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- My name's William Shatner and I was a starship captain,

but I wasn't the only one.

So were Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew,

Scott Bakula and most recently, Chris Pine.

That's a lotta captains.

In fact, that's a lotta "Star Trek."

Phasers fire, point blank.

The original series,

despite being canceled after only three seasons in 1969,

spawned perhaps the most durable and profitable franchise

in the history of entertainment.

At the center of each incarnation of “Star Trek"

is what has become a truly iconic character: the captain.

- Engage.

These dynamic and unique actors

have inhabited this role,

each bringing their own interpretation and personality.

- Warp six, engage.

- The captains, who are they?

What were they before they got the role?

Why did they get the role?

What've they done afterwards?

It's a journey of discovery

by

me, you

and ultimately, them.

Woo!

Oh my god, wow.

Hey.

- Hey, Captain Spock.

- Spock. - How are ya?

- Spock?

I'm not Spock.

Guy called me Spock.

We begin our voyage taking the jet to Toronto

to pick up our Canadian crew.

Woo!

And surprise, the president of biz for Bombardier

Steve Ridolfi met the plane to say hello to me.

And what do you know?

He tells me he got into the airplane business

because of “Star Trek."

He became an aeronautical engineer because of me.

- I still remember my first "Star Trek“ episode

on a little black and white television.

'Cause that's all we had in those days.

- Right.

Wow, I had to think about that.

As we flew across the ocean

and as I prepared to meet the actors,

I had a lot of unanswered questions.

Not only for them,

but for myself.

Oh my god.

Patrick, what are you doing here?

- Bill, you called me.

I'm waiting for you.

You said you had something you wanted to say to me.

- I do, hello.

- Hi.

- Patrick Stewart or as he is now known,

Sir Patrick Stewart, was Captain Jean-Luc Picard

of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

A superb classical actor.

Patrick is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company

and brought a tremendous dignity to the role.

- Being born at the beginning of the war,

I suppose I was used to the idea of war.

And if something has always been that particular way,

it doesn't seem extraordinary.

So we were very poor.

We didn't have much.

We had nothing really, left over at the end of the week.

But it didn't

create problems for me because all my friends were the same.

There was nothing you could compare your life to.

So there was no sense

of being excluded in society or being without

because that was how it was and everybody was the same.

- I remember a play I did

in a camp that my mother's sister ran,

something about the Holocaust.

- Really? - Yeah.

I played this boy. - How old were you?

- I was six, five, six

and one of the kids played a dog.

And I was saying goodbye to my dog

'cause the Germans were taking me.

That was the little drama that we were in.

When the play was over,

I looked out there and the audience was crying

because the subject matter was so embedded in the people.

And so I took my bow

and my father came and held me and praised me.

And I'm convinced that that was the moment

that I thought hey, this is fantastic.

This has got me places with my father and the audience

that I never dreamt of and I'm convinced that

that's what started me on my acting thing.

What about you?

- I was 12 when I was first put into a play with adults.

- How did that happen?

I mean why would they put you in a play with adults?

- I had an English teacher.

He was the man who first put a copy of Shakespeare

into my hand and said, “Read it out loud.

"This is--" - Why would he do that?

- He was

an English teacher who loved drama

and he was an actor and director,

amateur actor and director and he wanted--

It was not an academic school.

But he wanted us to have some experience of our dramatists.

And so he would give us

the first play was "The Merchant of Venice."

And he gave me "Shylock" to read.

I don't know why.

- Patrick, let's examine that a second.

He must've seen something, something you did.

Let's pause a moment.

Maybe you won't remember what it is.

But maybe if we look at it more carefully,

something will suggest itself

that you haven't thought of in a while.

- You see, here's the other strange thing:

I never had any difficulty with Shakespeare.

It never seemed alien or strange.

I mean this was a 400 year-old text.

I found I enjoyed the Shakespeare.

In those days, there was a lotta Shakespeare on the radio

and our leading actors would be playing the part:

John Gielgud, Alec Guinness.

I listened to them. - Yes.

- And I copied what I heard. - Yes.

- And the mere act of copying--

- Even at 12? - Yeah.

- Wow.

- You don't have the emotional experience.

But there is something in the brain and in the body

that can make that child connect to the instrument,

to the bow or to the text on the page.

- The word.

- Intuitively.

You know, the valley in the back as we see it,

that's the beauty of the thing.

That's how I see the world.

- Road to somewhere. - As like a road to, yeah.

Yeah, but where does that road go to?

The horizon is ever-changing.

- Right. - You with me?

- I am so with you.

Ever-changing, but can you ever get to it?

- No, that's the point. - The point is?

- And I'll stay as long as I can see the horizon moving.

- Whoa, wait a minute. - Yeah, okay.

- 12 miles away, the horizon sort of disappeared.

They used to see sailor ships by their sails.

- Sure. - Right?

- Sure.

- I mean that's the limit of the...

So here comes a ship 12 miles away.

They think it's the end of the world.

- Yeah. - That was the way it was.

- Well. - What's it like now?

- Well that was a way of perceiving

and what we know is that that wasn't sufficient, was it?

- Correct. - No.

Not only that,

but the first seafarers in the world were Africans.

They didn't think about that like that.

- What'd they think?

- No, they saw the ever-changing horizon.

It's true. - So wait a minute.

Are you telling me that you're tuned in.

Avery Brooks was Captain Benjamin Sisko

of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.“

Avery, in addition to his impressive work

on the stage and screen,

is a tenured professor of theater at Rutgers University.

And if that isn't impressive enough,

he's an accomplished jazz singer and pianist.

♪ Hey ♪

♪ Girl ♪

♪ What you doin' in here ♪

♪ You're ♪

♪ In my heart ♪

♪ Without ♪

♪ Consent ♪

♪ You asked me here ♪

♪ You asked me to come in ♪

♪ And I said I would ♪

♪ You said come in ♪

♪ And I came ♪

♪ And found you here ♪

♪ Down the stairs ♪

♪ Yeah that's funny too ♪

♪ Into your head I went ♪

♪ Yeah into my head ♪

♪ I thought you'd never be ♪

I went to Oberlin College

and I wanted to audition for the choir.

This world you know, world-renowned choir, the conservatory.

And so I met these men you know, athletes and stuff.

You know, I came early and I said, “I'm goin' on."

You know I'm from Gary, Indiana.

And you know, the thing.

I said, "I'm goin' to audition

"for the choir in the morning."

And they laughed at me.

Said, "You can't get in the choir.

"You're from, y'know?"

I said, "No." - Wait a minute.

You're from?

- I'm from Gary, Indiana. - Right.

- I'm from this inner-city place.

And so you can't get in.

- But why did they say you can't?

Was it from Gary, Indiana?

- Maybe because I had a football jacket on

and rose-tinted glasses and I'm from the urban thing.

That's what they said. - All right.

- Even though I've been you know, in this music thing

my whole life. - Right.

- My whole life has been music.

- So aren't you enraged by that?

- No, I just told them, "I'm going in the morning

"and I'm gonna get in the choir.“

- And what happened? - I was in the choir.

- What?

- Where have you been?

- You look so cute in that box.

- I'm so hot in here.

- Come on, we're supposed to be doing an interview.

- I brought my air-conditioned box

'Cause I didn't know how long you'd be.

- How handsome, Bill in a box.

You could market it.

How are you?

- Just add water, which we've done.

- Oh boy, sweetheart.

- Oh, I am so hot just waiting for you.

What does that mean?

That's what they all say.

Kate Mulgrew portrayed Captain Kathryn Janeway

on "Star Trek: Voyager."

You will meet Kate in the setting

where she is perhaps most at home, the stage.

The first female captain of a “Star Trek" series.

She brought all of her training and discipline to bear

and made Janeway an impressive leader.

- I think when I was young,

acting was for me, the great escape.

Although, I took it very seriously.

- You wanted to go to college, obviously.

- Not really, I didn't. - Well but you have a desire

to knowledge. - Bill, Bill.

