A post by Maynard
Okay, now I’m mad. They say they’re planning a new-old back-to-basics Star Trek movie, Star Trek XI (wow!), and William Shatner won’t be in it!
(This note will perhaps only be of interest to die-hard nerds, so I’ll hide the rest away…)
“I couldn’t believe it. I’m not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me,” Shatner, 76, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn’t seem to be a wise business decision.”
Hmmmm, reading between the lines, I’m guessing that Shatner asked for more money than the producers were prepared to fork out. But that’s just a conjecture on my part. A glance at the cast doesn’t show any big-money names, so I figure this production is on a controlled budget.
Right after I wrote the foregoing speculation, I did a moment’s Internet research and found claims that they intend to spend $160 million to make the movie! Which goes to show that nobody really knows anything about Hollywood, least of all (or, should I say, most of all) me. But at least I know what I don’t know, which puts me a step ahead of the competition.
Even if they wrote him out of the script, I’ll always regard Shatner with reverence as O Captain My Captain. Oh, yeah, and who could forget his dramatic rendition of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”?
Fans can keep up with Shatner’s ongoing adventures at his website. And I greatly enjoyed the odd little movie, Free Enterprise (available at Amazon), in which Shatner plays a parody of himself.
Among the cast and fans, Shatner is something of a controversial figure, with enthusiastic defenders and vitriolic attackers. I’ll leave it to posterity to render a final judgment.
This “Star Trek 90210” premise has been around for more than 10 years, and I’ve never understood how it could possibly make sense: all of the TOS crew members couldn’t have been at the Academy at the same time.
Sounds like making a “Gone With The Wind” sequel in 54 without Clark Gable. Cant imagine anyone who saw the original buying tickes knowing the STAR would not be in it.
But look at the success of 007 the last 2 decades.
I do not plan to buy a ticket.
No one can convince me Shatner cannot act. When I watched “T.J. Hooker”, I always saw William Shanter as police officer T.J. Hooker, never Captain Kirk. (The lone exception being when Leonard Nimoy made a stunt casting appearance as an on purpose in-joke.) To be able to do that, to overcome type-casting, that’s acting.
Reminds me Walter Koenig. When he first started doing “Babylon 5” as Bester, I thought cool, ‘Chekov’ is here, and enjoyed watching the villain Bester at work. When I saw the “Star Trek Generations” movie, there was Walter Koenig appearing with Shatner and James Doohan. However, my first thought was “What the heck is Bester doing there?” It was then I remembered he’s Chekov, and I’m supposed to like him.
Have you taken a look at Wm. Shatner lately? If he is in it, it will really stretch the imagination.
My “geekitude” never extended into the whole “Star Trek” genre, so this isn’t a big deal to me personally. However, the ins and outs of the movie business are fascinating as someone who writes screenplays and hopes to see them sold at some point.
There could be a myriad of reasons why Shatner isn’t attached to the movie ranging from the tangible (money, prior contractual commitments, etc.) to the intangible (personality conflicts, JJ Abrams vision of the story and Kirk’s role, etc.).
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Shatner is still working (“Boston Legal”), so someone obviously likes him.
Let them try it. Is this that Rick Berman idiot again? Oh hell no. Now this is going to get us trekkers really really mad..Kirk is Kirk. You love him or not so love him ( I refuse to say anything negative about Star Trek) but to not include him? No..I won’t have it.
Also..what’s with the damn prequel thing anyway. Ok, Maynard, I have some research to do. LOL!!
Well, everyone thought the new James Bond (Daniel Craig, a blond!) would bomb. How could they put a blond up as 007?? The movie was great, Craig rocked, and it worked.
With some careful casting and a good story the new Start Trek might just work. And I’ve been a trek fan since the original series was first aired. I also like Shatner, though I wish his career hadn’t quite morphed into a goofball.
It’s up to the people in charge and we won’t know till it plays. Personally, I plan to see it when/if it comes out.
sigh
It looks so far like just another reenvisioning of something good into something else aka Battlestar Galactia into Battlestar Politically Correctia. I remember the last episode of Enterprise; berman and braga said it was their gift of love to the fans – but we fans thought it was more like the Hollywood equivalent of a gang rape.
I’ll wait to see what other real fans say about it before I shell out my $$$$ for tickets.
“No one can convince me Shatner cannot act.”
Totally agree there: anyone who thinks otherwise needs to see Shatner’s first screen appearance, in Judgment at Nuremburg. The Kirk-persona hamminess, with the overdramatic punctuated pauses, is intentional self-deprecating humor, not a symptom of an actor with no range.
“…Battlestar Galactia into Battlestar Politically Correctia.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. I was a fan of the original show, but it was 70’s cheeseball. The new show completely blows it out of the water.
Sorry Dave, but I struggled through two hours of Battlestar Politically Correctia before my decision to never watch it again – under any circumstances. As a former member of the USAF, I was so insulted by the new show that I can’t even describe in polite terms how it made me feel.
The original show was infinitely better, there is no comparison.
Another “diehard nerd” reporting in, sir. Shatner’s charactor was killed off in “Generations”. What’s the point in bringing him back? Prequel? I don’t remember that working very well when it’s been tried. The main problem with Shatner, is his 50+ pounds he’s put on. He looks terrible. And the “oversexed goofball” he’s been playing on Boston Legal, well, that’s one of the reasons I don’t watch it.
Like GMEE, I’ve been a fan since the original series (“TOS” for us trekors). No, the Star Trek legacy is not for everyone, but they wrote the book on continuity for SciFi series. Have a stack of tapes of all of the variants. Much better watching that what passes for TV fare these days. Always have one in the VCR ready to overpower the garbage.
Speaking of Battlestar Galactica. Don’t have cable or satellite but from what I’d heard, it wasn’t worth it. Even after the original came out, its second or third season rewrite just didn’t cut it. Adama with a beard and no Starbuck, Apollo, Athena or Cassiopia, and two guys on superbikes, didn’t cut it either. It was the original or nothing. Yes, I’m hardcore.
I’ll approach the new Star Trek with cautious optimism. They need to get it right this time after “Nemesis”. That one was kinda silly.
And with Dr. McCoy & Scotty gone, well, the prospects are rather thin. They’ll have to do a pretty ambitious intermix of series characters to do it right.
“Well, everyone thought the new James Bond (Daniel Craig, a blond!) would bomb. How could they put a blond up as 007??”
The part that freaks me out is not the hair color, but that Craig’s overall appearance is more Vladimir Putin than Sean Connery.
The one name I recognize among the youngsters in the new Trek is Zachary Quinto. Spock is gonna be played by the mass-murdering mutant from the TV show “Heroes.” Fascinating.
This sort of thing is exactly the reason I’ve been glad that the proposed movie of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” has languished for so long.
As much as I would love to see more adventures aboard the Seaview, there’s no way it wouldn’t get ruined (from my viewpoint) by the new wave of Hollywood folk.
The Irwin Allen stuff died along with Irwin, the “Lost in Space” movie proved that.
I’m a big Shatner fan, but always preferred Voyage to Star Trek, now maybe if they cast him as Admiral Nelson…..