It seems that Koenig, for the most part, had a very positive experience working on “Star Trek.” He appeared in the show’s first and second seasons, as well as all six feature films based on the original series. He recently had a voice cameo in the final episode of “Star Trek: Picard,” playing a descendant of Pavel Chekov. It seems, however, that he had his worst experience while filming “Star Trek II,” thanks to the above-mentioned incident.
“I had one bad moment. And it wasn’t the TV show, it was one of the movies with Bill, in the second movie. That was the only really bad moment that I’ve had in the whole history of watching ‘Star Trek’ or being involved in ‘Star Trek.’ We were getting ready. You know, they discovered me and Paul and then we got on the transporter. And I was standing behind Bill on the transporter, we were all going to beam out. And Bill looked at me and said, ‘Move a little bit this way.’ He didn’t want me so much in the shot. So I said, ‘I’m just doing what you would do, Bill.'”
Koenig was playfully mocking the well-understood fact that Shatner would try to put himself in the middle of the screen at all times, often stepping out from behind co-stars to make himself more visible. Koenig seemingly wasn’t trying to get himself on camera for the scene in question, but bringing up Shatner’s habit caused the man to become enraged. Shatner’s co-stars have been saying for years that the actor was a prima donna and that no one got along with him. Koenig’s jibe was, it seems, an example as to why.