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William Shatner's "Leonard" Book review

Trekfan12

Trekfan12

Captain
Captain
This is the first review I've read about the book. It looks like it isn't as revealing as a fan would like. And I was saddened to hear that he and Leonard didn't speak to one another the last 2 years of Leonard's life.

I know Bill is not an easy person to like, I am listening to his book "Shatner Rules" I took it out of the library and he seems not to understand why George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan couldn't stand him.

I was thinking of getting "Leonard" on Audible. I might still get it.
I am not bothered that Bill didn't go to Leonard's funeral, aside from having a commitment to the Red Cross I think it would have been so hard emotionally to be there. Seeing his friend's casket. Perhaps he wanted to remember him when he was still alive.
I didn't know that Leonard had a drinking problem, that is news to me.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...807434-cb7e-11e5-88ff-e2d1b4289c2f_story.html
 
The thing is, looking at shatners interviews and even a great deal of his work, show a man who really really hates confronting mortality, and deals with that by working non stop. So...I don't blame him.
When you take into account his other experiences losing those close to him, I would say it's wisest to allow him to do his grieving at a distance if that's how he needs to do it.
 
Nimoy was on Shatner's Raw Nerve in 2009, they seemed to be getting along fine then. Nerve was a pretty good show, Shatner definitely has a talent for interviewing people.
 
Tracy Trek said:
Had they had a disagreement in 2 years before Nimoy's death?
Click to expand...

William SHatner thinks it may have been when he was making his Captains documentary. He had asked Leonard to be a part of it but Leonard said no. One of Shatners camera men reportedly took some film od Leonard at a convention and Shatner put it into the filem unbeknownst to Leonard. Shatner thinks that may have been it but its only speculation because he isn't sure. He also sent Leonard a note a before his death saying how much he respected him and that he considered him basically his best friend. Leonard never got back to him. So its possible Shatner pissed Nimoy off. A article below to explain the events. All around sad turn of events. I'm hoping Nimoy wasn't really angry with him only he was so busy fighting his illness he had no time to converse with Shatner.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...riages-battles-alcohol-final-falling-out.html
 
Pubert said:
I'm hoping Nimoy wasn't really angry with him only he was so busy fighting his illness he had no time to converse with Shatner.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...riages-battles-alcohol-final-falling-out.html
Click to expand...
That review says that Nimoy stopped going to Trek events around 2011, and needed an oxygen tank due to COPD. Once he was ill, Nimoy was probably too busy coping with that to think much about socialising. I have noticed that old people reach a point where they have to be a bit heartless with their time and attention, just to conserve their energy for the essentials. Also, he and Shatner were never really buddy-buddy, and they probably didn't think much about planning to meet up, as Trek events would always bring them together. They probably thought, "There's plenty of time..."

That review gives a different story about the origin of the LLAP sign to the one I recall reading in Nimoy's I Am Spock. I'd have to check, but I think he said it was the rabbi who made the sign, not the congregation, and Nimoy saw it when he peeked, when he was supposed to have his eyes shut.
 
eyeresist said:
That review says that Nimoy stopped going to Trek events around 2011, and needed an oxygen tank due to COPD. Once he was ill, Nimoy was probably too busy coping with that to think much about socialising. I have noticed that old people reach a point where they have to be a bit heartless with their time and attention, just to conserve their energy for the essentials. Also, he and Shatner were never really buddy-buddy, and they probably didn't think much about planning to meet up, as Trek events would always bring them together. They probably thought, "There's plenty of time..."

That review gives a different story about the origin of the LLAP sign to the one I recall reading in Nimoy's I Am Spock. I'd have to check, but I think he said it was the rabbi who made the sign, not the congregation, and Nimoy saw it when he peeked, when he was supposed to have his eyes shut.
Click to expand...

That's the version I remember seeing in an interview on one of the old 'making of' for star trek IV.
 
Is it weird that I feel a little off about this book? You don't have time to go to your friend's funeral (I know it was a charity thing) but you have time to write a book? And make money off said book, unless the money is going to charity but still...
 
Janeway's Girl said:
Is it weird that I feel a little off about this book? You don't have time to go to your friend's funeral (I know it was a charity thing) but you have time to write a book? And make money off said book, unless the money is going to charity but still...
Click to expand...
It doesn't bother me that he didn't go to the funeral, beyond the charity commitment, losing Leonard was so heartbreaking, especially since they hadn't spoken to each other in a long time. I think this book was a way for Bill to cope.
 
I wish people would get over the funeral thing. So an eighty-plus year old man wasn't able to make it to a funeral because of logistics. It happens.

I had to skip my grandfather's funeral because it took place during Finals Week at college and my parents sure as hell didn't want me blowing off my exams to travel all the way home for the services.

I like to think that my Grandpa Percy, who was a retired high-school principal, would have agreed. :)
 
Agreed. My brother didn't go to our grandmother's funeral because he'd *just* made a long-haul flight from the US to NZ for the funeral of a family friend and couldn't afford another. That doesn't mean that he cared less about my grandmother than the family friend!
 
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