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William Shatner is ready to return to Star Trek

My big hope is that Shatner would come back and help create new dialog for the Animated Series(along with Takei, Koenig and Nichols) Expand the episodes to an hour in length. Actors of today could play new guest starring roles to help diversify the voice pool. Brand new animation or possibly make them live action episodes if that is possible. Take the computer games like 25 anniversary edition, Judgement Rites and the unreleased Secret of Vulcan Fury and make new animated or live action episodes out of those as well. That should be enough episodes to create the final two years of the original five year mission. CBS All Access should be all over this. This new version of The Animated Series would get me to buy into CBS All Access.
 
Too bad there's no more Star Trek to return to.

Yes. The whole topic of Shatner returning as Kirk is pretty much moot, because the film franchise has been re-imagined. The title Star Trek and its character names now stand for completely different things than what I grew up with. JJ-Trek is Star Trek in name only. JJ-Kirk is not Original Kirk.

What's striking to me is that I've seen the new Star Wars film, no spoilers, and it was good. It was very good. How did that happen?

I mean, Star Trek is my founding personal mythology, my cultural touchstone, I've always eaten it up with a spoon, but I'll never sit through Into Darkness again. Yet Star Wars VII was right on. That's not fair.
 
But, in the real world, Shatner's agreement with killing the character was, IMO, motivated by an egotistical desire to control the characters fate.

I don't think Shatner had a choice, they were going to kill Kirk without his "agreement" or not. He really didn't have any say in the matter. If he refused to film the scenes, he would have been killed "off screen" which probably would have been better than the stupid way that they did kill him off.

But two Kirks in one universe? That would be awkward, and I wouldn't want to have Shatner stealing screen time from Pine...

Any more awkward than having two Spocks in one universe?
 
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Shatner is probably eyeing up a role in the series. Maybe as Admiral Kirk who gets to launch the U.S.S Not The Enterprise But Just As Good We Promise.
 
[QUOTE="MarsWeeps, post: 11461981, member: 29406"
Any more awkward than having two Spocks in one universe?[/QUOTE]

Prime Spock's appearance was essentially a cameo. He wasn't on for more than ten minutes of screen time at the very most (please correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the way I remember it). Somehow I doubt Shatner would be happy unless he got the center stage and first billing. I may be wrong and I hope I am, but judging by the number of stories about his ego, I doubt it. If he'd be willing to settle for a cameo appearance, I'd be happy.
 
^Actually, there was the abortive Harve Bennett idea for Star Trek VI to be prequel with young Kirk, Spock, et. al at the Academy, which was tossed in favor of The Undiscovered Country.
William Shatner's "Collision World" book is set at the Academy and how he met Spock. I thought it was well written and that I wished there had been more.
 
No. I have fond memories of TOS but have no desire to hang onto it. The franchise has moved on. I will never forget them and will continue to read the TOS novels as they come out but as far as the movies and TV shows...I've moved forward. I admit I've never had a nostalgic personalty and tend to not look back. The Nutrek people are fine (I especially like Urban as McCoy) and I look forward to their future projects.
 
I'd like to see Q bring Kirk back one last time and give him an opportunity to go out in style, righting some wrong in his life, not die falling from a bridge. Never did care for that.
 
What's striking to me is that I've seen the new Star Wars film, no spoilers, and it was good. It was very good. How did that happen?

I mean, Star Trek is my founding personal mythology, my cultural touchstone, I've always eaten it up with a spoon, but I'll never sit through Into Darkness again. Yet Star Wars VII was right on. That's not fair.

It happened because JJ copied a New Hope's storyline and redid it. I wasn't that impressed with the new star wars at all. It was meh okay. Surprised so many people love it actually. :shrug:

But I love JJ's Trek for the most part, even ID. In fact I'd rather watch ID with all it's story issues than watch the new star wars film.
 
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What's striking to me is that I've seen the new Star Wars film, no spoilers, and it was good. It was very good. How did that happen?

I mean, Star Trek is my founding personal mythology, my cultural touchstone, I've always eaten it up with a spoon, but I'll never sit through Into Darkness again. Yet Star Wars VII was right on. That's not fair.

I reach, brother, I reach. Well, I disagree about the quality of Star Wars VII. I give it a B- or a C. Still, it was Star Wars, not some bloody re-imagining. I think that's the key. It would have been quite possible to take JJ Abrams and have him direct a continuation movie set in the Star Trek universe and bound a bit more my the established Star Trek rules and still make an action packed summer blockbuster. They didn't need to reboot the franchise, excuse me, set it in an alternate universe. As we've seen with TNG, DS9, heck, even VOY and ENT you don't need the original crew to have good Star Trek.

That's how I think Star Wars: The Force Awakens happened. Abrams did not reinvent the wheel. He picked up where Lucas left off.

As for Shatner returning... why can't we ever get the original actors to return and play new characters? Yes, Kirk's dead. Yes, it's silly to have Chekov be this old. They can play main characters, guest star as admirals or even be the villain. They don't have to play the same characters to appeal to the fan base.
 
As for Shatner returning... why can't we ever get the original actors to return and play new characters? Yes, Kirk's dead. Yes, it's silly to have Chekov be this old. They can play main characters, guest star as admirals or even be the villain. They don't have to play the same characters to appeal to the fan base.

I suspect the problem here would be that Shatner wants to return as James T. Kirk and nobody else...
 
