Today, a friend of mine sent me an article about George Takei wherein he discusses what it was like working with William Shatner. Basically, according to Takei, Shatner was a major turd. He refers to Captain Kirk as "being self-possessed and self-involved." There's a lot of bad blood, even after all these years. I don't blame Takei for speaking out either because if I had to work with a hammy d-bag all day long, every day, I'd probably be a little miffed too. Of course, I wasn't there so I can't really say much about who was being a jack wagon and who wasn't. The question I ask instead is, "Does the knowledge of this animosity within the cast, hurt my enjoyment of this show?"
The answer is, "Yeah, kinda."
All of this makes me feel slightly less awesome about TOS. Only very slightly. But, still, it's there. Anyway, reading all of this today makes me glad that yesterday I came across another article about how 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Basically the whole thing is an interview with Patrick Stewart about the remastering of "Measure of a Man" and what that episode meant to him, and to the Star Trek franchise. It's a great article and he reiterated a lot of my own feelings about the episode (which I will surely talk at length about later on) but what stuck out to me most was how he talked about the crew--his crew--as a family.
He says, "The affection that I feel of every single one of those people is undiminished with time. In fact, I'd even say that since I left Los Angeles eight-to-nine years ago, it's grown stronger. I wish there was some way that I could spend much, much more time with all these guys."
So now the question becomes, "Does the knowledge of the cast still getting along, still feeling like a family, help my enjoyment of the show?"
The answer is , "Yeah, absolutely."
It makes me happy to know that the actors that I grew up with, the cast that made me a fan, the crew that feels like part of my own family, miss each other as much as I miss them. And, although I don't want to say good bye to the TOS era of this blog, I also can't wait to get around to TNG.
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| See more awesome reunion pictures over at Treknews.net |
1. I'm sorry I ruined TOS for you.
ReplyDelete2. That picture of Patrick and Lavar is the most amazing thing ever.
My college roommate knows Shatner from Saddlebred horse competitions, etc. She said the same thing as Takei. :-(
ReplyDeleteI do love Lavar, though. :-)
Honestly, I can't wait until you get to TNG, because I want to watch it along with you. I started watching it again last year, and got to the last season and just stopped watching because I didn't want it to end. People talk about how DS9 was superior to TNG, but I watched that show growing up, too, and never felt as much love for it. I mean, I love the ensemble cast, but I also love each character individually, could watch a whole series devoted to any single character (even Reg Barclay). I literally can't tell you who my favorite character is. (Well, it's not Riker. Well, okay, sometimes it is.)
ReplyDeleteWell, anyway, I'll stop now, because I'm going to comment my ass off once you get to TNG.
PS: "jack wagon" = comedy gold.
I can't wait to get to TNG either. It's definitely the series I feel the most nostalgia for and I've seen all of those episodes like four times so I'm much more familiar with it. And, I agree about DS9. I think the further into it you get, the better it is, but I never had the same feelings about it that I did about TNG or even Voyager. And, I LOVE Barclay! Haha!
DeleteThere's a great picture under Burton's twitter account of him, Frakes and Spiner all crushing there heads together to get into his iphone photo. It reminds me of my dad and his buddies and it's nice to know that the people you grow up with still have such a strong friendship. :)
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