- Yes? - Trust me.

Trust me.

- I wanted my father to pay my way to New York.

The only way I could get here

was to get in through New York University.

I wanted to study with Stella Adler.

I have my sister to verify this.

College to me was absolutely unimportant,

absolutely unimportant.

And as it turns out,

I have had much less college than I even thought.

I thought I dropped out at the end of my junior year.

In fact, I've only had one year.

- Okay, why couldn't you say to your father,

"I wanna go to Stella Adler.

"Pay for that for me, please."

- My father, absolute tough, tough old Irishman,

- Tough luck, but his daughter wants to learn.

Why can't you go to your father--

- To be an actress. - Yeah.

- And you know what my father said to me

when I said I wanna be an actress?

- What'd he say? - And I proved it to him.

He said, "You're gonna break your neck outta the gate

"and I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna subsidize that."

- How did you feel about that?

- I said, “Then I'll do it myself.“

He said, "Guess what, you will."

- And guess what, you didn't 'cause you went to college.

You said, "Then gimme the money to university."

- Yes. - So you fooled him.

- I did. - You lied.

- I did. - Why did you do that?

- 'Cause I wanted to be an actress.

- That much.

- And I didn't mind stickin' it to him a little bit either.

He was tough, tough, tough.

But he didn't know that I dropped out.

I didn't tell him I dropped out of college.

- So why did you drop out?

- I dropped out because I got two leading roles.

- Where?

- I got the lead in a soap opera called "Ryan's Hope."

I played Mary Ryan and I got the lead in "Our Town“

at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford.

- Wow, at the same time? - Same time.

- How old were you? - 18, 19.

- So they recognized your talent

right from the very beginning. - Yeah, they did.

Yes.

Poker face.

- Shut up.

Scott Bakula.

- Bill Shatner.

- I have admired you for so long.

You are my hero.

Are you kidding me?

- No, no, no, no.

I'm not kidding because--

- Vice versa.

- Well I appreciate that.

But the truth of the matter is

you're such a hell of an actor, but you're a singer.

- I am a singer.

That is true. - Yeah.

Do you think of yourself as a singer first?

- Yeah, that's where I started.

- I know, musical theater.

- That's right.

- Did you study?

- Of course, I still study.

- Voice? - Every week.

- You take voice lessons every week?

- Yes, every week.

- Gimme a thing.

- What do you mean

a voice thing? - A voice exercise.

- A voice, an exercise?

- Jeez, that's wild.

I can't sing, but I can ride a horse.

- Let's hear a little. - Let's go.

- Let's hear a little singing.

- No, I sang yesterday.

- I can teach you today.

How long do we have? - Really?

We've got 'til 1:30 and then you have to go.

Come on over here.

- I'm fine.

I'll go wherever Calvin takes me.

But when you say, "Come on over here."

- No, no, no, press your legs. - Yes?

- Press your legs against her.

Yes.

- Against her very slightly. - Yes.

- And she'll go forward. - Yes.

And then if you wanna go to your left,

you just point her to the left.

Yes.

- With a little leg pressure. - Yes.

- All right.

That's good, guys.

Let's dismount.

Let's stop here.

Okay, that was fabulous.

Now here's what I wanna do.

Scott Bakula played Captain Jonathan Archer

on "Star Trek: Enterprise"

and was arguably the first captain

as his series was set before the original series,

even though it was the last to be produced.

You got all that?

Scott has been a fixture on television for decades

and like Avery is an accomplished singer.

- My mother's very musical, my dad's very musical

and I have become.

- What does that mean, very musical?

- Well my dad was a concert pianist.

So I had pianos in my house my whole life

and that's a huge deal.

- And did they say, "Sing?"

- They didn't say sing, but my mom was a singer

and so there was always music around.

And my parents 'cause my dad went to Princeton,

he used to go to New York when he was at school.

So he developed this love of New York shows.

And so when I was growing up in the '60s,

my parents would disappear for a few days, go to New York,

see a Broadway show and come back home with "Cabaret."

An album from "Cabaret"

or "How to Succeed in Business Without Really,"

or you know, any of those kinda shows.

And so I was getting this kind of distant love affair.

And then you'd put the album on

and you'd be listening to "Mame"

or Angela Lansbury or somebody.

You know, so I grew up having it around me.

- Did they encourage you to sing?

- They did, yeah.

I started singing from a very, very young age.

How young?

- Well I was singing, I had a band in the fourth grade.

I sang with the symphony

in the fifth grade. - Fourth grade.

10, 11 years old? - Yeah, nine, 10, 11, yeah.

- So I just started-- - You sang with the symphony?

- I sang in a children's choir.

- Oh, in a choir. - In the fifth grade.

- Uh-huh. - And then I sang,

the big thing that started me

was there's an Operetta

called "Amahl and the Night Visitors."

- Yeah. - It's Menotti.

And I played Amahl when I was 13.

And I started, then the acting.

The musical theater kinda came outta that.

♪ All day long I'd biddy biddy bum ♪

♪ Biddy biddy biddy biddy bum ♪

- Yeah.

♪ I ♪

♪ Wouldn't have to work hard ♪

♪ Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle ♪

- I love it.

- My parents were making a living.

Nobody suffered, but nobody had any excess.

I played in little kids' plays in parks

and then I got onto Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,

CBC Radio for radio drama:

"Fairy Tales" and I played Prince Charming.

The hushed voice, you know? - Yes.

- "I'm here."

And then I went on for radio, more mature radio

and then college plays and stuff like that.

And so it just evolved

to the chagrin.

Worse than that, the astonishment of my father

who really didn't want me to do this.

He called it hangers-on.

"You're gonna become a hanger-on

"You understand that, Bill?

"No, you can't make a living."

Well my dad was no psychic.

I started out in Canadian radio in my late teens.

And before you know it, I appeared in my first feature

"Butler's Night Off."

The '50s became a time of great opportunity for me

as I did a variety of radio theater

and live television productions on the CBC.

Hours of enjoyment.

Canadian actors.

Those early days of live TV were proven valuable

setting the stage for what would prove to be

the beginnings of my life's journey.

- William Shatner, as I live and breathe.

How are ya?

- I'm very well, how are you?

Okay, sit down.

- Just another day sitting on the sidewalk.

At the office.

Yeah, sure.

- Look at you.

You're me 50 years ago.

- You don't look too bad.

- Well I'm 50 years old.

I wonder how much I've lost.

- You wanna go?

- C'mon, lemme see.

- You sure about this?

- I couldn't be more sure about anything.

Gimme that hand.

Lemme feel a 30 year old hand.

- Let's rumble.

- Now wait a minute. - Let's party.

- You already know what to do, right?

- "Over the Top," baby.

Stallone. - Gimme this hand here.

- No, I know.

- Okay, ready? - C'mon, let's party.

- All right, ready?

Okay. - One, two, three, go.

C'mon, Chris.

Hey, wait.

Hey. - Was that a breeze?

Hey, wait a sec.

Wait.

You did the whole thumb thing.

I want another shot. - Sure.

All right.

- All right.

You did the thumb thing.

- Wrap around.

You didn't see it.

Oh yeah, there you go.

- See that?

All right. - Wow, all right.

- That's two.

Best outta three?

- Best outta three, why not?

- Best outta three. - Yeah, sure.

- All right, you ready?

Captain Kirk, huh?

- Captain Kirk. - Captain Kirk.

- Captain Kirk.

- All right.

One,

two,

three, go.

Here it goes.

You're goin' now.

You're goin'.

Unbelievable.

- Can't believe how strong he is.

- Hey, you guys gotta get outta here.

Move along, get outta here.

Get outta here, man.

- Well. - Can't believe it.

- Chris Pine is the latest actor to captain the Enterprise

and his character is James T. Kirk as was mine.

It all becomes clear.

Chris is extremely talented

and like the rest of us, thrives on the stage.

We speak to him at what promises to be

at the beginning of a long and successful career.

I watched that train.

