With the word BOSS inscribed across his chest (the Hugo half being hidden by his suit jacket), William Shatner lived up to that title—as well as the rank of Captain—as he read excerpts from the upcoming book, The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, which will be hitting shelves on Sept. 8, the anniversary of Star Trek’s premiere. Shatner got huge laughs reading, and especially riffing off, the material. He also spoke with the book’s author, David A. Goodman, a writer on Family Guy, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Futurama, for which he penned the Trek homage, “Where No Fan Has Gone Before.” Learn how Shatner coined several new sexual euphemisms and much more below.

Panel Highlights

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  Shatner read three excerpts from the book, which, true to its title, is written as Kirk’s memoirs, composed upon his retirement from Starfleet. Goodman revealed that the book will also include an introduction by Doctor McCoy and an afterword by Mr. Spock, as well as a photo section. We were shown “James T. Kirk’s Starfleet Academy Graduation Photo” — a nicely manipulated picture of young Shatner. “He’s hot!” Goodman exclaimed.

• The first excerpt dealt with Kirk in recovery from the disaster of his first posting aboard the Farragut (detailed in the original series episode “Obsession”) and the rekindling of his relationship with Carol Marcus. “She was blonde and petite, which I guess was my type,” Shatner read, before extemporizing, “Actually, what wasn’t my type?”

• Shatner was especially amused by a passage that described the activities that Kirk and Marcus engaged in, whilst in the throes of their love affair, as “rock climbing and horseback riding.” When in the text Marcus reveals that she’s pregnant, Shatner expressed surprise. “I was rock climbing and riding a horse!” “Things happen,” said Goodman. “Especially when riding a horse,” said Shatner mischievously.

• “Horseback riding” became a touchstone throughout the rest of the panel, signifying untold sexual misdeeds—to great laughter every time.

• In the second passage, describing Kirk taking command of the Enterprise for the first time, Shatner read about the departing Captain Pike greeting Kirk aboard the ship. “I was struck by how tall he was. Much taller than me.” Shatner sighed. “Everyone is.”

• Next, Kirk spots Scotty, with whom he is already acquainted. “‘ Scott,’ I said. ‘Need someone to carry your toolkit?” Shatner gave the audience a significant look. “Show me your toolkit, Mr. Scott,” he added with a laugh.

• The text noted that Scotty’s eyes were bloodshot. “‘Rough night?’ I said.” Shatner then improvised seamlessly, “Doing a little bit of horseback riding?” His additions were often so seamless, in fact, that it was at time difficult to know where the original text ended and his own improvisations began.

• Other times it was more obvious: “‘I stand relieved,’ said Pike. He then went to the men’s room.”

• The third excerpt consisted of the book’s epilogue. In it, Kirk reflects on his age, saying, “I realize 60 is not that old.” The 84-year-old Shatner gasped, “He’s a child!”

Audience Q&A

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  When asked if he would be in the third J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot film, Shatner was incredibly evasive. He implied that the fan asking the question probably had more information than he did and demanded, “What do you know? Am I in the next movie? Tell me!”

• Asked, “How weird is it that somebody else [Chris Pine] is playing Kirk?” Shatner snapped, “It’s horrible!” Then he sighed: “But he’s wonderful, dammit. He’s young and he’s handsome and he’s rich.” (“Well, you’ve got two of those,” Goodman said.)

• A fan wondered how much influence actors have on what’s written for them. “A newborn baby suckling at its mother’s breast is no less dependent as an actor is on the writer,” Shatner said.

• Asked to choose his favorite of Kirk’s many uniforms, Shatner shut down the suggestion of the green wrap top from the original series. “It was a little embarrassing after lunch to have that tight green thing on,” he said. “A little gas shows up immediately. The more drape the better, I always thought, later on.” But he praised the work of William Ware Theiss, costume designer for both the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, calling him “one of the great designers in film.”

• Shatner told a story about how he knew he wanted to be an actor. When he was young, he went to a summer camp outside Montreal at which the kids put on a play for the parents at the camp’s end. “I was playing a part and I made the audience cry.” Then, when it was over and he came out to the still-weeping crowd, “My father took me up in his arms with great pride and said, ‘This is my boy, Bill.’ And I never had another job.”

• When asked why he thinks the character of Kirk still resonates, Shatner gave an impassioned speech about the power of science fiction, comparing it to ancient mythology in its ability to provide answers for mysteries humanity doesn’t yet understand. “And the face of that, the hero with a thousand faces, is Captain Kirk.”