Original subtitles

Hi, I'm Whoopi Goldberg,

and we're in New York City today for a very special occasion.

Now, how special is it?

Well, it's not every day that you can get William Shatner,

Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes together

at the same time, in the same room.

And we have managed to gather them together

for what we are calling a Star Trek summit.

It's an opportunity to talk about Star Trek

and the films and other points of interest.

And I'm gonna be your host.

So we hope that you're gonna find it, as Spock would say, "Fascinating."

Live long

and prosper.

V'Ger.

The line must be drawn here!

This far, no further!

The Nexus, it was like being inside joy.

It's been an honour.

Who am I to argue with the Captain of the Enterprise?

To family.

My friends, we've come home.

I wanna welcome everybody to the first Star Trek summit.

First?

But before we do anything else,

have you all ever just sat down and hung out like this before?

Or is this the first time everybody's been together?

-No, no. -You guys must have hung out.

Well, you looked like you were hanging out.

-Yeah, we were loose. -Loose?

And Lenny and I have hung out.

-We have hung out, yeah. -Lenny.

And I've hung out with Patrick.

Yeah, and we hung out longer than you hung out.

If I hung out with you and I hung out with him

and you hung out with him, then you and I hung out,

which means you hung out with him.

I've hung out with you and you and now I'm hanging out with you.

Billy and I have spent some hanging time.

-Yes. -We have.

Now, this is the first time I've hung out with you two.

Though you had a huge part in my life, which I'll get to later on.

-Really? -l wanna hear that story told.

I've read this story.

-It is the truth. -Tell it now.

-Go on, start with it. -Shall I tell you how

-I ended up with Star Trek? -Do you know this story?

Yeah.

Because when I was a kid growing up,

there was never any black people, there were never any black people

-in the future. -Yeah.

There were never. When you look at all the sci-fi movies,

there were never any black people until Star Trek.

-Right. -And Nichelle Nichols,

not only was she stunningly gorgeous, but she was working it.

She was the Communications Officer. She knew stuff.

So years go by, LeVar Burton comes to my house.

I'm hanging out. I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "I'm getting ready to do Star Trek.”

I said, "What do you mean, ‘Star Trek'?"

He said, "They're making a new Star.” I said, "Tell them I wanna be on."

A year goes by, I hear nothing.

I call him. I say, "Did you tell them?"

He said, "Yeah, but they didn't believe me."

'Cause this was when I was still a big star, you know.

And they said... "They told me," he said,

"that if you really wanna do this, you'll call." So I called.

And so they said, "Let's have lunch."

-So I went down and I sat with... -All the big wigs.

All the big... No, actually, it was just...

Rick Berman? Gene Roddenberry?

Just Gene and Rick, I think it was.

And Gene sat and looked and he said, "Well, why?"

And I said, "Because you're the only way I knew I was here.

"So I'd like to be that for somebody else."

And he said, "You're serious?" I said, "Yeah!"

He said, "But it's a TV show." I said, "It's the future, man."

So he built me Ten-Forward.

And that's how I became Guinan, named after Texas Guinan.

-All because of your show. So... -Wow!

-Well, we... -Great, great.

I feel responsible in a very remote way, though.

-Well, listen... -We were hired hands.

Yeah, but still, do you...

When people say these kinds of things...

I'll ask all of you this.

When people come up and gush, ‘cause I know you go to the conventions

and people stop you and they stand up. "Oh, my God, you changed my life!"

That was electric. Do you feel that electricity?

I did, but I was ignoring it, because I know your wife is here.

Do you ever think to yourself, "Now, come on, it's enough with this."

Or does it always take you by surprise

-that people have been moved? -That's a good question.

When could it be enough? When they start touching you.

Yeah, inappropriate behaviour.

Inappropriate physical contact is too much, I find.

-But that's never been your policy. -Intrusive.

-Intrusive. -Can you define inappropriate?

Well, you know, people want you to sign body parts, for instance.

-Sometimes they're no longer attached. -I've done that.

What?

-You've never done that? -I've never signed a body part.

No. You know what? I won't sign money, either.

Well, I think it's because I'm not an American citizen.

I feel, if I were to sign a dollar bill,

that they might arrest me or take away my green card, you know.

So I won't sign money and I won't sign body parts.

Fears. It's Fear Factor.

You may wanna reconsider the body parts thing.

-Why? -Well, it's just...

You've signed body parts, I bet, haven't you, Bill?

Seriously, I'm flattered when people say, "You've affected my life."

I'm flattered by it.

But there are permutations. I remember an experience I had

early on, because Spock is the Science Officer

and supposed to have all this amazing scientific knowledge.

I was invited to go to Caltech, a major technical institute of learning.

And I was introduced to these genius young people.

And they're talking their way through their projects,

explaining to me what they're doing, and I don't understand a word,

not a word about what they're saying, and I'm just nodding sagely.

And then finally, they finish explaining what they're doing

and then they would say, "Well, what do you think?" You know.

And I would wisely say something like, "You're on the right track."

-It could be embarrassing. -Yeah.

Hoping they wouldn't say, "What track?"

Because you saw...

I'm hoping they wouldn't say, "What track was that?"

Right. 'Cause we were so identified with the characters.

-Yeah. -You know.

But if you treat the question seriously,

I mean, not sort of inappropriate behaviour,

however you define that,

but what we know to be true, like NASA.

In the days when we were doing the show,

NASA would be sending up rockets, trying to get to the moon,

and our ratings would go up when the rocket went up.

And as our ratings went up, more money was appropriated

to NASA because of the popularity of our show.

And so, from time to time, one of us would be invited to a rocket

-lift off. -Launch.

And it was extraordinary. And I was invited

to see the LEM, the Lunar Module,

and in fact got into the Lunar Module

with all those people.

When I came out of...

Well, I was in the Lunar Module. I've told this story before,

but it's, I suppose, not inappropriate here.

And I was lying down in the hammock where ultimately one of the astronauts

manoeuvred the craft to the moon.

And I'm looking there, and right over here,

right here, there's a lead window, a leaded glass window,

so that you could see out. For some reason,

they wanted the astronauts to be able to use a sextant

or something to shoot the stars.

And as I'm looking at it, a star field that they were projecting

from someplace in the building, the Enterprise shot across.

And when I came down...

-I never told you this? -No.

And when I came down the stairs, ‘cause there was gigantic stairs,

it was like coming out of some church or...

And walked down these stairs,

there were 5,000 engineers that had all collected.

They were all in on the joke.

Because earlier in the day, when it was announced that I was coming,

they went down to someplace and they bought a model.

And all these engineers were putting the model together

and then they photographed it to shoot across.

They all laughed, and I came down and signed

on the model that they finally made, "See you on the moon."

‘Cause it was just shortly before they went to the moon.

And that was part of the Star Trek popularity

that fitted in with the culture and the society.

We were there the day they rolled out the first space shuttle.

Really?

In Mojave, California, when they...

This was the one that was mounted piggy back on the 747

to practise landings. And it was called the Enterprise.

And the Air Force band played the Star Trek theme

as that thing came rolling out of the hangar.

It was an amazing event.

Science in this country, to a large degree,

has been inextricably linked with Star Trek.

And many, many engineers would say time and time again

that they had gone into their fields

because of viewing Star Trek,

and had become these renowned engineers or scientists.

The other thing I wanted to ask you is, now, you didn't grow up with Star Trek.

Right? This wasn't a show you were aware of?

-Jonathan, did you come up... -I didn't.

-...knowing about it? -No.

