Star Trek officially debuted on September 8, 1966, with the episode “The Man Trap.” No one quite realized it at the time — how could they? — but life would never be the same after that. Gene Roddenberry’s so-called “Wagon Train to the Stars” went on to become iconic, one of the most important and influential entertainment franchises in history.

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig have graciously agreed to help StarTrek.com commemorate Star Trek’s 45th anniversary by each answering several questions in person, by phone or via email.

And here’s question number two:

What’s your most enduring Gene Roddenberry anecdote?

Koenig: My most enduring memory of Gene is just when he would appear on the set with a big smile. We always thought it was a special moment because he wasn’t there every day. He always came on the set, it seemed to me, with some ebullience and some good feelings. It seemed to me to always be a positive feeling.

Takei: Right after he was divorced from his wife, Evelyn, Gene had a house in the Hollywood Hills with a pool. And he threw a party. He went in for a swim, as did a few other people, and as did I. Most of the people were gathered at one end of the pool, talking poolside, and Gene was at the other end, the quiet end of the pool. I swam up to him and started chatting. I didn’t come out to him, but I talked to him about some of the conversations I’d been having with fans, who’d said that we were dealing with diversity – racial diversity, ancestral diversity – but not the diversity of sexual orientation. So I didn’t speak personally, but I spoke in terms of the issue. And he said, yes, he was well aware of that, but that he was dealing with issues that were pretty controversial, as they were, and he said that the episode in which Bill and Nichelle kissed was blacked out in the southern parts of the country. His point was that he needed to keep Star Trek on and that the parameters of what he could get away with were known, and that if he crossed that too far over that threshold, that the opportunities to make the statements he was making would be lost. So he was making a practical decision and basically taking his shots.

Nichols: That’s a tough one for me to answer because what he meant to me is very personal. He was a giant among men and yet so humble with his friends. An incredible GIANT of a man who changed the universe and continues to do so with his dream of what we should, could, and WILL continue to become… the best that we can possibly be. He will always be missed and always loved by those who KNOW! Gene Roddenberry Jr. (Rod Roddenberry), Gene & Majel’s gift to the world, carries on the Dream… As I loved his parents, I love him as a son… It’s okay, Kyle… I know you’re my one and only!

Shatner: Gene trying to make me wear what became known as the IDIC.

Nimoy: Mr. Roddenberry could take a troubled script handed in by a writer and do wonderful rewrite work.

Star Trek officially debuted on September 8, 1966, with the episode “The Man Trap.” No one quite realized it at the time — how could they? — but life would never be the same after that. Gene Roddenberry’s so-called “Wagon Train to the Stars” went on to become iconic, one of the most important and influential entertainment franchises in history.

Sadly, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan — and, of course, Roddenberry — are no longer with us, but Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig are, and they’ve graciously agreed to help StarTrek.com commemorate Star Trek’s 45th anniversary by each answering several questions in person, by phone or via email.

Who was Star Trek’s unsung hero, the person who rarely gets his or her due for helping to make Star Trek a legendary franchise?

Nichols: Jerry Finnerman – Cinematographer who with his meticulous and sensitive lighting created the Uhura “Look.”

Nimoy: Bob Justman and Gene Coon were unsung heroes. They worked as producers to get the shows done, and Gene Coon did some great writing. You never hear them mentioned. Also, Fred Phillips, who did the Spock ears and makeup so brilliantly.

Shatner: Gene Coon. He was definitely unsung.

Takei: I think that would be Bob Justman. He was always in the shadows, but he was always there. And I think his presence is indelibly woven into Star Trek.

Koenig: I think Nick Meyer’s writing was superb, and I think the most quality we achieved was when he was in control of the writing. I’m not sure we’d be talking now if The Wrath of Khan wasn’t as successful as it was.

I love George Takei for so many reasons. Besides the “Star Trek” love there is his amazing sense of humor and ability to poke fun at himself and his celebrity..

Here he is doing just that for the AMP Festival in San Diego.

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As promised…from StarTrek.com

Yesterday, in part one of our exclusive interview with William Shatner, the Star Trek legend previewed his documentary, The Captains, and talked about all the big Shatnerpalooza events that EPIX will present this week on the television, online and at Comic-Con in San Diego. Now, in the second half of our conversation, Shatner discusses Kirk’s controversial demise in Star Trek: Generations, previews some of his many upcoming projects, and explains why, even at 80 years old, he just can’t – and won’t – slow down.

If you had a do-over on Star Trek: Generations, would you still agree to let Kirk die? Or, if you were OK with him dying, would you have at least wanted a more fitting death for the iconic character?

Shatner: I would be much more courageous about suggesting, or demanding would be a better word, a more regal exit for this hero. For reasons I can’t fathom in myself, I allowed him to have an ignominious end. I’m not quite sure what the political reasons were for that, but I wasn’t aware (of the implications) on a broader level until afterwards.

Let’s move on to your other current projects. You’ve recorded a new CD, Searching for Major Tom, which is you performing space-inspired, mostly heavy-metal songs accompanied by such musicians as Johnny Winter, Brad Paisley, Warren Haynes, Peter Frampton, Zakk Wylde, Toots (of Toots and the Maytals) and Ernie Watts. How’s it all coming together?

