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Walter Koenig on Shat's Raw Nerve

^ Agreed. That was an incredible interview last night. Very intense! Shatner did seem truly sorry for what others perceived as insult. The conversation about Takei's wedding was interesting. Walter seemed like he felt George's invitation was more of a show than anything else. Kudos to both the Shat AND Walter for a fascinating yet difficult interview.
 
Yeoman Randi said:
^ Agreed. That was an incredible interview last night. Very intense! Shatner did seem truly sorry for what others perceived as insult. The conversation about Takei's wedding was interesting. Walter seemed like he felt George's invitation was more of a show than anything else. Kudos to both the Shat AND Walter for a fascinating yet difficult interview.
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Actually I took his reaction at first to be that he felt Shatner was ridiculing or demeaning them all somehow, as if all the three of them have anymore is their silly little Star Trek friendship. The comment about it all being a "show" seemed like more of a deflection to me.

But while there's no doubt Shatner can be a obnoxious blowhard, it also seemed pretty clear to me that Walter is more than a tad over-sensitive. To be in a business like that, you probably need to have a much thicker skin than he has.
 
Now it’s time for me to do what Trekkies do best - nitpick. :) Shatner made reference to the “first book he wrote, 30 years ago” several times. Bill was actually referring to Star Trek Memories, published in 1993. Not exactly 30 years, Bill. Also, the first time the book was mentioned, the image that appeared onscreen was the cover of Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which is an entirely different book that obviously came out in 1989. So the Raw Nerve crew got it wrong all the way around.

Still a fun interview, though.
 
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I got the impression he meant it was written for the 30th anniversary of Star Trek. Which is not accurate, either, but closer.
 
No, he meant 30 years ago. During the closing credits, Koenig asked him if he had the interview tapes and Bill replied, “No, it was 30 years ago.” I know Shat is an insanely busy man (and we wouldn’t have it any other way!), but geez, you’d think he’d remember when his first NYT Bestseller was released (just over 17 years ago)!
 
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Shatner_Fan said:
you’d think he’d remember when his first NYT Bestseller was released (just over 17 years ago)!
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When you reach Shatner's age, we'll see if you are so precise about "30 years ago" and "17 years ago".

Shatner was researching that first interview book for over a year before he began working on the manuscript. The date of publication is a minor blip in period of time he was intensely writing. Shatner was turning up at conventions with a dictaphone, listening in on fans' discussions, sometimes in disguise, pretending to be another fan. Carrying a dictaphone is also how he wrote his novels, too, narrating the action sequences onto tapes, which his secretary then typed up so he could polish the manuscript and send off to Ron Goulart ("TekWar" series) or the Reeves-Stevens (Kirk novels) or Chris Kreski ("ST Memories") who further enhanced the works.

So "30 years ago" (ie. 1981) would be the commencement of Shatner's writing life, and his written contributions to "TJ Hooker" and his reassociation with the ST phenomenon. "TekWar" was first published in 1989. The order of events, of which books pre-dated others, would perhaps be a blur.
 
I had eight Raw Nerve episodes waiting on my DVR but I took the time to see this one last night... very interesting. I was also most struck by Shatner's apology. Koenig's pragmatic view of his life and work was refreshing.

...and I didn't know Koenig was bald either. It was a bit jarring at first. I saw Koenig at a convention a couple weeks ago and he didn't look like that. Hair aside, he looks a good deal older in person.
 
Shatner is a pretty good interviewer. I've seen Raw Nerve a few times and he does pretty well. It's not the normal junk, anyway.

Star Trek Memories was 17 years ago? Yikes...I remember getting it at a B. Dalton.
 
Meh. Shatner didn't have to apologize. It's an ego-driven business and an ego-driven discipline. Koenig and the rest should have developed a thicker skin, and I'm sick to death listening to them air their dirty laundry already. It was a TV show - a job.

Something tells me, despite how the man may have acted off-camera at work, that many people would have the opposite to say about Mr. Shatner and the giving he has done through his charity horse programs.
 
I liked how Shatner was digging for Koenig to say something not-so-nice about Takei's wedding, but Koenig wouldn't throw his friend under a bus even though he clearly had strong feelings about it. Good moment.

Did anyone see the Levar Burton show that aired before it? Levar was just as intense as Shatner! Fun.
 
OphaClyde said:
Meh. Shatner didn't have to apologize. It's an ego-driven business and an ego-driven discipline. Koenig and the rest should have developed a thicker skin, and I'm sick to death listening to them air their dirty laundry already. It was a TV show - a job.

Something tells me, despite how the man may have acted off-camera at work, that many people would have the opposite to say about Mr. Shatner and the giving he has done through his charity horse programs.
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Eddie Paskey and Billy Blackburn, who haven't had their memories altered by forty years of fans blowing sunshine up their asses, unashamedly sing Shatner's praises for how he did what he could to keep morale up during those backbreaking 12+ hour workdays. For that matter, the comments from the others at the time were also highly complimentary of Shatner, sometimes even admiring.
 
Didn't Marshak and Culbreath do a Shatner bio some 30 years ago as a TMP tie-in? I haven't seen the RAW NERVE yet, but could he have been referring to that book?
 
Yeah, I was going to watch this, as well as the one with LeVar Burton and I wasn't able to. When I saw the commercials for this and I saw Koenig with a bald head I didn't believe my eyes that that was him. Little did I know that he has been bald for YEARS.
 
Potemkin_Prod said:
Didn't Marshak and Culbreath do a Shatner bio some 30 years ago as a TMP tie-in? I haven't seen the RAW NERVE yet, but could he have been referring to that book?
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As I said, "30 years ago" would be the commencement of Shatner's writing life. He asked Koenig in the clip why he didn't return to a different career path when his acting career stymied. Shatner really jumped into writing and directing in the 1980s. Marshak & Culbreath do credit Shatner as a co-creator of their "Where No Man..." biography, but he didn't really do any writing for it, just his interview responses.
 
Captain Robert April said:
Eddie Paskey and Billy Blackburn, who haven't had their memories altered by forty years of fans blowing sunshine up their asses, unashamedly sing Shatner's praises for how he did what he could to keep morale up during those backbreaking 12+ hour workdays. For that matter, the comments from the others at the time were also highly complimentary of Shatner, sometimes even admiring.
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That's interesting. I've often wondered if perhaps all the bile and bitterness expressed by some of Shatner's former Trek cast members might not really be evidence of high school-level immaturity, but rather just a case of giving the audience what it wants, particularly when it comes to convention appearances and selling books.

In any case, I would love to be able to read the memoirs of Paskey and Blackburn!
 
Of course, Shatner would not have felt any sense of competition for screen time with Paskey or Blackburn, so he may have treated them differently. We weren't there, so we'll never know how it really was for the main cast.
 
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