-So, comes this script... -But I knew about it,

but not to the point that my wife had his picture on her wall.

-Genie had? -Yeah. And then...

I was hoping you would say a body part.

-But no. -No.

And then after I got this show and I went home to visit my mother

in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania... I've told you this story.

-Oh, yeah. -The refrigerator

in my little house in Bethlehem had his picture on it, you know.

-But he's not bitter about it. -Not at all.

And now it's got Leonard's picture on it.

That's because I love you, Leonard, and I wanted to include you.

-Wanted to include you. -I'm grateful. I'm forever grateful.

So now you get this audition. Somebody, your agent,

-says, "Here's this coming." -l went out and got the tapes.

Because, I mean, I was, as Patrick was...

Sci-fi was not our first love.

-Would you say that's fair? -I think that's very fair.

-And certainly not... -But we chose it.

What does that mean? What do you mean?

I mean, what I would choose to read would be

Updike or Cheever or something like that.

-Something intellectual. -Not even intellectual.

-It was esoteric. -I'm surprised you know it. A little bit?

-Knowing him, it's definitely... -l can see it in his face.

Do you think we're some lower form of entertainment?

-What is? What is? -No, it just wasn't...

I wasn't one of those guys who liked... I watched Bonanza.

Okay.

It had nothing to do with intellect or... But, boy, did I learn fast.

What a part of the popular culture you all were, we were about to become.

That was the most incredible awakening of all.

There's a marvellous story about Robert Wise,

who was gonna direct...

The Motion Picture, I think it was ultimately called.

And not knowing anything about Star Trek, remember?

And it was his wife who said,

‘cause he was offered the job to direct it,

and his wife said, "You gotta take it."

He said, "I don't know anything about Star Trek."

Well, he had done The Day The Earth Stood Still,

which was a classic science fiction film.

But you're right. He did not know anything about Star Trek.

And his wife knew all about Star Trek and encouraged him to do it.

And I'm not sure whether he, before he passed away,

regretted it for a time.

He may have, he may have. He may well have.

I ask my children, because they had watched it.

When I was working at Stratford in the late '60s, '70s,

I used to come home between shows

and drive out into the country to give my kids a bath,

read them a story, put them to bed.

And they were watching this show with these guys

in their tight-fitting shirts and...

The washboard stomachs, and the...

No, that was a different show, I think, altogether.

So, when this came up, I had to say to them,

"You guys watch this show. Tell me about it."

And here for the record, I've a record, as you people say.

-Record is all right. -It's all right.

-You sure? -We did recognise that one.

-We know what you're talking about. -Yes.

-We know what it meant. -Because I just wanted to be clear

about this, but...

The first person to use the phrase "to baldly go"

was my 14-year-old daughter.

-She said it first. -Did you say, "To baldly go"?

"To baldly go." Yeah, yeah.

But it's been used since then by others and they think that they've invent... No.

Sophie was the first. Fourteen years old. Smart kid.

-The history... -I hit her so hard for that.

The fact is, I think, that it's true, the history of science fiction

in entertainment changed with Star Trek. It really did.

Prior to Star Trek, science fiction was a much cruder form of entertainment.

It was Buck Rogers. It was...

- Twilight Zone. -l worked

in 1951, in, I think, my very first job in films

in a gigantic production called,

and I thought it was gonna really rocket me into space,

if you'll pardon the pun,

it was called Zombies of the Stratosphere.

-I think I was in that movie, too! -Were you?

Well, there was a movie that I did with Tobe Hooper

which originally was called Zombies from Quter Space.

-Really? -Could it be the same one?

You looked familiar.

How are you doing?

They shared a two-bagger.

Zombies of the Stratosphere was three of us in a spaceship

that shuttled across the screen like that and left a trail of smoke.

We landed and we appropriated a couple of Colt 45 revolvers

and a pickup truck and we were gonna take over Earth!

So you were the zombie?

-Yeah, I was the zombie. -I see. Okay.

-l was one of those people. -l see.

So I was doing aliens all the way back that long ago.

-Is this on video, Leonard, this movie? -Is what?

-Is this on video, this movie? -Yes, itis.

-It will be now. -Yes, it's available.

-I will sell you a copy. -Sell me a copy?

But the deeper question of how science fiction has evolved

from those crude sort of child-driven stories

to something more sophisticated that...

Star Trek and then beyond Star Trek.

I mean, there's, again, a wonderful story of Star Wars taking place first

and Paramount scrambling to overcome the lead that was taken

by Star Wars and attempting to quickly put something into production.

-Exactly, exactly. Yeah. -Star Trek.

We all owe a big thanks to George Lucas, all of us here,

because we were cancelled in 1968 or 9

and were off the air except for reruns, which were very active.

But it wasn't until 1977, when Star Wars opened

and did this incredible business and had this incredible success

that the people at Paramount said, "We have something like that.

"We have a thing called Star Trek. Let's make a movie."

-I didn't know that. -And that's what kicked it off.

I didn't know that either.

That links in with the Robert Wise story.

He had made this wonderful science fiction film,

and so they asked him to direct it, and he'd never seen it before.

-Yeah, yeah. -So it kind of links together.

Now, when you heard that they were going to revive Star Trek,

did you want to have some input? Did you want to help them out?

Or did you want it to just do what it was supposed to do?

Is this a question you've answered a million times?

Well, for the purposes of this DVD, why not answer it again?

All right.

Why are they looking at me?

I've been dying to hear what they thought of us.

That's where we're going. Isn't that where she's going?

No, this is a little edgy, this question, this is a little provocative.

-Because... -Well, it is. Because there were

-many mistakes made. -By us?

Before... No, no. You guys, latter-day...

I've got a...

-No, no. That's a big fist, I think. -I promise you.

And you're looking good.

No, but we have stories of mistakes that were made

-in the making of. -Why don't you start with yours?

How far would I go

for the purposes of this DVD?

Let me reframe it, then.

Because maybe it came out the wrong way.

When I heard they were making the play...

Do you have another way of it coming out?

Yes, I do. You'll see.

When I heard they were doing the play of Color Purple,

my first response was, I was agitated.

And then I thought, "Well, you're not gonna do it.

"You haven't done it for... You don't think about doing it.

"So what's the problem?" And it went away.

So I wondered if the same thing came to you all.

Why are they doing this again? It can't be done better than we did it.

What's the point of it?

Well, they were gonna do...

After we were cancelled,

Paramount was gonna do a whole network

and lead it off with the series Star Trek.

And then they dropped that idea.

-Am I right so far? -That's right.

And then decided to do a movie of the week.

Then they dropped that idea and decided to do a major motion film.

-Feature. -Feature.

And then they started going back and forth.

So, for several years, we kept hearing,

"Get ready, we're gonna... No, we're not gonna."

We're starting, we're stopping...

We're starting, we're going. And then Robert Wise was hired,

and we realised we're gonna make a big motion picture

to ride on the popularity of Star Wars

and equal Star Wars in its production.

And that's where they were coming from.

It was a complicated issue for me.

I don't think there was any secret about the fact

that I was very heavily identified with the Spock character.

And I was trying to find my way into other kinds of work

and to build a career beyond that.

And I was actually here, I was in New York on Broadway,

acting in a wonderful play called Equus

when I got a call from Jeff Katzenberg at Paramount.

And he said, "I'd like to come and talk to you about this movie."

And he came and we had a very intense couple of days of conversation

and we ironed out some issues that had been hanging loose

for some time, hadn't been resolved.

