"The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me."
UPDATED 10/16/21 AT 7:30AM
William Shatner told Scotty to hold that beam up while he dragged George Takei during an out-of-this-world take down.
On Friday, the "Star Trek" veteran clapped back at his former costar after Takei branded him an "unfit guinea pig" for his Blue Origin rocket ride to space earlier this week.
"Don't hate George," Shatner tweeted. "The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me."
Don’t hate George. The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me. He claims 50+ years ago I took away a camera angle that denied him 30 more seconds of prime time TV. 🤷🏼♂️ I’m giving it back to him now by letting him spew his hatred for the world to see!🤣 Bill the 🐷
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 16, 2021 @WilliamShatner
The actor, whose blast off 60 miles above the Earth on Wednesday made him the oldest person ever to travel to space, went on to give a hint at the origin of the actors' feud.
"He claims 50+ years ago I took away a camera angle that denied him 30 more seconds of prime time TV. 🤷🏼♂️ I'm giving it back to him now by letting him spew his hatred for the world to see!🤣"
He concluded with a reference to Takei's guinea pig insult, by writing, "Bill the 🐷."
Shatner appears to be on a roll, as he fired back at Prince William after the future monarch criticized space travel.
ORIGINAL STORY 10/14/2021 AT 2:00PM
Oh my! The feud that started in space and continued back on Earth ... appears to have gone back up to space again.
George Takei has branded William Shatner an "unfit guinea pig" after his former co-star's Blue Origin flight earlier this week.
Speaking to Page Six, the 84-year-old snarked: "He's boldly going where other people have gone before."
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View Story"He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old and it's important to find out what happens," Takei continued at the opening of "Thoughts of a Colored Man" on Broadway on Wednesday night..
"So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he'll be a good specimen to study. Although he's not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he'll be a specimen that's unfit!"
The decades-long feud between the former Enterprise crewmates is something of Star Trek legend, with Captain Kirk and Mr. Sulu firing proton torpedo potshots at each other at several points throughout the years.
Takei has previously blasted Shatner's alleged controlling attitude on the set of the original series, accusing him on many occasions of pulling publicity stunts — including reigniting their feud — and once even referring to him as "a douche."
He claimed in his autobiography that Shatner altered the script of the fifth Star Trek film — which Shatner directed — to prevent Sulu obtaining the rank of Captain. In Star Trek lore, he does eventually gain command of the USS Excelsior.
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View StoryShatner meanwhile has referred to Takei as "jealous" and "a disturbed individual", and once said the character he'd like to play other than Kirk was Sulu "So I wouldn't have to deal with George Takei." He followed that up by "joking" he'd rather Takei have died instead of Leonard Nimoy.
"The poor man. There's such sickness there. It's so patently obvious there's a psychosis there. I don’t know what his original thing about me was. … Apparently I didn’t let somebody have a close-up," Shatner once said in an interview after allegedly being snubbed an invite to Takei's 2008 wedding, which Takei denies.
"There must be something else inside George that is festering and makes him so unhappy that he takes it out on me. It's sad. I feel nothing but pity for him."
Nevertheless, the pair have called truce — sort of — at various times over the years, with Takei even taking part in the William Shatner Comedy Central Roast in 2006... if you can call that a truce.