The Captains Page #4

was going...

You... you understood that...

- Very quickly, very quickly,

- Really?

Yeah, very quickly,

And when was the transition

between baseball and tennis

and fighter pilot?

I had a wonderful English

teacher who I bonded with

greatly and she...

We did an independent study on

''Waiting for Godot''

as an English project

and as part of that

English project,

at the end, we decided,

yeah, well, why don't we put on

the first act of

''Waiting for Godot''?

So we put it up in this atrium

in the science building,

I remember,

and I don't have any memories

from that

other than

it was so simple then,

It was the joy of just getting

together with some friends

and putting on a show,

And with an audience,

finally,

Yeah, and it was

the beauty of theater,

You know, what I loved about

theater

is that there's an

ephemeral quality to it,

it happens, it comes together,

it exists

and then it goes away,

Las Vegas,

- Save this...

- Of course,

- Ready to start it off?

- Good crowd?

- Very good,

- Ooh, very good,

We beat the world record

this morning,

No, world record?

A world record!

There's a power...

that the camera has,

Just start pointing a camera,

people give way

and police open up,

borders stop, meld,

Sorry, we're filming,

Hey, man, how are you?

Your nephew,

- You're my nephew?

- Yes,

I don't even known you,

What the...

I am Locutus of Borg,

The five captains are so

distinctive

because of the five actors

that play them, obviously,

Patrick was cast against type

coming after Bill,

Avery, quite obviously,

was cast against type coming

after Patrick,

who was smart to

bring Kate in as a woman

and then Scott had an entire

charm of his own,

I think it was

very successful,

whether it was planned or not,

it was a very successful

endeavor,

We're getting ready to do

another franchise

of ''Star Trek,''

- I'm gonna say it,

- Okay,

And we want you

to be the captain,

Yes,

Boom, what goes on?

My first thought?

- Not interested,

- Why?

And I may have even said...

I'm not interested in,

you know, the next

captain seat,

And they said, it's... you're

gonna be the first captain,

And then I was done,

You're gonna be

1 OO years before Kirk,

I said, I'm in,

This is Captain Archer of

the Starship Enterprise,

We respectfully would like to

ask for your assistance

with a little problem...

Sir, they're

charging weapons,

Polarize the hull plating,

Grab hold of something!

That was an easy kind of

a thing,

because I had a knowledge

of what it was gonna be,

but I don't know what it would

have been like to be you

when somebody says...

Calls and says,

''Come in and audition for...''

- Well...

- 'Cause there weren't...

There had been, like, a couple

of bad '50s kind of TV shows,

- Right?

- Right,

Well, what happened

with me was...

I was in New York

doing something

and I got a call from

a guy named Roddenberry,

who said, ''My name is

Roddenberry

''and we've shot a pilot

''and it didn't sell,

but what they said was, recast

it and we'll take another look,''

So I go to LA, I fly into LA,

So I looked at this pilot that

Roddenberry had shot

with an actor named

Jeffrey Hunter,

and Leonard Nimoy

playing a smiling Vulcan

and they say to...

''We want to recast it,''

So I said things like,

it should be a little more

lighthearted and that,

and they all agreed

and we made another pilot,

So I was like...

- I had a judgment call,

- Yeah,

I was... I could be

a little bit of a jury there,

Yeah,

Saying I will or I won't,

and I said I will,

if you make these changes,

and they did, and so

it worked out,

It wasn't any great miracle,

George, just get it over here

a little bit, you know,

avoid that meteorite,

A little more

to the left, George!

- Y'know, as against...

- Right!

''We're turning right,''

So that's what I...

that's what I...

It wasn't any great thing,

- And then because it was...

- Oh, no, it's a huge thing,

It was a tone, and that's what

everybody fell in love with

was the tone of the show,

But I must point out

that the possibilities,

the potential...

for knowledge and advancement

is equally great,

Risk,

Risk is our business,

That's what this starship

is all about,

That's why we're aboard her,

It was very slowly

that I began to realize

that if I were to do this,

I was gonna have to

commit for six years,

and at that point, I said,

out of the question,

I've got too much to do,

I can't involve myself

in a television series

in California for six years,

Everybody knows it's not

gonna work, they said,

You cannot

revive an iconic series,

You cannot replace those guys,

So don't worry about signing

a six-year contract,

You'll never see it out,

Patrick Stewart, who was not

Gene's first choice,

In fact, he kind of fought

even reading him at first,

but Bob Justman insisted,

so Gene did

and eventually

came to realize

that he was just

the perfect actor,

30 years with the RSC before he

came to ''Star Trek,''

and having played

all of those kings and emperors

and lead characters,

you know, that's what

a starship captain is,

You're an officer

onboard this ship

and I require you to

perform your duty,

That is an order, Commander,

Yes, sir,

I read the pilot,

that's what happened,

and I said, ''Oh, well, oh...''

This is very

interesting to me,

I mean...

defending humankind

to some other

intelligence in the universe,

a man dealing

with... loss,

having to raise a child,

indeed a male child,

by himself,

and be brown,

as we spin this tale

in the 20th century

about the 24th century,

I said okay,

Excuse me, Captain,

Here's tomorrow's duty roster

for your approval,

Lieutenant...

- Lieutenant...

- Benjamin Sisko, sir,

I've been on temporary

assignment here,

Before I leave,

I just want to say,

it's been an honor

serving with you, sir,

We got word that

Kate Mulgrew was cast,

and from the moment she

stepped on the bridge,

we could all relax,

because Kate

is a natural leader,

We had an actress

who wanted to be there,

was immaculately prepared

every day,

and, as I said,

just has a take-charge element

in her personality,

You can try and stop us

from getting to the truth,

but I promise you,

if you do,

I will respond

with all the unique

technologies at my command,

Janeway out,

''Star Trek'' captains have to be

on it right away,

'cause so often

the camera's with us

and we have to hit these

unspeakable marks,

green screens, blue screens,

nonexistent aliens,

spouting this language,

and setting the tone for

the rest of our company,

And mine were...

I had nine in my cast,

And people think that we're

having these lovely breaks,

don't they, Bill?

And being brought coffee

and stuff,

It's 18 hours,

You're lucky to

go to the john, right?

You get 20 minutes for lunch,

that's it,

Exactly right,

You gotta be strong,

So I think when they were

Iooking at us,

certainly

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