Star Trek legend William Shatner reveals bosses wanted Spock to lose his iconic pointy ears
Star Trek legend William Shatner has revealed that network bosses originally wanted to get rid of Spock’s signature pointy ears.
The iconic show first aired a whopping 60 years ago this month, but it turns out that one of its best-loved characters could have had a very different look.
Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original series, recently reflected on the early days of the show while speaking to Interview Magazine.
The 95-year-old star said the show made some smart creative choices when it came to its character but that bosses at NBC weren’t keen on them all.
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“The first thing they said with Spock is, ‘Get rid of the ears.’ And bless our management, they said, ‘No, we’re not getting rid of the ears,’” he shared.
Of course, as we know, the management team got their wish and Spock, who was originally played by Leonard Nimoy and then Zachary Quinto in the widely successful reboot movies, kept his pointed ears.
Shatner said holding onto the distinctive ears was an important part of making the show feel unlike anything else audiences had seen before and allowing it to feel like something from another time and place.
He continued: “In that pilot, I was attracted to the magic, the imagination behind that pilot with the swollen heads and the pulsing. It was such wonderful makeup. It was intriguing from many points of view.”
Shatner went on to say that the ears, and other creative elements, allowed viewers to suspend their disbelief while tuning into the show.
“You can have weird people coming out of a rock and saying, ‘These are the people who live on this planet,’ and accept it because you don’t know who’s living on that planet in the sky,” he said.
“That science-fiction magic was a big propellant in the popularity of Star Trek.”
More than half a century later, Star Trek has held onto its popularity.
From the original series, simply titled Star Trek, the sci-fi franchise has ballooned to include several spin-off series, video games, toys, figurines, comics, books, and movies - there are even Star Trek conventions where 'Trekkies' can meet up and talk all things USS Enterprise.
So much so, that it's become one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time and continues to draw in new fans as it reinvents itself and launches more spin-offs and reboots to keep itself fresh.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about why the franchise has lasted for so long, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds creator Akiva Goldsman explained: “I think Star Trek reflects the world as we wish it was.
“The promise of a bright future. And with the real-world future looking scarier every day, it takes a lot of will to hold onto optimism. Articulating a sci-fi vision of a world where we actually do solve problems — that’s as important today as it was in 1966.”
And to think, it all could have looked very different if the network execs got their way and Spock lost one of his stand-out features.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity
Claire Reid