Good acting from William Shatner?

[Vger23]

I'm glad I've preserved your mistake by quoting you from before your correction, then.

Savage

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Savage

Just call me Yarnek.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Savage_Curtain_(episode)

 

[Dr Helen Noel]

Shatner is surprisingly good at subtlety when you look for it:

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[Qonundrum]

With Stewart, "the line must be drawn here" followed by "and IIIIII...will make them PAYYYYYY...for what they've done" is worse than what most people accuse Shatner of doing.

You just reminded me. While Kirk had his quirky commentary with erratic syllable pronunciation, which leads to the accusation of hammy, Stewart had his own delivery with his own quirks, pausing between words (insert ellipsis where desired). There's a certain charm.

Shatner did go broad in the films, mostly because he wasn't really being directed all that often. Wise and Meyer were the only two people who had a handle on him. His best friend certainly didn't, even though I felt the "klingon basterd" bit WAS damned excellent. "Standard" for Shatner is still great. "I have had enough of you" was action hero funny and there was no serious way to deliver that. After III, Kirk and Shatner were interchangeable. Evenin Trek 6, he was still a bit Shatnery.

^^this

However, the TV series had his best work and it was often sublime and subtle. Year three was a crazy time and he probably felt he was the glue holding the series together. Nimoy had checked out and most of his work was "cooly bland" and coasting. Shatner never coasted. The Paradise Syndrome "I am Kirookkkk!" and And the Children Shall Lead were honestly his worst, but for the most part, he was great. He had a huge bag of tricks, more than many other actors, and he could do almost anything. He had amazing control over his body, could whip his hands and arms around like lightning and stop them suddenly like a freeze frame. He doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves mostly because of a) Kevin Pollack and b) some of his post Trek work was pretty over the top (like in The Six Million Dollar Man).

EDITED FOR CORRECTION

"KIROK!!!" was okay for me, but with the ham... zowie, Shatner probably loathed the "Children" script so much that he had more ham than what's on a pig preserve to try to make the episode even remotely entertaining.

Also note the infamous scene in "Plato's Stepchildren". The one where he's playing horsey. To play that scene straight takes talent and guts and - objectively speaking - he nails it. There's no 4th wall inclinations, no camp, just played straight, which in turn makes Parmen's quip to McCoy even more harsh. They certainly knew the script or were able to roll with it, regardless of how high concept (and/or pure wack) it was with the mind control horror. (Let's see any of today's Trek shows dare to do the same shtick... I bet none of them could come close.)

 

[Dr Helen Noel]

Also note the infamous scene in "Plato's Stepchildren". The one where he's playing horsey. To play that scene straight takes talent and guts and - objectively speaking - he nails it. There's no 4th wall inclinations, no camp, just played straight, which in turn makes Parmen's quip to McCoy even more harsh. They certainly knew the script or were able to roll with it, regardless of how high concept (and/or pure wack) it was with the mind control horror. (Let's see any of today's Trek shows dare to do the same shtick... I bet none of them could come close.)

I hate when people use that scene to try to show Shatner is a bad actor or that TOS is bad. It's a silly scene but it's supposed to be that way and would have been silly whoever acted in it.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Exactly, it was meant to be humiliating and he made me cringe for every reason other than performance.