And he got them resolved, and then I met with Robert Wise

and Gene Roddenberry and Jeff,

and we decided to go ahead and work on the movie.

But it was not an easy decision. It was complicated.

Because the question was, "Is this a one-time thing?

"And why get back into that territory

"when you've been gradually growing out of it

"and into the other kinds of work?

"And what will it mean to go back into that character?"

-It was complicated. -Were you approached as if

it was going to be the launching of a new franchise?

We were approached in every which way.

-Not me. Maybe you. -But you heard the rumours.

You know, it was gonna be this, and... Well, 1 didn't know any more than you.

-Less, probably. -No, you have to remember.

It was called Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

-Right. -Which had a singularity about it.

The sense was, "We're gonna make a movie."

We had no sense that it was gonna go beyond that.

And as a matter of fact, when the movie was done,

-I really thought, "That's it." -Well, they destroyed the sets.

They destroyed this expensive Bridge that they...

-Really? -Every movie they made,

even the subsequent movies, to VI or VII.

I don't know about your movies,

which we're gonna get to, I'm sure, in a moment.

All six movies that I was in,

movie would be over. "Thank you, guys, it was great, wonderful."

And they would either sell the set, destroy it, burn it,

-send it to a fair, or something or other. -Right.

But it was over. That was the last movie we were gonna make.

And then a year later, "Let's do it again.

"And let's spend the money and build a new Bridge set."

Which was exactly the same as the previous Bridge set.

The best thing that ever happened to me in terms of contacts,

as we're being serious now, was a letter I got from a police sergeant

in the Las Vegas police force.

And he'd said that he enjoyed the show, but most particularly he said,

"There are bad days in the job that I do, really bad days

"when my view of humanity and of the world is low.

"I see some awful things.

"When that happens, when that day comes to an end,

"my response to it is to go home and put in a tape of Star Trek.

"And I feel that things will get better."

Yeah, that's great.

Is that Gene's legacy?

That he actually left us with something,

some great possibility of what mankind could be?

He had a great belief in mankind's capabilities. He had great...

He had real belief that the future was going to be the way Star Trek was.

Yeah, he had a great vision.

His vision of hope was exactly what drove...

You know, when we started doing this show,

there were stories about the Chariots of the Gods,

the whole concept that maybe we have been visited by

a previous incarnation of some kind

and had built the pyramids and then gone away

or whatever, and he said, "That's rubbish."

He said, "These wonderful things were all done by mankind,

"not by any ancient astronauts that came here from some other planet.

"They were all done by mankind and mankind should take the credit for it

"and move forward and continue to do wonderful things."

I'm sure that's true about Gene.

But also there is a real commercial aspect to that view.

And that is when I was doing a show involving EMTs

and it was called Rescue 911, we found and ultimately built on that,

that the shows that were most successful

were the ones where people were saved.

You had a positive note.

Here comes the EMTS, and you're gonna be okay.

Whereas in fact about 80% of the calls result in death,

but we didn't dramatise those.

How awful it was, it is.

And subsequently it was proved by another show that Gene did,

was if the view of the future was bad, people didn't wanna see that.

But to know that we would exist 300 years from now,

that we will overcome this environmental crisis that we're facing,

this catastrophe that we're all hurtling towards,

that will be cured by the very technology that is doing it.

To know that that is true and to know that people will evolve

and become better, even though

there's a great deal of evidence to the contrary,

that's a positive note and people want to see that.

Because, ultimately, we all want to have faith.

It's fundamentally the reason for the success of the series.

-Don't you think? That argument. -Absolutely.

I think people are inspired by

the anti-sexism and anti-racism that was practised

on all the shows for the last 40 years.

And the hope of that possibility, given what's going on in the world.

I hear it from people every day.

The same thing that you hear from this Vegas cop.

That when things go bad, I go back to the show where something...

It's like you. The story you opened with is really...

-I am the person. -You were the example.

-You're the living inspiration, right? -lam. I am.

So, now, how many Star Trek movies were there? Five? Is it...

-We were involved in Six. -Six of them.

Then Bill was involved in one more. You were involved

-in number seven, I think. -Right.

-Where Patrick and I were... -Right.

So when you came back to play, I want to say with us,

because I think I was in that one.

-Yeah, you were. -I can't remember.

You remember the, what was it called, the Nexus?

Wasn't there a thing called the Nexus in that movie?

I thought that was something you took for your stomach.

That's where Malcolm McDowell came from. Didn't he?

-That's right. -That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Malcolm McDowell was in the Nexus, and you know what?

-Have you seen him recently? -I have.

Because I think he's still there.

-In the Nexus? -Yeah.

Well, no, Malcolm McDowell was in the movie that I was in with you.

-He came out of the Nexus. -That's right. That was the Nexus, Bill.

-VII? -That was VII.

-He's still in the Nexus? -Yeah.

He's still there? Poor guy.

You were the only senior cast member

of the original series, of the classic series.

What do you prefer? Classic series, original series, the old series?

I'd rather you wouldn't talk about it at all.

You didn't appear in our show, Bill.

-In your show? -In our series.

-No. No, in the series, I didn't. -I did.

-Leonard did. Jimmy did. Nichelle did. -I know.

No?

-No? -I don't know.

He's got all these lines to memorise, and, you know, like a TiVo,

-it gets loaded up and that's it. -Yeah.

His memory bank is absolutely...

-You and I did a mind meld. -We did.

-It's a famous moment in Star Trek. -That's right.

-We did a mind meld. -That's right.

-Who could forget the mind meld? -Who?

-But I want to ask, Bill... -How can you forget a mind meld?

Are you gonna ask him now why he didn't do the show?

Because in the movie, they killed him in the movie.

-I know. -Badly.

But this is Star Trek. You never die.

Never mind Star Trek. They get a dinosaur bone,

and they're able to get a DNA 160 million years later.

Where is that?

-You can always come back. -You can always come back.

You can always come back. This came back.

Leonard was dead.

-He came back. -Leonard was dead.

But I came back very fast. I was still in good shape. I came back very fast.

You came back very fast with a director's assignment.

He got his directing assignment.

"I died, and now I'm directing the next one."

How good was that?

-That's a good deal. -Yeah, really.

So they never approached you?

There was never some way of trying to make...

Patrick, I'm gonna say something, admit something to you.

You're my buddy. I love you.

We've been together many times over the years.

We're really friends. I've never told you this.

I've never watched your show.

I never saw a full episode of The Next Generation.

Close up, Patrick.

-That takes huge balls to admit, I think. -Huge balls. Captain's balls.

But that's what this is all about, isn't it? Balls.

You know who Whoopi Goldberg is?

She's this wonderful, warm lady

that every time she touches me, electricity shoots.

I'm gonna ask you over one night.

-Over where? -I'd show him...

-My place. -Which episode are you thinking?

-Which one do you think? -Certainly none that he's in.

-That's a good point. -There's 178.

-Did you do 178 shows? -Yeah.

That's 100 more than me.

You could have seen one of the bloody shows.

You could have watched one. We did 178 hours.

That's 100 more shows than...

I know, but I don't watch TV. And then there was so many...

You don't watch Boston Legal?

Have you seen the guy on Boston Legal?

I've never watched Boston Legal.

T.J. Hooker?

-I directed several, so the torture... -You saw the director's cut only?

Well, no, the torture was watching rushes.

No, but the truth is, there was some reluctance.

Way buried deep, I must have had some reluctance.

-But it's coming out now? -It's coming out now.

Very healthy, I think.

-Not healthy? -I think it's very healthy.

