At this year’s Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, celebrating the franchise’s 40th Anniversary many of the stars of the long running space dream of Gene Roddenberry spoke freely about what they think about Star Trek, it’s past, present and future. They also indicated their feelings about J.J. Abrams spearheading the next big movie about the Star Trek universe. Here are just a few comments from William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, Connor Trinneer & Dominic Keating. A full report of their comments can be found at StarTrek.com.
William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy:
Bill –
“This is quite wonderful. I guess it means that we’re all interested and anticipating what’s coming up with Star Trek. Amazing, absolutely amazing, this marvelous thing that Star Trek has become. The life that it shows, nobody can believe it.”
“I mean, there’s J.J. Abrams right now – you know he’s in a room somewhere scribbling, he’s fashioning a screenplay that will lift us on the wings of fantasy! I’m anticipating it every bit as much as you are. Regarding rumors of a future Captain Kirk actor, we keep hearing about people being signed, but as far as I know, nobody has been signed to play anything.”
Leonard –
“I’ve been asked time and time again, how does it feel after 40 years to come to one of these events? And I’d say, ‘It’s like taking a victory lap! Years ago, people used to say to me, ‘My kids love your show.’ And these days, kids say to me, ‘My parents love your show.’ Some of us didn’t really know what to expect when we went on the air in September ’66. I kinda had a sense that we would last a long time. I believed in what we were doing.”
Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner:
“Is Data really dead?” asked Frakes. Spiner responded, “You know, I think the person you should be asking is J.J. Abrams, not me.”
What does Spiner think about Abrams taking over the franchise? “I think that’s a good idea. LOST is a great show, Alias was a lot of fun. I think the guy can make a really fun, interesting Star Trek movie. Hey, look at ‘Mission: Impossible III’!” It was not certain whether he meant that as a joke or not.
“We should have that budget!” Frakes exclaimed. “And they will!” Spiner predicted.
Tim Russ & Garrett Wang:
Asked by a fan how the guys on the set of Voyager could think straight when Jeri Ryan is walking around, Russ explained, “We are there at five or six in the morning, and we see everybody before they’re all dolled up. Okay? That’s a sobering sight.”
“For Tim, obviously it was an annoyance, but for me it was very difficult to work around Jeri Ryan,” Wang countered. “I remember I had a scene where I actually had to kiss her, in an episode where I had a dream sequence … and because I have full lips and she has full lips, it was like two Sealy Posturepedic mattresses meeting, and meeting again. And it was just so nice! But I was sweating! I was sweating, sweating, sweating, I was so nervous.”
Connor Trinneer & Dominic Keating:
The two were asked to comment on the cancellation of Enterprise. “Honestly I don’t think that they really saw past syndication,” said Trinneer. “I mean, I don’t know that, but I think the death knell was ringing for us after year two.”
Keating added, “There were some TV politics in there. At the network where we used to be the flagship, eventually all those people lost their jobs and they were replaced, and new management teams were put in who didn’t have any vested interest in this big dinosaur of a show that was on a network that was now appealing to a very different audience. But the conundrum was that we still got the best figures. So yeah, I think they just looked to the hundred episodes or thereabouts and that was that.”
Trinneer concluded, “And bear in mind that that network no longer exists.”
Connor would be a logical choice for captain of a new series, his acting was superb and Keating should be his first officer. Both actors never got the chance to show what they could do in Enterprise…but you give them a shot at their own series and Captain Kirk would never stand a chance