What was it called? - “Unstoppable."

- I watched "Unstoppable." - Yeah.

- And not only did I see a really entertaining film,

but I saw a great young actor.

- What's his name?

- You're wonderful.

- Oh, thank you. - You've got the whole thing.

You got the looks and you got the attitude and everything.

It was really great and I saw you doing some gags.

- Uh-huh.

- How much of that did you do on the train?

- I did a lot of it, you know?

I don't have any kind of death wish,

but I definitely do get competitive.

Did you feel a sense of risk

at any time you were doing the stunts?

- Interestingly enough, not really.

I think I was...

First of all, we had a great stunt team.

I felt very secure with that.

I think you get into such a zone

when it is that kind of high risk

that your focus is so placed on the stunt itself

that you don't have time to be scared.

But it's not Tom Cruise kinda stunts.

- I did a cheap version of what you did

and I had to get up on top of a train.

I said to the guy, the director,

"How are we gonna do this?"

He says, "Well I don't know.

"Maybe in a green screen."

I said, "What if I got on top of the train

"and you went 10 miles an hour, could you speed?"

"Yeah, I'll just do that."

10 miles an hour, what'd it look like?

It looked like 10 miles an hour.

So we gradually upped the speed to 40 miles an hour.

- Oh, that's great.

- Oh god. - I'm on the top of the train.

- Were you scared?

- Out of my mind.

I met your dad. - Yeah.

- Worked with your dad.

He was a wonderful actor.

He's been an actor a" his life.

I mean you're like what, second generation

or is there more? - I'm third generation.

Well in fact, I just found this out recently.

My great-great-uncle was an actor.

So it actually started way way way way back.

- Isn't that amazing?

So the idea of choosing to be an actor

was not foreign at all.

In fact, might've been inculcated.

- In a way, yeah.

You know, I often say it's like

I know that my friends' parents were doctors or lawyers.

Let's say when they you know, around the dinner table,

you would talk about your day

and your day would consist of cases

or the paperwork you had.

And around my table,

it was inevitably about the day spent at work.

And the work would be "Quantum Leap"

or it would be "Magnum, PI"

- So around your dinner table, it was show business.

- Yeah.

Pretty much, yeah.

- And was young Chris intrigued?

- You know, I wasn't.

I wanted to be everything but.

I wanted to be you know, I saw "Top Gun“

and I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

- How far'd that go?

- That went about three days.

I have a bad case of ADD.

You know, I think in fact having grown up so close to it,

maybe my reaction and my experience with it was different.

Instead of wanting to do it from an early age,

it was what my dad did.

It was what my mom did and I met some cool people

and got to do some fun things because of it.

But you know, I wanted to be a baseball player.

I wanted everything. - Were you good?

- I was mediocre.

I think when I was young, I was pretty good.

Then once I hit 13, I realized that it was gone.

- You understood that.

- Very quickly, very quickly.

- Really? - Yeah, very quickly.

- And when was the transition

between baseball and tennis and fighter pilot?

- I had a wonderful English teacher

who I bonded with greatly.

We did an independent study on "Waiting for Godot"

as an English project.

And as part of that English project at the end,

we decided you know, why don't we put on the first act

of "Waiting for Godot"?

So we put it up in this atrium

in the science building, I remember.

And I don't have any memories from that

other than it was so simple then.

It was the joy of just getting together

with some friends and putting on a show.

- With an audience finally.

- Yeah, and it was the beauty of theater.

You know, what I loved about theater

is that there's an ephemeral quality to it.

It happens, it comes together,

it exists and then it goes away.

- Las Vegas.

'Course, all that.

Lemme you a bill.

- Ready to start off?

- Good crowd? - Very good.

- Ooh, very good. - Very good.

- Beat the world record this morning.

- No, world record. - Yup, we beat it.

- A world record.

There's a power that the camera has.

Just pointing your camera,

people give way or police open up.

Borders stop, meld.

Look at this.

Sorry, we're filming. - Oh, you're filming.

Mr. Shatner.

Hey, Bill.

Hey man, how are ya?

- Your nephew.

- You're my nephew? - Yes.

I don't even known you.

- I am Locutus of Borg.

- The five captains are so distinctive

because of the five actors who'd play them obviously.

Patrick was cast against type coming after Bill.

Avery quite obviously was cast against type

coming after Patrick. It was smart to bring Kate in

as a woman and then Scott had an entire charm of his own.

I think it was very successful.

Whether it was planned or not,

it was a very successful endeavor.

We're getting ready to do another franchise

of "Star Trek."

- Now I'm gonna say it. - Okay.

- And we want you to be the captain.

Yes.

- Boom, what goes off?

- My first thought?

Not interested.

- Why?

- And I may have even said

I'm not interested in you know, the next captain seat.

And they said, "You're gonna be the first captain."

And then I was done.

"You're gonna be 100 years before Kirk."

I said, "I'm in."

This is Captain Archer of the Starship Enterprise.

We respectfully would like to ask for your assistance

with a little problem.

- Sir, they're charging weapons.

- Polarize the hull plating.

Grab hold of something.

That was an easy kind of a thing

because I had a knowledge of what it was gonna be,

but I don't know what it would've been like to be you

when somebody calls and says, "Come in and audition for."

'Cause there'd been like a couple of bad '50s

kind of TV shows, right?

- Well what happened with me

was I was in New York doing something

and I got a call from a guy named Roddenberry

Who said, "My name is Roddenberry and we've shot a pilot,"

and it didn't sell.

But what they said was,

"Recast it and we'll take another look."

So I go to LA, I fly into LA.

So I looked at this pilot that Roddenberry had shot

with an actor named Jeffrey Hunter and Leonard Nimoy

playing a smiling Vulcan.

And they say, "We wanna recast it."

So you know, I said things like,

"It should be a little more lighthearted and that."

And they all agreed and we made another pilot.

So I was like I had a judgment call.

I could be a little bit of a jury there

saying I will or I won't.

And I said, "I will if you make these changes."

And they did and so it worked out.

It wasn't any great miracle.

George, just get over here a little.

You know, avoid that meteorite.

A little more to the left, George.

You know, as against, "We're turning right."

So that's what I would do.

It wasn't any great thing.

And then because it was-- - Oh no, it's a huge thing.

It was a tone. - It was.

- And that's what everybody fell in love with

was the tone of the show.

- But I must point out that the possibilities,

the potential for knowledge and advancement

is equally great.

Risk.

Risk is our business.

That's what this starship is all about.

That's why we're aboard her.

- And it was very slowly

that I began to realize that if I were to do this,

I was gonna have to commit for six years.

And at that point, I said, "Out of the question.

"I got too much to do."

I can't involve myself in a television series

in California for six years.

"Everybody knows it's not gonna work," they said.

"You cannot revive an iconic series.

"You cannot replace those guys,

“So don't worry about signing a six-year contract,

"you'll never see it out."

- Patrick Stewart who was not Gene's first choice.

In fact, he kinda fought.

Even reading him, at first.

But Bob Justman insisted, so Gene did

and eventually came to realize

that he was just the perfect actor.

30 years with the RSC before he came to "Star Trek."

And having played all of those kings and emperors

and lead characters you know,

that's what a Starship captain is.

- You're an officer on board this ship

and I require you to perform your duty!

That is an order, Commander.

- Yes, sir.

- I read the pilot.

That's what happened.

And I said, “Oh, well.

"Oh, you know, this is very interesting to me."

I mean defending humankind

to some other intelligence in the universe,

a man dealing with loss,

having to raise a child,

indeed a male child by himself and be brown

as we spin this tale

in the 20th century

about the 24th century.

I said, "Okay."

Excuse me, Captain.

Here's tomorrow's duty roster for your approval.

- Lieutenant.

Lieutenant?

- Benjamin Sisko, sir.

I've been on temporary assignment here.

Before I leave, I just want to say

it's been an honor serving with you, sir.

- We got word that Kate Mulgrew was cast.