-We both do. -For it to come out or not to watch?

-It's hurting us, but it's good for you. -No, it's wonderful that it's coming out.

-To be able to vomit? -Yeah. Come on, Bill!

-On with it. -Okay! I never watched it, because I...

-Say it, Bill. -I can't.

-You can. -Look, you're safe.

You're safe with us.

Because I'm a newsaholic. I watch the news.

-I love sports. I love movies... -You were almost there.

-You were almost there. -Never watched hour-long television.

-I don't buy it. 1 don't buy it. -Did you ever watch this?

-Did you watch any of their... -Bill, I love you. You're my buddy.

We're very close to each other, and you're lying.

-What are friends for? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you. -Did you watch?

The truth is this, that... And [I've said this before...

-He's not gonna answer that question. -He's never seen the show, either.

And I'm not trying to curry favour, but the fact is

when there was an announcement there was going to be

a next generation with a whole new cast, I thought,

"How's that gonna work? Without us? Are you kidding?"

We were talking together.

-I can understand that. -I can understand that, too.

-Of course. -And I'm glad you got it out in the open.

And I said many times in public, "They've carved out their own territory,

"and they've done it, and I congratulate them.

"I think they're doing a wonderful job." That's the truth.

-But what did you mean? -It goes further than that.

It goes further than that.

-In VII, the transitionary... -Now he's pointing at you.

Generations. It was called Generations.

-Generations. -Generations.

The passing on of the baton,

-the handing of the torch. -Right.

They wanted Leonard to be in it, as well as myself,

-and Leonard said no. -But Leonard wanted to direct it.

-Leonard said no. -They didn't really want me in it.

-They wanted you in it. -No!

-And I said, "Leonard..." -No, no, no.

I remember where we were. In the parking lot at Paramount.

I said, "You gotta be in it." He said, "I'm not gonna be in it."

I said, "Leonard," I grabbed him by the shoulder,

"You gotta be in it." "I'm not gonna be in it."

-He would not... -You know what?

We can tell you the truth about that. We didn't want Leonard in it.

Now, I understand why...

-This is good. -This is excellent.

...it would've been a little bit tough.

-This is good stuff, Whoopi. -'Cause that was your Bridge.

That was your Bridge.

-In fact, if we go ahead. -Yeah.

There was a line, "Captain on the Bridge," right?

-"Captain on the Bridge" was the line. -Right.

Well, on our last scene, when this bridge collapsed on top of me,

I said, "Bridge on the Captain."

They didn't buy it.

-Well, damn them. -That worked at the conventions.

I swear to God.

-You open with that? -I came up with that line.

-I was dying. "Bridge on the Captain." -l wanted him to say that.

I mean, they needed to see

that we had a sense of humour about this stuff.

-Yes. -Nothing.

But now, Leonard, let me ask you, because there's no character

like you on The Next Generation. There's no one like you.

Well, no, that's not exactly...

-Is there? Data. -Who's Data?

But the difference is Leonard's got skin and stuff.

Data was pretty much an android. There's a difference.

And he had a mama. I remember his mama.

-To a degree, you're right. -Data didn't have a mama.

In a sense, you're right, but the fact is it was presented to me

that Data was The Next Generations version of Spock.

-I see. I didn't realise that. -He is the sort of Spock idea

-in the show. -I see.

-With a question... -I came in the second season.

...about his emotional capacities and so forth, you know,

and having a certain kind of brain power, like I do.

Right.

But, you know, Data got laid several times. Did Spock?

-He was fully functional. -I know, but he wasn't getting any.

-He had three speeds. -I know.

-Do them. Do them. -I can't.

Bing Crosby.

Do them. Do them. Jonathan, do them.

I wish it was my joke.

-It is yours now. -lt isn't mine.

But, "Bridge on the Captain" I'm stealing, by the way.

That'll be working at the next convention. "Bridge on the Captain."

"You know what Bill said when we were doing the summit?"

And can we talk about something we have not?

We've shied away from it, and I'm not sure why,

but I suspect it's probably time to bring it up.

Can we talk about the wardrobe? Please?

God. Did you hate your spacesuit as much as...

I hated it after lunch.

I hated it. You were thin. You were thin.

I hated the spacesuit. Didn't you?

-Jonathan ruined several... -Oh, God, don't even...

Sometime in the evening...

-Spilling food on them? -No.

...he would just rip them, literally tear them off his body.

We had spandex spacesuits, and I'd rip, and I look at the poor wardrobe,

-and they were like, "Oh, no." -What did you hate about it?

-It was so tight and so miserable. -Tight?

You see, it was two years of spandex...

Before we moved to those nice gabardine... Picard manoeuvre.

-Who do we have to thank for that? -Bill, probably.

-Why Bill? -Thank me for anything.

Well, you don't have to thank me. You have to thank my chiropractor,

who said, "If they don't get you out of that suit,

"you're going to be permanently damaged."

They designed these spandex suits with stirrups,

and every suit was designed at least one size too small.

Because Gene, and it was Gene,

he insisted that we were absolutely wrinkle-free, smooth.

And the only way to achieve that was to have the thing too tight. Too small.

-So it'd be always pulling. -You were like this...

-For 14 hours a day. -It was pulling,

and you were having to resist against it.

-That's hard work. -Really, it's exhausting.

-Takes the energy all... -Didn't you have stirrups?

Didn't have any stirrups on your show?

-On your cozzy? -No.

The only stirrups we had were on horses, where they belong.

The first film, when we made the first film,

they wanted that immaculate look,

and we had to be steamed before each shot.

-Yeah. -Really?

Guys with steamers would come and steam out every wrinkle...

-Everywhere? -...before you walked in.

-Yeah, absolutely. -Yeah.

-It engorged. -Sounds like fun.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Leave a lot of water in there.

On your show, did you have nicknames for everybody?

-"Billy." -"Lenny."

-"Billy!" -"Lenny!"

"Get on the set, Billy. Get off the phone!"

"I'm coming! No, I can't! I'll be right there, Lenny!"

-"Get off the phone!" -"All right!"

"Old Baldy." "Old Baldy."

-"Captain Pecan." -Yes.

"Captain Pecan, the wackiest nut in the galaxy."

"The nut job."

"Number One." "Number One."

-"Data the android." Nothing really good. -Data.

And Marina?

"Counsellor Troi." "Feeling shit."

Yeah. Aren't you the one that feels shit?

That's what I do on the show. She says,

"I feel great pain from both of them."

See? All that stuff works at the conventions.

What was your experience on the series?

I had a great time. I had a really good time.

-You had a nickname. -Yes, I was "Shuttle Head."

Because of my hats. It looked like the ship.

And I told everyone I was his great, great, great-grandmother.

-How many episodes did you do? -I only didn't do one year.

-So I did everything but one year. -Did all episodes, other than one year?

-Except for one year. -No, you didn't.

Yeah, I worked all the years except for one year.

Yeah, but you didn't do all the episodes.

-Not every episode, but... -Every now and again.

-Yeah. -Whenever we could have her.

-This is the Guinan show. -Yeah, we put Ten-Forward together

as the Whoopi show.

Favourite moments in the show? Any show.

Yeah. This is hard, because it's emotional.

And I've never been able to tell this anecdote without...

You see? It's already beginning to happen to me,

and I've gotta do a show tonight, and I've gotta keep my throat open.

But when we were shooting the final

moment of the last movie, and we had a scene in the Ready Room together,

and we went on stage, 7:00 in the morning,

to start rehearsing it, and I couldn't say the lines.

