STAR TREK MOVIE MEMORIES audiobook

I enjoyed William Shatner's memoir "Star Trek Memories," about the original TV series. This follow-up book, about the spin-off movies, isn't quite as good but it's entertaining and informative.William Shatner When the original series aired it wasn't a huge success. Star Trek had respectable ratings but wasn't a big money-maker and was cancelled in 1969 after three seasons. Shatner, not being the megastar he later became, had to scramble to get work. For a while Shatner traveled around the country, touring with Broadway shows and - needing to provide for his children - economized by driving a mini-trailer where he could bed down, prepare food, and watch a small staticky television. Shatner talks lovingly about his two daughters, how much he missed them when he was away, and his rush to get home after a tour.William Shatner with his familyThis was the era of the first moon landing and people were enthralled with space. Thus the idea of making a Star Trek movie took hold and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" came out in 1979. The movie was successful and was followed by six sequels. Shatner reveals the nuts and bolts of making the films: how the plots evolved, the budgets, sets, locations, actors, writers, directors, producers, and so on. Leonard Nimoy directed two of the movies, and this is discussed in some detail.Leonard Nimoy directingAs he did for the first book Shatner interviews people involved with the Star Trek movies, but the anecdotes tend to be drier this time - with lots of talk about finances and creative differences. Some of Shatner's most memorable stories involve the difficulties of obtaining good special effects with limited funds. In "Star Trek: The Final Frontier" for example, God appears at the film's climax. Created with a small budget God looked like a big spotlight with a face pasted on. LOL God in 'The Final Frontier'With some dismay Shatner relates how creative control of the movies was wrested away from series creator Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry, who wanted to preserve his vision of Star Trek, would pepper the movies' writers, directors, and producers with memos...but these were largely ignored. Roddenberry's pet idea for a movie script - in which the Enterprise traveled back in time and Spock shot JFK (for good reasons) - never happened.Gene RoddenberryShatner talks extensively about "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," which he directed. The actor/director discusses how much work went into making the movie, starting with the story - which changed considerably from initial idea to final product. He also talks about the film's budget; cinematography problems ('losing the light'); the teamster strike (he had to hire strikebreakers to drive); filming in the desert when the temperatures were 110 degrees; watching the dailies; difficulties with special effects; the rush to get the film done in time; etc. Shatner admits, in retrospect, that he was disappointed by the film's ending - which looked cheesy (i.e. the God spotlight). He also notes that, though he thought the movie was good, it was the least successful of the Star Trek films.The book contains engaging stories about each of the Star Trek movies, which are:Star Trek: The Motion PictureStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Star Trek III: The Search for SpockStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered CountryStar Trek: Generations (which 'passed the baton' to "Star Trek: The Next Generation")Shatner fills the book with informative tidbits about film-making, which is a difficult and time-consuming business - but also lots of fun. One humorous anecdote involves blueberry muffins, a toaster, and making DeForest Kelley think he's losing his mind. Ha ha ha. DeForest KelleyI liked the book and would recommend it to Star Trek fans. You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

Having recently read Star Trek Memories, I decided to complete Shatner’s run with the series by reading the sequel, Star Trek Movie Memories. It’s a nostalgic trip through seven movies I thoroughly enjoyed, but the real value is in the first chapters when Shatner describes the years between the series and the first movie, including a planned sequel series that never came about, and the early plot ideas for the first movie. Perhaps the saddest thread in the book is the account of Gene Roddenberry’s growing obsession with changing his idea for the original series into his current vision of what the future should look like. So Roddenberry fought with Paramount, arguing that there was no conflict in the future and that Star Trek did not have a military component and so should not have any violence. The fact that the original series very much did have a military component and often featured violence did not sway him from the certainty that everyone was destroying the series he loved so much by including military-based action. For the Star Trek lover, there is a lot to be enjoyed in this book.

I think one thing this book did was show that Star Trek has always been a challenge to make. It's always faced huge hurdles. From the beginning when getting a good script together and budget fights with the studios (and of course fights with the network over things like their timeslot) You'd think by now that with Star Trek being a proven success and having such a huge fan base that things would be somewhat easier. Well as William Shatner points out several times that you can never be sure with Star Trek. Just when you think that things are over, that it will never happen something comes along. Paramount had several personnel changes over the course of the movies being made. So either you had someone who loved Star Trek and was a major supporter, OR you had someone who had their doubts. and even when there was a green light the bean counters in the accounting dept would throw obstacles in the way. I know many Trekkies/Trekkers didn't like ST V, but it sounded like Bill Shatner had some ideas that might have worked. But he faced changes he had to make in the script because of budget or other things. Leonard also faced huge barriers when he was involved with 2,3 and 4. He was involved with 6 too. There were arguments back and forth between he and Harve Bennett and he and Nick Meyer. It's hard when you have a vision, and you KNOW the characters so intimately that when you have others who are not in the know start telling you how things are going to be done. What touched me, was how Bill felt when he said goodbye to Kirk during filming of TNG "Generations" movie. He suddenly realized just how had it was when Leonard did Spock's death scene (but at least Spock came back. Kirk isn't coming back....(Or is he. Well stay tuned. You never know)

