William Shatner’s Finest TOS Performance?

[Humanoid #77]

Shatner is great

His acting was so consistent during the entire series that it is very difficult to choose a best.

I would like to mention A Taste of Armageddon

Kirk looks so Angry all the time, not only because he and his crew are in danger but because of that stupid pointless War

 

[Humanoid #77]

Shatner is great

His acting was so consistent during the entire series that it is very difficult to choose a best.

I would like to mention A Taste of Armageddon

Kirk looks so Angry all the time, not only because he and his crew are in danger but because of that stupid pointless War

(It appears I cannot edit my previous post, so here follows

The Eminian girl is going to the disintegration chamber

Kirk: Where do you think you're going?

Girl: I’m –

Kirk: no you don't

the man is PISSED

 

[Warp Core Breach]

I really enjoyed his performance in The Search for Spock.

Here's the deal. I saw TSFS in the theater and initially I thought the whole "You Klingon bastards you killed my son" thing was completely embarrasing and over the top on Shatner's part. But now. Later. Aged. I get it. He really nailed that.

 

[BillJ]

Here's the deal. I saw TSFS in the theater and initially I thought the whole "You Klingon bastards you killed my son" thing was completely embarrasing and over the top on Shatner's part. But now. Later. Aged. I get it. He really nailed that.

On first glance, it does look a bit hammy. Because Shatner never had to push Kirk to that point of open startled grief. He had just listened to his own son die.

It that context, I think he nailed it.

 

[Commander Troi]

Whatever the movie's faults, I'd say he still had a few great moments in STV, especially the camaraderie with Nimoy and Kelley.

 

[BillJ]

Whatever the movie's faults, I'd say he still had a few great moments in STV, especially the camaraderie with Nimoy and Kelley.

I enjoyed the fight in the shuttle bay.

"Shoot him!"

There's a similar scene in TJ Hooker.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Whatever the movie's faults, I'd say he still had a few great moments in STV, especially the camaraderie with Nimoy and Kelley.

I am probably one of a handful of people who really enjoys ST V. I think it captured the Kirk/Spock/Bones dynamic perfectly from TOS. Sure, it's goofy as all fuck as a theatrical movie but I love that about it too. Something about the lower budget coming off of 4 and the writers strike that was going on in 1989 which affected TNG too... they just had to lean into the character work in that film and it showed.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I am probably one of a handful of people who really enjoys ST V. I think it captured the Kirk/Spock/Bones dynamic perfectly from TOS. Sure, it's goofy as all fuck as a theatrical movie but I love that about it too.

Count me in that handful. I liked ST:V. It was an adventure. I guess Harve Bennett and others tried to warn Shatner about the folly of searching for ‘God’, but it still had more action that ST : The Motionless Picture.

 

[BillJ]

Count me in that handful. I liked ST:V. It was an adventure. I guess Harve Bennett and others tried to warn Shatner about the folly of searching for ‘God’, but it still had more action that ST : The Motionless Picture.

God wasn't what killed The Final Frontier, Paramount executives pushing humor on the project did. Add to that, incredibly subpar effects and a killer's row of releases that Summer.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

God wasn't what killed The Final Frontier, Paramount executives pushing humor on the project did. Add to that, incredibly subpar effects and a killer's row of releases that Summer.

It didn't get much love seeing what it was up against at time. Indiana Jones 3, etc

 

[BillJ]

This released two weeks after The Final Frontier...

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[David cgc]

Shatner never spared himself when the script called for Kirk to go big, even when it was something big and abysmal, like the uniquely terrible turbolift scene in "And the Children..."

When the big writing was any good at all, he was fantastic:

• Miri: he's an action star, a girl's charming crush, and then the disease starts pulling the rug out from under him and he's desperate to get through to the children.

• Return to Tomorrow: the Risk is Our Business speech. Known to this day, known to non-fans, an enduring classic.

• The Omega Glory: his passionate reading of the Preamble in reruns really started to stand out in the post-Vietnam period, when it became hip to be contemptuous of American patriotism. M*A*S*H and the Norman Lear sitcoms were hip, but Kirk's unabashed admiration for our Constitution was profound and I loved it.

• The Paradise Syndrome: I won't get unanimous consent, but I think Shatner was pitch-perfect throughout. It's a top-tier episode in my book.

Regarding Shatner going big, I recently remembered this story I saw a while ago, about a talk with Nick Meyer and Harve Bennett discussing the Star Trek movies and filmmaking in general in the '80s. Bennett told a story about how Shatner's first take of the "Klingon bastards" scene was just terrible, tank-the-movie bad. Nimoy went up to Shatner while they were resetting, said something no one else could make out, then Shatner delivered the performance that ended up in the movie.

Later in the evening, Nimoy shows, and coincidentally tells the same story, except this time, he knows what he said. "Bill, this is the only time I will ever give you this direction. This time? Take it as far as you can."

 

[Spock's Barber]

God wasn't what killed The Final Frontier, Paramount executives pushing humor on the project did. Add to that, incredibly subpar effects and a killer's row of releases that Summer.

Combine God and cartoon special effects…

I always thought ‘God’ looked like a homeless bum.

 

[BillJ]

I always thought ‘God’ looked like a homeless bum.

Well, possibly the salon was closed the last time he got out.

 

[Tallguy]

I always thought ‘God’ looked like a homeless bum.

Precedent:
And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Or maybe he's just this guy:

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[Doug Otte]

I agree with most of the fine examples posted here. Let me add two others:
1) When Kirk's sister-in-law died in sickbay in Operation: Annihilate!. His grief nearly toppled him, but he managed to hold it in, just barely.
2) The Ultimate Computer was already mentioned, but in particular, I've always loved his recitation of the "Star to Steer Her By" poem (sorry; can't remember the title of the poem).

 

[Tallguy]

I agree with most of the fine examples posted here. Let me add two others:
1) When Kirk's sister-in-law died in sickbay in Operation: Annihilate!. His grief nearly toppled him, but he managed to hold it in, just barely.
2) The Ultimate Computer was already mentioned, but in particular, I've always loved his recitation of the "Star to Steer Her By" poem (sorry; can't remember the title of the poem).

Sea-Fever by Herman Melville.

 

[Humanoid #77]

This probably is below the belt but

20 or 30 years ago, when the internet was new, there were several lists titled “Kirk versus Picard”

( I think they are funny)

one of the lines was, “when Kirk smiles, you want to smile too”. I don't remember what it said about Picard.

but that thing stayed with me. Kirk Shatner is great

 

[Spock's Barber]

This probably is below the belt but

20 or 30 years ago, when the internet was new, there were several lists titled “Kirk versus Picard”

( I think they are funny)

one of the lines was, “when Kirk smiles, you want to smile too”. I don't remember what it said about Picard.

but that thing stayed with me. Kirk Shatner is great

It took quite a few years for me to accept Picard as the Captain of Enterprise D with no hair on his dome.

 

[mkstewartesq]

Sea-Fever by Herman Melville.

Actually it's by John Masefield.