William Shatner’s character on Star Trek was, in many ways, a pinnacle of humanity.
While Captain Kirk had his flaws like anyone else, he was adored by fans all over the globe
for being someone worthy of admiration, as he led his crew on mission after mission throughout
the galaxy.
And yet Shatner, if could be argued, was quite unlike the character he played.
At least in terms of his relationships with his fellow Star Trek castmates.
Over the many years of filming the show and the movies, and even in the years since, Shatner
has had a variety of feuds and poor relationships with his costars.
In this video, we’re taking a look at the long lasting and intense feuds that developed
over the years between Shatner and his coworkers.
So join us, as Facts Verse presents: William Shatner Did Not Get Along with His Star Trek
Castmates.
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy The first major feud that William Shatner
had was with arguably the other most famous person from the show, Leonard Nimoy.
Nimoy, of course, played Mr. Spock on the show, and went on to be a legendary Hollywood
icon from it.
The two were cast as Kirk and Spock in the first incarnation of the series in the 1960’s.
What might be surprising to casual fans of the series is that it wasn’t actually that
successful early on.
It only ran for three seasons in that original run.
But it did manage to garner a passionate fan base.
So that meant Shatner and Nimoy’s stars began to rise at the same time, as the show
found a niche but fanatic base.
Reportedly, their initial feud was little more than classic workplace ego issues.
And they were fairly one sided.
Shatner became convinced that since he was the captain of the USS Enterprise, that meant
he was the lead on the show, and thus should be the one garnering the most attention from
fans and the media.
But Nimoy’s performance as Spock, as well as the intriguing nature of the character
as written by the creative staff, meant that Nimoy was soon getting as much love from the
public and press as Shatner was.
And Shatner wasn’t happy about that.
This anger only increased as Nimoy became even more popular than him.
While he didn’t cop to it at the time, Shatner later revealed that he was intensely jealous
of all the fan letters and attention given to Nimoy.
A day when Hollywood legend John Wayne visited the set just to meet Nimoy set off Shatner
rage in particular.
Shatner began to do petty things on set to exact revenge on Nimoy, who had no idea that
he was the object of anger from his costar.
Nimoy had a bike that he generally used to get around the studio lot as they filmed,
and Shatner would exact his ‘revenge’ by hiding the bike, forcing Nimoy to walk
everywhere.
But it didn’t stop there.
The childish behavior from Shatner extended into their acting as well.
Shatner reportedly scoffed at the idea that the captain of the ship wouldn’t be the
smartest one on screen.
He understood that the writers had given Spock, as a Vulcan, more specific knowledge about
the universe.
But he still felt that Captain Kirk’s mental abilities should surpass Spock’s.
So Shatner took matters into his own hands, and began stealing some of Nimoy’s lines
– specifically ones that made Kirk sound smarter than Spock.
At this point, Nimoy had started to notice Shatners petty and passive-aggressive plots.
And he was understandably upset about it.
That’s when their feud became a mutual one.
The two then came to a stalemate when a photographer was on set to do a photo series on Nimoy.
First, Shatner wouldn’t allow the photographer to be in the cast dressing room where they
were having their makeup done.
To counter this, Nimoy refused to have his makeup put on until the photographer was allowed
in and took photos of him for the piece.
Neither would budge, and this tiny rift nearly cause production to cease for the entire day
of shooting.
Shatner and Nimoy made up… and then didn’t As the two legendary actors got older, more
successful, and perhaps more mature, they were able to mend their relationship.
And in fact, they became downright close.
So much so, that Shatner wrote a book entirely about Nimoy, his amazing career, and their
friendship.
In it, he even went as far as to call Nimoy his only real friend.
And yet, the actions of both men seem to speak differently.
Reportedly, when Nimoy died, the two men hadn’t spoken in five full years.
This was likely due to an incident that happened during the filming of a documentary called
“The Captains.”
Shatner requested that Nimoy be intervied, but Nimoy said no.
Shatner ignored this rejection, and instead had a cameraman go to a convention where Nimoy
was appearing.
The cameraman shot footage of Nimoy interacting with fans at the convention, and then the
footage was used in the documentary without being cleared by Nimoy.
And while the two reportedly never had an argument about this incident, they didn’t
speak again.
Shatner tried to smooth things back over in the following years, with several handwritten
notes, but Nimoy wasn’t responsive to them.
This rekindled feud is not exactly something you expect from two best friends.
And then there was the issue of Nimoy’s funeral.
In short, Shatner didn’t go.
Now, in fairness, he was across the country in Florida, attending a charity event.
But fans became suspicious and angry when it was revealed that he actually flew home
anyway, and landed back in LA in time for the funeral.
But he chose not to go.
Of course, people handle deaths of friends in different ways, and simply not attending
the funeral isn’t a sign of a lack of respect or friendship.
But to the public, it wasn’t a great look.
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William Shatner and George Takei These two costars have been feuding for decades
now, without any periods of reconciliation.
It didn’t emerge because of anything in particular between the two of them, but more
so because George joined the opinions of much of the cast that Shatner’s inflated ago
was exceedingly difficult to deal with on and off set.
So he never particularly liked Shatner, and the two generally didn’t hang out or speak
much to each other in the early years.
Takei later said that it was difficult for the cast and crew to deal with a person who
doesn’t act like a team player.
Takei said the rest of the cast and crew were in line with each other when it came to how
to make a show and movies as a team.
But that Shatner simply was obsessed with having the most screen time, and this put
a damper on production.
Then things were inflamed when Shatner called out Takei publicly for not inviting him to
his wedding.
Takei, for his part, insisted that Shatner was indeed invited, but that he had never
responded.
That the two felt the need to make this potentially postal service error a major public issue
speaks to the lack of respect they have for one another.
Takei has claimed that their feud isn’t actually all that intense or relevant, but
that Shatner tries to rekindle the flames of it whenever he wants to public attention.
According to Takei, the animosity is one directional at this point.
William Shatner and James Doohan and Walter Koenig
James Doohan and Walter Koenig were two other prominent Star Trek cast members, playing
Scotty and Chekov, respectively.
And while these two didn’t have quite the feud with Shatner that Leonard Nimoy and George
Takei had, they certainly shared in the general sentiment that Shatner was difficult to work
with, and that his ego was a consistent problem.
Doohan sometimes had to deal with the same issue as Nimoy though – the one where Shatner
would steal his lines.
This can be infuriating for any actor.
He was also a hero fighter pilot in World War II, yet still had a humble and grounded
personality.
So it rubbed him the wrong way that Shatner’s personality was egocentric.
Koenig, for the most part, didn’t have beef with Shatner.
But he did admit to sharing a bonding experience with the rest of the cast as it related to
Shatner.
He said that they all got along even better because they all complained to each other
about Shatner and his inflated ego.
Clearly William Shatner and the rest of his castmates were able to put aside their differences
when it came time to give their best performances on screen.
And the Star Trek fandom has only grown over the years.
But it’s still sad to hear that these giants of TV and film didn’t get along!
Now it’s time to hear from you.
Are you surprised to hear about these feuds between William Shatner and his Star Trek
castmates?
Let us know in the comments section below.
And before you go, be sure to give this video a like, and subscribe to Facts Verse if you
haven’t already.
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