'Star Trek' tete-a-tete: Watch William Shatner, Wil Wheaton geek out
The veteran "Star Trek" actors bond over video games, sci-fi, wine, beer and nerds on Shatner's Web series "Brown Bag Wine Tasting."
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" actor Wil Wheaton has confessed to legendary "Star Trek" captain William Shatner that his childhood dream was to serve as commander of the USS Enterprise.
Of course, who wouldn't?
Wheaton's confession is part of the latest episode of "William Shatner's Brown Bag Wine Tasting" Web series.
The new series was inspired by Shatner's love of wine and conversation. In each episode, he shares a bottle with a fellow actor and other guest, and we get to eavesdrop on some high-class nerdy chat.
"I'm using wine as a way to explore the psyche of each of my guests," Shatner said in a statement about the series, which airs weekly on Ora.Tv.
In this episode, released Wednesday, their discussion includes Wheaton's love for brewing beer and what it means to be a nerd. Below are some highlights of their chat.
On gaming
"There's something that happens in games, in video games especially, that just cannot happen in movies," Wheaton said. "They're interactive. When I was a kid I was crazy about 'Star Trek.' I always wanted to be in command of the Enterprise. I could watch the TV show, I could imagine, I could play with my friends. Today I can go to Star Trek Online and I could command a starship of my own. I could have missions. I could have a crew. And I'm really involved in it. It's super meaningful to me. And it hits you on an emotional level."
On intelligent beer
"Yeast is a living organism," Wheaton said. "Beer that is 'bottled condition' is considered living beer because it has live yeast in it. In science fiction, we're always encountering bi-pedal humanoid things. But I've always thought it would be really interesting if there were intelligent life that we just weren't able to perceive."
On three dimensions
"My greatest dream is inspired by this story called 'Flatland' where there's these two-dimensional creatures that live on paper, like stick figures," Wheaton said. "And if you draw a line and separate them and they suddenly can't see each other and along comes a guy who lives in the third dimension and he can step over the line. I want so badly for us to be in the third dimension of that."
On being a beer nerd
"Being a nerd isn't about what you love, it's about the way you love it," Wheaton said. "I'm a nerd for beer. I want to know everything about it. And I can make it."