The Captains

As documentaries go, I admit I don't have a lot of viewing experience. As Star Trek goes however, I found this to be very enjoyable.

Shatner comes across as a pretty decent guy and his interviews with the various actors who have sat in the captain's chair are revealing, often funny, and occasionally very touching, and it is in these moments where The Captains really shines. The contrasting discussions with Scott Bakula and Patrick Stewart over their divorces and the discussion between Shatner and Stewart over their legacies on the show are both fantastic moments. Throughout the documentary there is a lot of insight given into the construction of the captain characters.

My one major complaint is that Avery Brooks gives pretty much nothing. He sits at his piano and plays jazz in a lot of his scenes, which is OK I guess, but we don't really find out anything about his relationship to the Sisko character. The first twenty minutes is also a little tedious.

Really, if you're a Star Trek fan, even in passing, this is worth a look. I definitely recommend it.

I agree... Shatner has really found a calling as an interviewer. He asks questions, but he will use personal experiences and draw his questions from them. And oddly enough for someone who is reputed to have a big ego, even those moments do not come off as displaying self-importance. They act as insight as to where his brain is in forming the questions he is asking.

I hope that made sense.

This documentary was really insightful into the people we have watched over the years as they sat in the captain's chair, the trials and joys they went through and how they got there in the first place.

Great for any Star Trek fan.

Great for anyone who enjoys a good interview.

If you love Star Trek you will forgive the meandering route this documentary takes, if you are not a fan you will see this as an overindulgent preoccupation of Mr. Shatners one true love... Himself and his impending mortality!

There are truly some heart felt conversations with Patrick Stewart and Scott Bakula regarding the long hours put in and the disintegration of their respective marriages. Scott Bakula seems like a really nice guy who is grounded, he understands the life he has chosen and is grateful for the opportunities given to him, although if I'm honest Enterprise comes second to his success in Quantum Leap.

There is straight talking from Kate Mulgrew whom sees the world from a female perspective in a male dominated industry. I'm not sure Bill got the best out of Kate Mulgrew as I have seen her in other interviews and she was more upbeat and less preoccupied with gender related commentary! I suppose that could be down to the editing, context and questions posed by Mr. Shatner...

The Chris Pine segments are purely incidental, you can't help feeling that William Shatner feels a little embittered at the fact he is in his twilight years and would gladly exchange his position with Pine for another throw of the dice.

Poor old Avery Brooks, this poor chap seems to have lost his marbles! Either his interviews were edited to make him look completely unbalanced or this guy really has taken leave of his senses. Some parts of the interviews with Avery were a little uncomfortable as he just grins like a lunatic and plays the piano rather than respond to simple questions.

Patrick Stewart always comes across in a quiet and considered manner. There were times you could clearly see he was emotional, however he never comes across as bitter or anything other than a dignified true professional.

I have mixed emotions when It comes to William Shatner in this documentary, in parts he reveals emotional content about himself & you feel empathy, for instance the part where he says he fears death! In other parts you feel there is narcissistic tendencies which smother the other interviewee's

What you can take away from this is that all the Captains worked extremely hard in their respective roles and there was a toll paid by each of them. William Shatner seems quite reflective in places and yet self focused in others (not completely unexpected).

Of the five Captains interviewed you wouldn't hesitate to ask Patrick Stewart & Scott Bakula out to lunch, because from this disjointed venture you get the feeling they were the most articulate individuals who have the ability to talk about themselves and you would still like to listen.

Entertaining? Yes Informative? Yes. Self-serving to Shatner's ego? Definitely.

If you can get past Shatner's huge ego, then this is an enjoyable documentary. Obviously it's a must-watch for any serious fan, but casual ones will find it interesting too. Also, Shatner's questions, while long winded and self-centered, did elicit some great dialog from the other captains. I especially enjoyed the emotional chat with Patrick Stewart. I was particularly surprised with the Christopher Plummer appearance. Then the tables turn and they ask the Shat questions. Sadly, you kinda get to understand why some of the other characters complained about him over the years.

Also, it never really occurred to me the intense commitment and time it takes to be the captain, or the toll it took on their family lives. And, you might be concerned for Avery Brooks, although my Rutgers friends say that theater professors are often like that...

This documentary is a series of interviews, actually conversations, between iconic actor William Shatner and the other actors who have played Star Trek captains. Jetting around the country, Shatner talked with Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Avery Brooks, Captain Sisco from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, Scott Bakula, Captain Archer from Enterprise, and Chris Pike, Captain Kirk from the 2009 Star Trek movie.

Interspersed with the interviews were clips from a Star Trek convention Shatner appeared at in Las Vegas, where he met other Star Trek actors, including Rene Auberjonois, Jonathan Frakes, Robert Picardo, Connor Trinneer, and Nana Visitor, among others. Shatner also had a short interview with his old friend Christopher Plummer for whom he understudied at the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario early in his career and who played the villainous Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). The only really obvious omission was Leonard Nimoy.

This documentary was fascinating in how it revealed as much about Shatner as his subjects. Topics ranged from how they got started acting, to how each actor got their Star Trek role, to how the Star Trek experience changed their lives and affected their families, to philosophical musings on death, and many things in between. Most of the captains are classically trained stage actors who weren't necessarily immediately onboard with playing a science fiction character for TV. Bakula and Brooks both have extensive musical backgrounds, Bakula as a singer and Brooks as a jazz pianist. In fact, Brooks provided the documentary with a pleasing smooth jazz score.

All of the captains came off as intelligent, hard working, and frank. It was nice to see that they all still took their roles seriously and were truly humbled by the fan reactions to their work. Shatner, especially, seemed genuinely moved when he found out that the Canadian head of Bombardier Aerospace was inspired to take up aerospace engineering from watching Shatner on Star Trek. There was also a poignant scene at the convention where Shatner greeted a young wheelchair-bound man whose devotion to Star Trek seemed to be about the only thing that kept him going.

The interview with Stewart seemed to have the most resonance. It was obvious that there was genuine rapport between him and Shatner. When they talked about how the long hours playing their roles negatively impacted their marriages, it was heartbreaking. Mulgrew's take on being a single mother during her tenure as captain was also touching.

Shatner turned out to be an excellent interviewer. He kept things light and often humorous, such as when he conducted Pine's interview at a card table on a busy intersection or when he met Mulgrew sitting in a cardboard box. This allowed him to get his subjects relaxed and able to open up about some of the deeper questions. Shatner used his personal experiences to draw out measured responses from the other captains. Shatner has a reputation for being egotistical and antagonistic, but none of that was evident here. Maybe time has mellowed him out.

The Captains is a journey of discovery for Shatner that is an enjoyable look at the world of acting in general and the Star Trek universe in particular. It is a sincere glimpse into the heart and soul of Star Trek.