Jonathan had to say to me,

"Captain, it's been an honour serving with you,"

and I had to say, "No, Number One. The honour was all mine."

And I could not say those lines, and it was horrible.

The reason you couldn't say them was 'cause you were Number One.

He was Number Two, and you called him "Number One,"

-and you were confused. -l suppose so.

I suppose so. Also, I was lying, too.

Oh, God.

-That's a complicated moment. -Very complicated.

The question that I really want to ask you,

‘cause this has been on my mind, and maybe it's crazy, maybe it's not.

Does it ever make you uncomfortable, this following that Star Trek has?

I love this phrase. "I don't want to bother you."

"But..."

"Excuse me, I don't want to bother you."

"You're already bothering me. What do you..."

Here's a perfect opportunity for "Star Trek getting attention" etiquette.

-Okay? -Okay.

So, if you were to say

to all the folks that want to approach you...

What is the best way to do it? What's the best way to approach you?

-Well, money. -Money. Money.

You took the words right out of my...

-And you thought you weren't funny. -That doesn't hurt.

-Right, right, right. -Being young and beautiful.

-Right. -Certainly.

Young and beautiful and money would get all our attention.

-Male, female, doesn't matter? -Well, I don't know about these guys.

There was a bathroom break, and everybody went off to the bathroom.

-Not us. -Not us.

All right. We know where we're at.

Come on, Johnny, what would appeal to you?

I'm pretty easy. I don't know that I'm the right...

-Do you want to rephrase that? -I don't like to be disturbed

while I'm eating...

I'm honoured.

I feel the way that Leonard does, that it's a great deal.

It's a great privilege that these people respond to our show.

Or in my case, make absolutely certain that I'm not Ben Kingsley.

That's always a really big help for me.

Yeah, but how about if you haven't slept well last night?

You're a little irritable. I mean, even your wife is gonna get it.

Here's the one... I've had this more than once.

"Hey, hey, aren't you the guy...

"You were Dr Kirk from Star Wars."

-How many wrongs are there in that? -I had a unique experience, recently.

You know, I've been doing a lot of photography work.

-What, modelling? -No, no, no.

-Nude modelling? -Yes, yes.

And the work is in galleries and museums,

and I was at an event with my wife recently in Los Angeles,

and we were walking to the parking lot after the event,

found ourselves walking with Tom Hanks,

-chatting on the way to the car. -"Yes, Tom and I."

Tom and I. Yeah.

And some young fellow with a camera comes running up,

"Mr Hanks, Mr Hanks, can I have my picture taken with you?"

And Mr Hanks said, "Sure, who's gonna take the picture?"

Then he recognised me, this young guy,

and he said, "Mr Nimoy, you're a wonderful photographer.

"Will you take the picture?"

-And I did. And I did. -Good.

And now that kid has a picture of himself with Tom Hanks

-taken by Leonard Nimoy. -That's funny.

You know, this may not be generally known,

as we're talking about Mr Hanks,

-but Mr Hanks is a big fan of the show. -Yeah.

Mr Hanks actually knows the names of the episodes.

I hear he's actually seen an episode of Next Gen.

-Really? -That's what I've been told.

Well, thank God there's one person who has seen it.

‘Cause there are a lot of people that haven't seen any.

Or maybe a part of one.

'Cause I've seen The Brothers Karamazov.

-Several times. It was just on. -Is that an episode of Star Trek?

You were languishing somewhere, I'm sure.

You've done a lot of TV, as well. You knew what it was to do...

See, we had all gone into this thing, because the...

What you had created laid an entire weight on us

that we had to overcome.

Because you had created a fan base that was very loyal to you.

That was very hard to overcome. You had created this...

You were part of popular culture, as I said earlier,

and that was something we didn't... And I don't think you and I

particularly understood what we were getting ourselves into.

Dorn was a Trekkie, he knew. Wil Wheaton knew.

LeVar was already a star.

-I had no idea. -So we had no idea how big this was.

I was being asked to go to conventions during that first season.

I turned them all down. I didn't know what they were.

Besides, I needed to be learning my lines at weekends.

I couldn't go travelling around the country.

I was so frightened that Monday morning would come around,

and I wouldn't be ready. Or Tuesday or Wednesday.

Anyway, finally when the season was over,

I accepted an invitation to go to Denver.

They took me. I got out of the plane. They picked me up in a car.

They took me to this place. I went in the back door,

and they said, "Okay, you're gonna be on in 10 minutes."

I said, "That's great. Is there anybody out there?"

This was a serious question.

-Four thousand, 5,000 people. -l walked on this stage.

I knew what it was like to have been a Beatle in Shea Stadium.

And I had no idea through the entire first season

that that was happening out there.

It's still that way. Don't you guys get that in Vegas?

Talk a moment about what it's like to go out on stage.

Let me just say this first. Patrick was quoted, I wonder if it's accurate,

Patrick was somewhere quoted as saying,

"If I had known what I was getting into, I would have said no,

"and it would have been a mistake."

-Does that sound familiar? -Yeah, that's absolutely accurate.

-I would have said that. -Talk a moment

of what it's like to go out on stage

in front of four, five, 10...

We used to go out in front of 15,000 people.

-Remember the Albert Hall? -And Albert Hall. We've been there.

And not know exactly what you're going to say.

-l mean... -Didn't it become easy?

It became like flying.

But when you describe it to your friends,

other actors included,

what particular skill and what it is you do at a convention,

it's inconceivable.

Because it's really a combination of stand-up, public speaking, anecdotes.

I do, of course, interpretive dance and singing

as part of my convention appearances...

-No strip? -...but some choose not to.

I do impersonations.

And you have a captive audience.

You've got 15,000 people who have paid because they like the show,

so you don't even have to win them over.

-Have you ever done that? -I've never been to the convention.

-Never been invited. -Oh, my God.

-That's not true. -Absolutely. Absolutely.

-I've never... I swear on my grandkids. -Leonard, tell her.

Tell her she's lying.

No, this is the truth.

-They've never invited you? -No, they've not.

-Unbelievable. -That's impossible.

-That is unbelievable. -No. It's absolutely true.

-Unbelievable. -We've never been asked.

-They're scared of you, that's why. -We've never been asked.

-That's impossible. -I don't understand.

Have you ever talked to somebody about it?

No. Who do you go to? Is there like a convention person that...

-I'm getting a hold of somebody now. -We'll rectify that immediately.

We can hook you up before the end of the day.

But let me ask you this.

Given, given... Now you know I don't fly.

-So maybe that's why, you know. -What do you do?

-I have a bus. I don't fly. -So you're like what's his name on the...

-John Madden, yeah. -John Madden.

-You take a bus across the country? -Yes, I do.

I've seen her bus. She used to park it in my street.

-The street you lived on in Los Angeles? -In our street.

-In the Palisades, yeah. -In our street.

I believe I brought you to that street.

Hello.

But here's the question...

There are conventions that you can get to on a bus.

I wonder if it's the same situation

as when you first said you wanted to do Star Trek.

-I think, probably. -They're waiting for a call from you.

-Probably. -"Does she really want to do it?

-"If she calls us, we'll..." -I'm sure that that's it.

It may be, and also, you know, the other thing that I think that happens,

particularly with me, is that people are never sure

that I would be willing to do something like that.

-That's what I mean. -That I would be willing to...

Could it be that, of all of us here, you're the one person that has

a stand-up, solo act history and reputation?

-Maybe. -And a very successful one.

Saw you on Broadway, baby.

