This is a video that I made. I hope you all like it. Feel free to give me feedback on the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR8CAnhazvY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR8CAnhazvY
Commercials Featuring Star Trek Cast Members
- Thread starter indycar
- Start date
Ah, the Commodore VIC-20, my first computer..
Same here - I loved that thing, but not as much as I loved my 64 obtained shortly after finding I was severely limited by the VIC limitations. I managed to grab an old, working VIC-20 that a friend was throwing away several years ago. Might just find some time to play around with it when I retire.
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Kit [Spencer]'s marketing reign lasted fifteen months, and his contributions ranged from handling the final negotiations with CompuServe to getting our Commodore magazines upgraded to newsstand-quality publications. But his most visible achievement was persuading Jack [Tramiel] to authorize a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to introduce the VIC-20 in magazines and on television. The ads featured William Shatner, who had played Captain James Kirk on the "Star Trek" television show and in the movies.
In the commercial, Shatner stepped from out of a field of stars and proclaimed the VIC-20 as the Wonder Computer of the eighties. I was our on-site marketing representative when those commercials were shot in New York. The toughest part of the shoot was finding Shatner an alien-looking sweater he could wear to look trekkie without infringing on the Captain Kirk character, to which we didn't have the rights.
Jack was involved in this search for someone to be our television spokesperson, as he was in everything that affected the company. One day he asked me, "What do you think about Spock?"
I said, "He's okay, but he might come across too cold. I prefer Captain Kirk. I think he has a broader appeal."
Later, it turned out Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, was representing Magnavox and there was a conflict of interest, but Shatner was available. He was a good choice. Not many people recall Leonard Nimoy in those Magnavox commercials, but a lot of people recall Shatner introducing the VIC. Our ad agency was Kornhauser & Calene.
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Michael S. Tomczyk, The Home Computer Wars: An Insider's Account of Commodore and Jack Tramiel.Kit [Spencer]'s marketing reign lasted fifteen months, and his contributions ranged from handling the final negotiations with CompuServe to getting our Commodore magazines upgraded to newsstand-quality publications. But his most visible achievement was persuading Jack [Tramiel] to authorize a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to introduce the VIC-20 in magazines and on television. The ads featured William Shatner, who had played Captain James Kirk on the "Star Trek" television show and in the movies.
In the commercial, Shatner stepped from out of a field of stars and proclaimed the VIC-20 as the Wonder Computer of the eighties. I was our on-site marketing representative when those commercials were shot in New York. The toughest part of the shoot was finding Shatner an alien-looking sweater he could wear to look trekkie without infringing on the Captain Kirk character, to which we didn't have the rights.
Jack was involved in this search for someone to be our television spokesperson, as he was in everything that affected the company. One day he asked me, "What do you think about Spock?"
I said, "He's okay, but he might come across too cold. I prefer Captain Kirk. I think he has a broader appeal."
Later, it turned out Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, was representing Magnavox and there was a conflict of interest, but Shatner was available. He was a good choice. Not many people recall Leonard Nimoy in those Magnavox commercials, but a lot of people recall Shatner introducing the VIC. Our ad agency was Kornhauser & Calene.
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Greensboro NC: Compute! Publications, Inc., 1984), p 227-228.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFqilqTvIUg[/yt]
Skip Homeier and Pamelyn Ferdin
ETA: I meant no offense with the post. The thread title reminded me of a commercial featuring Skip Homeier and this seemed a good place to show it. I was sending out the Melakon signal.
Skip Homeier and Pamelyn Ferdin
ETA: I meant no offense with the post. The thread title reminded me of a commercial featuring Skip Homeier and this seemed a good place to show it. I was sending out the Melakon signal.
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I knew Melekon had some problems with the exterminating of the Zeons but selling used cars? I never realized how bad he was!
I was only putting commercials with main cast members in it.
I have fond memories of the Oldsmobile commercials that Shatner and Nimoy starred in with their daughters. I also liked the one for MCI Friends and Family where Frakes horned in on their group call. 
I graduated to a C=64 a few years later, when the prices were finally coming down, and when I had a full-time job. As I recall, the 64 cost me about a week's pay back in 1984, but it was so much fun, and is still my favorite computer.
Shatner was great in the ads, which barely managed to stay on this side of the infringement line when it came to the Kirk character.
So many people thought they were married in real life - good chemistry. Garner was a big time OU Sooners fan and often on the sidelines of football games (he is from Norman, OK). I'm an OU alum. They did a video tribute to him after his passing at the beginning of one of their home games.
And Hartley looked better when she was wearing only the animal skin
For which she won an Emmy, by the way. The first person or either gender to win for a genre program, IIRC.
The book I quoted in Post #6 had a photograph of Shatner filming the commercial, circa 1981.
Pretty meaningless aside, but I think he was much better known widely as being a Raiders fan, a fixture on the sidelines and a pal, I think, of Al Davis. Not said to diminish his roots that you are referencing.
Pretty meaningless aside, but I think he was much better known widely as being a Raiders fan, a fixture on the sidelines and a pal, I think, of Al Davis. Not said to diminish his roots that you are referencing.
Yep. He was often there. My comment and I know we're drifting was just because of my local connection, not trying to compare or contest. He was always one of my favorite actors regardless. Rockford was one of my favorite shows and going back to the Maverick episodes he starred in.
Back on topic, I just looked at the James Doohan Citibank commercial and it led me to this pretty funny Shatner/Doohan British ad. It may be in the OP's collection but I didn't go back and rewatch it.
Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIfNv9qLvy4
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