Star Trek is one of the most beloved franchises in sci-fi history. The original series of the show only lasted three seasons, from 1966 to 1969, but those three seasons of television changed the way audiences looked at sci-fi. A huge factor in the success of Star Trek were stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock. The interplay between the two characters charmed fans and, while the men’s real-life relationship wasn’t always the best, they still made history together. This reality makes all the more poignant a new short made for the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Generations, one that reunites Kirk and Spock in a touching farewell: 765874 – Unification.
The short, made with the cooperation of the Nimoy estate, begins with Gary Mitchell, who longtime Star Trek fans will recognize from the first season episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” appearing, made possible by CG. Mitchell was granted godlike powers, which partly explains how any of this is possible. From there, Kirk appears, with some of the better de-aging tech, walking through a garden full of people he recognized including Saavik, played by Robin Curtis, which leads him to a confrontation with the TOS Kirk and the movie-era Kirk before the two friends are reunited with Spock on his death bed. Together, they watch the sun come up one last time.
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The video was made by OTOY for an interactive app for Apple Vision Pro named after the short. This app is full of interactive sets, props, and worlds from the 1994 film and even includes a 20-minute retrospective from Shatner, where he speaks about playing Kirk 30 years ago and what he hopes for the future of the venerable Captain. Kirk has always meant a lot to Shatner and fans, so this short and retrospective is icing on the cake for them.
Seeing Kirk and Spock back together after so long is something very special. While it’s sad that the two could never have played the characters one last time together, and their relationship got even worse in the years before Nimoy died, this short shows that Shatner is willing to pay homage to the man who helped make his career as Captain Kirk possible. Shatner and Nimoy’s widow Susan Bay Nimoy acted as executive producers of the short and Shatner worked with the OTOY team to make the multiple generations of Kirk come to life.
765874 – Unification is a treat for Star Trek fans and a reminder of a relationship that made nearly sixty years of brilliant stories possible.
