WilliamShatner.com :: ANTI-TREK

ANTI-TREK
Posted by: LeopardHead on Thursday, February 28, 2002 - 10:47 PM

	I received several emails over the weekend asking me what it means to be "anti-Trek." For me, being anti-Trek meant having a real ambivalence about my relationship to the original series and especially to the character of Captain Kirk. On one hand I knew it was a wonderfully creative and special show with unique characters and interesting dramatic situations.
February 28, 2002 I received several emails over the weekend asking me what it means to be "anti-Trek." For me, being anti-Trek meant having a real ambivalence about my relationship to the original series and especially to the character of Captain Kirk. On one hand I knew it was a wonderfully creative and special show with unique characters and interesting dramatic situations. On the other hand, it was a way for people to make assumptions about my life that weren't necessarily true; or for them to identify me as the daughter of a TV character that I didn't even watch. My most heightened feelings of anti-Trekness (is that a word?) came during the filming of the motion pictures. By then Star Trek had seeped well into the consciousness of the TV watching public, and I found myself almost immediately identified as "Captain Kirk's daughter" no matter where I went. It got so frequent at one point that I simply stopped telling people my last name, and if they asked I simply identified myself as "Liz." It seemed a silly thing to be upset about, especially because I was truly glad my father and his colleagues were successful, but I wanted a life based on my self-definition. I really thought that no matter what I did, my biggest accomplishment would always be a "luck of the draw" relationship to a successful actor. This thought really did burn a hole inside my head for a long time. But eventually I got caught. First by the zeal and creativity of the motion pictures. I really started watching them in earnest about the time that Star Trek Two came out, and found myself actually enjoying them and waiting for the next one to be launched. They seemed like stories I really cared about and the characters revealed themselves to me in all their complicated and touching glory. I guess I traveled backwards, because after the movies I started watching the original series. And I loved it! I loved the characters, their dilemmas, their love for each other, their travels. The imagination and genius of putting this all together in a television show really impressed me. Me & my little sister Melanie in the early days Finally, I got caught by my love and admiration for my father. Although I did see similarities between him and Captain Kirk, I knew a lot of the success of the character was due to my father's ability to take creative risks. This ability has always been his trademark, but I grew to really understand what an amazing trait it really is. Star Trek seemed to be a wondrous combination of many people with many talents all willing to come together and take a giant creative risk. What could be better than that? And so, I finally cured myself of the anti-Trek disease. And now I find myself writing on the website. It is certainly an honor and a privilege for me to be here. I hope that I have learned from Star Trek, from Captain Kirk, and from my father about what is important - that love of your life, your creativity, and your curiosity keeps you moving forward into the unknown. I look forward to my creative unknown as I did on the "Miri" set - with a Halloween costume, a stick of gum, and a smile on my face.