More Details and Photos From William Shatner’s “The Captains” + Full “Shatnerpalooza” Schedule

Last Friday the Kirk v Kirk armwrestling photo from William Shatner’s upcoming EPIX documentary The Captains went viral. This Friday we can bring you more details and images from The Captains, including the official synopsis. We also have the full schedule for the EPIX "Shatnerpalooza."        

 

Details and photos from "The Captains"

(official synopsis via EPIX)

The Captains, is a feature length documentary that "boldly goes where no man has gone before," giving viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at one of the most durable and profitable franchises in entertainment history, and the men and women who made the Star Trek brand an international phenomenon since 1966. Written and directed by William Shatner, The Captains chronicles Shatner’s quest to explore the impact that Star Trek has had on his life. Why, in spite of his voluminous stage, screen, and television credits, as well as his numerous Emmys and Golden Globe Awards, does one role in his career loom so large that it nearly eclipses all others? To find the answer, Shatner enlists the help of the elite group of actors who also assumed the mantle of Starship Captain. In the process, coupling their own unique stories with their compelling insights, five Captains give Shatner a better understanding of his own life and solve this "mystery" once and for all. This EPIX
Original Documentary will have its world premiere on July 22nd at 8pm ET, as part of Shatnerpalooza, a celebration of the iconic actor-producer-director featuring the complete collection of all six original Star Trek films starring William Shatner in his seminal role along with other television and film highlights – running through July on the multiplatform premium network, EPIX and EpixHD.com.

"My hope is to delve deeply into these actors’ psyches, find out more about them so you can… see what common denominator there is among us as actors that brought [us] to this worldwide renown as part of Star Trek."
–William Shatner on his hopes for The Captains


Chris Pine and William Shatner from "The Captains" (Photo: EPIX)

Featuring in-depth interviews and vintage Star Trek footage with actors Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko), Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), and Chris Pine (Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek 2009), The Captains was shot on location in Toronto, London, New York, Princeton and Los Angeles, where Shatner could capture his fellow Captains and peers in their home environments. The HD film exposes the Captains in all their "humanity", stripped down to the barest of earth-bound qualities and heavenly thoughts. It offers a rare and candid glimpse into the inner sanctum of each actor. The film is grand in its sincerity and reflective of the passion and compassion each Captain demonstrated over the last 45 years on both small and large screens. The Captains is all about the working challenges and personal rewards each actor garnered from the groundbreaking role of Starship helmer.

"I’m looking at the dignity and the seriousness and the application of your talent to this role and I’m thinking this is really good. I’ve seen your stage performances, many of them, so I’m a fan of you as an actor. [What you did] on camera [in] the Next Generation was so serious and so real and had such character that I thought this marvelous actor is playing this part with all the grandeur and gravitas of his career as a Shakespearean actor
— William Shatner on his admiration of Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard


Patrick Stewart and William Shatner from "The Captains" (Photo: EPIX)

An EPIX Original Documentary, The Captains is A William Shatner Film, produced by Le Big Boss Productions in association with EPIX, Ballinran Productions, 455 Films and Melis Productions. Starring William Shatner and featuring Scott Bakula, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Chris Pine and Patrick Stewart. Executive Producers: William Shatner, Craig Thompson, David Zappone. Creative Consultant: Kevin Layne. Directed by William Shatner.

The Captains premieres on EPIX on Friday July 22nd at 8PM. If you don’t have EPIX, you can watch The Captains (and everything else from EPIX) online for free at EPIXHD.com by just signing up for a two-week trial. (NOTE: You should wait to sign up until the week of the premiere). See below for the full schedule of "Shatnerpalooza."


Scott Bakula and William Shatner from "The Captains" (Photo: EPIX)

Shatnerpalooza Schedule

Shatnerpalooza will air all day on Thursday, July 21st and Friday, July 22nd. Starting Monday, July 25th, you can also catch a Shatnerpalooza double feature every night at 8pm leading up to one final Shatnerpalooza marathon. Here are the first two nights with the world premieres highlighted.