In the mid-90s, shortly before Chris Berman and Brannon Braga completely bled the franchise of all human interest, William Shatner authored (with Chris Kreski) two volumes of “Star Trek memories.” The first volume, which focuses exclusively on the 60s television series, remains in print and continues to sell. The second volume, which focuses exclusively on the franchise movies that Shatner participated in, is out-of-print — which is a shame, because of the two volumes the “Movie Memories” is the more interesting and, I suspect, the more accurate.The original series is so much more charming and enduring than any of the movies were, it's easy to see why Shatner's thoughts on the 60s phenom are more valued. Yet it is the movies that finally had the larger, more significant impact on the actual franchise — that, in fact, got the franchise up and running. With their stand-out success, and their unprecedented observance of chronological continuity, the movies knocked the door open and set the standard for the various television series that followed. Another standard set by the movies: the very pointed sidelining of Gene Roddenberry, whose efforts to shape the franchise were, to put it mildly, less than helpful.What the “Movie Memories” might lack in gossipy anecdotes it more than makes up for as an account of what it took to get a series of movies, whose success is only assured in hindsight, made. This is a fascinating “industry insider” account, with the welcome addition of several integral and sometimes competing perspectives (including Leonard Nimoy, Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer).

This was a most enjoyable read, because of the irreverent and extremely humorous style of the book, as well as the frankly astonishing nature of the gossipy and at times extremely catty disclosures. Indeed many of the 'revelations' contained in Mr Shatner's colorful recollections of the post-series Star Trek years were to me as unexpected as they were... illuminating. Not necessarily in a good way, when it came to revelations pertaining to the unsuspected characters of certain key members of the production staff. It was definitely an education, a sardonic guided tour through a literal theatre of the absurd, an era in sci fi history (according to Bill) where egos were even more inflated than the movies' budgets (and the constant expansion of the former frequently one of the major causes of the ever-outward expansion of the latter). Definitely a book I'd recommend reading if you want all your cherished illusions about certain media icons irrevocably shattered!

Shatner’s own personal account of the making of the Star Trek films is incredibly insightful and interesting and has really opened my eyes a lot into what goes into making a movie. How much effort, politics and behind the scenes drama and issues there are! Issues with scripts, budgets, the studio, back stabbing, special effects, people- it really is an arduous process. It truly seems like every Star Trek film was made against every single odd possible. Particularly moving was the end where Shatner discusses his feelings on the death of Kirk- that actually brought tears to my eyes, the way he related it to his feelings of his own death. It is something we are all scared of, and I can imagine that after playing a character for 30 years and finally killing him off, it feels like a part of you is dying too. The chapter on ST 5 (the one directed by Shatner) was also incredibly fascinating and I truly feel for him a lot with that film not turning out the way he had hoped and dreamed, because of so many external and unavoidable problems that occurred. I wish a directors cut could be made because I think his original storyline would’ve been wonderful and it’s a great pity it was never seen on screen. Overall a great and fascinating book for any TOS fan who wants additional insight into the behind the scenes of the films. I have a new found respect for each and every one of the films now that I’ve caught perhaps even the slightest glimpse of what went into making them.

As the face of TOS, I've always wanted to like Shatner. However, his recent spate of twitter "opinions" (or it's only recently that I heard them?), tales of his egotism as a cast member, & a certain je ne sais quoi have always put me off; I wasn't going to read his memoirs (despite by obvious fondness for ST, I just couldn't care about what he had to say) until I heard that these books were ghost written. Therefore, credit to Chris Kreski for bringing together a book that succinctly provides an overview of the making of six different films. He gives character to those involved & contextualises conflicting narratives well. Even in the section where Shatner proclaims his lack of culpability in the relative inferiority of the film he directed (ST5), I found him sincere (it helps that I've seen Nimmoy make the same points re the impact of budget cuts & the strikes of the late 80s etc.) & reasonable.Ultimately, as a look through Shatner's eyes, this was a really enjoyable ride through the story of the the ST movies. There were multiple anecdotes that I'd not heard before, insights into cast relationships that honestly show Shatner's failure to connect with many of his co-stars, & lines that made me laugh out loud.Reading what's meant to be Shatner's look at Shatner at that time, I realise that he & I may have something in common afterall: we both want to give him a chance; we're able to hear him out & we sympathise with his sense of failure when he feels disconnected from his most cast-mates, we empathise with his sense of loss at the end of his journey through the stars. We both WANT to like him, think that maybe we could, but find that when it comes down to it, we don't.

