William Shatner On Why He Still Enjoys Conventions But Has Lost Patience With A Certain Star Trek Co-Star – TrekMovie.com
At 91, William Shatner is not slowing down. He is still out promoting his new Boldly Go memoir (see TrekMovie review). He’s got a documentary coming out, and he just announced dates for a bunch of Star Trek Tour live appearances for 2023. He talks about Star Trek and his continued activities in a new interview, along with reacting to some of the critiques he has heard from his former co-stars.
Shatner on Star Trek’s success and still doing conventions
Promoting his new book’s release in the UK, Shatner did an interview with The Times where he gave his assessment of the enduring success of Star Trek:
Here is a group of people you get to love going on an adventure that, although unusual, harkens back to things that happen on Earth. The futurist stories we told were really human stories with a twist. People loved the stories, they loved the characters.
Shatner has continued to attend Star Trek conventions and other cons and he explained why:
I enjoy the conventions when I am on stage fielding questions. I have acquired a way of doing this hour so that it becomes a kind of mutual distribution of information. The fans are interesting, it’s part of the reason why I go.
William Shatner at 56-Year Mission Las Vegas in August 2022 (Photo: TrekMovie.com)
Done with Takei
In his new memoir, Shatner reflects on how he was “horrified” and “ashamed” when he learned from Nichelle Nichols that his fellow Star Trek co-stars found him “cold and arrogant.” He has talked openly about how he was “devastated” over how things ended with Leonard Nimoy, where he wasn’t able to talk to him in the time before his death. However, Shatner has lost patience with some of the criticism, especially from co-star George Takei—who even took a swipe at his recent trip into space. Shatner tells The Times:
I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity. Sixty years after some incident they are still on that track. Don’t you think that’s a little weird? It’s like a sickness. George has never stopped blackening my name. These people are bitter and embittered. I have run out of patience with them. Why give credence to people consumed by envy and hate?
And when talking to the Times about his Emmy-winning run on Boston Legal, the actor used the opportunity to draw a contrast:
James Spader was wonderful, the whole cast was wonderful, and I have never heard a word from them saying how much they didn’t like me.
George Takei and William Shatner on Star Trek
Shatner Live 2023
In 2023 William Shatner goes back on tour doing live events with screenings of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
For more details and links for tickets visit williamshatnertour.com.
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