Thursday July 21

6:00 AM   Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
7:45 AM   Explosive Generation, The
9:15 AM   Disaster on the Coastliner
11:00 AM   Iron Chef USA: Showdown in Las Vegas
11:45 AM   Star Trek: The Motion Picture
2:00 PM   Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
4:00 PM   Intruder, The
5:30 PM   Iron Chef USA: Holiday Showdown
6:15 PM   Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
8:00 PM   William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet
9:00 PM   Big Bad Mama
10:30 PM   Intruder, The
12:00 AM   William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet
1:00 AM   Outer Limits, The: Cold Hands, Warm Heart
2:00 AM   Broken Angel
3:45 AM   Pioneer Woman
5:00 AM   Explosive Generation, The
Friday July 22
6:30 AM   Iron Chef USA: Holiday Showdown
7:15 AM   Big Bad Mama
8:40 AM   Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
10:35 AM   Outer Limits, The: Cold Hands, Warm Heart
11:30 AM   Broken Angel
1:15 PM   Disaster on the Coastliner
2:45 PM   Iron Chef USA: Showdown in Las Vegas
3:30 PM   Big Bad Mama
5:00 PM   Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
7:00 PM   William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet
8:00 PM   The Captains The
10:00 PM   Star Trek (2009)
12:10 AM   Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2:10 AM   Roast of William Shatner: Uncensored
3:15 AM   Captains, The
5:15 AM   Iron Chef USA: Showdown in Las Vegas

And if you missed it, here again is the trailer for The Captains.

 

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Wow. Some great Pics of The Shat with Pine and Stewart and Bakula. I don’t get Pix but as soon as it streams or comes on Bluray I will be sure to get it.

I look forward to it reaching British TV at some point.

They should try selling this to the BBC. They’re the main network over here and haven’t shown Star Trek in years. Not seriously since Voyager left us in 2001. Never got around to broadcasting Enterprise or the recent remastering of the Original Series.

The BBC ought to be showing both those two every week, and kick it off with a special night, headlined by this documentary.

Star Trek does celebrate 45 Years this September afterall.

Hopefully if BBC don’t get it either SKY1 or CBS Action will ….

Yes… looks pretty good… I can’t wait to see it! … :-) :-)

Anthony Pascale wrote that he was trying to find out about overseas distribution of the documentary. Hopefully, the BBC and other overseas broadcasters like TVNZ here in NZ can pick up this documentary and screen it in their respective countries. Preferably in a prime time slot – nothing less for our captains!

How is that going, Anthony, or is it too early to know…?

I’m really looking forward to this to see Bill Shatner interact with other CAPTAINS.
I have had my neg bashes of Mr Shatner before over a few issues, but ADMIRAL KIRK is still my hero.

forgive my IP, I,m camping and using my phone for net coverage…I miss broadband lol, but the views here are fantastic.

I just looked at EPIXHD.COM and it doesn’t say anything about watching EPIX on-line. At least I couldn’t find it.
Anyone else have any luck?

Oh My God!! I so can not wait for this!!! I love that pic of the Shat and Sir Patrick Stewart! they look of the up most wonderful!! And I would also like to give Anthony lots and lots of thanks for telling us about the free trial!! I will sign up the Monday before the 22nd!! :)

Nice to see Bakula looking so good. Say what you will about his portrayal of Archer (and many have), Scott’s as decent and personable a human being as you ‘ll find in Hollywood.

Stewart looks great as well. Can’t wait to see this doc.

One of the things you have to appreciate about Shatner is that he works hard serving the fan base years after he could have forgotten about them. He does not have to do this but he does because he is a great guy.

“I thought this marvelous actor is playing this part with all the grandeur and gravitas of his career as a Shakespearean actor” great and appropriate line.

On this thread Shatner says he admires Patrick Stewart’s performance as Jean Luc Picard. About two years ago Shatner admitted in an interview that he had never watched TNG.

Which one is true?

What, did Shatner finally watch a few episodes so he could talk with Stewart about it?

#11.

Well said. And to think there are some fans on this site who like to take shots at the man. Hopefully, this documentary will end it once and for all.

And it sounds like William Shatner took the time to watch some TNG. Good for him as it makes sense to check out some of the works his subjects did.

12. Harry Ballz – Shatner never cops to having watched any Trek other than his own. Look how long it took him to see ST09. I think he saw it sooner, and probably TNG as well, but for some reason he needs to be seen as being nonchalant about it all. I think it took him some time to accept that Star Trek was bigger than him, that it could go on without him. I think it made him feel less important, and he acted disinterested as a way to protect himself, and to make it seem to us like he wasn’t hurt or insecure about it.

