Shatner Book Re-ignites Feud
1 min readOver the years, William Shatner and George Takei have taken shots at one another and Shatner’s new book, due out next month, will only continue their feud.
In his new book, Shatner Rules: Your Guide to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large, it’s Shatner’s turn to attack Takei.
Takei has been “”saying mean things about me for nearly forty years now,” said Shatner, who then went on to say a few mean things of his own.
Regarding Takei’s wedding several years ago, Shatner said that contrary to what Takei said, Shatner did not get an invitation. Furthermore, Shatner believes that Takei asked Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols to be best man and maid of honor for one reason only, to get media coverage of the wedding.
Takei “says that I have a ‘big, shiny ego,'” wrote Shatner. “Well, actors have big egos. If mine is shiny, it’s because I tend to it very carefully and lovingly. Perhaps George’s needs a good polish.”
Shatner Rules: Your Guide to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large goes on sale October 4.
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Well, I am fully with Bill Shatner on this. Takei has shown himself to be a jealous, resentful, grudge-holding 2-bit minor support actor who has done…what? … since Star Trek. Certainly NOT won an Emmy award and appeared in all the shows, written the books, and more, as Bill Shatner has done. Takei got applause at the ST conventions, this went to his head, and he thinks he contributed to Star Trek as much as Shatner and Nimoy. RIdiculous. As I remember, in half the TOS episodes, Takei wasn’t even present. And don’t get me started on Koenig…an even more minor figure.
And eye for an eye makes the world go blind.
Well, if you watched Koenig on Shatner’s Raw Nerve it was pretty clear that Walter Koenig didn’t even understand being asked to participate in the wedding like that. Clearly it was for publicity and whatnot. Personally, I just don’t get what TOS’ cast is so on about… what, did the end result not turn out for each and every one of them? Inherently, they’re suggesting that things should’ve been different, that they should’ve gotten… well… more… But what they got was precisely what we’ve loved for 45 years. So, what they wanted was something that perhaps none of us would’ve even wanted to watch……. and this comes from a guy who was all for an Excelsior series.
Go Bill! It’s time to take the offensive. Takei has been bad-mouthing him for years. Shatner was the star of Star Trek, Takei (and Nichols, Koenig) were THIRD bananas (Doohan was a second banana). Takei is only a celebrity because people watch Trek thanks to Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly.
And what made him (Takei) think that everyone wanted an Excelsior show? Did he see all the wooden acting on the Voyager episode?
Please…. George, thank the man for giving you your life and ability to be where you are now.
Is it wrong of me to suggest that the only reason for Mr. Shatner to reignite this feud is to get publicity for his book? I thought the whole thing had been smoothed over at this point…
All the sniping from the stars as well as the fans makes me a bit ill. It’s more than forty years since TOS has been on so give it a rest folks! I have respect for both stars and it’s their feud, so why add fuel to the fire? Let’s hope for a settlement and maybe these people whom we have watched for so long can finally put it to rest.
I’m with George on this one: Shatner has shown himself to be a jealous, resentful, grudge-holding 2-bit joke of an actor who has done…what? I never cared for any of his shows after TOS. What idiots are giving these emmies out anyways? William Shatner, he just want’s more attention, milking you snirfs for all your worth. Baaaahhhhh!
Jealous of who? Takei? Koenig? Doohan? Nichols?
Shatner post TOS and mostly in the 21st Century has the ability to laugh at himself and his timing is great. He really really did deserve the Emmys he won for THE PRACTICE/BOSTON LEGAL.
Takei seems to live in the past. He was very upset he didn’t get promoted to Captain in STII:TWOK. It was more important to him to get the promotion (which he blamed Shatner for blocking) than to stay a crew member of the Enterprise where the action was taking place. Had he been on his own ship for III, IV and V, he’d have very little screen time and it would dwindle down each successive movie. Besides that it wasn’t REAL.
Why you such a liar? What world are you living in? You made part of that stuff up! People these days…go figure…?!?
Nothing I said was made up. It was all in either articles or books published in the last 10-15 years.
