Watch: William Shatner's "do over" death scene from Star Trek: Generations

John Lamparski/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

Captain James T. Kirk's death in Star Trek: Generations still rankles fans. Many think he deserved a more heroic death while many more think he shouldn't have died at all. In fact, Trekkies are still holding out hope for a return of the iconic character, either in one of the upcoming Star Trek movies or in a current or future Trek series. As it turns out, though. we aren't the only ones who wasn't happy with KIrk's death.

William Shatner recently shared what he regretted about his final scene in Star Trek: Generations, and it wasn't that his character died; it was how he expressed the death. Simply put, he didn't think what he was trying to portray, which was essentially looking forward to the next adventure, came across onscreen.

Shatner, who celebrated his 93rd birthday day, made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Kimmel took the opportunity to give the actor another chance at dying onscreen.

Kimmel provides him with a few props, offers some ketchup for blood, which Shatner declines, and points him to the camera for his do over. And Shatner, in just a few seconds [beginning at 9:58 in the above clip], instantly went into acting mode and nailed what he'd been trying to express way back in 1994.


There is a sense of awe and wonderment that was missing from Generations, and this brief scene shows us that Shatner really wanted fans to see that Captain Kirk wasn't afraid of death, that he saw it as another step on the journey, one that would be filled with adventure. And, with just two words, he takes us back to 1994 and gives Kirk the moment that he deserved. Well-done, Captain, and Happy Birthday to the man who will always be our Captain Kirk.

Next. Captain Kirk should have had a spectacular death. Captain Kirk should have had a spectacular death. dark