George Takei responds to William Shatner calling former Star Trek stars “bitter.” It has been nearly 60 years since the voyages of the Starship Enterprise began with Gene Roddenberry’s groundbreaking 1966 TV series Star Trek:TOS. Famously, Roddenberry’s Star Trek ground rules barred interpersonal conflict between the characters from marring the show’s star-hopping action. But the show’s cast members made up for the lack of onscreen conflict by engaging in plenty of behind-the-scenes drama.Almost six decades on from Star Trek’s iconic three-year run as a TV phenomenon, most of the show’s main cast members have sadly passed on. But Sulu actor Takei and Kirk actor Shatner are still very much around and still very much in the public eye. Unfortunately, Takei and Shatner seem to mostly engage with each other by sniping back and forth, largely on social media. Recently, Shatner fired a new salvo in his ongoing feud with Takei, accusing the Sulu actor of being bitter and of using Shatner’s name for publicity. Now Takei has fired back, responding to Shatner in a new interview with The Guardian. See Takei’s remarks in the space below:
“I know he came to London to promote his book and talked about me wanting publicity by using his name. So I decided I don’t need his name to get publicity. I have much more substantial subject matter that I want to get publicity for, so I’m not going to refer to Bill in this interview at all. Although I just did. He’s just a cantankerous old man and I’m going to leave him to his devices. I’m not going to play his game.”
The History Of Takei and Shatner's Feud
Takei in his new Guardian interview also refers to Shatner as a "prima donna," an accusation that echoes previous remarks by the Sulu actor describing Shatner’s behavior on the set of Star Trek: TOS. Takei once recounted a specific incident in which he accused Shatner of shutting down production for a whole day because he was jealous of a photo shoot Leonard Nimoy was doing for TV Guide. Shatner for his part claimed in his 2008 book Star Trek Memories that Takei injured him as they filmed a sword fight for the TOS episode “The Naked Time.”
The bad blood between Takei and Shatner then continued into the era of big screen Star Trek. Takei indeed was so tired of Shatner’s prima donna act by 1987 that he nearly pulled out of Star Trek V after learning the Kirk actor had been hired to direct. Another escalation took place in 2008 when dispute erupted over whether Shatner had been invited to Takei’s wedding to partner Brad Altman. Though Shatner and Takei have been photographed together looking friendly at various events in recent years, it seems each man always says something to re-trigger the feud. Takei once even shaded Shatner’s famed trip to space on Jeff Bezos’ rocket, calling the Kirk actor a mere “guinea pig.” Shatner too has kept things going on social media, as in the 2022 post where he dismissed Takei as a “day player” who has created fantasies in order to keep himself in the press.
Who is right and who is wrong in this ongoing feud is truly impossible to say. On the one hand, it would be nice if these two old co-stars would at last bury the hatchet, as their feuding tends to divide Star Trek fans who feel the need to take a side. On the other hand, the sniping is largely harmless and can be quite entertaining. Ultimately, it seems Shatner and Takei are both men who enjoy a good verbal sparring match, and each man is clearly capable of holding his own, so it seems unlikely the feud will end any time soon.
Source: The Guardian