Interviewer: You made the character of Dr. McCoy an institution. You are affectionately called Doc Bones by your fellow crew members. How would you characterize Dr. McCoy?
De: I don't know. I think that when Gene Roddenberry laid out the character in the beginning, he was very close to him. He characterized him more or less as a uh, future day H.L. Mencken. And it rather sums it up. As a matter of fact, I went to the library and read what I could about him. And he is the least militaristic of all of the officers. And he seems to be the one character aboard ship that wants to hang on to our human values. He hates to see all the computerization coming. He resents Spock super intelligence and his affection for that sort of thing. And he's kind of trying to keep everything in its place, trying to slow down this progress to certain amount, you know, in a certain way. And um I've more or less ridden along with it in in those terms trying to remain somewhat a human being in a very unreal situation.
Interviewer: I also see a lovely sense of humor when Spock gets very stoic and then Captain Kirk gets very serious. You standing there between them with a little twinkle in your eye.
De: Yes. There seems to be- a lot of people have referred to us as the trinity. But he's the catalyst with them more or less and I think that he comes into play under these, the severe circumstances that come about during these episodes. And he finds a place for a purposeful kind of biting sardonic kind of wit and it kind of breaks that tension so to speak.
Interviewer: How did you feel when you stepped onto the Enterprise after 10 years of absence?
De: It was somewhat like a recurring dream, you know, that I'd had in the back of my mind for a long time because we had talked about doing Star Trek for so long in another form some way. We didn't know whether it would be coming back on television or a motion picture, but it was all talk. It was talk over the years. We knew and felt that it should come back. And so it was like something that we talked about and in the back of your mind you rather visualized it happening but it never happened. And then all of a sudden fell into place very quickly. Not really very quickly but when things do begin to work they fall in rather rapidly it seems like.
So when I walked on the set and looked around, it was not- it wasn't a family reunion feeling, but it was like there's that dream that kept recurring. And isn't it weird? It was almost like stepping back in time like we' done a, done a show, you know, that we're all together again or something like having died and seeing all these people in heaven again, that kind of a thing.
Interviewer: Were you a little bit apprehensive of maybe you were going to get disappointed?
De: Yes. As I said earlier, it's like that we have all thought of that statement [interference] And when we did get back together, the first day of course was terribly strange for all of us as I explained. you know, this stepping back into time. But it didn't seem to take too long before something amusing had happened that it broke down again and we began to laugh and the feeling was there.
Interviewer: Why do you think Star Trek has become a phenomenon?
De: I think it has stimulated the imagination of the youth. It manages to say something in a time when it's difficult to say things. It is the adventure for tomorrow. Where else is there to go? That's it. That's where it is up there. I think it is the camaraderie, people caring about people, man unashamedly loving man, and trying to find out how and what and, and how something really works to understand what- to understand it first. If we could learn to understand why something does this, many times it turns out not to be your enemy, but in turn will be your friend.
I just think there there's so many things encompassed in the body of Star Trek that touches a cord almost in every generation. It seems like there are a lot of bright young people out there and they're on to what's right and Star Trek is right.
Interviewer: Has this been one of the most important adventures in your life?
De: Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
