I’ve seen YouTube used by many people for many different reasons. Can honestly say it was a first this morning (credit James) seeing someone like William Shatner — it’s Captain Kirk, man! — using it to tell the world why he is not going to be in the next Star Trek motion picture.

Or maybe this is Shatner lobbying to be in the movie if there’s still time? I’ve heard plenty of stories that Mr. Shatner wasn’t the easiest guy in Star Trek to get along with (and that he hasn’t always handled his success with upmost humility) as told by other Star Trek OS cast members like George Takei on the Howard Stern Show. It might seem by him saying he wasn’t interested in a cameo — that could easily be axed on the cutting room floor — that this is him being difficult again. Tough call. Be in the movie as cameo or not be in at all? I think if he was offered a cameo he should have taken it.

Shatner says in the video that he wasn’t even offered a cameo. Here’s what J.J Abrams had to say:

We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon.

Then again, Leonard Nimoy seems to have gotten along pretty well with Shatner over the years. Whatever really happened off screen, history dictates that when the camera was rolling Captain Kirk was a major player in the Star Trek OS universe. I didn’t think all of the Star Trek motion pictures (like Star Trek V) were shining Kirk moments, but there were some really good ones like Wraith of Khan. I enjoyed The Next Generation phase too but will admit the final film was underwhelming.

I think bringing in J.J Abrams to pump some life back into the franchise is a great thing. I really enjoyed his work with Serenity.

So until I see what the new Star Trek movie is like, I’m going to reserve judgement on how this works without Shatner. I will admit as long as Shatner is still alive that having a Star Trek movie that goes back to the roots and doesn’t include him seems … sad.

Let’s not forget that miracle worker engineer Scotty (James Doohan) is alread gone and crotchety doctor Bones (Deforest Kelley) died in 1999. Spock (Leonard Nemoy) and Kirk (Shatner) are getting up there in age. Congrats to Sulu (George Takei) who just got married ¹ to his long time partner Brad. Haven’t heard too much about Chekov (Walter Koenig) or Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) but I believe both of them are still doing well, health-wise. They served as best man and best lady at Takei’s wedding. Congratulations!

The cruel, sweeping scythe of time is going to take all these actors away from us eventually, leaving only our memories in tact from the films they worked in year’s past. Call me greedy, but I’d like to see these actors as many more times as (good) story and their health will allow. And I like the whole Alfred Hitchcock cameo thing. Why wouldn’t this work in future Star Trek films?

1. 11/25/08 ap.google.com–; dead link, no replacement for: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1JXao0Kf_aQjZ9tSNW2dKy4d5JwD9374LO80 [↩]

Did this post make you go hmm?

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