Koenig: Shatner Was No Patrick Stewart
1 min readEven though one might have assumed that the hatchet was buried when Walter Koenig appeared on Shatner’s Raw Nerve earlier this year, Koenig is still not a fan of William Shatner.
According to TrekMovie.com, while speaking to an audience at the London Comic Con held last weekend, Koenig revealed his lingering bitterness towards his fellow actor.
When asked if his appearance on Shatner’s Raw Nerve had helped to heal the wounds of the past, Koenig said, “No, not really.” He went on to explain though that Shatner had been “very generous” and “in my old age, I’d like to think that [his invitation to appear on the show to talk things out] had been genuine.”
Koenig explained that Shatner “just never got it,” when it came to the animosity he raised in Koenig, James Doohan and George Takei. “Bill wasn’t Patrick Stewart,” Koenig explained to the audience. “We never had the respect for our captain the way the TNG crew had theirs.”
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Koenig has always been kind of an asshole.
Is Koenig going to keep up this grudge until either Shat or him is dead? Isn’t it about time to let this go? It’s disturbing to me because I’ve been a Trek fan nearly all of my life. I’ve forgiven a lot of people since I was younger and foolish. Cut the crap Koenig. The Shat will probably outlive you but in the chance he doesn’t you might very well find yourself feeling a lot of regret. I know I do about people I’ve known in the past that are dead. And I’m only 49.
Good lord. I thought he was making a joke at first. How weird.
And Koenig (and Takei) were no Brent Spiner
Really, get over it all of you third bananas.
But you sure couldn’t pass up a TV appearance on Shatners show,now could you,Koenig?I bet they even paid you a little spendin money;now didn’t that feel great?
While I knew that Koenig and Shatner would never ever be very close friends, I really had kind of hoped Koenig’s bitterness would at least soften a little bit.
I felt that Mr. Shatner was being completely sincere and honestly wanted to mend fences by having Walter appear on his show. Sadly, it seems that Mr. Koenig feels that the only way for him to maintain any limelight is to continue attacking William Shatner. It probably does chaff him that Mr. Shatner is still enjoying an amazing career resurgence but that just means that William has worked hard to earn it. Let you’re talent do the talking Walter, be a better man.
Koenig may be bitter, but he’s probably right. Shatner may really just not get it — not understand the effect he can have on the people he works with. You don’t have to have a condition like autism to have a mental blind spot or two. And if he didn’t get it back then, he probably still doesn’t. But he understands that he offended people and seems to want to make up for it, so that’s progress.
Conversely, progress in Koenig’s case would be to move on. If the guy doesn’t get it, just accept that. But in fairness, we fans aren’t helping when we prod him like this.
Meh, I still put the lion’s share of the blame on Shatner. When the majority of your coworkers are pissed off at you, *you* are the common denominator. Shatner also alienated Nichelle Nichols at one point, it should be said.
I’ll have you know that I have met Walter Koenig on three different occassions, and I can honestly tell you straight up that Walter is a really cool guy. I even had lunch with him at a Star Trek convention and he is a remarkable human being. There is more to him than just his roles in both Star Trek and Babylon 5. He is also an excellent actor of the stage, as well as an excellent writer(i.e. Chekov’s Enterprise, Buck Alice and The Actor Robot, Raven, and InAlienable just to name a few).
Frankly, I don’t blame him for resenting Bill Shatner the way he, George Takei, the late James Doohan, and Nichelle Nichols do. I’ve met Shatner before, and I can honestly say that he is bonafide, egotistical prick. Maybe Shatner isn’t that way to some specific people, but he is to others. And unfortunately, Walter, Jimmy, George, and Nichelle had to deal with Shatner’s egotistical bullshit.
So in all honesty, Walter’s statement about William Shatner being no Patrick Stewart was certainly right on the money and justifiable. Granted I don’t care for the character of Jean-Luc Picard(personally, I think Picard is a coward), but I certainly like the actor who plays him, better than I do Shatner(even though I like the character of James T. Kirk)
So, you might want to seriously reconsider your derogatory labeling of Walter. He recently lost his son to suicide, and statements like that one don’t help matters much, let alone put you in a positive light.
If you want assholes to label, you need not look any furthur than those who have poisoned and polluted the Trek BBS, Dennis Russell Bailey, and the rotten actions committed last December by Vic Mignogna and the Starship Farragut production.
Now those people that I mentioned above are assholes and the acts that they have committed(as described in the links on the bottom)are worthy such a slanderous title.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=133657&page=53
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=133657&page=54
Lay off on Walter. I’ve met Shatner and I don’t blame Walter for making such a statement. Shatner has always been kind of an asshole, too.
If you want to brand somebody such a title, check out the links concerning Vic Mignogna and the Starship Farragut production crew. What they did last December is worthy of such a title.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=133657&page=53
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=133657&page=54
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I don’t blame Walter for how he feels. Shatner can be a egotistical jerk at times. Much like Dennis Bailey, Vic Mignogna, John Broughton, and Michael Bednar of Starship Farragut.
Look there is no doubt that Shatner can be a jerk but without him the group of 4 would not have had a job. I have to admit I have never see anything from Shatner unless he is selling something which is way overpriced. Walter…time to move on though. We get it, you and George don’ like the guy.