Abrams Never Offered Me Cameo Says Shatner

[TrekToday]

William Shatner's new video blog made its appearance on YouTube and Shatner took the opportunity to deny that he had ever been offered a cameo in Star Trek XI.

As reported by the Shatner Project, in one of three new video blogs today, Shatner addressed the recent statement by J.J. Abrams that Shatner had been offered a cameo but refused wishing instead to have a more prominent role in Star Trek XI. "J.J., nobody every came to me and said 'We have a cameo,' OK? Maybe you wrote it, but it never presented itself to me."

A cameo wouldn't have worked out for Shatner anyhow but not because he would have turned it down. "...The truth is, I wouldn't have wanted to do a cameo, because that you would have clipped that out. It doesn't fit. You said in your statement you were having trouble fitting it in anyway. But nobody every asked me and I'm just sorry that I am not in your wonderful movie and I would have loved to have been in it."

Shatner left the door open for future appearances of Captain Kirk though. "If you make another one maybe you can think of ways of bringing Captain Kirk back to life. I brought him back to life in one of my books, very easily," explained Shatner, who described how resurrecting Kirk could be done. "...the machine where you suck in air with the molecules of Captain Kirk hovers and you reassemble from the molecular structure...and then you throw the switch on the right, you know, the one on the right, you throw that switch and then when that switch is done, you throw the one on the left and out comes Captain Kirk reassembled."

We're not so far from assembling the DNA of long-dead creatures now, said Shatner, so why not a recently deceased Captain Kirk three hundred years from now? "We've got DNA of dinosaurs of 160 million years old, we're trying to right now with our primitive, we're are not talking about 2300 now, we are talking about 2008," explained Shatner. "We are trying to assemble the DNA of a 160 million year old being. And we think we can do it. You don't think you can get Captain Kirk back to life?"

Two other videos were on Shatner's new vblog; one of them welcoming fans to the new project, the other explaining why (and how,) Shatner performed "Rocket Man." Shatner had a simple explanation for the now infamous rendition of the Elton John song. "I never intended it to see the light of day," he said.

To see the three videos, head to the link located here.

[MattJC]

[QUOTE=TrekToday;2086088]<font color=yellow>William Shatner's</font> new video blog made its appearance on YouTube and Shatner took the opportunity to deny that he had ever been offered a cameo in <i>Star Trek XI</i>.<p>As reported by the <A class="link" HREF="http://www.shatnerproject.com">Shatner Project</A>, in one of three new video blogs today, Shatner addressed the recent statement by <font color=yellow>J.J. Abrams</font> that Shatner had been offered a cameo but refused wishing instead to have a more prominent role in <i>Star Trek XI</i>. "J.J., nobody every came to me and said 'We have a cameo,' OK? Maybe you wrote it, but it never presented itself to me."<p>A cameo wouldn't have worked out for Shatner anyhow but not because he would have turned it down. "...The truth is, I wouldn't have wanted to do a cameo, because that you would have clipped that out. It doesn't fit. You said in your statement you were having trouble fitting it in anyway. But nobody every asked me and I'm just sorry that I am not in your wonderful movie and I would have loved to have been in it."<p>Shatner left the door open for future appearances of Captain Kirk though. "If you make another one maybe you can think of ways of bringing Captain Kirk back to life. I brought him back to life in one of my books, very easily," explained Shatner, who described how resurrecting Kirk could be done. "...the machine where you suck in air with the molecules of Captain Kirk hovers and you reassemble from the molecular structure...and then you throw the switch on the right, you know, the one on the right, you throw that switch and then when that switch is done, you throw the one on the left and out comes Captain Kirk reassembled."<p>We're not so far from assembling the DNA of long-dead creatures now, said Shatner, so why not a recently deceased Captain Kirk three hundred years from now? "We've got DNA of dinosaurs of 160 million years old, we're trying to right now with our primitive, we're are not talking about 2300 now, we are talking about 2008," explained Shatner. "We are trying to assemble the DNA of a 160 million year old being. And we think we can do it. You don't think you can get Captain Kirk back to life?"[QUOTE]

Not that it matters one bit to me if Shatner does Trek again or not, but give him hell, Bill.

