The original Captain Kirk was not featured in JJ Abrams's acclaimed Star Trek film - though his colleague Spock was. Now both Shatner and Abrams have both expressed keenness for collaboration - but that doesn't mean it should happen
When two Kirks go to war … Chris Pine and William Shatner. Photograph: PR, Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
When it was announced way back at the start of the casting process for JJ Abrams's Star Trek in 2007 that Leonard Nimoy was to reprise his role as Spock, many of us had misgivings. It seemed to me that the only hope the series reboot had of jettisoning the past and striking out on its own bold adventure was to start afresh with a completely new cast.
I was wrong. Nimoy's gentle, statesmanlike performance as the elder version of Spock was one of the movie's highlights, and served to beautifully tie the film to its predecessors without burdening it with any of their negative aspects. But even so, I'm more than a little concerned by some of the reports currently coming out of LA, where Abrams yesterday held a press conference to promote the DVD release of Star Trek, and chat about possibilities for the forthcoming sequel.
It emerged that not only Nimoy, but the original Captain James T Kirk himself, William Shatner, were being considered for the followup, which Abrams is returning to direct. "In terms of moving forward, I am open to anything," Abrams said. "I would love to figure out something, given the challenge of introducing these new characters and given the burden of having to cast these people. I feel like the first movie did some of the heavy lifting that needed to be done, in order to free us to continue going forward. Maybe there's less of a burden and there's going to be more opportunity to work with him again. I would love to work with him."
By burden, Abrams was referring to the reasons why Shatner was not cast in the previous film: namely, that his character died on screen in Star Trek Generations, and that reviving him would therefore be impossible other than through some form of flashback mechanism, a contrivance which would not have given the actor the size of role he was apparently demanding. "It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick in order to get Shatner in the movie which would have honestly, to me, been distracting," said Abrams. "How do you put him in the movie when you want him in it so badly, and yet the story actually seems in counter purposes with the story you want to tell?"
Exactly. And furthermore, why would you want Shatner in the film in the first place? While Nimoy's appearance in Star Trek served its purpose, the series surely now has its own legitimacy, which would make the introduction of a larger-than-life figure such as the original Kirk farcical. Shatner made his bed when he went on YouTube to publically rail at Abrams and his team for not finding a place for him in the the first film, and while he may be making the right noises these days (the actor said not long ago that he would be "pleased" to be in Star Trek 2), one wonders whether he is capable of the humility required to take a smaller role, which would surely be the only one made available to him.
Also, with the timeline having been completely re-established in Star Trek due to the time travelling events of that movie, Shatner's Kirk has presumably been completely wiped from the universe. Were Shatner to appear as an elder version of Chris Pine's character, he would not be the Kirk that outwitted Khan, or hung out with those whales, because that timeline no longer exists. So what would be the point in bringing him back?
I'm more tempted by the prospect of a return for Nimoy, but even there I think the next film would be better served by avoiding further nostalgia. Star Trek made a fitting swansong for "Spock Prime", and a cameo in the next movie would surely only diminish its value.
But perhaps you disagree. Do you think Star Trek 2 should feature Shatner and Nimoy? And if so, how would you shoehorn the older versions into the plot? For that matter, why not bring back George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig, aka Sulu, Uhura and Chekov? All are still walking the Earth …http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/oct/15/star-trek-captain-kirk-william-shatner-chris-pine
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