Why I Don't Want to See Shatner Again

I just tested it again and it is working just fine now.

 

I really need to start taking my medication again. Oddly, I don't remember posting any of this.

Scary!

Although it COULDN'T have been me. I would never have forgotten 'generous', 'kind', and most of all, 'trustworthy'.

 

To tell you the truth, I don't think any of the actors really played their part in IV... maybe it all had to do with going back home. Also notice their careers were winding down too, in the later films? That could explain a lot.

 

Sorry I didn't know that was a problem.

 

That's ok, I'll go twice.

 

There's no "right" involved. And if they did something like that, you'd have to go a lot more than twice to make up for all the box office lost.

 

Yeah, I don't understand how he's earned "the right" to bore the rest of us to death who don't think Shatner is God. Besides, what would God need with a phone book anyway?

 

No worries. Just wanted to make you aware of it.

 

It's not blind faith. It's respect.

 

I would think that respect would mean giving him a role worthy of his performance though.

 

I have to say that I disagree with the idea of anyone 'earning the right' to be in a future movie based on performances from the 1960's - 1980's.

Obviously he was an extremely important part of Star Trek, but ultimately, playing Captain Kirk is a job that he was hired to do. He was obligated to play that character to the best of his ability during the time he was paid to do so...but those paychecks were his compensation and he is not 'owed' anything else.

The movie business is still, at the end of the day, a business. And management, for better or worse, has the right to make the casting decisions. And whatever we would like to believe, those casting decisions are based upon projections of potential profit - nothing more, nothing less.

If they determine that Shatner being in the movie, at the salary he is able to negotiate, is a profitable venture, he will be in the movie. If they do not think his ability to plant butts in seats today is worth the money or place in the movie he is requesting, he won't be in it.

They don't give a rat's ass about what we think Shatner has 'earned the right to'. There is no loyalty in show business - in fact, it is an even MORE cutthroat business than most....and I would think Shatner of all people would be well aware of this, having reportedly cut a few throats in his own time. They don't care about what Shatner has done for them in the past - that money has long been spent. They only care about what Shatner can do for them today and in the future. And if it's not enough to justify a part or a salary Shatner can be happy with, then too bad for Shatner...and too bad for us.

It is incredible to me that many, many fans do not seem to grasp the fact that show business is a business. And that 'what fans want' and 'what the studio's business goals are' do not always mesh very well. And that when they don't - guess who wins?

IMO, I think Shatner is at the top of his acting game at this very moment. He OWNS Denny Crane, and he deserves every single nomination and award he has received for that character, because he positively rocks all over town. Further, I think that it would be awesome to seen Shatner and Nimoy on screen together one last time as Kirk and Spock.

However, even that does not 'earn' him the right to anything when it comes to playing a character he played 40 years ago. Not in the studio's eyes, anyway.

 

Why not? I'm speaking as a fan, not a suit. I can grasp business and still tip my hat to the man, as I would to anyone who contributed as much to the franchise as he did. I don't disagree with the opinions here. Like Captain Sulu told Tuvok, you're absolutely right....

 

I forgot to mention - that line is hilarious.

 

Oh...as a fan you can think anything you want, obviously. I'm just saying that the suits, who are the ones making the decisions and the ones making the casting calls, do not necessarily agree with the premise that Shatner has 'earned the right' to anything related to this movie.

And your opinion (and mine) means pretty much nothing to these guys.

 

Well, if we are to believe the story as presented, this was not a call made by the suits. This was a decision on the part of Abrams and his creative team to honor the continuity as it currently stands. They are all big Kirk/Shatner fans (or at least they claim to be), but they "just couldn't find a way to work him into the story."

So that's a very different thing from the suits saying, "We have made a decision that Shatner should not or need not be in this film." In fact, if Abrams wanted him in, and Shatner wasn't being too unreasonable about price, I have no doubt that the suits would heartily agree with Abrams and in he goes.

This assumes, of course, that Shatner isn't in it already.

 

From what I've read on other sites, the reason Shatner isn't in this film is because his character died in the Generations movie, simple as that. I won't go into why...I think there is another board for spoilers around here...somewhere.

But the main topic, "Why I don't want to see Shatner Again", I'd have to say there comes a point in time when a person who has reached a late stage in their life (and this changes from person to person) needs to call it quits.

I believe Nimoy is still a viable Spock. Vulcans are long-lived, after all. They have a much longer life-span than humans.

Shatner has found other work. His 'Price Line Negotiator' commercials get me laughing to the point that I get strange looks from my wife. His time as Kirk is over.

 

And he's got his hit show going on.