Oh no, I sure hope not. Pine's made the character his own in the new movies, having Shatner reappear would only mess things up. A cameo would be okay, say, a voice from the future trying to make sure the young Kirk avoids making a mistake the old Kirk made at some point in his career. But two Kirks in one universe? That would be awkward, and I wouldn't want to have Shatner stealing screen time from Pine...

If Shatner steals screen time from Pine, it means Pine is not charismatic enough to hold his own. That is the risk of standing next to a legend and his equally legendary character.
 
If Shatner steals screen time from Pine, it means Pine is not charismatic enough to hold his own. That is the risk of standing next to a legend and his equally legendary character.
That may well be so, I suppose. I do know that I'm not really interested in a battle of egos between two Kirks...
 
It's the risk of trying to work with a shameless ham who used to get his way because the show couldn't go on without him.

The Shat's used to being the 800-pound gorilla on a Star Trek set. He would not find working in the new world of Star Trek nearly so easy.
 
As bad as JJ-Trek is, Pine is Kirk in that universe, Shatner is not, and we just have to deal with it. Nimoy's ill-considered appearances brought those movies to a stop, and Shatner would fare no better at this point.

Generations was the last chance to bring Shatner back into an ongoing part of the franchise, and they blew it big time.
 
But, in the real world, Shatner's agreement with killing the character was, IMO, motivated by an egotistical desire to control the characters fate. If he couldn't continue as Kirk then he was selfishly happy to make sure Kirk couldn't go on without him.
Huh?:wtf:

Was it even in the cards for someone else to play Kirk back then? The Original Series was put to bed with Star Trek VI. I never heard any talk about bringing Kirk or anyone else from TOS back to be played by different actors. Everyone seemed very confident that the TOS era was done and it was all about looking to the TNG era and beyond. Obviously that wasn't the case since they've gone back to TOS but I'm not aware of any plans for someone else to play Kirk other than Shatner back then.

We have a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to imply that Kirk would be recast. I meant to imply I would have rather he did insist Kirk be recast other than be a willing part of the characters demise. I dislike his decision to be a part of killing the legend.

^Actually, there was the abortive Harve Bennett idea for Star Trek VI to be prequel with young Kirk, Spock, et. al at the Academy, which was tossed in favor of The Undiscovered Country.

So that's where all the talk of a Starfleet Academy series over the years came from! Thank you.

I don't think Shatner had a choice, they were going to kill Kirk without his "agreement" or not. He really didn't have any say in the matter. If he refused to film the scenes, he would have been killed "off screen" which probably would have been better than the stupid way that they did kill him off.

:wtf: Berman said that...? Is it on the web somewhere?

Generations was about (here comes that dammed word again) bridging TOS movie era to TNG movie era. They needed Shatner/Kirk to do it 'right'.

All Shatner had to do was say, No, I'm not killing Kirk, and it would have been over unless they were willing to recast him, which I doubt they would have done at that time. But he didn't, he made himself part of the crime by agreeing.
 
I'd like to see Q bring Kirk back one last time and give him an opportunity to go out in style, righting some wrong in his life, not die falling from a bridge. Never did care for that.

Why would Q give a crap about Kirk?

I suspect the problem here would be that Shatner wants to return as James T. Kirk and nobody else...

Exactly. There's no way he would ever come back as any other character other than Kirk.

If Shatner steals screen time from Pine, it means Pine is not charismatic enough to hold his own. That is the risk of standing next to a legend and his equally legendary character.

Or...just wait...maybe Pine would be the one that upstages Shatner.

It's the risk of trying to work with a shameless ham who used to get his way because the show couldn't go on without him.

The Shat's used to being the 800-pound gorilla on a Star Trek set. He would not find working in the new world of Star Trek nearly so easy.

Yep. Star Trek does not need Shatner anymore. They proved that all the way back in 1987 with TNG.

Nimoy's ill-considered appearances brought those movies to a stop, and Shatner would fare no better at this point.

Not sure what you mean by "brought those movies to a stop."

Generations was the last chance to bring Shatner back into an ongoing part of the franchise, and they blew it big time.

But really, even if Kirk didn't die in Generations, what exactly would he have brought to Trek after that?

So that's where all the talk of a Starfleet Academy series over the years came from! Thank you.

You're welcome :)

All Shatner had to do was say, No, I'm not killing Kirk, and it would have been over unless they were willing to recast him, which I doubt they would have done at that time. But he didn't, he made himself part of the crime by agreeing.

But at the time, did Shatner really care that much about Kirk dying? The whole point of the movie was a passing of the torch, no matter how silly and ham-fisted the final product turned out to be. Shatner accepted that TNG was the future of Trek and that he was done after that film. So who cared if Kirk was going to die?
 
I hear you. While I didn't like his death I admit I wasn't exactly an emotional wreak over it, not like when Spock died.

I just hope the long term lesson is learned, be careful about killing Trek legends, no matter how disposable they may seem at the time.
 
Or...just wait...maybe Pine would be the one that upstages Shatner.

Not happening anytime soon; Shatner easily commands attention as Kirk--Pine is not doing that.



Yep. Star Trek does not need Shatner anymore. They proved that all the way back in 1987 with TNG.

TNG only proved how lifeless it was, and is culturally nonexistent since (there was barely any media recognition of its 20th anniversary--unlike the mass coverage for TOS' 20th). TOS--with Shatner as its centerpiece--is the face of the franchise. TNG's cast and crew are not, and never will be.
 
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