William Shatner talks Star Trek V

On compromises and creative decisions - the legendary actor, director, writer and performer talks about his 1989 film

In this month's SFX magazine, we speak with William Shatner for a big Q&A feature. Here's what he had to say when we asked about the flawed Star Trek film, The Final Frontier , which he directed in 1989.

"My one-line idea was ' Star Trek goes in search of God.' Then I ran into flak – 'Whose god? What god? We’re not gonna alienate people.' Then someone came up with the idea, 'Well, what happens if it’s an alien who thinks he’s God? Then humanity thinks he’s the devil by rejecting that he’s God.' In order to get that movie made, I agreed to it, and that was a compromise. The difference between making a compromise and being political, or standing on your standards, where do you do that? The editor says, 'Cut that line.' And you say, 'But that’s my whole story.' 'I’m sorry, you gotta get rid of those words.' Do you say, 'No, I’m not gonna do it'? Do you say, 'Okay, I’ll do it'? Making compromises and political judgments, or standing on our standards, all our lives, is that. How do you make those decisions? That’s what I had to learn on Star Trek V , with $30 million. So it was fairly public."