Takei's Claims About Shatner

[Takeru]

Kelley and Whitney weren't in the opening credits but both actually were on contract if I remember correctly, they weren't day players. And even if they were they were both intended to play larger roles than the others, that's obvious looking at the early episodes, they are both heavily featured.

Takei was always mediocre, forget TOS for a moment, look at his appearance on Voyager, he wasn't good and it was obvious he could never carry a show.

 

[Warped9]

Takei was always mediocre, forget TOS for a moment, look at his appearance on Voyager, he wasn't good and it was obvious he could never carry a show.

VOY was decades after the semi-regular work of TOS and other stuff he did back in the day. Since then other than the Trek films did he ever really get much work as an actor? Takei was serviceable in the 1960s—enough to get by reasonably when called upon, but then his limited ability got rusty. Now so much of his public identity is tied into bashing the star of a series Takei was only a minor part of. That makes him look really small and pathetic.

Shatner has paid his dues. He worked hard at his craft. He doesn’t gloat about being the one who carried the series and his costars—he gives them their due. He doesn’t air his beefs with someone endlessly in public—he mostly keeps it to himself. I have no idea whats posted on Twitter because I’m not on Twitter and I have zero interest to be, so to me it’s largely bullshit.

Takei’s endless bashing of Shatner doesn’t hurt Shatner in the least, but it emphasizes Takei looking ever petty and pathetic.

 

[USS Firefly]

And in the third year, you can practically feel Nimoy checking out.

Didn't Nimoy had alcohol problems during those years?

 

[Methuselah Flint]

When did Kelley get out of hand?

 

[Commishsleer]

Didn't Nimoy had alcohol problems during those years?

I didn't see that he checked out.
I can't see that Shatner was carrying the whole show despite everyone around him being incompetent or drunk. I think Nimoy and Kelley did good in the 3rd Season which wasn't add bad as everyone says. Is Shatner's justification for stealing lines (if he did) was everyone else was crap so I had to steal their lines and be rude to them?
Yes and Shatner does bear his beliefs endlessly in public on Twitter.

 

[Warped9]

Is Shatner constantly bashing his former coworkers? I would think we would hear about it if he did.

 

[Maurice]

Kelley and Whitney weren't in the opening credits but both actually were on contract if I remember correctly, they weren't day players. And even if they were they were both intended to play larger roles than the others, that's obvious looking at the early episodes, they are both heavily featured.

Takei was always mediocre, forget TOS for a moment, look at his appearance on Voyager, he wasn't good and it was obvious he could never carry a show.

They were, in fact, under contract. Even Takei and Nichols were under contract at one point or another, but not for long.

There's no real evidence for Kelley getting out of hand, albeit Roddenberry included him in "The Letter" chewing out the stars, probably to soften the blow to Shatner and Nimoy and to let Kelley know not to follow their lead.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Admittedly the letter was the only evidence I ever heard.

Shatner and Nimoy were apparently the biggest problems.

 

[trekshark]

Honestly over the years my opinion of Takei has really dropped. He comes off as a bitter, jealous hack. Only non Trek thing i know of him being in without checking imdb is green berets.

 

[Warped9]

Outside of Trek and The Green Berets I’ve seen Takei in Mission: Impossible and The Twilight Zone.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Takei has in fact been in two different TZ's: the original and the 2019 version.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Outside of Trek and The Green Berets I’ve seen Takei in Mission: Impossible and The Twilight Zone.

Right offhand, my Takei sightings included The Six Million Dollar Man, and much later he had a funny cameo on The Big Bang Theory. Two of my favorite all-time series. Apart from that, it was all Star Trek-related to me, because his shot on The Twilight Zone was suppressed for decades.

But IMDB shows at least a couple of jobs every year for life. Apparently actors have to work a certain amount every year to keep their heath insurance, and I'm sure that drove him to keep going after the gigs.

 

[Commishsleer]

Is Shatner constantly bashing his former coworkers? I would think we would hear about it if he did.

No I don't believe he does. He just uses his platform to defend himself.

