"Parade" stated of the cast in 1978 that " lost control of their destinies the minute they stepped on the bridge of the make-believe "Enterprise" in 1966", and "The New York Times" observed in 1991 that "For most of the actors in the original "Star Trek" series, Starfleet has never been far off the professional horizons." Being identified so closely with one role left the series' cast with mixed emotions; Shatner called it "awesome and irksome", and Walter Koenig called it "bittersweet" but admitted that there was "a certain immortality in being associated with "Star Trek"".