The Captains (2011)

First there was James T. Kirk, followed by Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway, Jonathan Archer and finally James T. Kirk — again. These are the captains of the U.S.S. Enterprise, perhaps the best-known space vessel in history, and together the actors who portray them onscreen give audiences a deeper look into what it takes to be a starship captain.

The Captains is a documentary film directed and narrated by its star, William Shatner. The film opens with Shatner's incredible acting history; Shatner is a classically trained actor who received his education at McGill University and began his career as a Shakespearean actor in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. From the stage, he moved onto television projects such as The Twilight Zone and The Man from U.N.C.L.E, and in 1966, he took on the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek.

Throughout The Captains, Shatner not only explores how playing Kirk on Star Trek changed his life — he admitted he was at first embarrassed by the role but grew to be fiercely proud of it — but how playing the successive captains of the Enterprise changed the lives of all the actors and actresses who stepped up to the helm after him.

Shatner's time spent with Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Jean- Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, is particularly touching. These two men bond over their shared pasts; both are classically trained and have incredible clout on the stage, and yet both are best known by fans as captains of a starship.

Shatner then sits down with Avery Brooks, who played Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who explains what it was like to play the first African- American starship captain. Kate Mulgrew is next in the line of captains, famous for her role as Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager — another groundbreaking character in that Janeway was the first female captain in Starfleet.

The Enterprise's first chronological captain, Jonathan Archer, who is played by Scott Bakula in Enterprise, gives an insightful look on what it was like to play a captain who came years before Kirk in the mythology in a series that was filmed nearly 40 years after the original. In one of the film's funniest moments, Shatner sits down with the final Enterprise captain, Chris Pine, who played James T. Kirk in the 2009 film Star Trek, as Shatner observes that he is essentially talking to himself.

This film will be particularly interesting to watch for fans of the entire Star Trek franchise, but even if you are only a fan of a certain series, The Captains is worth a watch. It's insightful, funny and full of so much nerdy goodness that sci-fi lovers couldn't possibly ask for more. The Captains is very much a Trekkie's dream.

If you're a fan of the Enterprise, her captains, or even if you just want to watch a fan ask Shatner to yell "Kahn" one more time, this flick is one of the best nerdy documentaries around.

Rating: 5 out of 5