William Shatner is inextricably linked to the Star Trek franchise, but he’s never actually watched his own performance, save one special occasion.
William Shatner is a Star Trek icon, possibly the Star Trek icon. As James Tiberius Kirk, he was at the head of the original series that ran from 1966-1969, and in several movies afterwards. His performance as Kirk has been very influential, and you can see it referenced all over pop culture.
But that doesn’t mean that Shatner has ever seen it. “I have never watched Star Trek,” the actor recently told PEOPLE. “There are many episodes I don’t know, there are some movies I don’t know.”
He did watch one of the movies — 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — but only because he had a special relationship to it. “I directed one of the movies — No. 5 — I had to watch that one,” he said. “But it’s all painful because I don’t like the way I look and what I do.”
Y’know what, after turning in an iconic performance like Kirk, not to mention everything else he’s done in his career, Shatner can do whatever he wants. And he’s still going. The actor celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this week, but he has a new movie coming out: Senior Moment, where he plays a retired NASA test pilot whose license gets taken away after he’s caught speeding. While riding the bus, he strikes up a romance with the free-spirited Caroline (Jean Smart).
Senior Moment comes out on March 26.
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