And from the moment she stepped on the bridge,

we could all relax because Kate is a natural leader.

We had an actress who wanted to be there,

was immaculately prepared every day

and as I said, just has

a take-charge element in her personality.

- You can try and stop us from getting to the truth.

But I promise you if you do, I will respond

with all the unique technologies at my command.

Janeway out.

"Star Trek" captains have to be on it right away.

'Cause so often the camera's with us

and we have to hit these unspeakable marks

with green screens, blue screens and nonexistent aliens,

spouting this language and setting the tone

for the rest of our company.

And mine, I had nine in my cast.

And people think that we're having these lovely breaks,

don't they, Bill?

And being brought coffee and stuff.

It's 18 hours.

You're lucky to go to the john, right?

You get 20 minutes for lunch, that's it.

- Exactly right.

- Gotta be strong.

So I think when they were looking at us,

certainly Patrick and me, Avery.

They were thinking, constitutionally is she up to it?

Then can she speak the language?

Which it might as well be Shakespeare.

It's so highly stylized.

To be able to spin that language out

and make it accessible to the audience at large

is a gift not a lot of actors have.

Lastly, I think there has to be a great sense of discipline.

We are all disciplined people, very punctual.

So I could never be late.

I could never really complain.

I had to be on my own.

I had to do it and I did it, so I'm very proud of that.

- And so was I.

- I'll bet you were.

- Yeah.

And how do you do this thing

and what's the manner in which you say these words?

And therefore, the classical work that all of us have done.

- Yeah. - Came to use.

Ah, New York City.

The home of American theater.

I came here in 1956 with the Stratford Shakespeare Company

and I was performing in Marlowe's "Tamburlaine"

at the famous Winter Garden Theater.

Agents found me, producers found me.

The Broadhurst Theater.

Legendary Theater, another one.

This is 1919, I think it was built.

"Les Miserables,“ "Cats."

Gigantic productions.

Of which "The World of Suzie Wong" was one in the late '50s.

It ran for two years.

I was the leading actor,

At this theater while I was playing

"The World of Suzie Wong," "Funny Girl" opened.

Barbara Streisand opened here.

This was the beginning of her career.

While I'd be in my dressing room one day,

there was a water pipe going from my dressing room down

descending into wherever.

And there was a hole by the water pipe,

so I looked down and I saw that that hole

looked down into the dressing room

of the dancing girls in “Funny Girl."

So I spent part of my time in my dressing room

tryin' to see if there was water in the pipe.

So this is Shubert Alley and I was in this theater

in a play called "Shot in the Dark."

Julie Harris, Walter Matthau and he was hysterical.

Julie was hysterical.

I was pretty funny and we ran for a year.

The common denominator with the captains

is that all of our roots are based in theater.

At one time or another,

we've all played memorable characters on the stage.

Did I say characters?

Did you ever see “Star Trek?"

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah.

I did, yeah.

- Did it change your life at all?

Well it's still changing.

- And as Apple Annie, you watched “Star Trek?"

- Yes.

- What was your favorite? - Wonderful.

I forget the first couple of--

- Years?

- Yeah, wonderful.

It can't be beat.

- With Captain Kirk? - Yeah!

Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, Captain Kirk

and with Spock? - Yeah.

The whole cast.

I love it.

There's nothing like theater.

- Why are you called Apple Annie?

- Well it's like a Bigfoot George.

That's what the Italians do, they have a lead-in.

Yeah, I loves you.

You look so nice.

- Oh, thank you. - Oh, thank you.

In Jewish, you say you're a bargain.

- Bye-bye, Annie.

And that's New York.

He's a bargain.

- Because the work on "Star Trek" was

the scenes and stories were generally serious.

The moments between the filming

were where we had the balance: the yang to the yin

and that's where we were just shamelessly silly.

- Maybe the rest of the cast of "Next Generation"

were having a good time right from the get-go, I wasn't.

I was too nervous.

I felt outta my depth, outta my comfort zone.

I had never filmed in Hollywood in my life before.

I had no ambitions to film in Hollywood.

I was just scared, scared and exhausted all the time.

I never worked so hard in my life.

I called a meeting of the principal cast

of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

and I spoke to them very seriously.

And I said, "I think there is too much messing about.

"I think there's too much fooling around

"goes on in this show.

"We are wasting time.

"We get days off occasionally.

"Some of us get you know, a week off at a time.

"The rest of these people on the set, they don't.

"They're here every day, day in, day out

"and I think we've gotta be aware of that.

"And I think we need to be taking this more seriously.“

And I remember Denise Crosby who was Natasha Yar

saying to me, "Oh come on, Patrick.

"We gotta have some fun.“

And I said, "We are not here to have fun.“

They never, ever let me forget that.

Because the one thing that I took away

from my “Star Trek" experience:

every episode, every movie, all four of them,

was that for the first time in my life as an actor,

my fellow actors showed me how to do good work

and have fun at the same time.

- Whoa, they changed you.

- Yes.

- Morning, darling.

- "Deep Space Nine" was funny

because it's like

Avery was the leader.

He was our captain.

We paid attention and he did set the tone.

He set the tone in terms of respect and seriousness.

- Any scene, especially two-character scenes is like a sport

and you're playing it together

and you wanna get the volleys going.

You're not competing with each other,

but you are demanding of each other

that you deliver the goods.

And with Avery, that was implicit.

- You're firing me?

- I have no choice, Benny.

It's his decision.

- Well you can't fire me,

I quit.

To hell with you

and to hell with Stone!

- Try to stay calm, Benny.

- No, I'm tired of being calm.

Calm never got me a damn thing.

- Do you try and relate the music to the performance?

- It's all music.

I mean I could talk about literature

you know, in terms of music.

Not just the form of it,

but you know, like the sound and the complexity

of the movement and the expression of it.

Sure, I sure could.

Well you know, Art Blakey said that you know, expression.

You know, he's talking idiomatically,

but not so much so that you know,

the highest form of expression is this music

from God through me to you.

It is as wide and varied

as there are people on the Earth.

That's what I know.

- Music. - Yes.

Absolutely.

- Everybody has their song.

- Go ahead.

- Everybody has their music.

- Go on.

- They vibrate according

to their own-- - Go on, go on.

- Tempo and timbre. - Go on, go on.

- So everybody has a unique piece of music.

- I think so.

Go on.

- They play it and it goes out into the universe.

We don't know whether it returns or not.

- Returns to whom?

- Exactly.

Does it make a cycle?

- Well I'm not sure about that.

You know, I mean that's the what do you call it of humankind

and to some extent you know, the desire for return.

That's the what do you call it of humankind?

The small of humankind.

I need to get it back.

No, you don't.

- I need to believe that my existence

and my music in some manner--

- Means something.

Continue.

- Whether you get it or whether you hear it back or not.

- When I took command 10 years ago,

I saw myself as an explorer.

I thought all the risks would be worth it.

Because just beyond the next planet,

just beyond the next star,

there would be something magnificent, something noble.

- The thing about working with Scott is

he has such a disarming quality

and there's just something about him

that you're put at ease.

And I think that he wants that to happen.

He wants that sort of one-on-one relationship with a person.

- Lead me along the lines of your awareness of "Star Trek."

- My awareness? - Yeah.

- It starts and ends with you.

- Really?

Tell me about it.

- Yeah 'cause when I was in college,

you guys hit the rerun world

five nights a week and it was mandatory viewing

and I was in a fraternity.

And you know, the fraternity stopped at 11 o'clock at night.

Wherever you were: you're at a bar.

Whatever you're doin', study, whatever,

stop, “Star Trek's" on.

- What were you thinking?

Why were you watching?

- I watched because I loved the male relationships

on the show.

And of course you watch because you wanna be you guys,

you wanted to be you.

But the way you guys relate it to each other

and the camaraderie and the friendship and the love.

I always said you know, the love.

You know,

that was my goal.

One of the things I was attracted to about doing

my version was to try and get that back.

We didn't succeed the way you guys did,

but that's why I watched.

