My blog received a little buzz from Know Your Meme over the famous story I wrote years ago on the behind the scenes story about Will Wheaton first meeting Shatner for the first time and Shatner treating the boy like total shit.
I did some digging and found the complete story behind the infamous incident. Wesley Crusher/Wil wrote a detailed two part story about terrible encounter he had with Shatner and his inflated ego. He wrote the story over at Suicide Girls.com (Read Part One here) (part two).
Shatner comes across as a total asshole. Here are some of my favorite moments from that story, which I will point out here.
At a certain point Shatner had it in his contract that he would get everything Leonard Nimoy would have gotten. Something tells me Shatner was a little jealous of the buzz Nimoy was receiving from directing work on Star Trek III and IV. So, when it was time to make STV Shatner had the right to direct the upcoming film. During the filming of STV, Shatner watched as his shrunk budget and labor disputes disrupted his movie.
At a certain point, Shatner had an encounter with a 16-year-old actor on the TNG show…
From Part 1, ((I was very proud of the work I was doing. When I found out that the original series cast would be working next door to us for two months, I was beside myself.))
Wheaton loved the TOS show and was a big fan of the movies and actors. The two productions worked on the same lot for a while and Wil got enough courage juice to go inside the STV set to meet William Shatner the director. It should be noted that Wil was wearing his grey uniform from the show at the time.
Things went downhill from the start of their meeting. From Part 1 (("So . . . you're the kid on that show?" He seemed annoyed.))
At that point, I would have quietly walked away. But, it gets worst…
(("I said, what do you do over there?" he asked. There was a challenge in his voice.
"Oh, uh, well, I'm an acting ensign, and I sometimes pilot the ship." Maybe he'd be impressed that I'd already logged several hours at the helm of the Enterprise D, all before the age of 16.
"Well, I'd never let a kid come onto my bridge." He said, and walked away.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise 1701, and Enterprise 1701-A, the only person in Starfleet to ever defeat the Kobiyashi Maru, the man behind the Corbomite Maneuver, the man who took the Enterprise to the Genesis planet to return Spock's katra, the man who I had admired since I was eight years old, was immediately transformed into WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER.))
"Oh, uh, well, I'm an acting ensign, and I sometimes pilot the ship." Maybe he'd be impressed that I'd already logged several hours at the helm of the Enterprise D, all before the age of 16.
"Well, I'd never let a kid come onto my bridge." He said, and walked away.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise 1701, and Enterprise 1701-A, the only person in Starfleet to ever defeat the Kobiyashi Maru, the man behind the Corbomite Maneuver, the man who took the Enterprise to the Genesis planet to return Spock's katra, the man who I had admired since I was eight years old, was immediately transformed into WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER.))
This upset Wil Wheaton a lot. It bothered him for days. Word got around to the entire Paramount Lot about Shatner belittling a 16 year old boy for no good reason. However, Shatner was one of those TOS guys that made it known publicly that he didn’t like the idea of a new cast of actors taking over the name of Star Trek. He made many statements bashing the new crew. I think Shatner, being an insecure guy, felt threatened by the success that TNG was having at time.
All that came to the surface when this young boy came onto his troubled set with the new Star Fleet uniform on. I’m not defending what Shatner did, but it makes more sense as to why Shatner acted like an ass to a young boy that just wanted to meet him.
I almost had a chance to meet Shatner years ago, because I was only a few feet away from him in the same video store/comic book store. Shatner was in there with his people taking pictures and I saw him from a distance. I was in the comic book portion and heard the owner ask one of his people to bring him over so he could get a picture with him in the store. I could have easily met him then, but I promptly ducked out after that because I heard of all the horror stories involving him. (I had an uncle that met him once when he worked at a hotel. My uncle told me Shatner wasn’t that nice either.)
Having someone that played a character I looked up to would have probably shattered me.
Shatner, in recent years, has made fun of his ego and bad acting with some success. And, I have to give him credit for making millions off of making himself look like an ass.
But, he has ruffled some feathers over the years, especially his former cast mates from the original series of Star Trek. George Takei summed up everything about the arrogance of Shatner over the years…
George Takei: “F’ you, and the horse you rode in on.”
Somewhere, Wil Wheaton is laughing.
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