Star Trek: Melissa Navia to William Shatner: Do You Even Watch, Bro?

Though one of our more recent follows on social media, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Melissa Navia has quickly become one of our favorites in a very short period of time. And that started last week when Navia pushed back on so-called “Star Trek” fans who’ve been tagging Navia’s Helmsman Erica Ortegas with comments like “demo casting” & “just checking off a ‘Woke’ box” and throwing hate at the character’s fans. But just in case we needed another reason to fist pump in agreement, Navia gave us that very thing this afternoon when they took to social media to question if William Shatner has ever even seen an episode of the newer “Star Trek” series. And before any old-school “Star Trek” fans start clutching pearls and fanning themselves with accusations of “disrespect,” Navia was simply upholding the “rules of the road” when it comes to the mean streets of pop culture. Sometimes, when you throw punches? Someone punches back. So here’s the story…

During a Q&A session hosted by Kevin Smith at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2022, Shatner was asked by a fan if there were any new “Star Trek” series from the Paramount+ era that rivals his own, The Original Series. Spoiler? His response wasn’t exactly what one would accuse of being respectful. “None of them. I got to know Ray Flook Gene Roddenberry in three years fairly well. He’d be turning in his grave at some of this stuff.” Well, we’re guessing those types of comments from Shatner were what Navia was addressing in a tweet from this afternoon. “Curious: Has Mr. Shatner seen any episodes of DISCO [‘Discovery’] or SNW [‘Strange New Worlds’]? Or ‘Lower Decks’? Didn’t he not watch himself on ‘TOS’? I know actors who can’t watch their own work, but oh boy, not me. ‘All Those Who Wander’ hit me differently after losing my partner. He, too, fixed what was broken,” Navia wrote in the first tweet. After close to an hour, Navia responded with, “General consensus then is…no? Unless the man himself tells me differently.” And if Shatner were to block Navia, at least there would be a small silver lining to it: “If he blocks me for asking the question, then at least we’ll all have an answer.” Here’s a look at Navia’s tweets: