Maynard’s News for Nerds
William Shatner is the man that supporting Star Trek actors love to hate. Their feuds have become the stuff of legend. Some of this is in jest (look for Comedy Central’s Shatner roast; it’s pretty vulgar, so I’m not providing links!), but at times it gets nasty.
Entertainment is an ego-driven business, so ego clashes are par for the course. The gripe against Shatner seems to be that he used his influence to get more lines and screen exposure for himself, at the expense of other characters.
I wouldn’t presume to judge who was “right”. I can only report that I’ve enjoyed Shatner’s appearances over the years. He’s pompous and egotistical, but in an upbeat, self-parodying sort of way. If he’s an ugly guy, he hides it pretty well (and maybe this is the case, but he’s a lot of fun to watch).
George Takei made a point at his recent wedding of inviting the entire cast except Shatner. Since Shatner had recently launched a YouTube channel, he took the opportunity to offer a few succinct words regarding the snub. Some of these were juicy enough to be deemed newsworthy (“Shatner brands former co-star George Takei ‘sick and psychotic'”).
At a gut level, I’ll always regard Kirk as my captain and Sulu as his chauffer. Sorry, George, but rank has its privileges. My favorite “fun” Shatner vehicle is the geeky Free Enterprise movie, which all old-school nerds should have.
I concur – Capt Kirk is my starship capitan. Sulu is only the chauffeur.
Shatner doing Rocket Man is one of my guilty pleasures.
As far as I’m concerned, the only reason to watch an episode of Star Trek in any of its incarnations was the late, great DeForest Kelley. He was a mountain of excellence in a valley of crap.
I tend to side with Shatner on this one. As far as I know, trying get extra lines and screen time is part of the job description when you are an actor. Takei should ask himself how much extra screen time he got in five Star Trek movies that wouldn’t have happened if Shatner hadn’t agreed to do them.
It is sad that cast members and Shatner have not gotten along. I don’t know if there is a fault; it just is.
However, what was totally unfair was Shatner getting pilloried for saying “Get a life! It was just a tv show.” from a Saturday Night Live skit he did when he hosted. It was a comedy sketch. The words were written for him by the show’s writing staff. He was condemned by fans and took years to recover, if at all for some. It was soon after that the personal grievances with cast members came to light. Because fans hated Shatner for the skit, they immediately sided with the cast members as vindication for their hatred of Shatner.
I also disagree that Shatner can’t act. All I need for proof is “T.J. Hooker”. When watching that show, I was able to view him as T. J. Hooker and not Captain Kirk in a cop uniform. To be able to shed his Kirk character to my eyes is all the proof I need of his acting skills. Even when Leonard Nimoy guest starred in a stunt casting episode, he was still T.J. Hooker to me.