WILLIAM SHATNER : To Go Where He Has Gone Before

William Shatner has boldly written what he has never written before. The actor, who starred as the stalwart Capt. James T. Kirk in NBC’s cult 1966-69 sci-fi series “Star Trek” and six blockbuster “Star Trek” feature films, looks back at the series’ 79-episode run in his new book “Star Trek Memories” (HarperCollins, $22). Chris Kreski co-authored the book.

Shatner discusses the show’s origin, his relationships with other cast members as well as with the late Gene Roddenberry who created the series. The book also features more than 100 never-before-published photographs.

Among the juicy tidbits revealed: Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord both turned down the role of Kirk; DeForest Kelley, who played Bones, was the first person asked to play Spock, and the four-finger split-down-the-middle greeting is a Jewish rabbinical blessing.

Shatner, who has written several novels in his “TekWar” series, is host of CBS’ popular reality show “Rescue 911.” Times Staff Writer Susan King caught up with Shatner, who also is the 1994 grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, in his office at Universal Studios.

What prompted your decision to write “Star Trek Memories”?

Why did I write it? There had been a book ready to go that was going to be about “Star Trek” and it was not a good book. It was killed. It was then I decided, “How could somebody who didn’t know the inside history and machinations be able to tell the story of “Star Trek”? “ So I thought, why not give it a shot and try to tell, from my point of view, how “Star Trek” was made.

After years of being interviewed, how did it feel to be on the other side of the coin?

Well, I found conducting a good interview is a work of art and that it required you to listen and to be perceptive of verbal as well as nonverbal signals that you would get in the interview. By following the path of a good prosecuting attorney who is alert to every clue, one could pick up things that weren’t even thought of at the beginning of the interview. But during the course of talking to someone, like a painter who is required to look at the display of light on an object in order to paint it, in order to fulfill the interview you had to listen to every word. I found it enlightening and very interesting.

Was researching and writing the book a personal learning experience for you?

There was much I discovered for myself and there was much I discovered, I guess, in a form of nostalgia-- emotional regrets that so much time had passed before I got to know those people (on the series) better. I felt guilty that I had let personal relationships slide with the people involved in the show due to a matter of very practical considerations--time, proximity. But, still, you go through life and you meet very few people that you stay in contact with for these number of years. It behooves the contactees to make more of that contact. So I made that effort this time.

You were amazingly honest in the last chapter of the book where you discuss that Nichelle Nicols told you why she and several cast members “despised” you and that James Doohan wouldn’t return your calls when you requested an interview.

I thought ... in order to service the memory of the history of other people the only way I could make my path was with honesty. To dissemble at this point would be wrong. So I tried to do it. There was no need for me to incorporate Nichelle’s comments but they struck me as drama and with shock.

I had known that Jimmy was bad-mouthing me in public for many years. I never understood why. In fact, (during) the last movie we made, he said, ‘There is not going to be any more Shatner bashing,” which I never understood why there was. I said, “Great Jimmy. That’s wonderful.”

Do you think the reason why the show declined in the third season was because Gene Roddenberry left the series?

When the time slot was changed to what everybody knows is going to be a sure death... You get a Saturday slot or a Friday slot at 10 in the evening and you are not going to make it. You are cannon fodder. So when Gene saw that, he went on to other things and (producer) Freddy Freiberger was thrown into the heat. He struggled as best he could. But Roddenberry had the touch. He knew what the show was about. It could have been a better show if Gene would have stuck with it. But I don’t blame him.

You say in the book that Capt. Kirk was an idealized version of you. Did you make sure Kirk changed over the years as you did?

Well, yes. There was certainly a great deal of consciousness about that, but, and then again, there was a great deal of unconsciousness. I have changed physically and mentally. We were filled with the idea that we were not going to hide the aging process. The intervening years between the end of the series and the beginning of the movies couldn’t be ignored. We would make these characters age.

Why do you think “Star Trek” has endured for nearly three decades?

Well, I don’t know. I think there is a bit of mythology involved here for a culture that doesn’t have any mythology because mythology requires certain requirements--like a belief system. The substitute for that mythology is fantasy. So here is this hearty group of adventurers. We have a leader and his men, and they have their adventures in some place that we think will be ours in the future. And it is not a bad future.

Repeats of “Star Trek” air Sundays at 3 p.m. on XETV; “Rescue 911” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS; repeats of “Rescue 911” air Saturdays at 7 p.m. on the Family Channel.