10 Biggest Feuds In Star Trek History

All families fight and the Star Trek family is no different.

Star Trek
CBS

Star Trek has always been a beacon for a brighter, hopeful future. Well, most of the time, anyway. So, it is always a little heartbreaking to think of people behind the scenes not getting along. However, the fact that Star Trek has more than fifty years of history to draw on means that, like it or not, there is bound to be a little grief from time to time.

Some of these arguments and fall-outs heal over time. There are stories of actors not getting along on-set, or writers struggling to work alongside each other, that thankfully seem to resolve with a bit of time and distance. There are other stories then that, due to one or more parties passing away, were never able to be resolved - no matter how much the surviving person wants.

Then, there are the OTHER feuds. There are those that start in a pool of hate and remain as bitter today as they were when they began. They are rare, with more stories of great friendships than any other. But they are there and the time has come for us to address it. With the hope that not too many childhoods will be ruined, let's begin.

10. William Shatner And Leonard Nimoy

Star Trek
CBS Television Distribution

In the early days of Star Trek, there was an actor called William Shatner. He was the new guy on the set, because his co-star Leonard Nimoy had been around for almost a full year prior to this, appearing in the original pilot - The Cage. The show had been rejected by the network and re-written. Captain Kirk would be the dashing hero, replacing the more cerebral Captain Pike. Commander Spock was the coldly logical Vulcan first officer.

It seemed that it was designed for Kirk to be the most popular character but, to Shatner's surprise, it was Spock who quickly became the iconic character. This led to tensions on the set. Shatner had been sold a lead role, then quickly found that his character was becoming number two. He demanded that scenes be re-blocked so that he would fill more of the frame, and that scripts be re-written so that lines were transferred from Spock to Kirk.

The tensions between Shatner and Nimoy mellowed a bit as they began appearing in the movies together. In fact, they mellowed to the point where Shatner describes Nimoy in his memoir as 'the only real friend I ever had'.

However, by the time that Nimoy died in 2015, he had stopped speaking to Shatner. Shatner, for his part, believes this was down to a miscommunication over a film that he was making, that Nimoy refused to appear in. Then, before they could resolve anything, Nimoy passed away.

While the two men may never get their closure, Shatner believes that he has found something of a peace in the fact that he has stayed in touch with Nimoy's family, helping his son Adam to make a documentary about his father.

Contributor
Contributor

Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick