During the recent Television Critics Association (TCA) press junket with television stars, 7th Heaven's Stephen Collins (Will Decker in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture") spoke about his experience making Star Trek's first feature film, as well as working on the commentary for the recently released Director's Edition DVD.
Collins was asked if the DVD was his first brush with DVD commentary, and what he felt the experience was like.
Stephen Collins: "I guess it was [his first DVD Commentary experience]. The whole DVD commentary thing is relatively new. I love being part of this. When I was cast in the Star Trek movie, right before we started shooting, there was a photo session and I had never watched an episode of Star Trek. At that time, there were only the original episodes of the original series.
"I wasn't a Star Trek fan, which is why I think I got the part. I wasn't groveling the way all the other actors were. It was interesting. It was a real lesson in the psychology of how to get parts. I really didn't care, and so I got the part, which is one of the cruelties of this business.
"DeForest Kelley, who played Bones, Dr. McCoy, said, 'This will never be out of your life. It will never go away.' And he meant it as a good thing, which it primarily is. And I love that — I love [Director] Robert Wise, and I love getting a chance to talk about him. I still haven't seen the DVD, because I'm an Academy member and all the movies are flooding in right now, and the deadline is coming for voting, so I'm watching those first. But I love being part of Star Trek. I particularly love that I was a captain of the Enterprise, lest you all forget. I try to put that out as much as I can.
"For the first twenty minutes of the movie I was the captain of the Enterprise, and then Kirk demoted me. But it's a good trivial question if you want to stump your friends: Name all the captains of the Enterprise. Most people won't name me, but I was."
Collins' current show 7th Heaven airs on Mondays on the WB Network while "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" – The Director's Edition DVD is available in stores and online now.
