Review of The Captains (2011) by Dave H — 02 Nov 2011

We are given a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all the living actors that played the lead roles in one of the greatest science fiction series ever made. It was so uniquely filmed, so well done, that it cannot deserve anything but five stars.

Shatner explores the phenomenon of the "Star Trek Captain" in his own singular style and we are in turn walking with him, side by side, as he interviews his fellow captains, who share with us their most intimate motivations, source of inspirations, joys and pain, all of this while we see Shatner trying to probe into his own inner depths.

He profoundly reaches out to his fellow actors and makes palpable the connection that is bridged from these interviews, between interviewer and interviewee. I became drawn in as an invisible observer in a house in the country, the inside of a New York theatre, as well as the outside of the Paramount lot.

I was taken to where no man has gone before, the inside of the minds of Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine. I applaud William Shatner for this work, and believe it to be a monumental achievement of narrative, especially when this film is taken in its proper context.