Nimoy/Shatner..friends??
- Thread starter RobertScorpio
- Start date
so now we've all cried watching that clip... now it's time to laugh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67pjS3lmz8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v67pjS3lmz8&feature=related
Good God, those two are nuts.
It's hard to tell when to take those guys seriously. People might cite Shatner's 'I, on the other hand, resent it totally' and take it out of context to show he's the curmudgeon of the two but...in context, he was playing off Nimoy's answer.
It's hard to tell when to take those guys seriously. People might cite Shatner's 'I, on the other hand, resent it totally' and take it out of context to show he's the curmudgeon of the two but...in context, he was playing off Nimoy's answer.
I am starting to wonder whether you can get an accurate reading of Shatner from other celebrities. Or to be more precise, from lesser celebrities. A lot of the TOS cast bitching is sour grapes, if you ask me. Most of the scenes I've heard about would be weakened if they weren't so Kirk Spock McCoy oriented. And it's not like the other four cast members ever did a damn thing outside of Star Trek. Is anyone sitting around thinking, God, Nichelle Nichols could have been a contender if it weren't for that damn Shatner?
That is true, and, what's more is the fact that it was ALWAYS about Kirk/Spock/McCoy, from the very first day of filming. The rest of the cast were ancillary.
I thought what actually happened was they hadn't planned for that trio to be the focus, but once it was discovered how good the chemistry between them was, plans were changed accordingly (and for the better, in my opinion). That sounds like a behind the scenes decision, so it's not something to resent the actors for.
^^ They weren't a trio at first. McCoy may have been a little more prominent than the others, but his character wasn't in focus right off the bat. Early on he had some great scenes which established him well, then when the Spock/McCoy banter really got going the trio happened.
Also, in the 1960's, the "ensemble cast" thing hadn't really happened yet. There were exceptions, but by and large it was the standard formula of the time that you had to have one or two leads carrying the show and everybody else be secondary. To do a true ensemble, like TNG did, was almost unheard of.
I think, as others have said, that the original intention was that Shatner and Nimoy were going to be those two leads -- as evidenced by them being the only ones in the first season opening credits -- and then gradually Kelley was added to that as the chemistry between Shatner, Nimoy and he started to work so well.
Sure, Shatner may have taken a line or two away from the supporting characters from time to time, but there was never any intention for it to be a large ensemble cast.
I think, as others have said, that the original intention was that Shatner and Nimoy were going to be those two leads -- as evidenced by them being the only ones in the first season opening credits -- and then gradually Kelley was added to that as the chemistry between Shatner, Nimoy and he started to work so well.
Sure, Shatner may have taken a line or two away from the supporting characters from time to time, but there was never any intention for it to be a large ensemble cast.
I think how true that is depends on whose intentions you're talking about. It sounds like this was Rodenberry's intention, as it's been stated several times that Gene was able to accomplish with "Star Trek: The Next Generation" what he'd wanted to accomplish with "Star Trek" by having it be more of an ensemble show.
I see this is from the 40th anniversary being celebrated on TVLand -- which TVLand promptly dumped Trek after about 2 weeks and put it on at 5 friggin a.m. I tried to rally the troops here to start a massive petition...TVLand said if they got 150 "unique" requests in a week they would listen to the fans...but I have to say only a few people here rallied behind me...most people poo-poo'd me....As you see this still bothers me and I have not watched TVLand since. I would of liked to have seen if our collective voice could of made a difference and I thought everybody would join in since this is a national channel and this is OUR SHOW....
Yes I'm bitter.
It was clearly meant to be Shatner's show - it was "starring - William Shatner; also starring - Leonard Nimoy" (later: "and DeForest Kelley"). It became a Kirk/Spock show only because Spock turned out to be so popular, and it became a trio over time. The other characters were supposed to be supporting, but I don't think they were meant to be background props. The fact that they were not in opening credits might have had more to do with the fact that they were mostly unknown actors without much to their name, and none of them had had many, if any, substantial roles up to that point (unlike Shatner and experienced TV supporting actors, Nimoy and Kelley). It's easy to notice that Uhura got more to do in the first few episodes than the rest of season 1 - could it be that her role was reduced due to network pressure? And it was obvious that Rand was meant to be an important character and have long-standing UST with Kirk - 2 of the early season 1 episodes focused on her, and she probably had about as much screentime as McCoy.
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