-Yes. We were all young then. -I did, too.

Now, Patrick. You're always on stage somewhere.

You're doing the name of the play we cannot say,

because we're on a stage, so we will not say it.

But, you know, I used to be in theatre, too.

But what's so admirable about him is his dedication to that theatre.

And those of us who do theatre

know how elemental it is.

It requires such dedication,

such strength, such energy, such endurance,

such a mental approach.

It is the ultimate actor, really,

who comes off successful movies and television

and then goes back to connecting with a crowd.

-It's unbelievable. -That's exactly... I mean,

-without blowing smoke too much... -Blow away.

That's exactly how our show became successful.

Because that's how he approached Picard,

and the rest of us were sort of...

It's like playing tennis with somebody who's a better tennis player.

"That's how it's gonna be."

And he approached the work that way on the TV show,

with eight pages as opposed to five acts.

And, Jonathan, you're directing?

-I do. -All over the place.

Is that something you always wanted to do?

-Did you always want to do that? -lt grew on me as I saw...

I always thought that was the best job on the set.

Actually, I now think it's probably the best job in the world,

is to direct movies.

And, Leonard, your photography, we were talking about it just a moment ago.

But you just did a book on these gigantic

-zaftig women. -Large women, yes.

These gigantic, large, gorgeous, but big. Huge.

But he also has a wonderful philosophy behind it, behind the book.

Tell me, please.

The book really deals with the issue of body image in our culture,

what is beautiful. We're being told by the fashion industry

that a certain kind of body image is required to be considered beautiful.

And the fact is that most people, particularly women,

don't live in that kind of a body and never will.

But they're being told, "If you buy these pills or buy this diet

"or buy this exercise programme or try this surgery,

"you might get closer to the ideal."

And it's just that carrot that's held out there

for the sake of commerce, for the sake of money.

-And this book addresses that issue. -It's a wonderful book.

We talk about it quite a bit on our show.

For a moment, I just want to talk to you for a second.

From Twilight Zone to Boston Legal.

-Do you ever stop? -No.

If I stopped, I might not start.

I understand that.

I understand that.

-No, I just... You keep going. -Yeah.

And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

-Boy, it's working for you now. -Yeah.

He's done a great job of changing careers.

Seriously, from a leading man to a great character actor.

-It's just evolved. Evolution. -And a very successful one.

-We've all done that. -You've done it very, very well.

You did a great job.

But now you've all directed Star Trek.

-Some form of... -Well, these guys have directed movies.

-Right, you've not done them... -I only directed the series.

That's more than I've done.

-You directed me. Yes. -I directed you.

Which is kind of the balance.

When Patrick directed our series, he said to me, "Jonathan..."

-"You suck." -No. He was...

"Is there any way that you could motivate,

"if you could kneel down. See that big open space over there?

"It would be great for me, while you're saying the line, if you can just..."

I said, "Sure, I'll try it for you, Patrick.

-"Whatever you like." -I couldn't get the shot right.

"Jonathan, would you kneel, could you kneel..."

He did. He did it. He knelt on the floor of the ship.

On the deck of the ship.

'Cause that's where the camera was.

-Oh, man! -How did you motivate...

I did it for him, ‘cause he did stuff for me.

Yeah, I know. But what could you possibly be thinking?

If your character, the captain of the ship, kneeled?

I was thinking what a wonderful actor he is.

And knelt before him?

-Someday he may be a sir? -My liege. Oh, my liege.

-In Engineering, that was it? -It was in Engineering, yeah, yeah.

Wait a minute, he directed you by saying, "Could you motivate?"

No, no. He didn't ask me to motivate. He asked me to kneel.

-I said, "Sure." -I just wanted his head down there,

-low down. -I said I'd be happy to.

Groucho? We taught you how to do the Groucho, didn't we?

You did.

You know, there a lot of good American acting things you've learned.

-And that I use today. -That you're using today.

Yelling, for instance.

-I do a lot of yelling. -Acting is yelling.

That's one of the first things I learned when I...

But you never yelled as the captain, right?

Rarely.

-Very, very rarely. -Very rarely.

-I did say, "We'll draw the line here." -You yelled at Alfre.

-"Here!" -Yeah, I seem to remember saying...

-That's not a yell. -I could turn "here" into three syllables.

You did say this at one time, though. I'm not sure if it was on camera.

"I have never, in my 30 years in the theatre, been treated like this."

I do remember hearing that once.

-What was it about? -What was it about?

I don't know, something to do with craft service...

Cold coffee or something?

No cheese? The crackers were bad? Like, what was it? Cold coffee?

Whoopi was asking about directing. I'm going to help you out a little bit here.

-Oh, no! Why? -It was a good question.

Listen, this is, to me, this is just a joy

‘cause I've never gotten to sit with all of you. So...

The things that you've been able to do, whether it's directing or acting,

and in a bit we're going to talk about the things that are outside of Star Trek,

-I just find it amazing... -I want you to ask Bill

about the first day that he heard...

What was his reaction the first day that he heard

that I was going to direct the next Star Trek film?

Bill, what was your reaction the first time that you heard...

-We're going to enjoy this. -I'm looking forward to this, too.

...that Leonard was going to direct the first Star Trek: Generation movie?

"What?"

You can't be serious!

"What the hell am I going to do?"

That's about it. That's about it.

There's a few more...

-Did you want to direct? -It lasted several days.

-Did I want to direct? -Yeah.

I really love directing. We all obviously love directing.

Leonard taught me a great deal.

Leonard taught me courage. Actors are mostly fearful, you know.

"The next job..." "Will they not love me?" "Will they..."

He didn't even give a thing.

He didn't care, at one point. Mostly because he didn't care.

So, he had the audacity to say, "All right, I'll play it, but I want to direct."

Which is what we were all, what most actors want to do anyway.

But we're fearful they'll say, "No, thank you. Goodbye.

"No, we got our director, thank you so much."

Because once you say, "I'll do it, but I have to direct,"

you can't say, "All right, I'll do it, but I won't direct."

-Right. Right. -I mean, that's humiliating.

So, if you take a position, you've got to stand the position, so...

Or a price. If you say, "No, I want $10."

"Well, we've only got five." "Well, I'll take seven."

"No, we only have five."

So you come down, "All right, I'll take the five."

-You know, you can't... -Right.

So, he had the audacity to stand there and say,

"I'm going to direct or I'm not going to be in it." And they went, "Okay."

So, Jonathan, you directed the movies, you directed the TV, why?

I wasn't that good an actor.

So I was turned into a nice little director.

Why? 'Cause it's what Bill said, it's...

I don't know if you feel this way, but I know that

I certainly did, that it was a dream to get to direct. It was something that

you're more involved in the storytelling. I like the whole managing of the people,

casting a crew at the same time as you cast the cast, the whole... I loved it.

And I loved being on the set every day, I loved the whole...

And I had the company of my friends for my first movie.

The people who I trusted, whose opinion I valued.

None of us on our show would have directed had it not been for Jonathan.

That's me, Gates, LeVar, Michael.

Have I missed anyone? Brent never wanted to, did he?

-No, he says he didn't. -He says...

-Marina, no... -But he'll come back in the next movie

because he's got... It said, "Remember."

He got to direct an episode because

he went to what Jonathan called, "Paramount University."

Which meant that in addition to playing Commander Riker,

and all of that work that that involved,

Jonathan, for two years, went to every production meeting,

editing sessions, he sat in on casting sessions.

He learnt the process by being there and watching other good people do it,

and finally he wore them down.

