William Shatner has a message for Sen. Ted Cruz and The New York Times Magazine: Captain Kirk wasn’t a Republican because “Star Trek” “wasn’t political.”
The Republican 2016 presidential hopeful was asked a series of questions by The Times on Thursday about the famous fictional captain, James T. Kirk. When asked “Do you have a suspicion about whether Kirk would be a Democrat or a Republican?” Mr. Cruz replied “I think it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican and Picard is a Democrat.”
Mr. Shatner, a Canadian actor, responded on his official Twitter account on Thursday, saying “Star Trek wasn’t political. I’m not political; I can’t even vote in the US. So to put a geocentric label on interstellar characters is silly.”
Feedback to his statement was mixed.
“So @WilliamShatner doesn’t grasp that one of Star Trek’s most interesting elements was its philosophical side, which bleeds into politics,” Twitter user Bob Israel said. “You must not know what the term ’political’ means. That said, still a fan and will always love Star Trek.”
“Star trek was definitely not political. You know that better than most. Star trek was, and is, universal. Untouchable,” Daniel Bolger wrote.
“I understand your position, but I think Star Trek was (is) political! Many situations presented there are political visions,” Vinicius Oliveira wrote.
The Times also asked Mr. Cruz: “Kirk or Picard?”
“Let me do a little psychoanalysis. If you look at ’Star Trek: The Next Generation,’ it basically split James T. Kirk into two people. Picard was Kirk’s rational side, and William Riker was his passionate side. I prefer a complete captain. To be effective, you need both heart and mind,” Mr. Cruz told The Times.
The senator added, “The original ’Star Trek’ pressed for racial equality, which was one of its best characteristics, but it did so without sermonizing.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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