Space may be the final frontier in the Star Trek world, but apparently earthbound grudges can still travel quite keenly through the vastness of space. Icons Unleashed director Brian Volk-Weiss knows that firsthand, as an interview he conducted for another project involving Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the stars” saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’s Kirstie Alley tell a story about how William Shatner allegedly blocked her from returning for the next film in the series that gave us some of the best sci-fi movies.
While I sat down with Volk-Weiss to discuss Icons Unleashed: James Bond, which is currently airing Wednesday nights on Vice, our talk hinged on one fact he held dear when it came to his work. As it turns out, he prides himself on getting the stories that you’d be more likely to hear at conventions rather than through official studio produced featurettes.
A prime example of that happening on this new run of 007 stories was, in Brian Volk-Weiss’ recollection, a wild interview with George Lazenby. However, the director/producer also made the History Channel series The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek, which chronicled the property’s place in pop culture.
So when it came to stories too hot for Starfleet, Brian shared a couple of those stories with CinemaBlend, which is where Kirstie Alley’s supposed Star Trek sendoff came to be discussed:
[quote] I've never looked at the movie again the same way, Wrath of Khan, other than Star Wars, is the most important movie in my entire life. [I’ve] conservatively seen it two or three hundred times. So I'm interviewing Kirstie Alley, and we're going back and forth, and she was like, ‘Yeah, you know … if you watch the film carefully, you'll notice in the opening shot I'm like, hair's back, you know, very, very serious, you know, Vulcan.
And by, you know, the end of the movie, I'm like wearing an eyeshadow and my hair's down,’ and I'm like, ‘You know, I gotta be honest with you, I never noticed that before.’ ... But basically that's the reason why she's not in Star Trek III, because William Shatner was so mad about the whole thing, the bath robe, everything, that he made such a to-do about hiring her again, that they gave her an absolutely ludicrous financial offer designed to get her to say no.
The story that the late Kirstie Alley shared with Brian Volk-Weiss expands upon the original narrative behind why Star Trek III: The Search for Spock recast Lt. Savvik with actor Robin Curtis. As recalled by director Leonard Nimoy in his autobiography I Am Spock (via ScreenRant), the legendary sci-fi actor maintained the long held reason that Alley failed to return was the following:
[quote] ...the salary [Kirstie Alley's agent] wanted... was higher than what was being paid to DeForest Kelley after seventeen years! We couldn't afford her.
So if Ms. Alley’s wardrobe was so upsetting to Mr. Shatner, how’d she get away with it in the first place? Well, despite her role as a cool and logical Vulcan, Kirstie was a charming and beautiful human who played her own game to see how far she could push her look. That led to the gradual transformation that Brian Volk-Weiss, and some other Star Trek fans, may not have noticed until she pointed it out.
Elaborating on how he didn’t even notice that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan kind of pulled the rug out from under fans, Volk-Weiss continued to share just how and why Kirstie Alley changed her look. Continuing to unravel this story, Icons Unearthed’s director provided these further details from his interview with Alley:
She's like, ‘Yeah, I was this beautiful young girl. I had just gotten to LA, I was like 20 years old, and I was playing this character that like, all you can see are her hands and from her neck up.’ And she was like, ‘I had this great body, and I was a model. So every day I was trying to push the line further.’ And I'm like, ‘Kirstie, I am blown away. I never noticed that.’