William Shatner Presents Chaos On The Bridge US Premiere
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William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge makes its debut this week at the New York City International Film Festival.
Shatner will be at the event to promote his documentary.
In William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge, fans will get an “enlightening look” at the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Shatner interviewed The Next Generation cast members such as Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and John de Lancie for the one-hour documentary. Others interviewed included John Pike, then president of Paramount Television; writers Maurice Hurley and D.C. Fontana; producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga; and other behind-the-scenes crewmembers.
All was not tranquil on the set, or behind the scenes. There were “egos, the infighting, the fan backlash…bluffs and threats,” and the cast was not certain that the series would survive.
William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge will be screened Friday, May 1 at 8 PM at the Directors Guild of America, 110 West 57 Street NY, NY. Tickets for the event cost $15, and for those wishing to attend a cocktail party with Shatner that begins at 6 PM, the cost will be $50.
For more details, head to the link located here.
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Shatner’s started making some noise about this little project of his a while back, but I’ve always wondered…why was he even interested in the drama that took place on the TNG set, when it’s already well known that there were plenty of tensions on the TOS set that he never really wanted to talk about?
He claimed he wasn’t aware at the time, so what better justification for exploring that *now*? Seems to me that if he wants anyone to air their dirty laundry, if he’s going to be involved, the subject matter might as well be TOS.
But then, with Kelly, Doohan and now Nimoy gone, I suppose it’s just as well he’s not trying to dig skeletons from the closets of those people who are no longer around to defend themselves…
Shatner’s made it plain that he likes directing, and these documentaries he does are an outlet for that.
One hour seems a little short. Hopefully there will be extended interviews on the DVD.
One quick correction of the article: the Cocktail Reception tickets are $50, not $100. That is according to the site and the receipt for my ticket. 🙂
Odd, no mention of David Gerrold. I wonder, did they contact him at all, or did he decline to participate?
Very odd. It was most definitely $100 when I looked because I thought, “damn, that’s high.” They must have dropped the price between when I wrote the article and when you bought your tickets.
$50 is rather reasonable.
I’ll change the article when I post new articles shortly. Thanks for letting me know.
What strikes me is odd is that, so many actors are very vocal about their privacy, about hating “tabloid tell-all” such and such. Yet, if it’s an actor themselves doing the documentary, others will talk to them. I can’t imagine Frakes, Stewart, and Berman sitting down for such a thing if a fan or other outsider was doing this. But because it’s Bill Shatner, whom I guess they trust not to air anything negative about themselves they aren’t comfortable with, they’ll do so. Which just seems… odd?
Was Diana Muldaur interviewed as well?
It’s not that odd. If you were famous, who would you feel more comfortable talking about things that might not be the most positive of subjects about your past: a close and trusted friend or a total stranger? Let’s be honest, most fans are total strangers to these actors, as are most reporters.
Shatner is the perfect man for the job at creating docs about Star Trek. I think in the years since TNG and even DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, Shatner has become antiquated or even good friends with a lot of the other Star Trek actors. If he wants to spend the rest of his days making Star Trek documentaries and using his star power and position to get the big interviews, I say keep going Bill! I’ve really enjoyed his docs so far.
Well we all get antiquated eventually. It’s all part of the cycle of life. 😀
To this day, has Shatner even seen so much as a single episide of TNG?
“Captains Close Up” was really good (better than “Captains”).