Love of Spock doc, neither could really understand why Nimoy shut Shatner out. It's just a shame. As a long-time fan, I felt not having both of them onscreen during the newer films was a massive missed opportunity. To hell with the canon, it's Kirk AND Spock, one without the other was just never right.
People are people and shut other people out every day! Sometimes there's no reason, other times it's because of a long time bias between them and then there's a new argument which ends the relationship for all time!
JB
JB
It may sound odd, but in terms of behind the scenes stuff I rather like the friction between the stars and crew. The shitstorm that went on daily in the early TNG seasons or some of the awful stuff that went on between Mulgrew and Ryan in Voyager for example. For the people concerned, especially concerning long on/off friendships like the one between Shatner and Nimoy, of course it's sad, but as a fan it's quite compelling. Maybe I'm just a big gossip.
I fall out with one of my friends for two years at a time. It's a running joke with us now. Even when we hated each other, we loved each other loads. Maybe Nimoy and Shatner were similar.
What happened early on in TNG?
I know Stewart was the British boy, and there may have been a bit of opinion at the beginning. And I know he made an off-hand (racist?) comment that upset Dorn and Le Var Burton. Crosby was also fed up with her character. Was McFadden given the push? Anything else?
Less the cast and more Roddenberry’s lawyer making life into Hell behind the scenes for the writers/staff.
I've never heard about this. What's the story there?
I can't remember where I heard it. But I'm sure I heard Stewart said something - probably unintentionally offensive - and Dorn and/or LeVar Burton pulled him up on it. I think it was very early on. I think it was a comment or something he said. I would imagine he was incredibly apologetic and it is now ancient history. If someone does have a better account or source, please do tell.
Michael Dorn initially thought Marina Sirtis was a stuck-up piece of Euro-trash. I believe he said she invited the cast over for a dinner one night and after seeing multiple sides of her, warmed up to being more friendly toward her.
Even Adam, Leonard's son, has no idea why Shatner was shut out? Well I guess that answers why Bill never just asked Adam.
Roberto Orci, writer on the first 2 Kelvin movies, seen in the Trekmovie comments here implies that he knows why Leonard shut out Bill (just search for 'boborci' at https://trekmovie.com/2016/03/25/review-leonard-my-fifty-year-friendship-with-a-remarkable-man/ , he outright says it's not the "documentary footage" thing Bill theorized), but then declines to elaborate when asked by other fans in the comments, saying "It's not his place". I find it very odd that Bob Orci, of all people, would know why Leonard turned on Bill but Leonard's own son Adam doesn't.
I've seen Shatner multiple times and I just never got that impression he looked down on the fans. Obviously I don't know him in person and I'm not going to deny that his castmembers' grudges against him may have a legitimate origin (although I might disagree on whether the extent it has been taken is legitimate), but I just didn't get any sort of condescending air from Shatner in any of his appearances I've been at. (And believe me, when I feel condescending air, no question, I know).
He months ago took part in "virtual" conventions via webcam from his home during the pandemic (one of which I also attended). The man's 89, he doesn't need to do that if he doesn't want to. I think this idea that he looks down on others may be exaggerated, and not really fair to Shatner.
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And in just 9 days the man is 90 years old. I have a feeling at that age he just doesn't want to put up with any faux bullshit from anyone anymore. He just doesn't want to waste the time on it any longer, probably because he knows he doesn't have a lot of time left.
I'm amazed he can still have the energy to do stuff for Ancient Aliens; but he's going to do what keeps him going and what he enjoys - and at this point all I have to say is more power to him.
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