Bill is much more insecure than he lets on, and I think living has been difficult for him. I think the majority of his bad traits stemmed from great insecurity. I find Shatner from years ago to be boorish and self-important. He was trying to impress us. This last decade (maybe more) he has shed much of that veneer, and I really like Shatner of today. He’s much more gracious and genuine, and on occasion, even self-efacing.

Shatner finally grew up, and I like him more now than I ever have.

Harry, what Bill said to Patrick Stewart was very kind and accurate. It doesn’t matter if he watched in the last few years or was watching all along. What matters is the quality of the interviews, and Shatner is a very good interviewer.

Still don’t want to see him in the next movie, however.

Canon Schmanon

nicely put! I think a big part of it was that Shatner (when younger) was highly motivated to make a living. As he got old and RICH, he mellowed because he could now afford to be less competitive.

What he said about Stewart IS accurate.

@14

Yeah, I watched Shatner through all his years of evolution. I agree. He’s a different person these days and I like who he is. I liked him, and stuck with him, even back in the days when the persona that was portrayed wasn’t my favorite. He has stamina and forward momentum. He keeps working onit. You have to grant him that.

12. It’s likely that Shatner did some homework for his documentary, or was just plain shamed into grabbing a bunch of TNG episodes and watching them.

I’d love to see this whole thing! I wish I could get EPIX, but I don’t have it in my area. And I wish I knew someone who did. I’d ask them to record everything for me on a DVD and send it to me so I could see it, Maybe they will release it later this year. I’ll have to put it on my wish list.

“Shatner in his seminal role”

duuuhehehehehehehehehehehe

I’m 12.

I hope they’ve gone with some great clips for this documentary… particularly Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. You can’t really go wrong with the Original Series and Bill will obviously know the material well. Likewise the makers of the programme are probably huge Next Generation fans, loads who grew up during the 90s were. I do worry about the later series, where you could basically pick the worst possible clips to push an anti- [insert certain show here] agenda.

I keep saying it, but when are we starting a facebook group calling on Chris Pine to do his interpretation of “Rocket Man”?????

Bit of an oversight, and I know the way most Shat fans react – they hated it, but I notice no Generations in the films line-up. Bill’s scenes are a joy to watch, right up to the bitter end. With Jimmy and Walter at the start, then with Patrick on horseback in the Nexus. “Nothing here matters”… always gets to me, that moment Kirk begins to realise he’s living a fantasy and not anywhere he’s needed.

Makes no difference to me, not living in the States or able to get the EPIX channel. Just sayin’.

In fact… I pick Generations over Star Trek (2009) for this line-up.

LOL! Is it just me or are other fans heading my way with flaming torches and pitchforks?

Why is this documentary gonna be so stubbornly obscure and difficult for Trek fans to see?! Frustrating! We sure have had no trouble following the making of it!

Unless Shatner is on screen with these actors in a film or a ST tv movie I couldn’t care less about this fluff…Get Shatner involved in the new film.

25.

Are you really THAT much into bloat, pomposity and wrinkles?

#26.

I thought, after reading your post at #15, Harry, that you finally decided to stop taking pot shots at William Shatner.

I can see that I was wrong.

27.

Correct.

Maybe it’s Harry that is 12?

Certainly acts like it.

“pomposity” yup that’s how you come across.

“bloat” yup that’s what your continual baiting looks like.

“wrinkles” well, balls, says it all.

The two word sentence ending in “off” comes to mind. As in “why don’t you just…”

Nice pics…it looks like Pine and Shatner got to meet in a way that finally showcases them to the media and the fans

Thanks Anthony for posting the schedules and for that matter the information about the free EPIX trials,etc… I wouldn’t have known had I not checked here!!

Can’t wait to get a fix of Star Trek during the wait for the movie!

I hope this gets released on DVD, because I would love to own a copy of it. It looks awesome.

29.

Tell you what, Rod, why not have Shatner grow a moustache. Then, when he does his cameo in the next picture, people will mistake him for Scotty from ST: IV-VI.

If the Shat gains just six more pounds, he’ll deserve his own zip code!

I heard the Shat was laying out sunbathing the other day wearing a “Malcolm X” t-shirt and a helicopter tried to land on him!

#33.

I honestly DON’T know how you can make fun of William Shatner and at the same time call yourself a fan of “Star Trek” and the character of James T. Kirk.

