By GustavoLeao / 13:33, 9 October 2012 / Star Trek: Nemesis

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Bleeding Cool posted a new interview with actor/director William Shatner and here is an excerpt.

Did you become a disciple of Roddenberry’s vision during production of the original TV series?

What an interesting question, because I am at this moment doing a documentary on the Next Generation, which I don’t know whether you know about how that had a vision – are you aware of that..?

I’m aware of the basic reinvention that it had to go through in order to update…

That’s it, that’s exactly it! So I didn’t know that – strangely. You knew it, I didn’t. So when I discovered it with conversations with people like Patrick, I felt there was a story there and that’s the story I’m doing on the vision that Roddenberry had that was antithetical to telling the story; man is protected, and there is no emotion between the members of the cast. And then the writers said, well wait a minute how do we write a story and it is that contrast, that competitive attitude that is the basis of the documentary that I am calling ‘The Next Generation’.

Fantastic. What’s the time scale for that?

I don’t know. I’ve just started it. I’ve finished the – if you will – sizzle reel, and I am going to present it to broadcasters who have indicated an interest probably next week, but in my mind it is filled with people who have attitudes and thoughts that are diametric opposite to everybody else. So there are people who are in collision with other people that go to make up the first two years of ‘The Next Generation’.

What are your thoughts on the J.J. Abrams reboot?

I think it’s terrific. I think that they may lack some of the storytelling impetus that we had had on our show and because we had a small screen and he had a large screen to fill up, but what he does with all of the action and drive and the ride he takes the audience on is certainly refreshing the franchise and I think it is terrific.

Do you feel the true home of Star Trek is as a continuing episodic TV series?

Well, you know, you might be right, if it were done well. Star Trek is at its best and has its philosophical base and that works well on a small screen and so I think if you’re going to tell a Star Trek story which should be human maybe the small screen is the home, although J.J. Abrams is proving us wrong.

Do you have a favourite movie or moment from the series?

You know, our movies were good – some of them were really good. I directed Star Trek V, which was not as successful as some of the others. Financially I made about the same amount of money, but probably I got reviews that weren’t consistent with the others. But I learned a great deal on that. I had the best time and although I wished it had been a better movie I learned a great deal. So, from a personal point of view my directing Star Trek V was a life enhancing time for me.

The full extensive interview is here.