Shatner only did Trek game because he was begged

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 November, 2006

Plus, he slags off Spock.

William Shatner says that he only agreed to do the new Star Trek games published by Bethesda Softworks because he was begged so much he started feeling sorry for them.

"The truth of the matter is that I said no for the longest time," he told GameSpy. "It was the groveling that got me. It broke my heart. So I said, 'Show me the game.' And when they told me what it was about, it seemed really cool."

Shatner, who as Captain Kirk stars in Star Trek Legacy along with all the other Star Trek captains, says it was a weird experience though. "If the player turns left, they have to write and I have to say what you'd say when you're turning left," he explained.

"It's difficult to perform as an actor because usually you follow where a character goes, but in this you also have to do the exact opposite. So it's really weird."

And he had to prepare quite a lot for the role, he says. "I need to walk. So I took a walk with my wife. And there's a tree near my house that I have to climb to get into this part, so I climbed the tree and broke off a little twig, and there he was..." He means Kirk.

But it wasn't all flowers, trees and happy memories. Asked whether any of the other Trek cast tried to get into the game, he says yes. "They assailed me. George Takei called me three times, asking if I could get him in the games. And I said, 'George, I'll try,' and I never made that call. But they didn't want Nimoy. The only person who wants Nimoy is his wife, and she's been having doubts."

Good old Will. Anyway, Star Trek: Legacy is due out on PC and Xbox 360 next month courtesy of Bethesda's publishing partner Ubisoft.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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