“The lesser-billed guy is getting all the mail.”
Star Trek doesn’t reach its diamond anniversary if not for two essential actors and their iconic characters: Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). So, it’s only natural that Shatner’s ego was a bit bruised 60 years ago when Nimoy and his Vulcan’s popularity with television fans — dare it be said — logically occurred overnight and clearly overshadowed any love for the Enterprise's commander.
Well, in a brand-new clip from the upcoming documentary called The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World, Shatner addresses his very real and human reaction to Spock’s incredible popularity in those early days, which fans can watch below (per GalaxyCon's YouTube channel).
Personally, I found it most fascinating — I’ll try to downshift from warp speed to impulse power with the puns — to hear that Shatner even approached creator Gene Roddenberry about all the fan mail Nimoy was receiving, even though he was “the lesser-billed guy.”
“The better the people are around you, the better you look,” Roddenberry said to Shatner, according to the actor. And, thankfully, it's a lesson he took to heart because as I said before, Star Trek doesn’t celebrate a 60th anniversary without the combined efforts of Shatner AND Nimoy over the years.
In fact, I’ll even take things a step further by also saying that Kirk and Spock’s tremendous chemistry is likely why so many fans are upset with more recent Star Trek series like Discovery and Starfleet Academy.
As much as I enjoyed both, it’s hard creating new Star Trek characters that resonate so meaningfully in the present as Kirk and Spock still do to this day. And I do want to point out that it’s because of Kirk and Spock that I’m so fond of Starfleet Academy’s lead protagonist Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta).
Although he’s young and inexperienced, Caleb exudes the leadership qualities Kirk possessed, not to mention the captain’s extraordinary physicality.
Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Caleb also possesses superior intelligence like Mr. Spock. Yes, that's how the new character initially won me over, before I discovered just how talented an actor Rosta is.
Now, what did you think about the new William Shatner clip from The Sixty Year Mission? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And the new documentary drops exclusively in Regal Cinemas on Friday, Oct. 9.
Live long and prosper, Trekkies!
Add us as a preferred source on Google