What William Windom thought of working on "Star Trek"

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Good ol' Commodore Matt Decker.

This won't be a surprise to folks who've read previous interviews he's done on the subject, but:

I was not a fan of Star Trek when I did it and I never got that way...I am a fan of [William] Shatner now, only after he turned funny about five years ago, but I wasn't a fan of anybody involved with the thing! Not the storyline or any part of it...

...It seemed kind of silly, with the planet eater and spaceships. It's like doing a cartoon, so I acted accordingly! It was mildly amusing, but certainly nothing to drive my imagination! The whole thing was a take-off on Moby Dick. I was playing "Captain Ahab in Outer Space" but I didn't think about it that way until years after I did it, when I read it in an article!

...When I did the show Shatner was at war with Nimoy! Shatner was not funny then. Not when I saw him - Shatner was quite business like. I felt it was an unhappy set. I like to clown around, so when I get on a set where actors don-t clown around, I get a little suspicious. That put me off right away.

Excerpted here.

 

[MikeH92467]

I think it's a fairly dispassionate assessment. Unlike Terri Garr, Windom doesn't seem to regard his appearance as a career lowlight, but to his credit, he's not a hypocrite trying to repeatedly milk what he considers a run of the mill role.

With all the actors who seem to use even the most marginal attachments as a gravy train, it's nice to see someone who calls it straight and neither tries to trash the show or build up his own association with it.

 

[gastrof]

Very odd that he went on to play Decker again in the second NEW VOYAGES webisode.

Hmmm....

 

[DarthPipes]

I remember reading that during his commentary track for The Twilight Zone DVD, he referred to television as minor league and didn't have a high opinion of it.

 

[MaxBingman]

Hey, good for him. If people kept asking me about a job I took for week forty years ago, I'd probably give a similar response.

 

[Mallory]

MikeH92467 said:
I think it's a fairly dispassionate assessment. Unlike Terri Garr, Windom doesn't seem to regard his appearance as a career lowlight, but to his credit, he's not a hypocrite trying to repeatedly milk what he considers a run of the mill role.

That's pretty much my opinion as well. Windom has a pretty large body of work, much of it well respected and I wouldn't expect that The Doomsday Machine, one episode of a series decades ago, would leave much of an impression. He does seem to remember it though and not in a terribly bad way.

 

[T'Bonz]

Hey, I like the show. If an actor thought it was just a job, had bad memories, or didn't like it, I see no reason to get upset over that. I'm the fan. They don't have to be.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

MikeH92467 said:
With all the actors who seem to use even the most marginal attachments as a gravy train, it's nice to see someone who calls it straight and neither tries to trash the show or build up his own association with it.

Yeah, its definitely refreshing. It feels like one of the most truthful accounts on the show, instead of something tinted by looking back. This was a time when Shatner was counting Nimoy's lines to make sure he had more (I think it might have been this very episode where Nimoy had to grunt or nod instead of giving a line so Kirk could still beat Spock). It couldn't have been the most pleasent of experiences.

But Doomsday Machine makes for great television and, even in his over the top portrayal, Windom makes Decker an interesting character.

 

[pookha]

actually playing it over the top with still some subtle moments fit the character at that moment in his life.

he had witnessed and gone through something horrible and then it appears was trapped alone with his thoughts for several days.

and then without getting a chance to recover has to face his demon again.
windom has always been a favorite from this episode and my world and welcome to it.

 

[Anthony]

Why am I not "surprised" you'd pick up this news item and run with it?

This isn't news to me. I still like William Windom, and always will. He gave not only Trek a truly memorable performance as Commodore Matt Decker, but has, over his long and distinguished career, had a wide body of work I've enjoyed, and for that I thank him.

 

[pookha]

i appreciated it..
i liked windom and the character both.
he gave a better performance then he remembered , so.
that he didnt totally understand the genre.. so.
that he didnt think it was a happy set , well that isnt news.

 

[Good Will Riker]

I believe him.

William Windom in this recent interview confirms as an "outsider" what Bob Justman, Herb Solow, Majel Roddenberry, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and the late-Jimmy Doohan have been saying for years about what kind of person William Shatner was, and the feud Shatner had with Nimoy.

Those Hollywood types and their egos. All they care about is themselves and making a lot of money.

 

[igrokbok]

Good Will Riker said:
I believe him.

William Windom in this recent interview confirms as an "outsider" what Bob Justman, Herb Solow, Majel Roddenberry, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and the late-Jimmy Doohan have been saying for years about what kind of person William Shatner was, and the feud Shatner had with Nimoy.

Those Hollywood types and their egos. All they care about is themselves and making a lot of money.

Sorry, one guest star's observations from working on the set for 5 days doesn't really confirm anything.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Windom's performance in "The Doomsday Machine" is most of what makes the show really memorable. "Don't you think I know that?!" is classic.

A great while ago Windom mentioned in a "Starlog" interview that he's been asked what he was visualizing while his character stared out at the interior of the Planet Killer just before dying. Windom replied that he was visualizing how happy he'd be to get done with the role and get off of that soundstage.

Anthony said:
Why am I not "surprised" you'd pick up this news item and run with it?

Don't know. Don't care. Peculiar use of quotation marks, there. Next.

 

[Trekwatcher]

This is not the first time Windom has made negative remarks about his time on Star Trek. Again, as I have said before in other contexts, no sense in biting the hand that feeds you. It would be better if he had just been gracious and said something to the effect of, "I'm glad people really liked my performance and still talk about it 40 years later."

 

[number6]

Trekwatcher said:
This is not the first time Windom has made negative remarks about his time on Star Trek. Again, as I have said before in other contexts, no sense in biting the hand that feeds you. It would be better if he had just been gracious and said something to the effect of, "I'm glad people really liked my performance and still talk about it 40 years later."

IIRC he's said that too.

 

[DrTaylor]

This article is pretty old but he restates most of his main points in a new interview in Star Trek magazine.

 

[MikeH92467]

Trekwatcher said:
This is not the first time Windom has made negative remarks about his time on Star Trek. Again, as I have said before in other contexts, no sense in biting the hand that feeds you. It would be better if he had just been gracious and said something to the effect of, "I'm glad people really liked my performance and still talk about it 40 years later."

I don't see anything negative or ungracious about his comments. His comments struck me as honest and straightforward and I don't think he's grinding any particular axe.

For some actors Star Trek was a great experience, for others it was just a job. I don't see anything wrong with Mister Windom describing his appearance as basically just another job.

He's had a lot of roles and I don't see anything offensive about his describing "Doomsday Machine" as less than the highlight of his career, given how many marvelous roles he's played over a long and distinguished career.

I don't see a failure to kiss Star Trek's ass (figuratively speaking) as a major character flaw.

As someone else pointed out, he did appear in New Voyages. If he was ashamed of his connection or trying to live it down, he certainly wouldn't have done that.

 

[Shatinator]

I like TBONZ take on this...we are the fans he doesn't have to be.

'Nuff said.

 

[Good Will Riker]

Wow...this is the opposite of Stephen Collins who never watched a single episode of TOS before he was cast as Willard Decker in ST:TMP, yet every chance he gets in interviews he mentions his time playing Decker and even shares anecdotes about how certain objects reminds him of those phasers he used in the fist Star Trek film, not to mention sharing with guests the Willard Decker doll, and such. He's obviously proud of his time working on a Robert Wise film, and he's a very good sport about it.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.