Captain Kirk uses his Twitter Force to kickstart Chewbacca actor's crowdfunded surgery doc

Star Trek actor William Shatner, who has a longstanding (semi) good natured feud ongoing with Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, has joined JJ Abrams in crossing the interstellar genre divide by publicising Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew’s attempt to crowd source a film documenting an essential double knee replacement.The actor has launched a Kickstarter campaign with filmmaker W Ryan Ziegler which will document the English actor’s endeavours to have both of his knees replaced. The 7’3” actor has a form of giantism which made him a perfect candidate to play the oversized Wookiee, but which has led to long term health and frame problems.“Uncle Peter needs help! Please retweet my kickstarter to your friends & ask them to do the same. You will be my hero!” he said via Twitter to his 30,000 followers.

Uncle Peter needs help! Please retweet my kickstarter to your friends & ask them to do the same. You will be my hero! http://t.co/FEYGlN8K6X

— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) August 21, 2013

William Shatner swiftly cascaded the message to the Star Trek fraternity: “Though I'm not a fan of Crowd funding projects, Chewbacca needs a new knee so this is an exception,” he tweeted to over 1.5 million followers.

Though I'm not a fan of Crowd funding projects, Chewbacca needs a new knee so this is an exception @TheWookieeRoars http://t.co/anttjCdK98

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) August 21, 2013

Mayhew’s wife and daughter are assisting in producing the film, and wife Angie explains his predicament in an emotional on camera appeal with Mayhew by her side.“These two hurt like the devil,” he says of his knees.“When I get up in the morning I’m holding on to a wall to get to the bathroom. If I want to go anywhere you have to use a wheelchair or a crutch or a stick, looking forward to the day when I can do without the wheelchair, without the cane, and walk on my own.“Hopefully within a couple of months we’ll be able to walk an have an almost normal life," he adds.“To those people who are thinking about making a donation I am going to say thank you for making a Wookiee walk.”Filmmaker Ziegler explains on the site that the team will be following Mayhew to his last convention before the surgery, interviewing him and other celebrities from the star wars universe and the convention circuit.“You'll get a peek into his life and struggles at home as a giant. We'll be interviewing his doctors and the engineers behind his prosthetic knees that have been specially constructed for him,” he said.“Then, you'll follow Peter through the day of his 4 surgeries. During that single day they will be replacing the top and bottom of both knees. They will also be cutting through his tendons to lengthen them and allow him to straighten his legs and lock his knees.“After the surgery we will follow Peter through the two months of intense rehabilitation and recovery. Then with his friends, family and fans present we will celebrate as we get to see Peter stand and walk on his own at his full height.“Peter wants to share this, his most difficult battle yet, with his friends, fans, and family. Our goal is to be able to film an account of the struggles and successes Peter faces on his path to recovery, and to help his many fans learn more about what he goes through every day.”Mayhew shot to fame in 1977 appearing in Star Wars, written and directed by George Lucas, famed for his own preference for independent filmmaking and distaste of studio financing of motion pictures. Earlier this year he and fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg appeared at the opening of a new media centre at the University of Southern California, lamenting that established film-makers such as themselves were struggling to find financing to get their projects into cinemas."You're talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can't get their movie into a theatre!" he said.The Kickstarter campaign site has a goal of securing $42,000. At the time of publication it has raised $8,671, with 23 days to go.