- Why not?

- That's a good question.

There's magic in casting

and there's magic in the actors around you and

you can't make it happen.

It either happens sometimes and it doesn't.

I had a great cast.

I couldn't really tell you.

All I know is that you guys had it

in a way that was so appealing.

- Do you know what you get if you feed a Tribble too much?

- A fat Tribble.

- No, you get a whole bunch of hungry little Tribbles.

- Well Bones, all I can suggest

is you open up a maternity ward.

- What's interesting about it is everybody says,

"It's so brave of you

"not to try to imitate William Shatner."

I said, "Well of course.

"There's no courageousness at all involved with it."

I think you know, the obvious choice would be clearly

to try to do your own thing

because anything else would just be a joke.

There was a conversation all the time about

because your imprint on the character is

like Nimoy on Spock will stand the test of time.

So knowing that this was some kinda prequel

and we are essentially versions of I am a version of you

to hopefully pepper the character

with some things that would: mannerisms, behaviors.

- Something that would resonate.

- They would resonate.

I'm coming with you.

- I would cite regulation,

but I know you will simply ignore it.

See?

We are gettin' to know each other.

- In the early weeks of shooting the pilot,

somebody said to me,

"How does it feel to be filling the shoes of Captain Kirk?

"How does it feel to be filling the shoes

"of William Shatner?“

And I said, "Excuse me,

"but William Shatner and Captain Kirk

"is still filling his shoes more than adequately.

"I'm attempting to fill different shoes."

You hovered over

our early weeks and months on the series

like a Klingon war bird.

Oh no, the Romulans had war birds.

You see, you know.

- It's been longer for me than you.

- I know, but I bet you would not have made that mistake.

- I would not have used that simile at all.

- But I was trying to find you know,

something that rather ominously, slightly threateningly

you know, kinda hang over your heads.

That was what William Shatner and Captain Kirk was.

I think for many of us,

though we would never have admitted it at the time.

- Did you ever see the "Star Trek" I did?

- No.

- Had you ever heard of me?

- Possibly.

- Possibly not.

- Possibly not.

- That's a pretty nice-lookin' costume there.

What era is that?

Oh my gosh.

- Oh my gosh.

What era is that?

- I'm a Tribble slayer.

- You're a Tribble slayer?

- Yeah.

- Wow. - Yeah.

Wish I were a Tribble.

Hey, everybody.

Imagine finding you here.

- How are you? - Hi.

- Hey.

So you'll have to ask him about that.

Back of my hand.

- Hi there.

Can I just put a big heart?

Doesn't recognize me.

Jeri Ryan,

Listen if I had to vote, she was the most beautiful girl

on "Star Trek" I ever saw ever.

- Aw, you're so sweet.

- Ever.

And you would know.

- Mr. Shatner.

How are ya?

Holy cats, look at that.

The pumpkin.

- Holy crap, that's William Shatner.

- Hey, how're you doin'?

- Oh my god, I was this close.

- Do you believe this?

The most beautiful girl on "Star Trek“ is still selling.

- Still selling.

You look beautiful.

Liz, is it okay if I kiss him?

- Yes, it's okay.

- Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him.

- It's okay.

- Is your husband here?

- He is. - Where is he?

- Where's my sweetie?

- How are ya?

Hi, how are you?

Oh, excuse me.

Sally Kellerman.

- Yes,

- The most beautiful girl who ever appeared on "Star Trek."

- The real way to determine

the success of the various captains

in the "Star Trek" franchise is to see

whose action figure is still available.

Now we have Patrick Stewart here.

So Patrick is a very popular and very wonderful captain,

but how popular could he be?

'Cause you can still find his figure.

Is Captain Kirk here?

Do we see?

Apparently, this is very exciting news for you, Bill.

You're sold out.

- During the shooting you know,

the audience isn't quite aware as you and I are

that the hours are so overwhelming.

- Yup.

- Minimal 12-hour day and most of the days longer than that.

And then you've got publicity and interviews

and rewrites

and other things to do having to do with production,

that the end of the week, you're exhausted.

You only get enough rest on the weekends sometimes

if you're not traveling some place

and then you're back again doing it for 40 weeks.

So the working actor, if he knows anything,

is not complaining.

But it's overwhelming.

No time for relationships of any kind,

including your family.

Did you find that?

- Yeah, very much so.

Not as much in "Enterprise,"

but when I did "Quantum Leap" years ago,

that was a marathon.

I liken that to a marathon

to try to get to the end of the season.

I had five days off in 4 1/2 years when I wasn't on the set,

from first shot to last shot.

- Did it affect your relationships?

- Absolutely.

- Did it affect your marriage?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- How badly? - How bad?

Well that marriage ended. - Right.

So did mine.

- It wasn't a direct product of it,

but it certainly fed into it.

- So you're working all these hours

and your wife is waiting at home and she says,

"Will you be home for dinner?"

And you say, "Yes dear, we're on our last scene.

"Should be done by 6:30."

This is like bad memories.

We all have 'em.

- And then the camera breaks down and 6:30 becomes 9:30.

Yeah, yeah.

And you get home at 9:30.

She says, "I thought you were gonna be here at 6:30.

"Where were you?"

So I thought, what do you mean where was I?

I was pacing back and forth.

It's like, I gotta get home for 6:30

and they say you can't leave.

Yeah.

- Tell me, describe that.

Did you have kids during--

- Oh, yeah.

I have three children and all three children were born

in that period of time.

- Yeah, yeah.

I only had a daughter at the time

and then my second child was born during the time.

Part of the goal was to get home for dinner

and also to see your kid before they went to bed.

And you know, about a year into it

after we kinda figured out what it was,

and I was a new actor, I didn't have any kind of cache

so I couldn't say, I want this time off,

I don't want to work these nights,

I don't want to have any forced calls.

You can't do this.

I just said whatever.

You know, I'm there,

Whenever you need me, I'm there.

- You're an actor trying to make a living.

- Yes.

- You have the potential for making a good living.

Save this money from "Quantum Leap"

and you may not have any worries,

at least not how to pay the rent worries.

- Unless you get divorced and give half of it away.

- I'm glad to meet ya.

- And retire,

- Yes?

- Yes, right there.

Exact same history.

- Really?

- Of I was never there, Star.

This for me was "Star Trek."

I'm “Star Trekking" and I'm getting home the same hours

you were talking about

and my wife says, "This isn't working out.“

And I've got three kids, and it didn't work out.

We did get a divorce and I found myself broke.

- I remember once sitting around a dinner table

and hearing colleagues, actors, directors,

and hearing one of them say,

"I love my job,

"but my family always come first for me, always."

And a voice inside my head said, "Not me."

- Wow.

- I can say that now because I've discussed that.

I've talked about this with them, and they know about.

My son, of course, is now an actor.

But that was my life, my work, and still is essentially.

- Are you lonely?

- Never.

- You're never lonely?

- I've always been content with my own company.

- Really. - Even when others weren't.

- What's it feel like to be divorced?

- I have two major regrets in my life

and they're both to do with the failure of,

my failure in my marriages.

How I behaved,

what I did,

can't be corrected

and

guilt I think has gone, but regret remains.

And I have that very strongly

and it is kind of handicapped me a little bit.

I've been married twice, divorced twice.

I don't know that I could possibly do it again.

- You know, I'm the only female captain

on this franchise called "Star Trek."

And I think that the great difference is

the female is hardwired once she has her young

to take care of them and to raise them

and I couldn't do it well.

You know, there were 16, 18-hour days on that set

for seven years and I had two little kids.

And believe me, Bill Shatner, they resented it;

and to this day, they never watched it, they disdained it,

they had nothing but dripping contempt for it

and I don't blame them.

So the woman cannot have it all,

but I've watched you guys and you guys can.

- Mm-hmm.

- Brings me to the meat,

the heart of what I want to talk to about.

How can you be a Starship captain, a real Starship.

How can you be a naval captain going off.

- To the Delta quadrant.