-I did. -The studio said, "Oh, God.

-"Just give him one." -Give him one.

And Jonathan walked onto that sound stage

that first morning, Stage 8 at Paramount,

an authentic director from the very... I don't think any of us were at first.

LeVar, Michael, they've become directors.

I was just having fun.

I was just excited to be in a Hollywood studio,

but he was authentic from the very beginning.

And, so, it was entirely appropriate that when the second movie came along

-that they should ask Jonathan to direct. -That's great.

Bill and I asked for permission to direct during the making of the series

and we were flat out refused. But...

You never directed episodes?

-No, no. Flat out refused. -Really? Really?

Yeah. I had to fight for three years to get that.

Not contemplated whatsoever. It was out of the question.

Preparation on a science fiction thing then was, you had to prepare.

What were things going to look like, and you didn't have time to be playing

the week before while you were preparing that week.

Go ahead, Leonard. I'm sorry.

It was just out of the question. They just weren't going to have it.

So, when the opportunity came along, when "Spock died,"

at the end of II, and it was clear they wanted Spock back for III,

I thought I had the opportunity, the leverage to open the door.

Tell them that story. Maybe you will now reveal

what was whispered into your ear

by not only DeForest, Bones, but by the producer.

-Tell me what you're talking about. -Here's what I'm talking about.

Here's what I'm talking about.

-He dies. Okay? -Yeah.

-And it's like it's over. -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then, Leonard, the actor, comes back for the third thing.

And it was staged where when he died, Bones leans in and says something.

And I said, "What'd he say? What was that for?

"That had nothing to do with the story."

What did he lean in and say, and he's never told me what he said.

But they used that to bring him back.

And so, one would think, "Hey, well, then it was pre-planned.”

Yeah, you're right. It was an amazing day.

We really had planned to be finished with the Spock character.

And I was depressed because the film was going so well,

and I thought, "We're making a big mistake here."

I mean, Star Trek II was being made and being made very, very well.

It was a good script, well directed, well acted.

And here we came down to my last day.

And... Anyway, fortunately, just before the final death scene,

where I'm going into this chamber to save the ship and die,

out comes the producer and says to me, "Is there anything you can do or say

"that would leave a thread for the future?"

I thought, "Whoa!" That's... Wow. This is momentous.

So I said I could do a mind meld on DeForest Kelley,

who was lying there unconscious, or semi-conscious,

and I could just say a word to him, and he said, "What would the word be?"

And I said, "I'll say, "Remember."

That's ambiguous enough to be picked up as a thread to anything.

And that's exactly what happened.

I said, "Remember." and we built the next film on that word.

But to all intents and purposes,

you were through, done. You held that position even with me,

knowing that I would never reveal that position.

But was it a negotiating position so that you would be able to direct III?

Or did you not think of that?

-At that time? No. -Yes.

-Well, even some... "Remember." -No.

What are you gonna say? "I don't want to say 'Remember.' I'm dying, I'm dead.

"I'm dying, why would I say, ‘Remember? Remember what?"

No, I had no plan in mind. Seriously, I had no plan in mind.

-When the film opened... -See, I can't believe that.

-No, I'm serious. -He gets on his knees 'cause he says,

"Get on your knees." "I'l get on my knees,

"but I don't know how to motivate it, but I'm on my knees."

He got the producers... Say, "Remember."

That's what friends do for friends.

-"Remember..." -Listen to me. Listen to me carefully.

Yes.

-Yes, yes, yes. -Pay attention.

The film opened very well. It was very well received.

And about five or six days after it opened,

I got a call to come to Paramount

to talk about the next movie. And I said to my agent,

"What should we ask for? They obviously want me

"and they need me and I'll get good money,

"but let's try to broaden the career."

He said, "Right. What do you have in mind?" I said,

"What do you think they would say if I told them I want to direct the film?"

He said, "I think that's a great idea."

And that's the way it happened. And this was en route to the meeting.

And I walked into the producer's office and he said,

"We'd like to know if you'd like to be involved

"in the making of the next Star Trek movie."

I said, "Yeah, and I'd like to direct it."

He said, "That's an interesting idea.

"Let's have a walk down the hall to Mr Eisner,"

and that's the way it all started.

You know, I'm just going to make one more shot at that

and then you gotta tell your stories,

‘cause we've been talking too much.

-That's right. -I'm fascinated.

Here's the thing.

-Here is what I don't understand. -This is riveting stuff.

Here is what I don't understand.

-Jonathan Frakes, wonderful actor. -Yeah.

The director says,

"Can you motivate getting on your knees?"

-We're back to it. -He says, "Sure." Okay?

Then I go, "What? He's the captain of the ship,

"what's he going to do on his knees? How do you motivate that?"

The producer comes in and says,

"Leonard, you're dying, you're dead, you're gone.

"The end of II and... Can you say, 'Remember'?"

"Sure, I can say, 'Remember."

Every actor knows, "Well, what do you mean?

"What do I feel? What am I saying?

"Why am I kneeling? What am I saying 'Remember' for?"

Everything you do has a spine.

"I'm going to get on my knees. I'll be all right. You got to get..." Huh?

"Remember?" Yeah, I'll say, '‘Remember."

There had to be something in there.

No, you're absolutely right. I knew exactly what I was doing.

And I had a plan that we would make four more movies.

-For the purposes of this DVD. -We'll make four more movies.

We would make four more films and I would direct two of them

and you would direct one and then I would produce one

and then you would die. I had it all laid out.

How did you know that?

-Sechel. -That's why he's the captain.

-Why haven't you directed... -Or is it tuchis?

...a film, one of the films?

-l haven't directed a film... -And would you?

...because I'm probably the only one of this group here,

I don't know about you, Whoopi,

I didn't want to direct the films.

I was going to ask if you chose not to.

Deliberately. I think it came up.

I think sitting in Sherry Lansing's office one day, talking about the next movie,

it was suggested, but I killed it flat. I killed it flat and, okay,

do you use the term "blowing smoke" here in this country?

-Yes, yes. -Absolutely.

-Oh, yeah. -When you puff on it,

you blow smoke. Absolutely.

Well, I learned that phrase from him. He knows that.

I didn't want to direct because of what I'd seen Jonathan do,

particularly on his first movie.

-On... -It's blowing smoke.

Yeah.

It's like I don't want to direct in the theatre either.

Because I've been lucky to work with great theatre directors.

I can't do what they do.

You know, stick to what you can do. I love directing the series.

In fact, I would say the six episodes I directed,

they kept me going during those last years, seven years.

To know that somewhere in a few months' time,

there was an episode coming up with my name on it was fantastic.

And to be directing these episodes, with your pals in front of the camera,

and even more important, with your pals behind the camera, too.

What did you do when you were directing...

I asked him if he'd kneel down on an empty space,

-and he's never forgiven me for it. -But, no...

With your pals, you're wonderful friends, you love each other,

but something in your actor's mind doesn't like,

"Jonathan, would you stop smiling? Come on."

-Yeah, we did all of that. Absolutely. -Can you say to your buddy...

For 170, you did 179...

-Eight. 178. -...and you're on the last. Right.

So 178. So on the 177th show, Jonathan says, "Patrick,

"I can't stand the smile." He says,

-"Would you stop smiling?" -Yeah, sure. Sure.

-Really? -But, you know,

we said that when we weren't directing.

Yeah, we would have said it to... It was absolutely free.

-Well, you were there. -Yeah. Yeah.

Things you wouldn't like about his performance...

