Bronze Statue of James T. Kirk

Riverside, Iowa

What does James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise, look like? Well, not like William Shatner, if the bronze statue of him in Riverside, Iowa -- Kirk's future birthplace -- is any indicator.

That's not necessarily bad. Kirk has been and probably will continue to be played by different actors who don't have to look the same. And after the statue was unveiled in July 2018, Shatner said that he'd never given permission for Riverside to erect a statue of him anyway (Although Riverside insists that it did get Shatner's approval when he visited the town in 2004).

Shatner then revised his position to say that he did give the statue his "blessing," but that its "authority" would have to come from somewhere else.

So, anyway -- it's a likeness of James T. Kirk, not William Shatner.

The statue was sculpted by Jurek Jakowicz of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At its unveiling, former Riverside Councilman Steve Miller, who in 1985 invented the idea that Riverside was the future birthplace of Kirk, said that one of his initial goals was to erect a bronze statue of the Starship captain. With the unveiling, Miller said his dream had finally come true after 33 years.