- To the Delta quadrant - Yeah.

- And have all those hormonal things rage?

How can you be secretary of state?

It's very hard.

- Well hard isn't nebulous.

Isn't it impossible to have the same objectivity

that a man has?

- Yes, of course it is.

- Wow, you admitted that.

- It's impossible to have the same gender.

I mean I'm a woman, you're a man.

- Right.

So it's quite different.

- It's absolutely different.

- To be a leader, a woman leader,

is quite different from a man leader.

- There's no question about it.

Now, I'll sit back and look at Mrs. Albright

and Secretary Clinton

and I'll say to myself, "How do they do it?"

But I asked myself the same question.

It's just diabolically difficult,

Now they're both at an age where they've let.

The rest of the hard work is gone, the kids are up, right?

- But the lack of hormones is raging there as well.

I mean, it never stops,

- It doesn't stop, no.

This could be unanswerable.

- No, it has an answer.

- You have an answer for it.

- Well you have an answer.

- I would apply this.

Let me apply it to myself as an actor

and not as a a politician or anything else

because I couldn't speak for those women.

I would say, this being the second-oldest profession,

it's all right to be an actress.

But it's not as kind as it was even 200 years ago

when you were allowed to bring your children with you

to the theater and children were a part of your life.

Now everything is severely compartmentalized

and you know Hollywood better, much better than I do.

It's tough.

It's a boy's club out there and they're very tough.

You play by their rules and you must subscribe to them.

So that doesn't have any--

- See, that sounds very politically interesting,

what you said, but it doesn't make any sense.

What do you mean you play by their rules?

You have to appear at 6:00 in the morning

and be ready with your lines and say the words

and be there 'til the end of shooting.

Right.

- That could be eight, nine, 10.

You and I have worked 'til 12:00, 2:00,

four o'clock in the mornin'. - That's correct.

- To complete the day's work on a Friday especially.

That's right.

- Then you're wrecked for the weekend.

That's right, you're wrecked.

- You gotta sleep all day Saturday.

- But you're not wrecked.

'Cause the minute you get home at five o'clock,

you've got two hours

before those kids are jumping on your bed.

Right.

- Now as a man, I suppose you have the license

or the opportunity at any rate to say, "Go to your mother."

But if you're a single mother which I was

with your two little children, you get up.

- So what do you do now?

You get up.

- Okay, so I have just come from

in the sequence of activity that I'm doing.

I've just come from England with Patrick.

I know you have.

- Flown.

I'm in jet lag, okay?

I've survived because I don't have any kids with me.

My wife and I stayed in the room, we rest and have gone

and I am energized to talk to you.

- But if I were jet-lagged.

- You look very dapper.

- Thank you. - And let's be frank,

Liz looks after you a little bit, does she not?

- That's right, absolutely.

I don't have anybody looking after me.

- My wife looks after me.

You don't have anybody looking after you.

- Of course I don't. - And you were looking

after your kids by yourself.

That's right.

- It's impossible to do.

- It is impossible, but it's obviously not impossible.

- Well. - I did it.

- No no, it is impossible to do.

So how did you do it?

- I'm afraid I didn't do parts of either thing very well.

I didn't reach the excellence I could've reached

had I had a little more rest and a little more help

and I'll have to live with that myself.

But I did the very best that I could.

- The excellence with the children or with the role?

- Absolutely, my motherhood. - And what about the role?

What about Janeway? - Well you know,

my pride, my ego is very substantial,

so I never gave her less than I would say 95%.

But there were days when there was absolute exhaustion.

There were days when my kids were suffering

and you know you can't walk off a set.

You know that better than anybody.

There's no way they're gonna let you go.

So the preoccupation with your children's pain is enormous

and add to that eight pages of techno-babble

that you gotta execute by two o'clock in the morning

and you can't get to the phone because they don't let you.

It's very hard.

- Did you lose family time?

- Of course.

- Did it hurt? - Of course.

- But how much harm was suffered?

- Well you know, you'll need to ask them.

I mean because the attendant of the movement of time

you know, for us all.

You know, there it is.

There's the one hand on the other.

I mean who knows, therefore?

You know, in retrospect you know?

I mean you could do it that way.

Say or I should've done this as opposed, you know?

I mean who knows?

I mean

so I hold fast to what I've chosen to do

and I'm not apologizing for that.

But the attendant to" taken on family and all of that,

that's it.

- What do you mean, that's it?

That's profound.

- Hey man, that's it.

- That was terrible. - It's true, baby.

- That was terrible.

- Well it's not terrible or not terrible.

- Well you suffered. - It's true.

- You suffered. - It's true.

They suffered.

- You suffered. - It's true.

- But you suffered as well. - Now watch.

- Well if they suffered, didn't you suffer?

- Watch what I'm sayin' to you.

- I'm listening.

- It's true.

It's not terrible or not, it's true.

You know, the toll.

The toll on people, you can't get it back.

I mean no matter what.

I mean whether the decision to you know,

to do a thing or not to do a thing.

You know what I'm talkin' about.

- Yes, I do.

Did you discuss this with Vicki like this or did you?

- She knows, of course.

I'll move.

Whether we survive it is still extent, isn't it?

Whether we survive all of the sum.

- The killing of the effects of life.

- Yeah that livin', baby.

Like you, what's different?

- The same.

This is 50-somethin' years later

and I'm

an old man, reminiscing

about a kid

who was so afraid.

I was afraid of the future.

I was afraid of my fellow actors.

I was afraid of not being good enough.

I didn't realize it then,

but startin' to realize it now.

God, I come from such a sense of inferiority.

I'd been asked to come to Stratford

because I'd been playing in professional theater in Ottawa.

And so I came to this tent

that was erected over a hole in the ground.

This was Stratford Theater.

We were all there.

The acting company waiting for Tyrone Guthrie,

a legendary English producer/director.

And I'd come to his attention because

I had understudied Chris Plummer in “Henry V.“

Chris, about two weeks into the run got sick for one day

and they asked me if I could go on.

And I went on, I got lucky.

It went well and then I got good notices

and my name became known a little bit at Stratford.

But this was a time of great ferment for me.

I didn't know whether I could make it as an actor.

I get to meet my old friend Chris Plummer

on the stage at Stratford.

He might not have been a captain, but he was a general.

Coming to Los Angeles to do "Star Trek,"

do you recall telling anybody and any reaction you had?

- Yes, I wanted to keep it quiet.

- You told no one.

- I said, "Listen."

Well no, I said, "I'm in LA for tests."

No, I'm joking.

No, I was very proud of it.

I told everybody.

I went on and on saying that you realized

you couldn't go on with your career without hiring me.

- Chang.

- Can you see me?

Oh now be honest, Captain.

Warrior to warrior.

- Chang was an integral part of "Star Trek."

A character that the fans, as I understand it.

- Yes, well you know, I was a serious Trekkie

when it first came out.

- No, I didn't know that. - You didn't know that.

- No.

- But I was in the early '60s when it began.

- Yeah. - Wasn't it the early '60s?

- Middle '60s, yeah. - Middle.

But I was living in England all through the '60s,

but I watched you on television.

- Oh for gosh sakes.

- Over and over again.

I became a complete Trekkie.

So when you asked me 100 years later

to play in this very witty "Star Trek VI."

I played this I think the only Klingon

that didn't have a hairpiece

and I had this sort of blind eye

and this eye patch with a nail through it.

I looked a bit like Moshe Dayan in heat.

- In heat. - Yes.

And I had a marvelous time playing with you guys again

and everybody seemed to be a Canadian on that show.

- That was right.

We larded it with the finest talent in the world

who just happened to be Canadian.

Of course.

- The line that stayed with me was

that you should read Shakespeare in the original Klingon.

- If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

Prick us, do we not bleed?

Wrong us,

shall we not revenge?

I think it was something like you haven't heard Shakespeare

until you've heard it in the original Klingon.

- And sitting here in a seat of Shakespeare's.

it's really funny.

It strikes a chord.

