I’ve always had mixed feelings for William Shatner, the man. He
played one of the most coolest, iconic characters in science fiction, Captain
James T. Kirk, the commander of the starship Enterprise, on three seasons of the
original 1960s Star Trek TV series. His Kirk was a ’devil may care’ maverick who
sought to right whatever wrongs he and his crew came across in their travels
across the universe--and sometimes he did so by bucking orders from his superior
officers. In contrast, Shatner is an unabashed glory hound who was always content
to be in the spotlight--which can also be said of many performers. But Shatner always
had this crazed mania to be the center of attention, regardless of what the
project may be.
And so when I read that William Shatner had written and
directed the documentary, The Captains, I let out a groan. I actually liked the
idea of The Captains, which is a look at all of the actors who have played the
captain in each incarnation of Star Trek: Shatner, who played Kirk in the
original 1960s series; Patrick Steward, who played Jean Luc Picard in The Next
Generation; Avery Brooks, who played Benjamin Sisko on Deep Space Nine; Kate
Mulgrew, who played Kathryn Janeway on Voyager, Scott Bakula, who played
Jonathan Archer on Enterprise, and Chris Pine, who played Kirk in the new film.
They each look back at what their roles meant for them, both professionally and
personally.
But while Shatner doesn’t have himself interviewed (no, he’s not that
tacky, thankfully) he still dominates the proceedings way too much. When
speaking with his subjects, Shatner--who fancies himself an inquisitive, gutsy
interviewer, thanks to his goofy cable talk show--begins to pontificate about
his feelings and desires in a long-winded manner to the point where several of
his interview subjects (namely Steward and Mulgrew) begin questioning him. The
only one who manages to hold his own with the Shatman is Brooks, who is so
out-there, so off the wall in a truly wacky way, that he answers Shatner’s
questions about life beyond death by playing the piano and prodding Shatner into
singing the answers! Wow!
I’ve been a Trek fan since childhood, and I still enjoyed visiting with these
actors once more--that is, when I could hear them. Unfortunately, another
annoying aspect of the documentary, other than Shatner’s constant LOOK AT ME
posturing, is the annoyingly intrusive music that plays over the interviews,
making it very hard to hear what they’re saying. At least I had the closed
captions. It would have been much better if all of the Captains had been
interviewed by a third party who would have given them equal screen time. But,
as it stands, The Captains is a gloriously tawdry look at how much Bill Shatner
truly loves to hear himself talk. If only he let the other captains talk just a little
more, this truly would have been worth watching.
--SF
Main Review Page | Documentaries |The Captains - A Film By William Shatner