 

[johnnybear]

Maybe it's his age..?
JB

 

[JonnyQuest037]

his roles outside of ST were pretty meh

Shatner won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for playing Denny Crane on The Practice and Boston Legal, and he's had successful television shows in the 80s, the 90s, and the 2000s, but sure, his post-Star Trek career is "meh."

That's in part because Shatner insisted that that be the case.

No, that's just how television was done in the mid 1960s. Ensembles didn't really become the norm until Hill Street Blues hit in the early '80s. Shatner considered himself the star of Star Trek because he fucking was.

I can't see that Shatner was carrying the whole show despite everyone around him being incompetent or drunk.

Leonard Nimoy was very frank about his alcoholism in Shatner's documentary Mind Meld. He was basically a functional alcoholic. He'd never drink at work, but he became very dependent upon his post-show drink(s) after work was done for the day.

 

[Kirk1980]

To me, one of the more telling thoughts of Shatner's came from his autobiography...to paraphrase:

"I was paid to be the star of the show and I took it seriously. I was always looking for a way to improve the show. And yes, sometimes that meant I probably did suggest lines of theirs get cut because they ruined the flow of the show. They probably did. But what I didn't recognize at the time was that I was hurting them. And for that, I can only apologize."

He also let Nichols call him an ass in his book. Nimoy, too.

My overall read of him has always been...he's a very intense, very weird guy. I find (and he somewhat corroborated this when I got a chance to ask him a couple of questions in his fan club chats. I'm reasonably certain it is him responding, too, since we see video of him in his office at the same time. Could it all be a clever ruse for us dopey fans? Sure. But...) that he sometimes 'plays' William Shatner to what people seem to expect of him. I think it is exceedingly rare that he ever is not 'acting' to a certain degree. Kind of... "Well, people expect WILLIAM SHATNER to act like this, so let's give them something to have fun with."

 

[Neopeius]

No, that's just how television was done in the mid 1960s. Ensembles didn't really become the norm until Hill Street Blues hit in the early '80s. Shatner considered himself the star of Star Trek because he fucking was.

You're right, of course. Ensemble shows were around at the same time as Trek, though. Certainly Mission: Impossible was one. Also The Virginian, Big Valley, and The Monkees.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Technically true, as the billing goes. And he was the stud of TOS if we ignore Doohan.

Not at all difficult.

But TREK grew to have two equal stars....

Audience popularity made Nimoy a bigger part of the series and making them a team on screen helped soothe Shatner a bit and gave the audience what it wanted at the same time. But, as soon as the new producer took over, Nimoy was promptly told what the pecking order was - by the man who conceived the series. Shatner did not come in second. Nor was Nimoy made an equal star. They may have been a team, but William Shatner was the lead. The series revolved around Kirk's decisions. Had Roddenberry said "Shatner and Nimoy are both the stars" fine, but nope.

the second of which was the physically-stronger cerebral pressure-cooker who evidently received far more romantic letters than the top-billed stud.

This is undeniable and part of the reason Shatner felt threatened. He was not gonna be the Guy WIlliams of Star Trek.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

This is undeniable and part of the reason Shatner felt threatened. He was not gonna be the Guy WIlliams of Star Trek.

Shatner has said that fan mail was handled by staff assistants, who even signed the supposed autographs, and he never (more or less) even saw it. And he was not aware of Nimoy being more popular than him. OTOH, there is anecdotal evidence that he was protective of Kirk's line count. He didn't want to gradually slide into supporting status if Spock was trending.

Whichever way that question lands, I have real trouble imagining Spock as the lead, either by overshadowing Kirk or by replacing him. Spock in his right mind is cool and reserved. He raises an eyebrow of disdain when humans emote. His logic drives him to evaluate and judge things, not swing into action. He's a reactive character. Nimoy (in a production memo somewhere) wanted Spock to take initiative and drive the action, but that's not Spock's thing. He provides a partial point of view, logic without emotion, that feeds into Kirk's decisions, but Spock would not be an inspiring leader.

If anything, I think Spock is very hard to write for in large doses, because unless you drive him mad for an episode, he's only ever going to say what logic dictates, and that's going to be dry and even boring.

 

[Metryq]

that's going to be dry and even boring.

"The ears make all the difference!"
—McCoy