Was Chang a challenge?

- Yes, yes.

How so?

- It was a challenge to begin with

because I didn't want to look like every other Klingon

that had ever walked

with the massive head. - The omelet.

- The massive brow. - Right.

- And we ran into big difficulty

because of course isn't there a language

already in Washington? - Yeah.

A guy invented the Klingon language.

- Yes and it's been certified

and it's been recognized as a language.

Dead or alive. - Oh my gosh.

- And so I got a lotta flak.

A lotta people were saying, "No, no, no, no, no."

"You've gotta have all this 'cause it's traditional.

"We can't walk away."

Finally, Nicholas.

- Nick Meyer, yeah.

- Nick Meyer who wrote that very witty

tongue-in-cheek script, he stood up for me.

I didn't come to you because I thought

no, Bill's not gonna help at all.

So at least the director stood up for me and I got my way.

I didn't have the long hair.

- The omelet. - I looked.

Yeah.

To be

or not

to be.

- I'm a native of the planet Risa

which was the planet that everybody went on vacation

when they had time off.

- It was a spring break planet.

- Yes, basically. - Spring break planet.

- Risans gone wild.

- Yes. - Starfleet Academy, woo!

- From TOS to TNG to DS9 to Voyager,

it's pretty much also inspired my life.

I study mechanical engineering.

The next generation right here.

- I've always been a "Star Trek“ fan.

Humanity has settled its differences with each other

and that's what I really would like to live.

- Well he is about the most ultimate "Star Trek" fan

that ever lived.

He came from Albuquerque and had drove up 12 hours

in a van and

it was quite a difficult trip for him,

but it's worth it.

He's had like two hours of sleep.

He doesn't care.

It helps his mind, he says.

It's I think, somethin' that's positive and creative

and it brings a lot of meaning to him.

- For a long time,

Bill had no interest in going to the conventions.

He and Leonard both had issues

with getting away from that character,

only being identified with one role.

They were actors.

They wanted people to appreciate

their ability for other things,

not just for the one character they played.

He finally did a convention in New York in 1976.

He was very nervous.

I don't think he realized what it would be like

to get on stage and have, in this case,

thousands of people who absolutely adored him;

just that love that hits you when you get on that stage.

And he started going to conventions after that.

- I'm doing a documentary called “The Captains."

Avery Brooks:

What a great guy.

But he's kinda out there.

He's doing jazz things in his head.

"Captain."

"Avery, are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here."

And that phony accent that Patrick Stewart puts on.

I had the best time with Patrick at his house.

It was.

He's got a great house in the country.

Can't tell you where, can't even tell you which country.

Kate Mulgrew in New York.

So she's on her way down to the location

and I sat in a packing box

and people start passing by and they're lookin' at me

and I'm in there.

I'm like a homeless guy in a packing box.

"Isn't that Captain Kirk in there?

"What's he doin'?"

Yes.

What's your favorite dramatic scream,

Spock or Khan?

- You gotta help me.

Scream Spock like I did.

- Spock!

- Okay, now scream Khan like I did.

- Khan!

- That's pretty good, kid.

Which is my favorite scream?

Screams of ecstasy, but you wouldn't know about that.

Goodbye, goodbye.

- You don't mind, do you?

— Oh mind, my friend.

My dear friend.

I love you so much.

- And you know it's mutual.

- I know. - I know.

Where are we going now?

- You have a backstage meet-and-greet.

- A backstage meet-and-greet.

How are you?

- Fine, how are you?

- What's your name?

- My name's Dawn.

I met you in San Francisco.

- I recognize your pretty face, Dawn.

- Thank you.

- Hi. - Hi, I'm Deborah.

- Hi Deborah, how are you?

Pleasure to see you.

Hi, how are you?

- Jodie Winston.

She used to talk to me a lot about you.

Really?

Pleasure to see you.

I'm Amy, it's nice to meet you.

Hello, Amy.

Pleasure to meet you.

- Hi, Blair. - Blair.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to see you.

- Andy. - Andy.

Hi, Scott.

How are you? - Pleasure to meet you.

- Pleasure to meet you.

Hi there.

How are you today?

- Mr. Shatner, this is Captain Dave.

Hi, Captain Dave.

How are you?

- One of your biggest fans.

It's a pleasure to see you.

How are you?

- He's speaking now.

- There you go.

I understand you're fine.

Are you excited?

That a boy.

It's good to see you.

Are you havin' fun?

Must be quite an experience, eh?

It's good to see you.

Take care of yourself.

So I am on this Bombardier airplane

and I'm watching for the first time, you.

I'm looking at the dignity

and the seriousness

and the application of your talent to this role.

And I'm thinking, this is really good.

And I know the quality of your talent.

I've recognized a long time ago

what a fine actor you are.

And then I plumbed a note inside me

that I wanna talk to you about and that's this:

When I did Captain Kirk

and we opened up in the first season,

the notices were not particularly good about the show

and not particularly good for me.

Whatever they said about me

was not as laudatory as it had in the past

and what I was able to get sometimes in the future.

In fact, Leonard Nimoy who played Mr. Spock

so well, so uniquely,

that although he didn't have spectacular things to do

that we would think of for an actor.

He played the thing so differently

that it caught the attention of people and the critics

and he had a nomination for an Emmy

and none of that came my way.

Then as the show continued,

I would get things like, "Hey, beam me up, Scotty."

A sort of what had seemed to me, a sort of derisive tone.

And then when my series was over and a few years later,

there began conventions.

I was asked to do the first convention and I thought,

I'm not gonna do a convention with all those people

in costumes and makeup and all this.

And then after a few conventions,

15,000 people would attend.

And I thought, whoa all right, 15,000 people.

I guess you can't ignore that.

So I went on and I would do these conventions

and there'd be all these people in wardrobe and costume.

"What's it like to be Captain Kirk?"

And, "Yay, Captain."

They're taking me as Captain Kirk.

I'm not Captain Kirk, I'm William Shatner.

More and I think the right word is derisive.

I realized on that airplane

that I was slightly embarrassed about playing Captain Kirk.

I never thought of it in that way.

But I thought, all these people that would come up to me

and one who came up to me in Toronto

when we landed to pick up Canadian crew.

The head of Bombardier said what a fan he was of me

and that he had become an aeronautical engineer

because of my appeal to him.

And as I know and I wanna hear about it,

so many people have come up and said my life has changed

as a result of seeing your work.

And what I have done always in the past

was go, oh yeah.

I'd say to myself yeah, right.

Not really.

I mean I'm part of this Hollywood mystique.

You guys think and you think

I affect your life but not really.

I would deny it.

Even if I didn't so in front of them, "Sure."

And for the first time

when the head, the CEO of Bombardier

said, "I was affected."

The first time because I'm doing research on you,

I looked at him and I thought,

is it possible that what I did all those years ago

really did affect him?

I was in denial and I was in a sort of derisive feeling

about Captain Kirk until I saw you play Captain Picard.

And I thought, you've brought all your talents,

all your excellence, all your gravitas to the part.

And then your statement in which you said

all the kings and emperors and romantic parts

that you have played classically and elsewhere,

all have led up to playing Captain Picard.

But I too have played classical roles

and been in wonderful productions.

And I never thought of it quite that way

that the way Captain Kirk changed my life.

I never quite thought of it that way until this epiphany

I've had as a result of doing the research on you.

- How extraordinary.

How extraordinary.

I have so many observations about what you've been saying.

There are many places in which our careers

and our lives and work overlap.

- Tremendous amount.

- I don't believe this is coincidence.

I think Gene Roddenberry

sometimes knew exactly what he was doing

and sometimes he was just working on instinct

when he cast you, when very improbably, he cast me.

And the story about all my work prior to "Star Trek"

being nothing but a preparation

for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.

I said this very early in the first season

when we were doing a lot of press

and I found myself being asked questions

or listening to comments

that were ever so gently, ever so subtly implying

that given my past, my history as an actor,

wasn't I just slumming a little bit now?

