Book Review: Star Trek Movie Memories by William Shatner

This is an older book, written in 1994, and covers all the movies with the original Star Trek crew.

In all fairness, I have to say up front that I am a HUGE William Shatner fan. I loved him as Captain Kirk. I loved him as T.J. Hooker, and I loved him as Denny Crane on Boston Legal. So I have read or will read everything he’s written. For some reason, though, I didn’t read Star Trek Movie Memories until recently.

The age of this book matters little when you consider that it’s covering movies that were made from 1979 to 1994. Actually, it isn’t just covering. The stories behind Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Star Trek: Generations go into specific detail about the makings of each movie, what it took to get started, how the scripts were written, and even the problems associated with making the movies.

Written with Chris Kreski, Star Trek Movie Memories is an insightful look into what goes into producing a movie, the happiness, the sadness, the bitterness, and the anger. There’s plenty of language, especially from the people Shatner interviewed for the book. But along with that, there’s plenty of levity as well. Shatner has a self-deprecating sense of humor that helps bring this book to life as do the unique pictures and sketches.

You’ll find out how tricky scenes were put together and shot, how Gene Roddenberry felt about all the scripts, how Shatner felt about being killed off, what lines some actors refused to say, why Leonard Nimoy changed his mind about Spock’s demise, and so much more. Star Trek Movie Memories is definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of the series and the movies!