Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Melissa Navia has responded to William Shatner's recent criticism of Star Trek. Navia portrays Lieutenant Erica Ortegas, the highly-skilled human helmsman of the Enterprise, who's as capable with a gun as she is with a quip. Strange New Worlds is the twelfth show in the growing Star Trek franchise and serves as a prequel to Captain Kirk's tenure as the lead officer on the Enterprise, and is full of TOS references. Kirk has already made an appearance on Strange New Worlds, albeit played by Paul Wesley and not by the 91-year-old Shatner.



At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, the original Captain Kirk actor hosted a "Shatner on Shatner" panel. This is where he made the speculation on how Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would feel about this new era of shows. According to Shatner, "I got to know Gene Roddenberry in three years fairly well. He’d be turning in his grave at some of this stuff." His comment has elicited a number of responses from fans, and now Strange New World's cast is beginning to weigh in themselves.

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Navia, an avowed fan of the series herself, has responded to Shatner in a tweet seeking clarification. She mentions what many other fans have brought up, which is that Shatner has previously stated he hasn't seen the majority of TOS, which he starred in, and that he's never followed the show's various iterations or seen many of the movies. Beyond seeking clarification, Navia touchingly brings a personal detail into the query with the mention of her partner Brian Bannon, who passed away from leukemia in December 2021. Check out her tweet below:




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Shatner hasn't responded to Navia's tweet, although it must be noted that his username wasn't directly mentioned, so it's entirely possible he has yet to see it. Speculation remains about what exactly Shatner was referring to in his comment. Was he being inflammatory for the sake of it? Or was he merely cracking a joke? While Shatner may have had a close relationship to Roddenberry, they had their share of disagreements too. Roddenberry detested the plot of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which Shatner directed and has a "story by" credit on. Roddenberry also disliked The Wrath of Khan, considered by many to by a highwater mark in the Star Trek cannon, so perhaps it wouldn't take much to make Roddenberry turn in his grave.



Some fans have pointed out that they find the writing on the new shows to be lacking, especially when it comes to the morally complex plots of some of the earlier shows. Others find them perfectly entertaining. It seems doubtful any new Star Trek series will capture the magic of what made any past iteration of the show work for certain viewers. The question is: should the new shows try to? As times change, as well as the concerns of the era, and the creative teams behind the scenes revolve too, it's impossible for Picard to be exactly like The Next Generation or for Strange New Worlds to be like TOS, despite this newest show's direct ties to the original. As Navia said in her post, Strange New Worlds has had an impact on her; perhaps the current era of Star Trek shows will appeal to new fans more than it does to the old.



Next: Strange New Worlds Just Debunked Star Trek’s Oldest Kirk Criticism

Source: Melissa Navia/Twitter

Source: Screen Rant

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