You know, hadn't this just taken a little bit of a downward.

I was so offended by these suggestions.

Because you know how hard we worked on those shows,

the hours that we put in, that everybody put in.

If I filled that chair at all well,

if I had any authority on the bridge

or on an alien planet,

it was because of what I'd done before

that gave me that confidence and assurance

and I think thoughtfulness about the work.

And very early on I remember in a conversation

with Jonathan Frakes, Commander Riker saying,

"I'm going to do the best work in this syndicated

"science-fiction television show that I can possibly do.

- Who am I to argue with the Captain of the Enterprise?

What's the name of that planet, Veridian III?

- Yes.

- I take it the odds are against us

and the situation is grim.

- You could say that.

- Sounds like fun.

You applied all your skills

without any sense of it being less

than demanding everything you had.

- Mm-hmm.

- I don't mean that when I was shooting

that I didn't do anything less than my best.

I was coming from a more emotional point of view I think

and that I was trying to generate as much

emotion within what was written

to extract as much juice out of it as possible

that I when I look at some of the things I did.

I go, what was I?

Why wasn't I more diffident about that

instead of trying to extract

every moment of drama out of it?

- But there's one difference that separates the two of us.

We have all of these similarities.

You were creating a show.

We were developing that creation of yours.

The passion, you see?

It's so good you talked about the passion

that you put into it.

My passion was of a different nature

from yours as Captain Kirk.

You were setting the style, the form, the shape,

the quality of the energy of that series.

- I finally realized that it wasn't Starfleet

I wanted to get away from.

I was trying to accept the pain I felt

after my wife's death.

I thought I could take the uniform,

wrap it around that pain and toss them both away.

But it doesn't work like that.

Running may help for a little while,

but sooner or later the pain catches up with you

and the only way to get rid of it

is to stand your ground and face it.

- From God to you.

- Through to me.

- What happens when you die?

Tell me.

- Wish I knew.

Do you have a thought?

It could be good, it could be bad.

That makes me smile.

- I wish I knew.

Well what's your feeling about life and death?

What's your feeling?

- Well I don't think.

I think we're just, the bodies are just temporal

and another word that you and I could use.

But you know, we're not our bodies.

You know, we're--

- Are we?

Do we have a soul?

- I think so, I think so.

- Does that soul go some place?

- I think so.

- Like where?

- I think it's all around us.

- Yeah? - It's all around us.

- It's not in a pearly gate?

- No, no.

- But the souls, the essence of the lives

that have been before are around us.

- Always, always.

- Do they have an influence?

Oh, absolutely.

- And helping guide.

- Yeah, sure.

- So you don't think in terms of life and death.

- I don't.

I think about it in terms you know, for other people.

But I think

the more, the longer I'm here and the more I see,

the less I think about that

because so many people don't get as long as I've had.

So many people don't have as much as I have.

And so I think as you get older

you know, people always talk about perspective,

but I think you get more grateful.

- Mr. Shatner, you are well-traveled, well-read.

You've loved often and well.

You've experienced a great deal of grief

and probably no end of problems

that none of us will ever know.

So I have to conclude that you're an examined person.

So I want you to really answer this question:

When you die,

do you believe that there is a life after that

or do you believe that it is ashes to ashes, dust to dust?

- When I had to play the death of Captain Kirk,

the night before I said to myself,

I have to look at the moment of death, how will I feel?

And so I imagined myself on the threshold.

I fainted once when I drank a cold beer

after a hot workout and I went.

How typical of you.

- And I went out.

I chug-a-lugged a cold beer

and sooner or later I passed out

and 20 seconds later I was like, "What happened?"

But I remember the closing in.

- Yes.

- The irising in of my feeling.

And like how they're, “Holy cow."

Zoom and I was out.

So what is that moment of death?

Where is that

margin that you say I'm alive and I'm dying?

I'm dead.

I had to imagine that.

Then I had to characterize it by what would Captain Kirk do.

So there's two answers here:

One is the death of Captain Kirk.

I imagined Kirk with a lifetime of looking at the--

- The alien.

- The alien coming towards you.

- Right, right, right.

- And instead of fear, I always play wow, look at that.

Ooh, his giant teeth is coming towards me.

That sorta thing, awe and wonder.

I figured Kirk would look at the moment of death and go,

"oh my."

It was

fun.

Oh my.

I'm frightened of death, I'm scared.

- Are you? - Yeah.

I thrust it out of my mind and probably by the dint of work

'cause I know death is over my shoulder.

By the dint of work that I'm doing, I'm alive.

By the passion I feel for my wife, I'm alive.

By my family affairs, I hold them so close.

I'm alive.

But death is right there and I'm fearful.

I'm panicked.

- What are you fearful of?

- Losing all this.

Now you're out there, you finish "Star Trek"

and you leave.

Where do you go?

- Here.

- Did you know you were coming here?

- Yeah, I have nowhere else to go.

I've nowhere else to go.

You know when people say, "Oh, what are you doing now?"

"Well I mean what I'm doing always."

I'm right here.

♪ Here you are at home ♪

♪ So happy ♪

♪ And yet you yearn ♪

♪ For more ♪

♪ What do you yearn for ♪

♪ What do you want ♪

♪ What's life ♪

♪ Going to tell you ♪

♪ You look at me ♪

♪ And wonder ♪

You see?

♪ You look at me and ♪

♪ Think ♪

- No.

♪ Doubt ♪

♪ You ♪

♪ Yeah, look at me and wonder ♪

♪ Will the flame ♪

♪ Go out ♪

♪ No no no ♪ ♪ Burn out ♪

♪ That flame is there ♪

♪ No one is sure ♪

♪ Of sunshine ♪

♪ No one is sure of rain ♪

♪ All we know ♪

♪ But my love ♪

♪ For you ♪

♪ Will always ♪

♪ Be there ♪

♪ Will linger ♪

♪ On ♪

♪ And on ♪

♪ And on ♪

- All I know is that

I have found

a greater peace,

a greater tranquility,

a truer sense of who I am and why I'm here

on stage or in front of a camera

than I find in life.

- Not fame, not money,

not even the craft itself is more important to me

than the people that I love

and that's where I've come to.

I suppose that was always me,

but it takes some years

of feeling

the deep

strains of love.

It's the only mystery

that is infinitely important.

- No, it's this thing about the freedom

of how we conceive,

how we perceive each other,

the world, the possibility of things.

- I've always wanted to believe.

So when they present something like Quantum Leap to me

or time travel, I wanna believe that.

I wanna believe that we can do that.

Because I know that we can split the atom

and move it from one side of a cement block

to the other side of it and put it back together again.

So theoretically we can do that.

So I'm on board, I'm there.

When your guys' show is on

and I'm lookin' at you guys flying,

I'm thinkin' we're gonna be able to do that someday.

- It was one of the best experiences of my life.

I met some of the closest friends

that I think I'll ever have.

It certainly changed the trajectory of my career.

But fundamentally in what I think what acting is all about

and what you've shown a great deal of,

especially with "Boston Legal" is a sense of humor.

There's a fun, there's a joy.

- I know

that if it were all to end

this evening, everything,

I would be largely known

for my work on "Star Trek."

I would be Captain Picard.

Not Macbeth, not King Lear,

not Shakespeare, any of those things but Captain Picard

and I am absolutely fine with that.

Wow.

- Fine.

- In this instant for you to have said that,

here's the gift you've given me.

I've made this long journey

from Los Angeles to London to talk to you

and the gift I've got

is my realization

that I too would feel the same way

if they say, “That was Captain Kirk."

All of a sudden,

I've suddenly had a release to say

I'm happy with that, why not?

Great character, long-lived.

45 years later, people are still talkin' about Captain.

Who does that?

- Unprecedented.

- Unprecedented.

So what if they say, "Beam me up, Scotty?"

Yeah, yeah.

- "If I could I would," should be my answer.

So Scotty

wherever you are,

it's okay to beam me up.

But not yet.