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List Price: $22.50 | | Publisher: Harper Audio
Salesrank: 1154261
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| Media: Audio Cassette |
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Editorial Review:
Encompassing plot summaries of all seventy-nine TV episodes and the six hit films, "Captain Kirk" shares his reminiscences about the making of Star Trek, a history of the show as a cultural phenomenon, and behind-the-scenes antics. Simultaneous.
Star Trek Memories Reviews:
Fascinating (Pun Intended) 
2009-11-06 - I began reading "Star Trek Memories" after recently bearing witness to J.J. Abrams truly awful reboot on the "Star Trek" franchise. Eager to resurrect the memories of the "Star Trek" of my childhood, I ploughed into William Shatner and Chris Kreski's memoir of the creation, production and eventual cancellation of the series with gusto, and, in so doing, discovered a story that is worthy of a HBO miniseries all of its own. Seriously, the shenanigans that occurred in the course of attempting to get the "Enterprise" off of the ground would give anything that you've seen on Mad Men - Season One a run for it's money.
From traffic-cop-and-wannabe-screen-writer Gene Roddenberry's subtle menacing of legendary Hollywood producer Irving "Swifty" Lazar in order to break into the TV writing industry, through to the notoriously troubled production of the third season of the show, it is a story which is never less than fascinating, and one which takes in nervous breakdowns, network plagiarism, egomania, bicycle theft, alcoholism, racism, some truly chilling allegations of rape, and a grinding Sisyphian production schedule which would have tested the diplomacy of Kofi Annan and the patience of Job.
Roddenberry, who had passed on by the time the book was written, is an intriguing figure who appears to have been equal parts visionary, workhorse, genius, egomaniac, huckster, philanderer, shill and skinflint; a man who aspired to produce a television show which celebrated the loftiest ideals of human ambition whilst indulging in, shall we say, the slightly more baser elements of human nature himself. Suffice it to say, prior to reading this book I had always considered Leonard Nimoy to be somewhat curmudgeonly in his attitude towards "Star Trek", but after learning what he went through during and after the production of the series and subsequent films (which are chronicled in the follow-up to this book, " Star Trek " Movie Memories, which I'm currently reading), one wonders how he didn't take to going to the set with a gun. Similarly, debts of honour are also repaid to the likes of Gene L. Coon, Robert H. Justman and Matt Jeffries (unsung heroes of "Trek" who were apparently as intrinsic to the series as Roddenberry himself) and amends are made to Fred Freiberger - the man who was wrongly vilified and maligned for the death of the series.
As a narrator, Shatner is conversational and avuncular and clearly attempts to play the diplomat. That said, he is completely open about his fraught relations with the rest of the cast, and the fact that James Doohan refused to be interviewed for the book, in its closing chapters.
If you haven't read it and are intrigued by the history of this classic series, I doubt you'll find a better account. Similarly, if you're only looking for a lightly humourous and scandalous insight into the world of television in the sixties, I suspect you'll thoroughly enjoy it.
STM 
2009-06-22 - Good background stories for the fan of STTOS but for the novice this would be mostly boring stuff about the production teams and the writers. Bill Shatner has a good sense of humor and keeps the listener engaged with some highlights.
Old and interesting 
2009-05-09 - Shatner wrote this memoir about the beginnings and the first season. It has a fair amount of humor and a great many inserted pieces by many of the production staff: Jeffries, Fontana, Justman and many others. Written in 1992 it's been remaindered for many years and the one I got is an untouched first edition. Even devoted Trekkers will find things they didn't know.
A Book any "Original Series" Fan Should Own
2009-03-13 - Star Trek "The Original Series" originally aired in the late 1960s but really picked up its base of fans in syndication.
This book is the recount of star William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) of how the series came to be, the struggles, the relationships, the victories, and ultimately the cancellation of the series.
Some myths are confirmed while others are completely busted. The jokes on the set were beyond belief, yet the first TV interracial kiss was a fake. Did you know that the men of "The Menagerie" were all women? The book is full of set drawings by Matt Jeffries and first-person interjections by Magel Roddenberry, Nichelle Nicholes, Leonard Nimoy, and many others. William Shatner is helped by Chris Kreski in telling the tales of the series that broke into frontiers where none had gone before.
The retelling is warm and welcoming, heart-felt and sometimes regretful, and in all respects easy to read and embrace. It's the first book I've read from cover to cover in over a year and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Fascinating details about everyone but Shatner
2007-09-16 - Worth every penny - Chock full of fascinating details about all the backstage and front office folks, and some about the cast. Doesn't go into individual episodes much, and we actually don't hear all that much about Bill Shatner's Star Trek experience: it's more like Bill is the narrator for EVERYONE ELSE'S Star Trek memories. As a die-hard Shatner worshipper I was bummed about that; still, the book has enough juicy backstage scoop to be a really fun read.
