The Son Of ‘Star Trek’ Creator Gene Roddenberry Is Still Not Happy About William Shatner’s Famous ‘SNL’ Sketch

William Shatner only hosted SNL once (with musical guest Lone Justice), but it was a memorable episode for what long-time writer Robert Smigel called “maybe the most resonant sketch I ever wrote there.”

In the 1986 sketch, referred to as “16th Annual Star Trek Convention” on the invaluable website SNL Archive, Shatner tells die-hard Star Trek fans at a convention to “get a life” and that “it’s just a TV show. I mean, look at you. Look at the way you’re dressed. You’ve turned an enjoyable little job I did as a lark for a few years into a colossal waste of time.” Shatner turned “get a life” into a book and a documentary and the sketch is a classic (Alan Siegel’s article for The Ringer is a great read), but even 35 years later, the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry does not find it funny.

“I never really appreciated that skit because I think it was demeaning to the fans,” Rod Roddenberry told the Hollywood Reporter. “I think it was disrespectful, especially for a character who was an open-minded, intelligent leader.”

Although now in vogue with enormous mainstream popularity, comic and sci-fi cons were once an easy target to bash nerds (a term now worn as a badge of honor). So Shatner using SNL to poke fun and perhaps further ostracize the group was disheartening, Roddenberry says, adding, “But I don’t condemn it in any way. It’s Saturday Night Live, and it’s all fun.”

Maybe the Futurama parody is more his speed. #JusticeForWelshy