By GustavoLeao / 15:13, 3 November 2007 / Star Trek: Nemesis

DVD Snapshot posted the transcript of a recent conference call interview with Star Trek star William Shatner, in which he talked about his various projects, including his new Star Trek novel, The Academy Collision Course, now on sale. Here are few excerpts.

Panel: The book you were referring to, which is basically about the first time Spock and Kirk meet.

William Shatner: That's correct.

Panel:You wrote it, but wasn't it with, along with two other people?

William Shatner: Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens.

Panel: Now, to what input was it proportioned off to in the writing category?

William Shatner: Well, the way, we've written several books together, all the major Star Trek books I've written with Gar and Judy. And the way it seems to work out is I develop the story and write out a full-fledged story outline--several, many, many pages. And they take that and work that over, and then we begin to work on it together, going through several rewrites until the three of us are satisfied with the work.

Panel: Now, it does seem awfully like it could be a movie. I mean--.

William Shatner: All the books I've written--every book I've written--could have been a movie. I write them as though I'm seeing a movie. I don't like A, B, and C stories and all that stuff, so I write as though it were a movie. When I read a book, I'd like to see the movie, and that's the way I write. The story line you are following, you are following the main characters, it's classically built as a beginning, a middle and an end, it's got character evolvement, anxiety, tension, the ticking clock--all the wonderful ingredients of a good, old-fashioned story. And that's what I've tried to do in all these books, and I think that "Academy" has caught it fully in terms of an imaginative history of the characters and the ongoing plot of how they must get from A to X.

Panel: It just doesn't seem like there's ever, there ever could be an end to the Star Trek phenomenon. I mean, just when you think it's over with movies or with books or such, then you go backwards. You go sideways. I mean, it's been so important.

William Shatner: It's amazing, and nobody understands why. Nobody understands the phenomena of Star Trek.

Panel: Not even you?

William Shatner: Especially me. All I know is that we've got these wonderful characters and we invent a history for them, and the history becomes more and more fascinating. When you read this book, you'll see what we planned here, the diverse things that went into make Jim Kirk Captain Kirk.

The full interview is here.

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