Shatner reminisces about Star Trek movies with plenty of humour on display. This is miles apart stylistically from the preceding 'Star Trek Memories' book, which was aiming for warm nostalgia and mostly got there. Shatner's co-writer on this one, Chris Kreski, has obviously added a huge amount of punch to Shatner's prose, and it works. Unlike Star Trek Memories, this book has real personality.Obviously this speaks to fans only - if you don't already know who the key people are then this book will be of no use to you. Definitely some fun facts and stories in here that serve one overarching purpose: giving you a sense of just how hard it is to actually get a movie made.

beautiful. way more self aware than the first one but very nearly made me cry at work

Having read Star Trek Memories, I almost immediately moved to its sequel, published the following year, which I suddenly realized was more than twenty years in the past. Movie Memories, written just a couple of years after Star Trek VI finished production, would have covered a longer time period, at least calendrically if not in terms of actual production time, but most of it would certainly have been fresher in Shatner’s mind.I say almost because I decided I didn’t want to overdose, so I let a couple of months go by before picking up the sequel volume. A couple like nine or ten.This isn’t the same kind of book as the first volume. Well, it is still a memoir, but this time Shatner presents the memories much more chronologically, in a very linear fashion moving from one movie to the next. There are still plenty of anecdotes, and he’s still going to other people for bits and pieces of Trek history he didn’t know.But, covering seven movies across fifteen years, this memoir proceeds at breakneck speed to get everything done. I learned things about each of the movies, and Shatners feelings about the process, production, and many things connected to each of them. I would have like to learn more. And, in fact, it actually covers a larger time period than that, giving us a glimpse of the harder times between the series and the movies, and Shatner’s work and work ethic getting through them.For me, I feel like the most interesting parts of the book were his reminiscences around Star Trek V, a film considered disappointing by so many fans, and Star Trek: Generations.For me, Star Trek V is not a bad movie, though it’s not a particularly good Star Trek movie. I can find things to enjoy in it even as I find things that disappoint me. Shatner spelled out his own disappointments in the way production went and all of the compromises he and the production team had to make to get the job done. The initial vision had been so much grander, but events and budget restrictions, and artificial time constraints conspired against the film.Star Trek: Generations brought us the death of Captain Kirk. (Should there have been a spoiler alert there? It’s been 23 years.) I really enjoyed Shatner’s discussions on how he felt about that, and all the things he experienced and felt running up to it. This book was released on the heels of the movie and death of a character he’d played for more than 25 years must still have been fresh and raw.But his memories of both of those films, along with all of the others, went by too quick.Overall rating: 4 stars. I finished my review of Star Trek Memories with two sentences. I just wish it was a lot longer. Although there is a sequel. I think I’d like to echo that for this one. I wish it was a long longer. I also wish there was another sequel.

Star Trek Movie Memories is an entertaining and informative exploration of the seven films that William Shatner was apart of (i.e. 1-6 and Generations.) Shatner uses interviews from other cast, crew, etc. members to flesh out these stories. The anecdotes were a bit dry. It was clear there was a struggle to get these films made, but the budget talks really don't interest me.It made me a bit sad to hear that creative control of the films was wrested away from Gene Roddenberry. Gene would make admirable attempts to fight back by sending memos, script edits, and even fan letters to the studio. Admittedly, Gene's ideas were not necessarily great, but still...he is the man who gave Star Trek life in the first place.I did prefer Star Trek Memories more, but I'm still glad I read this. It was touching to read Shatner's goodbye to his character. I definitely would recommend this for Trek fans and Sci-Fi fans who like learning about the nuts and bolts of movie-making.

Star Trek fans will undoubtedly enjoy Shatner’s reminiscences about the movies that continue the Star Trek saga. Some may think he was a bit biased in his recollections, but it seems to me that he was pretty candid in his statements. He includes some self-deprecating humor, as well as talking about mistakes and things he would do over if he could. He has nice things to say about his costars, and never lays blame for failures on anyone. It’s a nice look into the problems that occurred on set, and how they dealt with script rewrites and budget and time constraints. All in all, it’s an informative look at the behind scenes on movie sets that most of us will never be privy to. Having the audio read by Shatner just made it all the more enjoyable.

It was a good read. lots of things I didn't know about the cast and grew. It's interesting to see what happened between Shatner's ending of the series and the start of the movie franchise. Sometimes we don't think of actors as being real people with real world problems. I guess I should find other books by other cast members and see what they have to say about the Trek years.

A good first hand account of the machinations that goes into making of movies whether it be this example or other genres.same as any business minium of outlay money wise to make a bigger profit,but in doing so the quality of the product you see on the screen becomes inferior.a book that can be read by both fans of the series or those that want to read about the background of film.