If you didn't have thick skin on our set,

you really didn't survive. It was a very, very brutal room.

-A tough room. -Yeah, it was.

-A tough room. -l don't understand the distinction.

You said you really enjoyed doing the episodes,

but you did not want to direct the film?

Yeah, because the...

I'd been in the films and they were outside my abilities.

The scale and scope of it was too huge. Also, I felt I couldn't play the captain

and take on that responsibility.

I don't know how it was for you, but when we were directing episodes,

I hated it, the days when I had to act.

And furthermore, I couldn't act in the episodes I directed.

I used to walk, same arm as leg. I was so stiff in my own episodes.

And I tried to get them to cut my scenes down. They would do that anyway.

They would give you an episode in which you were light.

We never directed anything in which we were especially heavy.

I understand that very well.

The first Star Trek film that I directed, I was hardly in it.

It was the Search for Spock, so I didn't have to show up until near the very end.

-They couldn't find you. -Yeah.

Well, they thought you were dead.

As long as they couldn't find me, the better off I was.

-Remember? "Remember," that's what it was about.

I couldn't wait to get out of my uniform and into my jeans and T-shirt

and get my viewfinder around my neck.

We had a great time on our show,

and there are things that happened at the beginning.

It came up recently. I was a pain in the ass.

-No! -Jonathan, come on.

Wait, wait, generally or...

Oh, yeah, I was at the beginning of the series.

-Talk about that. -l was...

Well, that was where you were blowing smoke.

-Wait, we're getting good stuff now. -No, no. This is the...

-It might have irritated the... -Let him...

Let him talk about it. I want to hear about it.

Well, Doctor...

-He is like a shrink, isn't he? Yeah. -He is. Yeah.

I was scared.

The whole reason for me being a pain in the ass

is that I was frightened.

-Of what? -Of the work that I'd been asked to do.

I'd never done anything like that in my life before,

I'd never worked in Hollywood, I'd never been in a Hollywood studio.

All these people, they were so easy and relaxed and familiar with everything.

And I had the responsibility of sitting in that chair.

So how do you define...

What are the results of the pain in the ass?

Well, I took everything too seriously

and I required my colleagues to take it seriously, too.

And early on in the series, there was this famous meeting

called by me. I was the captain, after all.

You know, you're number one on the call sheet.

He still calls me Number One.

And I called them all together and I said, "I really think it's important

"that we all start taking this work a little more seriously.

"I think there's too much fooling around." I can't believe I did this.

"Too much fooling around on the set and too much joking about.

"We're wasting time." I said, "You've got to remember,

"you know, we go home at different times of the day.

"These people, all these people, they're here

"12 hours a day, more than that, day after day after day.

"So, I think it's our responsibility..." Can you believe that I made that...

Would you have made that speech, Bill?

I would have said the opposite. It was Leonard who would make that speech.

Oh, I see!

-Well, I do remember... -You're lying again!

You're lying. Don't do that.

I said, "It was Denise..."

I would really like to hear from you

what the cast's reaction was to this performance.

Well, I can tell you what Denise Crosby said.

Denise Crosby said, "Oh, Patrick!"

-"Please!" "Chill! Chill!"

"We got to have some fun!" And I said, "We are not here to have fun, Denise."

-Famous quote. -Yeah.

"Who said it had to be fun?" -Yeah, well...

Wow. He was a pain in the ass.

-But you know what? -That changed.

Oh, did it change!

-And not only that. -Did it change?

-I've got to say this... -Everybody got serious?

-No, no. -Oh, he changed.

-I gotta say this publicly. -What do you think?

What are you... He was outnumbered by wild Americans.

The United States has been very, very good to me in many, many ways.

Personally, professionally, financially, all of that.

But perhaps the one thing that I...

This is a good way to open that "sir" speech when you get knighted.

-You think so? -Yeah.

-Yeanh. -And then segue into the...

Yeah, but what about socially?

Socially? Yeah, too, but the point I'm trying to make

is that America made me funny.

I wasn't funny before I came to...

I mean, maybe, okay, it's up for debate. Maybe I'm still, you know...

No, you were amusing. Now you're funny.

-You're funny ha-ha now. -There, you're ha-ha funny.

That's thanks to the United States and these guys.

Because they made me funny and I wasn't funny before.

-You were doing things that... -They're talking among themselves.

We're having this conversation.

They're trying to decide who would have made that speech.

Who would have said... Who was the more serious?

Yeah. Yeah.

-Now... -Did you guys have that kind of...

Leonard came from a school of acting similar to Patrick's.

Different approaches, but he was Spock.

In the first years, he was Spock for a variety of reasons. Mostly safety.

I was submerged. Yeah. I really was.

Personal safety, so he felt safe there,

and he was somewhat dour.

I mean, he's got a great sense of humour,

and it only came out later.

-And were you wild from the beginning? -I'm afraid so.

I have one question that I would like to pose to each of you,

which I would love for you each to answer.

And that is, at this point in your life, when you look at it,

what did Star Trek mean for you?

-You looking at me? -Sure.

Are you looking at me? You looking at me?

I'm looking at you.

Well, ultimately, Star Trek meant everything.

Star Trek was a springboard

into the many things that I've done subsequent to that.

Star Trek led me into being this celebrity thing

that is box office,

which means people want you to do work

that they wouldn't ordinarily want you to do.

But because you are popular, you're in the public eye,

and you can get publicity for the thing you're doing...

So, talent aside,

the celebrity thing brings with it

the ability to do things you might want to do.

And that's what has happened to me.

Whatever negative things Star Trek might have brought are far inferior

to the extraordinary luck that I've had because of Star Trek.

Cool. Leonard?

I arrived in Los Angeles when I was 19 years old.

And from the time I was 19 to the time I was 35,

I had increasingly better and better roles over the years,

but never had a job that lasted longer than two weeks.

So I was in that cycle that SO many actors are in,

which is, "What's the next job, and will there be another job?"

And you'd get a job, and when the job was finished,

after four, five, six days, or 10 days, whatever it was,

there's that empty feeling of walking off the lot or driving off the lot

and not knowing when or where you're gonna work again.

Right.

So, for me, for the first time,

to see my name actually painted on a dressing room door,

rather than put on in chalk

and then ready to be obliterated after six or seven days, was a major event

and a great blessing, great blessing.

After Star Trek, I never, never again had to worry about finding work.

I have never needed to worry about getting work

since Star Trek first went on the air in September of 1966.

A gigantic change in my life.

Nice. Patrick?

Everything that Bill said.

Everything that Leonard said applies to me, too.

But there are two other things. For me, huge pride in what we did,

in what we put on the screen,

the television screen and subsequently the movie screen.

And in addition to that, to know that wherever I am in the world

and whatever I'm doing,

that there are eight people, and I can pick up the phone,

and whatever is good or bad for me, they will be there, rock solid.

Wow. That's neat.

Yeah, that's what I...

-I was gonna take that one. -I'm sorry.

It created, in addition to being able to buy a car, finally,

and buy a house, and all the wonderful things that came from it,

and being part of this legacy,

it has given me some of my closest lifelong friends.

And every morning, no matter what mood I was in,

I looked forward to going to work. No matter what the hour.

I said, "I'm gonna spend the day

"with these clever, silly, talented, wonderful people."

And it was, and still is

when we get back together, the best job in the world.

Wonderful.

-Great. -Hear, hear.

What was that other one? There was another one.

I never saw an episode of that, did you?

No, what are we talking about?

You can sing it? I can't...

I barely can recognise it.