William Shatner Planned To Wrestle A Real Bengal Tiger For Star Trek — Then Backed Out

One of the most memorable moments in "Star Trek" was when William Shatner's Kirk dueled an alien Gorn in a laughably cheesy fight scene. During the filming of a different Season 1 episode, however, Shatner wanted to engage in a much more serious brawl. He wanted to fight an actual Bengal tiger — but he chickened out. The feline fight nearly occurred while making "Shore Leave," Episode 15 of "TOS," which follows the Enterprise crew as they arrive on an alien planet that brings their thoughts to life. They unwittingly summon the white rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland," a samurai, a World War II fighter plane, and a tiger. 

Producer Robert Justman had intended to take precautions during filming, according to the book "These Are the Voyages — TOS: Season One." He wrote in a memo that the scene where a character is surprised by the tiger would have to be achieved via cutaway. "Unless, of course, you want to screw around working with a full-grown Bengal tiger on location or on stage," Justman wrote. "In which case, include me out." 

Shatner, however, was interested in wrestling with the tiger, and a tiger was brought in. Then it briefly got loose, snapping a chain around its neck. A handler quickly regained control, but Shatner changed his tune. "Instantly my testicles rose up into my Adam's apple and the ignorant machismo that had been pulsing so heartily through my veins was replaced by sheer abject terror," Shatner recalled. "I stood there trying not to look too horrified as I gracefully backed down, 'for the good of the show.'"

"The Making of Star Trek," the first behind-the-scenes book about the series, which was published in 1968, tells a slightly different story. In this telling, "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry tried in vain to convince Shatner not to fight a deadly cat, but Shatner acquiesced only when Spock actor Leonard Nimoy said, "Bill, you don't have to wrestle the tiger. I'll just pinch him."

The tiger wasn't the only animal on the set of "Shore Leave." The episode was being hastily rewritten while filming was ongoing, and the addition of the tiger was one of the last-minute rewrites. Roddenberry was renting so many animals that he got a deal on an elephant, paying just $150 for the pachyderm and its trainer when they normally would cost $400. However, they ran out of time to actually film anything with the elephant, which was in the care of first assistant director Gregg Peters. As the days of the shoot went by, the cast and crew would ask Peters when he was going to use his elephant, and according to "The Making of Star Trek," they were still teasing him two years later by asking if the time had finally come to use it.

"Shore Leave" is generally regarded as a very good episode of "TOS," though it didn't crack our list of the 60 best episodes of "Star Trek" in the franchise's history. Maybe that elephant would've given it the bump it needed.