Shatner: That is going to be one of the greatest things I have ever done or worthy of a great laugh. I’m not quite sure which. I believe it’s the former, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed until you and other people in the audience make a final judgment about it.

Your next book is entitled Shatner Rules: Your Guide to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large. You wrote it with Chris Regan and it’ll be out in the fall. What kind of book is it? Give us a tease.

Shatner: That’s going to be fun and insightful. I think you’ll get a lot of laughs and perhaps gain an insight or two. It’s an autobiography. Shatner Rules and Searching for Major Tom will be out on the same day (in October).

It’s been announced that you will appear this fall as a guest star on the television series Psych, playing the estranged conman father of Maggie Lawson’s character, Detective Juliet O’Hara. You just wrapped that, right?

Shatner: Yes, I’ve finished it. And I also did a little bit for them for Comic-Con, for when they have their hour there. I had a great time (filming the episode) in Vancouver. It’s a fun part and I’m being complimented.

Could that be a recurring character?

Finish the voyage

I admit at least once a day I go to StarTrek.com just to see what’s new in the world of the ultimate sci-fi universe.

Today I ran across news on TOS Captain Kirk’s new captains documentary.

William Shatner is a blur. On a crazy-busy day for the Star Trek legend, we caught up with him for a fast, furious and informative phoner squeezed in between a meeting and a photo shoot.

Call it the interview equivalent of a speed date, but we covered a lot of ground, including the upcoming Shatnerpalooza event on EPIX, his eagerly anticipated Captains documentary, the possibility of him appearing in the next Star Trek feature, his regrets about letting the beloved James T. Kirk perish in Star Trek: Generations, and much more. Below is part one of our exclusive interview, and be sure to check back tomorrow for part two.

Let’s start with The Captains, which you produced and directed, and which will premiere on July 22. Heading into it, what were you expecting? And what were you surprised to discover as a result of doing it?

Shatner: Well, the fascinating part of doing documentaries is that you don’t know quite what it is that you’re going to get. In fact, there is a tremulous fear that you’re not going to get anything. So it’s really a process of discovery, and it’s a creative discovery because you have to respond to the thing that’s happening in front of you as it’s happening, right in front of the camera. Your intuition and instincts have to get sensitized so that you can pick up a story and a possible thread that could go through the documentary. You do all that, but you don’t know what that thread is yet because you haven’t gone there. You can do research and you can think about the possibilities of what you may find, but the exultant effect of a good documentary is that you happen on upon the thing. If it’s nature shooting and you’re filming animals, you’ve got something if suddenly a wonderful event takes place in front of your camera, something that you could not have scripted. And that’s what you hope for in front of a documentary camera.

So what along those lines happened on The Captains? What revealed itself as the thread that will give viewers that exultant effect you just described?

Shatner: The first thing is that I got to talk to the other five (Star Trek) captains, to Patrick (Stewart) and Avery (Brooks) and Kate (Mulgrew) and to Scott (Bakula) and Chris (Pine), and I discovered traits and tendencies and similarities between all of us that I was able to expand on and explore. And, most critically, I discovered an evolution of my own feelings that came as a result of talking to the people in the documentary. So I found myself within the discovery while I was discovering.

Give us one sentence each about your experiences meeting and interacting with Stewart, Brooks, Mulgrew, Bakula and Pine…

Shatner: Patrick spoke to me as deeply and in as affecting a tone as he ever has anywhere, in my experience. Avery was a delight, and he spoke to me in musical terms. Kate was magnificent and dignified and revealed herself more emphatically than I could have hoped for. Scott Bakula was as jovial and as warm as one would have expected, and then just specks of heartache emerged. And Chris Pine was a young prince among us all, elegant and youthful and hopeful and blessed with all his obvious talent.

Now that it’s finished and done, what do you hope people will take away from investing their time in watching The Captains?

Shatner: (I hope they’ll take away a) deeper insight into six people than they’ve ever had before and the realization of the humanity of everybody. I think it’s an exciting discovery process, a voyage of discovery that I think the audience will enjoy coming on with me.

The Captains is part of the Shatnerpalooza extravaganza that EPIX is presenting. What other elements of Shatnerpalooza are you pleased that audiences will get a chance to see?

Shatner: EPIX pay-per-view is premiering themselves and have chosen to use me as their opening act, and I’m delighted to do so. I’m introducing two documentaries. One of them is The Captains and the other one is William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet, which is an award-winning documentary I made about the staging of a ballet to six songs that I wrote (for his album, Has Been). So, those two elements, along with other things and older films that I’ve appeared in or directed or had something to do with, make a sort of heralding of EPIX. To have 48 hours of me is too much even for me, but maybe if you come at it one day at a time it won’t be too much for you.

You stated at a convention pretty recently that you will not be in the next Star Trek feature. But if J.J. Abrams called you tomorrow and asked you to participate, how willing would you be to at least meet and hear the man out?

Shatner: I would probably trip on my way out the door to fall at his feet.

Be sure to visit here again tomorrow for part two of the exclusive interview with William Shatner. For additional information about Shatner’s assorted upcoming projects, check out his official site. To learn more about Shatnerpalooza, go to this site; for details about his Comic-Con Q&A session click on here; and to get in on The Long Khan scream, use this link. Finally, if you don’t subscribe to EPIX and want to check out The Captains, William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet and the rest of their Shatnerpalooza programming, go here to sign up for a free 14-day trial.