That Star Trek V Press Conference

That Star Trek V Press Conference

Yes, that was awkward wasn't it? The people over at R Cringe are talking about the fact that Shatner might have truly forgotten his co-star's name, but I think he did it on purpose. However, I don't know the names of most of my co-workers, but I do know the ones I've worked with for a long time.

I think this was during the height of Shatner's ego. Keep in mind that this was around the time when he belittled a 15 year old Wil Wheaton. And, sent Wheaton crying off the STV set defeated. Shatner is known for really belittling his co-stars.

Walter Koenig is pissed. I love that he doesn't miss a beat reminding Shatner his name.

-James Doohan : I think James simmered down with his hatred of Shatner at this point in his life.

-George Takei : I know things have gotten very bad between these two lately. I heard Takei thought about sitting this movie out. However, he got a call from Shatner trying to convince him to come on board.

-I love the early start of the music. And, the look of anger by Harve Bennett .

-Harve Bennett : This would be his last ST movie since starting with STII. Bennett, from what Nichelle Nichols says, wasn't well liked by most of the ST cast. And, Leonard Nimoy and Bennett butted heads so much, that Nimoy basically banned Bennett from the set (Allegedly). Bannett would try to “reboot” the franchise with a new series of films set in the Academy days called Star Trek Starfleet Academy. The cast and fans rallied against it with the help from Gene. Bennett left the franchise feeling a little battered after that.

Side note: Bennett is now 84 years old.

-Shatner went through hell making this film: While I think the movie has some major problems, the studio really screwed over the production by slashing the budget. And, Shatner had labor/writer's strikes and other production problems on the set.

-ILM, George Lucas' company, didn't do the FX. You can tell too, because these are the weakest FX in all of the Trek movies. The “A” team that usually did the Trek films were busy with Indiana Jones 3's FX and STV would be forced to work with a secondary ILM team. Looking at the final product, they should have worked with ILM regardless.