Don’t let this goofball get to you. Everything you stated were absolutely the facts from multiple sources. But somehow, being upset that Shatner gets your lines is Shatner being jealous… yeah… right.
Of the 79 TOS episodes, Sulu was in 51. And within the films, he got just as much as anyone else other than Kirk, Spock and McCoy. This wasn’t TNG or DS9. These weren’t ensemble casts. These were supporting cast members. The fact that they weren’t all re-cast in 1979 and replaced is actually a bit surprising… but were they supposed to take over the movie series when they hadn’t really done that much in TOS?
And let’s not forget that as soon as Takei came out of the closet, he suddenly had a problem with Shatner being a homophobe… just another thing to add to his hate list… on top of Shatner mispronouncing his name for 40 years…. Here’s a clue to George Takei: If someone can’t bother to learn your name, chances are pretty good they aren’t manipulating things behind the scenes to specifically screw you over… you’re just not important enough to consider in the big picture… and be honest, that’s why Takei’s pissed… he realizes how utter irrelevant he is.
I think that they both are taking cheap, childish shots at each other. Time to quit fighting over the last popsicle, boys!
I understand emotions are high… no one finds happiness in having their image tainted (whether or not the accusations or true or false).
My opinion? That they both need to step out from behind whatever medium that they may be using and meet face-to-face (potentially to understand both stands better).
well there goes the movie deal, we should have kept “don,t ask don’t tell” Shatner got to have the famous kiss with Nichols, I guess Takei wanted one also… too funny, they both still have me entertained!
I am not going to get into this feud, but as far as i’m concerned (No offense to all the other actors that appeared in them;) I still think of Shatner as being ‘kewl.’ I was told by a very good friend this quote: “If you can laugh at yourself, then you have a great sense of humor and personality.” It takes alot to become an actor (as well as a singer) and stand up in front of a crowd of strangers! But if you believe in yourself, then that is what you were born to become…so go for it!
With greatness one must sacrifice a part of their lives….so whenever I seen an person of importance, I gave them their space. I do not bother them (running for an autograph,and the like) cause I felt that their only people like you and I with the exception that they gave a part of their lives to entertain all of us, and I would not deprive them of their time to relax,shop, &/or have a meal in peace.
(It took me over 40yrs to stop being afraid of standing up in front of a crowd of strangers, just think what I may have been able to contribute if I hadn’t been so terrified at the age of 18….so instead I became apart of humanity and raised a family, like so many of us do.)
Be well and Merry Be,
JC/aka/Saphyrkat
Really? Are they both in Middle School again?
Really? Are they both in Middle School again?
I’m so tired of Takei and his “gay” this and “gay” that. Get a life and polish your ego…”Oh mYYYyyy…” Koenig, Nichols and Doohan are third rate actors at best.
I’m with you on this one.
Yup.
When pigs fly and hell freezes over…this little ditty is really just getting started.
“Let’s hope for a settlement…” You ArE joking, right….right? In what court of law is that gonna happen in?
Well duh….
I agree!
apparently not
Despite this guy’s ego problems, the fact that it seems that most of the Trek cast hates him including Nimoy (He was always teasing his ears . . ) and that watching him in anything lately, inlcuding “Boston Legal” is irritating, he was really good playing that part.
It hurts to admit this, but if I was in deep space with a fleet of human killing aliens breathing down my neck or a comet bearing down on my ass, I’d want Captain James T. Kirk (aka William Shatner) telling me how to get out of this mess. I’d also want Spock around of course. Kirk without Spock is like a flashlight without batteries . . AND a light bulb.
whats funniest about this whole thing is how many fans/critics on multiple forums say “Well, I’m not going to get involved in this” or “I’m not picking sides” and then go on in the same post to say “I support Shatner” or “I support Takei” lol
Please. It’s to both of their advantages to keep the feud live. It gets them both press. And Shatner knows he’s a egotistical jerk and that he was very selfish because he was doing what all actors do: protect themselves at the expense of others. If you are a television or movie actor and you don’t try to maximize your part. That’s why most of them are so messed up as people.
You’re right about Shatner in that description. He is as bad as Rick Berman and Dennis Bailey.