The Captains Close Up takes the 90 minute documentary and turns it into a five-part mini-series. In a way, these half-hour episodes are the deleted scenes from the documentary, plus a bit of extra history about each of the actors and some added interviews with the other cast members from the various TV shows. As a result, it’s hard not to directly compare this mini-series with the documentary it stems from, especially since they share a lot of the same content.
The series starts off with a focus on Shatner himself. During the making of Captains, he had a few epiphanies about his feelings towards the series, and the interviews where these realizations occur make it into this episode. There is also a bit of extra footage where Shatner interviews Christopher Plummer as they talk about the times they’ve acted together and especially Plummer’s role in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Shatner’s episode contains the most new footage. Since Shatner, himself, wasn’t really a major focus of The Captains, the added information provided in his episode is a lot more than you will find in the other four parts of this series. For instance, Patrick Stewart’s episode doesn’t cover all of the same points that his segments in the original documentary hit, but many of them are there. What is added is discussions about getting started as an actor and his decision that if he was only remembered as Captain Jean Luc Picard, then he was fine with it.
Avery Brooks, Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine, comes off as a strange man who sees the world in a very different manner than most people. Shatner and Brooks have their interview at Brook’s piano, and many of Brooks’ comments and talks are accompanied by free-flowing piano music. Whenever Shatner attempts to steer the conversation into a touchy or difficult topic, Brooks seems to always find a way to change the direction of the talk or direct the question back at Shatner rather than answer it himself. This is no different than it was in The Captains, just more of it. What I found interesting in this segment was the comments Brooks’ cast and crewmates made, especially the writers who had to find the best way to use his talents.
The third episode featured Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager. Mulgrew has gone back to the stage and talks with Shatner a lot about her family and having to juggle being a single mother while working long days for seven years. She talks a lot about the troubles that developed in her household because of the work schedule, as well as her beliefs about how different male and female actors are in similar positions. Again, like the other interviews, there is some shared footage with the original documentary, as well as some of the stuff that made it onto the cutting room floor.
The last episode focused on Scott Bakula’s work on the franchise’s last TV series as Captain Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise, a show that takes place 100 years before Shatner’s time period as Kirk. Bakula talks about getting the job and how he was actually at the studio helping a friend pitch another project. The executives turned it down, but then immediately asked him to consider the role of the next Star Trek captain. At first, Bakula wasn’t interested, but when he was told that it was a prequel, he jumped aboard. A lot of Bakula’s interview also talks about his family life, his musical abilities and also his time on Quantum Leap.
There are also some brief clips of Shatner interviewing Chris Pine, the new Captain Kirk from the J. J. Abrams films, but there is even less footage of him than there was in the original documentary.
The Captains Close Up has two very short extras. One has Shatner talking about the Paramount fire while they were making Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, while the other is about the studio’s early history. While mildly interesting, it’s easy to see that neither of these fit anywhere in particular.
While I enjoyed learning more about the actors behind these roles, it’s really hard not to look at The Captains Close Up and see it as only a little more added footage over the earlier documentary. That being said, the extra footage is worth seeing for anyone who enjoyed the original. It all comes down to how much of a fan you are, I guess. I feel like what would have been best was either brand new interviews, only the parts of the interviews that weren’t in The Captains, or a much bigger release that contained all of the footage from The Captains, plus the extra tidbits that didn’t make it through the previous editing process.
