I don’t think I’ve publicly admitted it on this blog, but I’m a bit of a Star Trek fan. I’ve watched almost every episode of at least four of the shows and I’ve been to exactly one convention. Does that qualify me?
So recently my wife and I watched The Captains, (it’s instant viewing on Netflix) a documentary produced by William Shatner in which he interviewed all of the other Star Trek captains.
It was actually quite interesting.
The most intriguing part was a section in which he asked all of them about the personal cost of being cast in the role. In it we learned that four of the actors who played the Captains were divorced, two of the divorces were at least indirect results of being actors on science fiction television and one (Kate Mulgrew) said that her kids resented her role in Star Trek and were ‘dripping contempt’ for the show.
And then (at 58:55) Mr. Shatner asks Avery Brooks (Deep Space Nine – Benjamin Sisko) about his family life during the show and what follows is two minutes of . . . well, I would call it glorious incoherence.
How would you describe it? I’ve taken the time to transcribe it – here it is:
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Shatner: Did you lose family time?
Brooks: Of course!
Shatner: Did it hurt?
Brooks: Of course!
Shatner: But how much harm was suffered –
Brooks: Well, you’d have to ask them, I mean, because the attendant, the attendant of – of the movement of time, y’know for us all, y’know, there-there it is, there – the one – the one hand or the other. I mean who knows, therefore, y’know, in retrospect, y’know. I mean, you can do it that way: say I should have done this as opposed, y’know, I mean, who knows? I mean so – so – so I hold fast to what I’ve chosen to do and I’m not apologizing for that. But the attendant toll taken on family and all of that is, that’s – that’s it.
Shatner: What do you mean, ‘that’s it’? That’s profound. That was terrible.
Brooks: It’s true, baby.
Shatner: That was terrible.
Brooks: Well, it’s not terrible or not terrible, it’s true. It’s true.
Shatner: Well, it’s true, you suffered.
Brooks: It’s true, they suffered.
Shatner: You suffered.
Brooks: It’s true-
Shatner: But you suffered as well.
Brooks: Well, watch –
Shatner: Well, if they suffered, you suffered.
Brooks: Watch what I’m saying to you.
Shatner: I’m listening.
Brooks: It’s true. It’s not terrible or not. It’s true. You know, the toll – the toll on people, you can’t get it back. I mean, no matter what. I mean, whether-whether the decision to make, y’know, to do the thing or not to do a thing – you know what I’m talking about?
Shatner: Yes, I do. Did you discuss this with Vicki like this or did you –
Brooks: She knows, of course! I’ll move. Whether we survive is still extant, isn’t it? Whether we survive all of the sum of who we are –
Shatner: The cumulative effects of life.
Brooks: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ve got to live it, baby. Like you. What’s different?
Shatner: The same.
Brooks: Hmmm.
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Hmmm, indeed.
And for the record, Avery has been married to Vicki since 1976.
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November 23, 2011 at 2:31 pm
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October 3, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Chris
“It’s true. It’s not terrible or not. It’s true. You know, the toll – the toll on people, you can’t get it back. I mean, no matter what. I mean, whether-whether the decision to make, y’know, to do the thing or not to do a thing – you know what I’m talking about?”
While it may take a bit of ‘squinting’ to see the ‘full picture,’ I think that this statement is probably the most profound of the entire documentary. A lot of Brooks’ interview was just shenanigans and toying with Shatner but I found a lot of what he said to just be incredibly deep ideas that took some thought to fully realize. It’s a shame too because so much of this idea applies directly to Shatner and the fact that he struggles with James T. Kirk being his legacy after he’s gone. When Avery says, “terrible or not, it’s true,” just the reality of that idea is incredible to me. You can go back and look at the moments of your life caused you or those around you pain and reflect about ‘how’ they were; ‘Sad,’ ‘desperate,’ ‘lonely,’ ‘frustrated.’ But I think what he is saying here is that the fact is, is that they just WERE. The ‘how’ no longer applies in the present tense, what happened, happened and after I saw this, I realized that looking at the past that way brings you such a sense of sanity to be able to be secure in that fact and the totality of something being ‘past tense.’
October 3, 2013 at 4:25 pm
jamsco
Thanks for your comments, Chris. I think they make sense.
August 27, 2014 at 11:35 pm
Baron Von Butcher
Thanks for the transcript, Jamsco Some great gems there. Just one minor point of correction. In response to the question “Did you discuss this with Vicki like this or did you -?”… I’m pretty sure what Avery actually said was:
“She knows, of course! I’ll move. Whether we survive is still *extant*, isn’t it?”
August 28, 2014 at 9:42 am
jamsco
Wow, Baron,you listen (and read) carefully. I made the change. Thanks for the edit.