William Shatner Has A Brutally Honest Take On All The New Star Trek Shows
During William Shatner's long and storied career, it's become pretty common for the 91-year-old to be blunt about his thoughts. No topic is too big or too small for Shatner to voice his opinion on, whether it's disagreeing with Prince William about space tourism or going after J.J. Abrams publicly when he was making the rebooted "Star Trek" because he wanted his character to be resurrected and have a significant role in the new film. When asked in an interview with The Guardian what he wishes he'd known at 20 that he knows now, he responded that "I'm glad I didn't know because what you know at 90 is: take it easy, nothing matters in the end, what goes up must come down. If I'd known that at 20, I wouldn't have done anything!"
Given Shatner's "nothing matters in the end" attitude, it's no surprise that he'd rather be straightforward when he's asked questions. However, given how intertwined Shatner is with his Captain James T. Kirk "Star Trek" persona, fans were still a little surprised by his response when asked at San Diego Comic-Con what he thinks of the new Star Trek shows.
He doesn't think any of the new Star Trek series live up to the original
During the Shatner on Shatner panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, William Shatner gave unfiltered and frank answers to fans' questions and sometimes just talked off the cuff, like when joking about his advanced age, saying "I could die right here" (via The Hollywood Reporter). But when a fan asked if he thought any of the new "Star Trek" series rivaled his own, Shatner quickly replied, "None of them." He expanded on his answer with, "I got to know [creator] Gene Roddenberry in three years fairly well, he'd be turning in his grave at some of this stuff" (via The Hollywood Reporter).
While Shatner may not think that any of the current series are as good as the original, he very graciously congratulated Paul Wesley on Twitter for his role as a younger Captain Kirk in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," writing "Keep my ship and crew safe, Captain! 😉 Congratulations!" He also defended "Star Trek: Discovery" in a 2017 Reddit thread called "It's Disgusting how the new Trek doesn't respect its history," writing, "I just love how frazzled some of you get about canon. It's a show and they are doing a prequel to something that was made 50 years ago. Star Trek was always more about the stories and messaging than the look. If they screw that up; roast em alive and kick em in the you know what! If they don't; then enjoy it. Kirk out!"
It's true that Shatner's show came first, and none of the other series or films in the franchise would have happened without the original. Whatever his inner feelings are about the new shows, given how open he is with his opinion, we're bound to find out sooner or later.