Star Trek acting - the final frontier

May 20, 2:06 PMActing ExaminerDeborah Smith Ford

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Chris Pine at Star Trek premiere in Tokyo, Japan                                 (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

These are the voyages of the...

Star Trek Series & Films:

Original Star Trek (1966-1969) ~ The Animated Series (1973-1974) ~ Phase Two Aborted (1978) ~ The Next Generation - (1987-1994) ~ Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) ~ Voyager (1995-2001) ~ Enterprise (2001-2005) ~ Feature Films (1979-2009)

The acting in the television shows and films has been shared by many over the 43 year span. It would be impossible to write about all the actors over that time period, so for now, just the original Captain Kirk and the 2009 Star Trek film's Captain Kirk will be highlighted.

Before some of the actors surface and so their characters can be better understood, let us first get a glimpse of what Star Trek is all about - and it's father Gene Roddenberry.

Voyager

Star Trek is an American science fiction show created by Gene Roddenberry and is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films.  As early as 1960, Roddenberry had put together a proposal for the science fiction series which would become Star Trek.

Star Trek TV Cast (AP Photo/Paramount Television, file)

The franchise also extends to dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and instances of fan fiction, several fan-created video productions, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. Beginning with the original TV series and continuing with the subsequent films and series, the franchise has created a cult phenomenon and has spawned many pop culture references.

Chris Pine with fans (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Although Roddenberry publicly marketed Star Trek as a Western in outer space, a so-called "Wagon Train to the Stars", he privately told friends that he was actually modeling it on Swift's Gulliver's Travels, intending each episode to act on two levels, first as a suspenseful adventure story, but also as a morality parable.

Gene Roddenberry (1976)

[By creating] a new world with new rules, I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics, and intercontinental missiles. Indeed, we did make them on Star Trek: we were sending messages and fortunately they all got by the network." - Gene Roddenberry

In the Star Trek universe, humans developed faster-than-light space travel, using a form of propulsion referred to as "warp drive", following a nuclear war and a post-apocalyptic period in the mid-21st century.  Not sure, check the Star Trek movie review. 

Requirius

The story timeline - the first warp flight happened on 5 April 2063, and the Vulcans, an advanced alien race, made first contact with Earth on that day after detecting the warp drive signature.

Mankind ends up uniting with some of the other species of the galaxy, including the Vulcans, to form the United Federation of Planets.  And the central role or premise is the need for exploration and knowledge.

William Shatner reacts to the new Star Trek trailer.

All in all, Kirk's character is something I am very proud of." - William Shatner

William Alan Shatner Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed at the Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. He played a range of Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Festival in productions that included Shakespeare's Henry V and Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great. Shatner made his Broadway debut in the latter. In 1954, he was cast as Ranger Bob on the Canadian version of the Howdy Doody Show.

Shatner's official movie debut was in the 1951 Canadian film entitled The Butler's Night Off, but his first feature role came in the 1958 MGM film The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner, in which he starred as the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alexei.

Shatner starred in many films throughout the 1960s including television episodes, one being The Man from U.N.C.L.E. where he guest-starred in an episode that also featured Leonard Nimoy, with whom Shatner later would be paired in Star Trek.

Shatner as T.J. Hooker

The title role of T.J. Hooker, a veteran police sergeant, was "owned" by Shatner as well, from 1982 to 1986.  He has since worked as a musician, bestselling author, producer, director, and celebrity pitchman, most recently as the "Negotiator" for the Priceline.com travel website. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal.

Christopher Whitelaw Pine is an American actor who has appeared in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), Just My Luck (2006), Smokin' Aces (2007), and played James T. Kirk in the 2009 science fiction film Star Trek.

Pine's father was an actor who had a contract with Universal, while his mother was an actress and is now a practicing psychotherapist. His maternal grandparents were Anne Gwynne, a Hollywood actress, and Max M. Gilford, a Hollywood attorney.

A degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley is what Pine holds, and later he studied English at the University of Leeds in England and at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

(on his fantasy film roles) If I could've been Brando in Streetcar (Named Desire) or Brando in On the Waterfront."  Pine

Pine's first acting role was in a 2003 episode of ER; the same year, he also appeared in episodes of The Guardian and CSI: Miami. In 2004, he appeared in Why Germany?, a short film, and in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

Patrick Stewart

There have been many Star Trek captains in between Shatner's and Pine's - including even more "crew members."  Many of them can be enjoyed at various links, and with so many Trekkies out there along with their websites, it is easy to acquire any Star Trek information you may deem necessary.  Most can be found at Star Trek or sci-fi con conventions.

If you are a real Star Trek die-hard, make sure to attend a sci-fi or a Trekkie convention - they are unbelievable, and that is a very good thing.  After all, such a convention is like 'Space - it's the final frontier'.  And to make sure - New Star Trek film will be everywhere with merchandising tie ins.  Think about a Star Trek experience? go to Neonopolis downtown Las Vegas.

Trekkies at a sci-fi convention