Karl Urban Pays Tribute To DeForest Kelley

Karl Urban, who plays Dr. Leonard McCoy in the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek films paid tribute to his Star Trek: The Original Series predecessor DeForest Kelley on Twitter.

I’ve said many times that DeForest Kelley’s Bones is my favorite Star Trek character of all time, but Karl Urban’s version of Dr. Leonard McCoy is also wonderful. It’s so nice to see someone do such a great job portraying one of my favorite Trek characters.

This week would have been DeForest Kelley’s 97th birthday and many Star Trek stars remembered the great actor on social media. That of course included the one and only William Shatner.

https://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/822475350043074560

Karl Urban saw Shatner’s tweet and responded eloquently.

That’s just fantastic. I don’t care what you’re thoughts on the Kelvin Timeline are, seeing the respect the new cast has for the work done by the original cast is wonderful. It shows that the new crew of the Enterprise understands the torch they are carrying.

DeForest Kelley was everything that made Star Trek: The Original Series wonderful. His relationship with Kirk and Bones showed the comradery that drew people in, but more than that his view on space travel and the adventures of the Enterprise grounded the show for the viewers. Bones was the most reluctant of the Enterprise crew, the most down to earth. When Spock and Kirk were looking at the big picture Bones brought attention back to reality and the here and now. I don’t know the show would have been able to connect with people without Bones.

On the other hand sometimes it was the simple wisdom of Bones that triumphed even over the logic of Spock.

Also no one in Star Trek history has ever looked as fly.

Seriously, you can’t look any cooler than Bones in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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So what do you think? Is this the end of fan films as we know them? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.