Star Trek Memories - William Shatner with Chris Kreski
                            Harper Collins, œ8.99

As a Star Trek fan from w-a-y back when the series was first
shown, I was very interested to read in one of the Sunday papers'
book reviews that William Shatner was bringing out a book of his
own memories of the program. I was expecting the inside story and
surprise revelations.  Unfortunately I found the book a
disappointment. There was very little in it that I hadn't read
elsewhere. The first half of the book is really taken up with the
background to the series - how it came to exist in the first
place, the problems with getting it organised, technical
difficulties, planning the pilot ... the trials and tribulations
of bringing such an innovative show onto television.

Later we can read about some of the specific episodes. There are a
lot of photographs throughout the book and interviews with members
of the cast and production crew, all of which serve to flesh out
what would otherwise be a rather tedious book.

Even the much publicised section in which Shatner found out what
some of the cast REALLY thought about him was a mere few pages.
James Doohan wouldn't even meet him to be interviewed for the
book or return his calls. Generally the members of the cast who
get the most space are Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols. I was
surprised that there was so little about DeForest Kelley.

Maybe my views of the book are coloured by the fact that I don't
like William Shatner - I didn't like him in Star Trek or in
anything else I have seen him in since. Nor, for that matter, did
I like the character of Kirk. William Shatner makes little
wisecracks about himself throughout the book but I got the feeling
that he was being perfectly serious when he talked about himself
as a 'great actor' or something similar even though the tone was
jocular. If the book had been written by Leonard Nimoy, I might
quite possibly have enjoyed it more.

                                             Sue

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