Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

William Shatner To Host Trekkie Reality Show

Once upon a time, it seemed like William Shatner could sum up his attitude towards his avid (rabid?) fanbase by paraphrasing a certain Star Trek doctor: “Dammit, man, I’m an actor, not a space captain!” But these days, the spry 81-year-old welcomes attention from square pegs who flock in costume to Trek conventions and stack their shelves with mint-condition miniatures: After all, they make for great television. The outerworldly renaissance man will now add raconteur to his considerable resume as he premieres the documentary-series-cum-entreaty “Get a Life!” which will delve into the lives and psyches of hard-core Trekkies.

“I wanted to do it because it’s an interesting subject matter, the question of who goes to conventions and why do they go to conventions,” Shatner, who coined the titular catchphrase in an SNL skit, told the New York Daily News. “It’s one that the performers are always asking: ‘Who’s in the audience? Why are they there?’”

Probing questions, to be sure, but not the first time he’s asked them. In 1999, Shatner penned a book of the same name investigating into the endearingly enduring appeal of the original Star Trek franchise, which remains a cult favorite despite a its brief run nearly half a century ago, from 1966 to 1969.

The new series, which premieres on Epix this Saturday at 8 pm, will cull most of its footage from the 2011 Las Vegas Star Trek convention, as well as interviews with cast members presumably as stymied as Shatner once was by their perennial popularity.

Despite his robust and buoyant public persona, Shatner said that the ardency of his admirers used to leave him tongue-tied: “[It was] like walking a highwire, you could fall off at any moment. That can be fearful, but it also can be exhilarating,” he said of his first convention experience in the 1970s. But the world’s only living has-been-yet-still-is knows better than to bite the Vulcan-saluting hands that feed him, saying that the teasing tenor of the title “was done in fun and humour and most everybody took it that way.” Now, Shatner’s attitude towards Trekkies is practically schmaltzy, and not just because he grew up eating gribenes. “There are married couples who get married in a group as a result of ‘Star Trek,’ and people who feel better about themselves because they’ve met their heroes,” he said.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.