Scenes Star Trek Actors Regret Filming

William Shatner has spent more time than anyone as the face of Star Trek. And when you're the head honcho of the USS Enterprise, this comes with many great moments, but it also comes with many deeply embarrassing ones. Some of these were a product of the time period. Others were a product of Shatner's own ego. But the scene he publicly regrets most is his final scene.

Star Trek: Generations ends with Captain Kirk's death, one that never quite sat right with fans. It never quite sat right with Shatner, either. When asked by Crave Online whether he was satisfied with Kirk's death in Star Trek: Generations, Shatner said, "No, no, I would have done something else."

According to Shatner, the suits at Paramount figured the Star Trek franchise might make a lot more money (hopefully $200 million) if they included the Next Generation cast. They also allegedly reasoned that there wasn't much milk left in the Original Series cash cow. So it was a perfect time for Kirk to meet Picard. However, the filmmakers also realized they needed to up the stakes by killing off a character in Generations. And specifically, they wanted to kill James T. Kirk.

So as Shatner explained to TrekMovie.com, he was presented with two options. "It was either I was going to appear and die, or they were going to say he died. So, I chose the more practical of the two." This led to his ultimately unremarkable death scene, where his death is less "noble sacrifice" and more "bridge collapse."

Between the lackluster box office — which hit $118 million, meaning they didn't even break their ceiling — and the pathetic death, Shatner wasn't happy. "I wish," he said, "that there had been more trumpets for the death of the character.