William Shatner says he doesn’t watch Star Trek

There may have been only three seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series, but we all know the show’s history.

The dedicated fanbase was never going to allow the show to die, and we are all grateful to the original Trek crusaders. Trekkies made sure the 1966-1969 series lived on and became a phenomenon, which was helped by syndicated reruns after the show’s initial run ended.

Thanks to those campaigners, we now have several decades worth of Star Trek TV shows and movies to enjoy, and several feature the TOS captain himself, William Shatner. It may surprise you to know, however, that Shatner hasn’t watched his own show.

In a recent interview with People, Shatner said: “I have never watched Star Trek. There are many episodes I don’t know; there are some movies I don’t know. I directed one of the movies — No. 5 — I had to watch that one. But it’s all painful because I don’t like the way I look and what I do.”

Finally, someone who agrees with me. I would never have expected it to be the man himself, however. I’ve always considered Shatner’s portrayal of Kirk as over the top and hammy. I know I’ll get a lot of hate for that, but he has never been amongst my favourite Star Trek actors. His OT performance really stands out, especially amongst quality performers like Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.

That being said, he must be doing something right, considering that the actor who recently turned 90 has been acting for 70 of those 90 years. He has 250 film and television credits to his name, so someone in the universe loves him. And that’s okay.