Ah, Ryan, the trick is….I can greatly admire the young Shat from TOS and then…….strongly dislike the old Shat of clown fame.

It is all subjective and really not worth arguing over.

It’s great, as a fan of Enterprise and TOS, to see Scott and Bill together. So much unnecessary vitriol has been hurled at Bakula that I hope this documentary will humanize him to some of this who (while everyone is entitled to an opinion) have done everything they can’t assassinate the man and his part od e syar trek legacy – some even going so far to say his show didn’t even exist and was just a TNG holoprogram. Geez, for people that call themselves “fans”, they killed what, by the third season (same as TNG), was a show coming into it’s own and left us with lens flares so obnoxious its hard to even watch the new lineage. Thanks Bill for including everyone, hopefully equally. And, yes, that’s a great quote for PStew and a great pic of him and Shat. The two casual ones of Pine/Bakula with Shat are great too.

The “Roast of William Shatner” is on at 2:30 AM. Wow, they must be real proud of that production to give it the prestigious 2:30 AM time-slot? Are you kidding me???

@36. Agreed — Scott Bakula should not take the fall for the Berman/Bragga cluster-f**k that is called Enterprise.

12

Well since he co starred with stewart in generations he had the chance to see stewart perform

MJ, have you watched any Enterprise since the days when it was actually on, for the first time? I’m not going to get into an argument over this, but the show was about as much a cluster-f**k as any other Berman era Trek series, IMO.

I caught “Detained” and “Desert Crossing” from the first season, just the other day and thought those episodes were fine! The one after is a bit crap… set on Risa, (apart from Reed & Tucker being mugged – that was good for a laugh) BUT there’s good and bad in every series.

#23 I’d pick ‘Generations’ over the 2009 film any day too. Despite Shatner and other misgivings, I though he did a great job on that film. His demise was handled beautifully – helped immeasurablely by how well Stewart and Shatner complimented each other.

That should have read “despite Shatner’s and others misgivings”.

41. Well, I hope it’s got nothing to do with a Shatner veto! Star Trek (2009) right after the Captains film I suspect, because it’s going to end with his interview with Chris Pine.

I dunno Generations features about as much Bill, as say Big Bad Mama… and I know which I’d have more misgivings at having done!

Some great choices, if were talking about an ultimate Shatner weekend… for me would include the Pilot of TJ Hooker, a Columbo episode and Kingdom of the Spiders which is a cult classic. Maybe that serial killer in a hospital film he did with Michael Ironside, Visiting Hours.

Apparently Chris Pine had a cozy dinner with Olivia Wilde the other night.

I can only assume he had a Wilde night! Chris shows good taste!

I have the same concern as #12.

I am having difficulty accepting the suggestion that Shatner has actually sat down and watched episodes of the various Trek programs. He won’t watch his own classics; why would he bother to watch even a single episode of TNG or Enterprise?

@40. I must confess that I gave up on Enterprise about 2/3 the way through Season 2. Others here, like RDR, have pointed out to me that the show started to improve around season 4, so I probably should give it another shot. However, I have heard things about the latter seasons (e.g. racist Vulcans) which make me not all that interested in seeing it.

I saw enough of Enterprise though to convince me that Scott Bakula was not part of the problem — I think he did a great job from what I saw.

@41 “I’d pick ‘Generations’ over the 2009 film any day too. Despite Shatner and other misgivings, I though he did a great job on that film. His demise was handled beautifully – helped immeasurable by how well Stewart and Shatner complimented each other.”

auk…chuk…ehhhw….

Excuse me, but I was laughing so hard at this statement that I nearly threw up. :-)

#46.

There were racist Vulcans in J.J Abrams’ “Star Trek” as well.

#14 Shatner showing himself to be such an excellent interviewer is why I’ve been particularly interested in this project. Who’d’a thunk? But he’s amazing on Raw Nerve.
#40 etc I think Bakula’s great, and even a cursory view at fan forums, DVD sales and SyFy shows that ENT has been enjoying a sort of Renaissance, among Trek fans and newbies alike. Yeh, B/B pompously dropped the ball with lack of direction, but the conception, setting and characters–AND Bakula–were great. Bak was the main reason I got excited–Bakula and Star Trek? great fit! There were some fantastic episodes, most notably last season.

@48. No, just elitist/pompous ones that you run into in an university/academic type board.