The Captains

Kate Mulgrew is too much man for Shatner to handle, Patrick Stewart badmouths Tasha Yar, and Avery Brooks bangs out metaphys-tastic blues chords in what has to be the worst improv session in the history of the universe...and somehow I still give this a 76.

Shatner's a weird host, as much as love with himself as with the fact he's making a documentary. Still, there are some interesting, revealing and genuinely nice moments to be found. Avery Brooks is a goddamn lunatic.

shatner's batshit waning philosophical in the middle of interviews is absolutely ridiculous. liked that mulgrew for the most part seemed to shut that shit down. ive earned a newfound disrespect for avery brooks and his spacecase jazz freak state of mind. oh and a good word for the music playing constantly would be "insufferable" sift through all that and trekkies will still find some gold in the interviews...everyone else should vehemently avoid this.

Only for truly hardcore Trekkies. Had some interesting bits but I'd like to have some of whatever Avery Brooks is smoking. His interview was like listening to a toddler on acid...at a piano.

If for nothing else watch the worlds most self-obsessed Canadian seek out the many captains of Star Trek to ask them really strange questions. Strangely enough the result is sometimes moving, like when Stewart talks about his divorce, or when Mulgrew reveals the many sacrifices of acting. Or sometimes downright hilarious as when lunatic Brooks exposes Shatner pretentiousness.

I came to cringe, and I was not disappointed.

The one captain who distanced himself most from Star Trek, got to do this. And it shows. You almost can see the pain of the other captains while they are being interviewed. They are polite, but that's about it.

Meandering and tender. Shatner's a great host at times because he's just so peculiar, but his sexism comes out against the classy Kate Mulgrew. Avery Brooks is the man.

An intriguing movie that only has appeal to Trekkies. The draw back to that aspect is that Shatner comes up with some lines of questioning that simply lead nowhere, and Avery Brooks is a complete nut case. the interviews with Stewart and Bakula are awesome and some of Shatner's antics prove pretty entertaining, although trite and contrived.

The Captains is a Shatner project that, as a shock to no one, mainly features Shatner. As a documentary, it merely exists to let Shatner reveal that he has fully come to grips with his Star Trek fame, in a inoffensively staged fashion. There are some interesting titbits that illustrate the work-life sacrifices of the cast, but not enough to justify the runtime. A weird tangential sexist segue, scenes of Shatner flirting and basking in adulation, and some jazz; truly bizarre!

good documentary

Great if you are a fan of STU.

William Shatner and Avery Brooks should do a traveling show where they "jazz" talk to each other. With a piano of course.

Shatner isn't really that good of a host/interviewer and the whole thing is poorly put together, but as a Trek fan there is some interesting material mentioned.

The interviewees are of highly variable quality, and even though Shatner's line of questioning works better on some occasions than others, at least it seems to reflect genuine interests on his part, and at least these interests are to do with questions of life and acting, and have very little to do with Star Trek itself. The stuff about coming to terms with being perpetually known for playing Kirk is a little over-played, perhaps, but overall there are some interesting things to be found here.

The Mulgrew interview was really uncomfortable and soured me on Shattner, because she's my mom. Not literally, of course. But really, don't ask a single, working mom how she raised her kids. Bad fucking form.

Interesting viewing for trekkies.

Interesting enough to see all the captains but the interviewing is odd and sometimes outright embarassing.