Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek, Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: William Shatner & George Takei Reflect on 60th Anniversary

Star Trek legends William Shatner and George Takei reflect on the series and franchise's legacies and profound impact across generations.

Star Trek legends William Shatner and George Takei have seen firsthand the profound lingering impact Gene Roddenberry's vision has had on generations through The Original Series, which premiered 60 years ago on NBC; the cinematic adventures would continue on for six films for Paramount, and the decades of spinoffs from The Animated Series to Starfleet Academy. As television's most ambitious series, Roddenberry's "wagon train to the stars" featured the most inclusive, ethnically represented cast of all of television, because executives were more open due to its nature in science fiction. It was really an opportunity not only to entertain the masses weekly, but also to provide timely contemporary social commentary. Shatner (95) and Takei (89), who are two of the three surviving cast of TOS alongside Walter Koenig (89), spoke to AARP's Movies for Grownups separately about their legacy as Captain James T. Kirk and helmsman, Lt. Hikaru Sulu, and how Star Trek was far more a story about humanity that also happens to be sci-fi.

Star Trek Stars William Shatner and George Takei Reflect on 60 Years of The Original Series and Franchise

"Although the background was futuristic, the foreground was what happens because you're a human being," Shatner told AARP at GalaxyCon. "And I think that was the key to Star Trek's success." Takei, who was an emerging presence on screen, was already in an uphill battle against racial typecasting as an Asian American actor. "It was the first time that I was being asked to portray a character that was fully developed," he said. "It was a human being, not a cartoon or a stereotype. This was an identifiable, sharp, intelligent member of a Starfleet team. I desperately wanted to be a part of that show. I was proud to be cast as Sulu."

As TOS was canceled in 1969 after three seasons and a brief run on TAS, where not everyone was involved, syndication and the sci-fi craze brought on by Star Wars in 1977 brought renewed interest, prompting Paramount to make what would be 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which spawned five more sequels. To sum up the franchise's success, "'Star Trek' is a family show," Takei said. "Our most steady audience members are grandpas and grandmas," while making the analogy that the spinoffs are the "children, grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. So it appeals to all the generations of our audience group. 'Star Trek' itself is living long and prospering."

Shatner tends to lean on those who worked on the show: "My memory of 'Star Trek' is filled with the lovely people in it," he said. "Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, to name two. They were beautiful people that were good friends of mine, all dead now." Takei told Bleeding Cool while promoting his documentary, Beam Me Up, Sulu, "Life goes on, and we are people who keep growing or not growing with the passage of time, and I'd like to think we, in the 21st century, live longer than people in the mid-20th century lived. We're living longer and are more active longer…I've got engagements already for when I turn 90, so we're going to keep on developing and growing." For more on how Shatner and Takei live their lives beyond Star Trek and their continued success as authors and artists, you can check out the rest of the interview here.

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