“…neither one of us could have imagined that eventually we would become best friends. Nor did we have the slightest hint that we were creating two of the most iconic characters in American cultural history…until Leonard and I developed our relationship…I never had a real friend; I didn’t even know what a friend was.”
-William Shatner (from Leonard)
I first became enamoured with the original Star Trek series as a young boy watching reruns on the local CBC station Sundays at 10 am. Occasionally my mom would want to drag my brother and me to church (she never really attended regularly; for her it was more of a social thing), which I resisted. I had discovered what would be my religion: Sitting in front of the tacky, wood framed Zenith System 3 and following the endless adventures of the crew of the Enterprise.
Most admired the swashbuckling Captain James Tiberius Kirk (played by Montreal native William Shatner), but I identified more with his half-Human/half-Vulcan sidekick, the brainy and logical Mr. Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy. (I guess you could say I found the character more “fascinating.”) Behind the scenes the two aforementioned actors became good friends. The story of that relationship is the subject of Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man, a new book by William Shatner with David Fisher.
As the title suggests, Leonard is a series of anecdotes from the author’s perspective about the long-time rapport he shared with his frequent co-star. The good times, the bad, how it began, and how it ended with Nimoy’s death over a year ago.
As expected, Shatner affectionately recounts many interesting details and incidents, what they had in common (they were born 4 days apart to similar ethnic backgrounds) and their differences, like how Nimoy was rather introverted, reserved and thoughtful, while Shatner was more outgoing, direct and daring (which oddly enough reflected their Star Trek roles).
Shatner’s writing style is at times competent, but the book contains many redundancies, and awkward, clumsy sentence structure is a little too common. I laughed at some of his jokes, but for the most part they were lame and corny (like my above “fascinating” quip). I can excuse most of that (to be fair he is not, after all, a writer by profession, it is a show business memoir, not high literature and the volume was probably hastily put together), but what I really found irksome were the passages where he would drift away from the main subject and into excuse territory. (Many former Star Trek cast mates have gone public slamming Shatner claiming he was a difficult Prima Donna who demanded all the best scenes and lines at their expense.) Yes, he does have every right to defend himself against such accusations and tell his side of the story, but no, it does not belong in a tribute to someone he calls “…my ‘Siamese twin,’ my ‘brother from another mother,’ my best friend.” (I am not doubting Shatner’s sincerity; he is an actor, and they can be a little self-centred.)
At times Leonard was a fun read with great, intriguing inside stories; it did contain a few facts I wasn’t already aware of, and in that regards the uninitiated could enjoy it, but for me it was mostly old news that made me want to call out: “Beam me up Scotty!”
I found Nimoy’s last tweet, quoted in the final chapter, the deepest, most profound part of the text. So here it is again:
“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.”
Indeed.
Twitter: @Akessaris
Instagram: doc_kessaris
