As I get deeper and deeper into the book, I am more and more aware that everyone concerned is working strictly from memory, even when it comes to quoting lines from various shows. And as one who knows FAR more about the making of STAR TREK than a normal human should, this begins to take the form of an itch I cannot scratch.

Memory is all too often a case of folding and splicing. We put together the parts we think we remember, and many a time the fabric we create in this manner bears only superficial resemblance to reality. So too, here. As Shatner describes his own memories, interleaved with interviews with Nimoy and others from the production, I see the unconscious rewriting of history occurring again and again. Both Shatner and Nimoy, for instance, talk about the early formation of Spock as if he was always the same character. Indeed, as if he was always the humorless robot he'd become by the third season. Shatner refers to Spock smiling in the first pilot, Nimoy realizing it was a mistake and resolving to be sure he "never smiled again."

Quite a contrast to the bemused Spock of the first season!