[unimatrix7]

When the heck is this guy gonna shut the hell up about not being in the goddamned movie? For cryin' out loud. It was amusing 6 months ago, but it's just a little pathetic now.

[TheRealNaveed]

I'm now pretty convinced he's going to be in the movie as a surprise because of all of his bullshit about not being in it.

[number6]

TheRealNaveed wrote:

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I'm now pretty convinced he's going to be in the movie as a surprise because of all of his bullshit about not being in it.

That much is obvious.

[Lindley]

TheRealNaveed wrote:

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I'm now pretty convinced he's going to be in the movie as a surprise because of all of his bullshit about not being in it.

Your logic is not our Earth logic.

[Aragorn]

MattJC wrote:

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Not that it matters one bit to me...

[MattJC]

Well, it doesn't.
I've enjoyed the other Trek series just fine without his involvement.
I don't view Shatner or Kirk as the center of the Trek universe.
I just think it's great that Shatner is criticizing Abrams.

[trekkiebaggio]

That could be a good movie...150 million years in the future the federation reanimates Kirk to save the universe one more time.

[ELURIA]

trekkiebaggio wrote:

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That could be a good movie...150 million years in the future the federation reanimates Kirk to save the universe one more time.

150 millions years later ?

I can't imagine the Federation still existing that far into the future.

Humans possibly but the Fed ?

[Dennis]

ELURIA wrote:

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150 millions years later ?

I can't imagine the Federation still existing that far into the future.

Not only will the Federation still exist, but human beings will be flying around in mega-starships and using ultra-transporters.

Welcome to the Star Trek Universe, where nothing ever really changes.

[Samuel T. Cogley]

This is finally starting to get good.

[RobertScorpio]

unimatrix7 wrote:

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When the heck is this guy gonna shut the hell up about not being in the goddamned movie? For cryin' out loud. It was amusing 6 months ago, but it's just a little pathetic now.

Jiffy Popcorn is good

Rob

[TJinPgh]

The whole notion of the "Shatner won't do cameos" never made sense to me. He's done them before. Perhaps not with Trek, but cameos none the less.

Heck, you can't get any smaller than his appearance on SNL last week.

As I said before, I'd respect Abrams a whole lot more if he'd simply say he wants to take Trek in a different direction and Shatner doesn't fit into it.

He said it about other people, like Matt Damon when he was being rumored for the role of Kirk, there's no reason why he can't find a way to say it about Shatner as well.

In the end, I simply don't believe a whole lot of anything Abrams says about this movie, including whether or not Shatner is actually in it.

Now, if Shatner would really like to prove Abrams wrong, he'd do an episode of Phase II

[Samuel T. Cogley]

MattJC wrote:

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I don't view Shatner or Kirk as the center of the Trek universe.
I just think it's great that Shatner is criticizing Abrams.

He's not criticizing Abrams. (In fact, he's practically fawning over him.)

He's simply setting the record straight -- from his perspective.

[trekkiebaggio]

ELURIA wrote:

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150 millions years later ?

I can't imagine the Federation still existing that far into the future.

Humans possibly but the Fed ?

Why not? It's up to whoever writes it.

[Samuel T. Cogley]

trekkiebaggio wrote:

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Why not? It's up to whoever writes it.

This reminds me of a great story.

I was at a Star Trek convention that occurred sometime after "Best of Both Worlds, Part I."

During a Q & A session with some of the TNG writers, one of the fans stood up and said: "Aren't you guys worried about the Romulans attacking, what with Starfleet being so decimated by the Borg attack at Wolf 359?"

One of the writers, somewhat confused, replied: "Well, the Romulans won't attack unless we write that they are going to attack."

The fan, now somewhat angry that the writer had not heeded his warning, responded, deadly serious: "Well, okay, but don't say that no one ever warned you if it happens."

[trekkiebaggio]

^ that's awesome.

[Augustus]

I didn't see the video... but Shatner sounds down right desperate in this article...

[Gaith]

Sounds as though he'll come down the stairs at the end of Trek 2, with a monkey on his shoulder, biting into a green apple and going "Aarrr!"