THE CAPTAIN WILLIAM SHATNER
All these years later, on his iconic intro: ‘I never got to say it exactly right’
You know the rest. What you may not know is that the man synonymous with that iconic Star Trek opening narration, William Shatner, wants a do-over, 50 years after the original series premiered.
“I never got to say it exactly right. I don’t know why. I never hit the right notes for me: ‘To boldly go where no man has gone before,’ ” he says, reciting the lines again. “I never got it right for my ear, but it was good enough, I suppose, for people listening.”
It was more than good enough for the people listening. Good enough for six TV series (one animated) and 13 feature films — the most recent, Star Trek Be
yond, just opened July 22 — and a new series set to stream on CBS All Access in January.
Shatner, the iconic Capt. James T. Kirk from the original 1960s TV series and seven films, says he’s “flabbergasted” by the breadth and depth of Star Trek’s influence, but he understands why: It dealt with war, race, environmental decay and social inequality, issues that remain just as challenging today.
“It purported to be taking place ahead of its time, but at its best it dealt with issues of the time,” he says.
He ticks off Star Trek’s influence on our culture: encouragement of space exploration. The idea of people, nations and planets working together. The com- municator, replicated years later as the flip phone.
“Those are the practical things,” he says before shifting into full Shatner, awe delivered in a wondrous whisper.
“What’s out there? What is it? Are they coming this way? Are we going that way?” he asks, pausing to consider. “Ninety percent of the universe is unknown. Un
known! And then, (science fiction) suggests what might be. Why isn’t that a reasonable explanation, since you don’t know what it is, anyway? Accept it on faith. The magic of the universe was brought to a lot of people’s eyes and ears by Star Trek.”
Shatner, 85, says he was offered the role of Kirk by Gene Roddenberry after an initial pilot didn’t sell and the show was recast. “I saw the pilot and I thought it was terrific,” he says, crediting Roddenberry with “great ideas.”
Although he has heard every analysis out there, Shatner considers Star Trek less of a museum piece than a living entity that evolves with each new chapter, including the current film and TV series.
“Every time somebody writes about Star Trek fictionally, it becomes part of the history, a new aspect of Star Trek,” he says. If there was any doubt that
Star Trek’s influence went beyond the world of entertainment and sci-fi conventions, Shatner saw proof when he was planning to film The Captains, a 2011 documentary about the actors who’ve commanded a starship, including Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and today’s Kirk, Chris Pine.
The private plane needed for travel would have consumed Shatner’s film budget, so he asked Bombardier, an aerospace company in his hometown, Montreal, if he could borrow one.
Then-executive Steve Ridolfi “called back and said, ‘You got it.’ When the airplane picked me up and flew me to Toronto to pick up the crew, he met me on the tarmac,” Shatner recalls. “He said: ‘The reason I’m doing this is because I’m an aeronautical engineer because of Star Trek. I owe you. This is my way of paying back.’ ”