Wil Wheaton on William Shatner
First meeting with “Captain Kirk” made him cry
The first time he met William Shatner, Wil Wheaton cried.
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In his new book, Wil Wheaton describes his first meeting with William Shatner. He behaved “like a complete idiot”.
In his new book, “Star Trek” actor Wil Wheaton (49) remembers his first meeting with actor William Shatner. When he met the 91-year-old on the set of “Star Trek V,” Wheaton said he “acted like a complete idiot,” in “Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir,” out April 12. The book is a collection of numerous blog posts that Wheaton has published on his website over the past few years.
First meeting made Wheaton cry
In the Story titled “The William Fucking Shatner story” Wheaton details the formative encounter with William Shatner in 1988. Wheaton was only 16 years old and yet had been seen as Wesley Crusher in the television series “Starship Enterprise – The Next Century” for almost two years. Shatner played Captain James T. Kirk on the original series, Starship Enterprise. When Wheaton found out they would be shooting side by side for a few months, he was “over the moon”. For weeks he shied away from introducing himself to “the legendary Captain Kirk”. When he finally worked up the courage to introduce himself to his hero, he just asked, “So, you’re the kid on this show?”
As Wheaton goes on to describe, he stood in front of Shatner “with a dry throat and mouth” and “sweaty palms” and replied, “Uh, yeah. My name is Wil.” He wiped his hand on his space suit, held it out to Shatner and said, “Nice to meet you.” But he didn’t shake his hand and made fun of his costume.
Wheaton felt a little “dazed” and didn’t catch Shatner asking him a question. “I said, What are you doing over there?” Wheaton recalls Shatner’s words. When the teenager responded that he was “an ensign who steers the ship sometimes,” Shatner dismissively said, “Well, I would never let a kid on my bridge.” He then turned around and walked away.
At that moment, “Captain James Tiberius Kirk, (…) the man I’ve admired since I was eight years old immediately transformed into WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER,” Wheaton continues. Word quickly spread around the set that Shatner had been rude. Crew and cast members comforted Wheaton, who was on the verge of tears. “He’s a complete idiot, and he’s been for years,” a make-up artist reportedly told him.
Reconciliation followed in 2002
In the meantime, the two have apparently reconciled. In his blog post, Wheaton notes that in 2000 they both took part in a “Star Trek” special of the game show “Weakest Link.” He was “the whole time friendly and warm to me”. A few months later he asked Shatner: “Are we cool or what? I always thought you didn’t like me but I enjoyed your time with you on ‘Weakest Link’. So are we cool or was that just a game strategy? ” Shatner replied, “We’re so cool, we’re beyond cool. We’re in orbit, man.”
In recent years he has spent a lot of time with Shatner, whom he calls “Bill”. He was “friendly every time”, “never mean or dismissive”. They are “not friends, but friendly to each other”. He nevertheless decided to publish the story because it was “a good story” that is “entertaining, true and fun to tell”.