actually left us with something,
some great possibility
of what mankind could be?
He had a great belief in mankind's
capabilities. He had great...
He had real belief that the future
was going to be the way Star Trek was.
Yeah, he had a great vision.
His vision of hope was exactly
what drove...
You know,
when we started doing this show,
there were stories about
the Chariots of the Gods,
the whole concept that maybe
we have been visited by
a previous incarnation of some kind
and had built the pyramids
and then gone away
or whatever,
and he said, "That's rubbish."
He said, "These wonderful things were
all done by mankind,
"not by any ancient astronauts
that came here from some other planet.
"They were all done by mankind and
mankind should take the credit for it
"and move forward and continue
to do wonderful things."
I'm sure that's true about Gene.
But also there is a real
commercial aspect to that view.
And that is when I was doing a show
involving EMTs
and it was called Rescue )11,
we found and ultimately built on that,
that the shows that were
most successful
were the ones where
people were saved.
You had a positive note.
Here comes the EMTs,
and you're gonna be okay.
Whereas in fact about 80% of the calls
result in death,
but we didn't dramatise those.
How awful it was, it is.
And subsequently it was proved
by another show that Gene did,
was if the view of the future was bad,
people didn't wanna see that.
But to know that we would exist
300 years from now,
that we will overcome this
environmental crisis that we're facing,
this catastrophe
that we're all hurtling towards,
that will be cured
by the very technology that is doing it.
To know that that is true
and to know that people will evolve
and become better, even though
there's a great deal of evidence
to the contrary,
that's a positive note
and people want to see that.
Because, ultimately,
we all want to have faith.
It's fundamentally the reason
for the success of the series.
-Don't you think? That argument.
-Absolutely.
I think people are inspired by
the anti-sexism and anti-racism
that was practised
on all the shows for the last 40 years.
And the hope of that possibility,
given what's going on in the world.
I hear it from people every day.
The same thing that you hear
from this Vegas cop.
That when things go bad, I go back
to the show where something...
It's like you.
The story you opened with is really...
-I am the person.
-You were the example.
-You're the living inspiration, right?
-I am. I am.
So, now, how many Star Trek movies
were there? Five? Is it...
-We were involved in six.
-Six of them.
Then Bill was involved in one more.
You were involved
-in number seven, I think.
-Right.
-Where Patrick and I were...
-Right.
So when you came back to play,
I want to say with us,
because I think I was in that one.
-Yeah, you were.
-I can't remember.
You remember the,
what was it called, the Nexus?
Wasn't there a thing called the Nexus
in that movie?
I thought that was something
you took for your stomach.
That's where Malcolm McDowell
came from. Didn't he?
-That's right.
-That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Malcolm McDowell was in the Nexus,
and you know what?
-Have you seen him recently?
-I have.
Because I think he's still there.
-In the Nexus?
-Yeah.
Well, no, Malcolm McDowell
was in the movie that I was in with you.
-He came out of the Nexus.
-That's right. That was the Nexus, Bill.
-VII?
-That was VII.
-He's still in the Nexus?
-Yeah.
He's still there? Poor guy.
You were the only senior cast member
of the original series,
of the classic series.
What do you prefer? Classic series,
original series, the old series?
I'd rather you wouldn't
talk about it at all.
You didn't appear in our show, Bill.
-In your show?
-In our series.
-No. No, in the series, I didn't.
-I did.
-Leonard did. Jimmy did. Nichelle did.
-I know.
No?
-No?
-I don't