TICONDEROGA, NEW YORK – The most-famous “Star Trek” captain and the newest “Star Trek” captain came together Saturday in the northern New York State town that’s home to a meticulous re-creation of the Starship Enterprise from the legendary television series.

More:Capt. Kirk to the bridge! William Shatner visits 'Star Trek' set in Champlain Valley

William Shatner, who portrayed Captain James T. Kirk in the 1960s TV show that birthed a hugely popular franchise, greeted hundreds of fans who paid $160 or more for a photo and brief chat with the 87-year-old actor. He was later joined in the Ticonderoga High School auditorium by Anson Mount, the actor who will portray Kirk’s predecessor, Captain Christopher Pike, in the CBS All Access series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which starts airing in January.

Shatner hasn’t seen “Discovery,” maybe because he’s always moving forward with his own projects. Those include a new Christmas album that features him performing with musician including country star Brad Paisley, folksinger Judy Collins and rockers Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins.

“I haven’t seen any of the other ‘Star Treks’ and I’ve not really seen the ‘Star Trek’ I did,” Shatner said in a news conference from the captain’s chair on the re-created Enterprise. But he’s certainly familiar with the longevity of the show he starred in from 1966 to 1969.

“Continuously there’s another iteration of ‘Star Trek.’ It’s phenomenal. ‘Star Trek’ is a phenomenon, never seen before and it’s never happened to any show,” Shatner said. “We will all die before another show proves that it can last 55 years.”

Anson Mount takes the captain’s chair

Mount may be best known for his role in the AMC drama “Hell on Wheels.” He told fans at Ticonderoga High School that he started watching “Star Trek” reruns in syndication when he was 8.

“A lot of surreal moments happen to you in this job” as an actor, Mount said. “Sitting in the captain’s chair was really emotional.”

As Captain Pike in “Discovery,” a prequel of sorts, Mount will portray the character from the original “Star Trek” pilot episode who was replaced by Shatner’s Captain Kirk for the series itself. Mount said the original plan for 13 episodes of “Discovery” was extended to 14 to accommodate the size of what the producers were trying to do with the storyline.

Mount said that’s what makes television different from theater or a film, where the stories are set from the get-go. “You start a journey with (TV) production, with this huge investment both monetarily and creatively,” Mount said, “and no one knows where it’s going.”

William Shatner sings, again

Saturday’s visit was Shatner’s second in 2018 to the “Star Trek” set re-creation, which was built in an old grocery store by Ticonderoga native and professional Elvis impersonator James Cawley. “They asked me to come back,” Shatner said. “By popular demand, here I am.”

He’s been busy of late, including making a Christmas album, “Shatner Claus,” with famous guests such as punk-rocker Rollins, who joins Shatner on a raucous “Jingle Bells.” Shatner has long had fun with his shaky singing ability and larger-than-life persona, which come together on “Shatner Claus.”

“I don’t sing – I wish I could, but I don’t - but I do have a feeling for the musicality of the English language, so I think inherent in the words is a music that reflects the melody,” he said.

Adventures before ‘Star Trek’

Shatner spun a tale for reporters on the remade “Star Trek” set about an adventure the Montreal native took as a teen through the Champlain Valley that includes Ticonderoga and Vermont.

“When I was 18 I paddled a canoe with seven other counselors at a welfare camp in Montreal,” Shatner said. “We paddled a canoe up the St. Lawrence (River, in Quebec) to the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, the length of Lake Champlain, portaged over to Lake George (in New York) and down the length of Lake George to the headwaters of the Hudson River, and then down the Hudson River to New York City and 72nd Street. It took eight hearty Canadians eight days to make it.”

He learned life lessons on that trip. “Adventure and knowing that you can overcome difficult things,” Shatner said, “like where are we going to eat and how much are we going to eat, and how tired I am but we’ve got to keep paddling and it’s cold and it’s wet; those things, when you overcome them, give you a sense of being able to overcome anything.”

Fans get on board the Enterprise

Just as he was happy to be on the “Star Trek” set, his lifelong fans were happy to be on the Enterprise. Shaun King came from Long Valley, New Jersey, wearing a blue Mr. Spock uniform shirt, to see Shatner.

“For me it was the ultimate adventure when I was a kid,” King said of “Star Trek.” “It was the ultimate escapism.”

Kathleen Reilly of Geneva, New York, who stood in line next to King as they waited for a photo with Shatner, said the appeal of “Star Trek” carries over to adulthood.

“We have a lack of civility and moral authority in our civic life,” she said. “When you look at the ‘Star Trek’ captains, it’s there. It’s how things can be in an ideal world.”

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.