The Star Trek franchise has been a gift to the world of science fiction and William Shatner helped steer the franchise to the masses with his role as Captain James T. Kirk. While many projects within the franchise will be popular among and loved by the fans, The Original Series will always be a class apart for drawing in the crowd and building a fanbase for the franchise.
Created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek was never about running with the era’s trend of space exploration and discovering new worlds. Instead, Roddenberry strived to establish a universe that was a metaphor for the social, cultural, and political upheavals in the real world.
Themes like race, class, gender, sexuality, and authoritarianism were among the few topics that were widely explored within the context of the Star Trek universe.
As such, it is surprising to hear that the franchise’s most recognized figure and first-ever spokesperson, William Shatner, has never watched the series and the movies set within the world that he himself established.
William Shatner’s love-hate relationship with Star Trek
For someone as prolific as William Shatner, it is a startling revelation that he has never watched the movies and series set within the Star Trek franchise. Other than Star Trek V: The Final Frontier – which Shatner directed – the actor has never entertained the idea of seeing even his own work in Star Trek: The Original Series.
First launched in 1966, The Original Series ran for 3 seasons and helped build momentum for the era’s rapidly growing fascination with the world of science fiction. For a decade, Star Trek reigned supreme without much resistance before George Lucas’s Star Wars came along in 1977.
However, even the fame, celebrity, and mass popularity that came with being the leading protagonist of Star Trek couldn’t cure William Shatner of one aspect of his personality – the fear of watching oneself act on the screen. While many actors suffer from the same dilemma, Shatner may have been one of the first to diligently follow through with his phobia and never watch a single episode of his work, no matter how acclaimed and hailed by the fans.
William Shatner can’t watch a single episode of TOS
For a veteran actor as widely renowned and popular as William Shatner, he can be massively stubborn when it comes to certain aspects of his career within the film and television industry. One of those aspects is his inability to watch himself on-screen, let alone learn, grow, develop, and improve from it.
However, considering he is an Emmy-winning actor, one can hardly fault Shatner for not investing some time in analyzing his own work on television. When it comes to The Original Series, Shatner himself admitted to his failure to watch the fan-favorite work that he helped build as the central protagonist.
In a 2021 interview with People Magazine, William Shatner claimed:
I have never watched Star Trek. There are many episodes I don’t know, there are some movies I don’t know. I had to watch [Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]. But it’s all painful because I don’t like the way I look and what I do.
William Shatner is not the first famous celebrity who is critical of themselves and their craft. Others as renowned as Helena Bonham Carter, Javier Bardem, Joaquin Phoenix, Nicole Kidman, and even Meryl Streep can’t stand to watch themselves on screen (via Entertainment Weekly).
Star Trek: The Original Series is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire