And perhaps his shortest guest appearance ever.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blHwaFzzbkQ[/yt]
Thoughts on Shatner
- Thread starter Melakon
- Start date
And perhaps his shortest guest appearance ever.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blHwaFzzbkQ[/yt]
And what's good for the gander....
Captain Janes T. Kirk:
Frightening.
If IT was the captain...with that expression, I would transport myself off of the ship...even if there was no planet nearby...
He did great hammy death scenes in The Fugitive and The Six Million Dollar Man. Both were much more Shatisfying than his death in Star Trek VII.
"They were talking to me! To ME, Steve!"
The expression on Lee Majors' face says it all.
Or, he was thinking, "6 million dollar man? Whatever. I'm married to Farrah, who's probably screwing 6 million other men every day I go to work on this goofy series!"
I had a huge crush on him when I was a young teen and when I went back to TOS years later as an adult I remember thinking I would probably find that kind of amusing. But NO, he was just as gorgeous, if not more gorgeous than I remembered!
That Promise ad has to feature Shatner's worst ever wig.
As for the man himself, generally he's better in early Trek when he's still well respected theatre actor William Shatner rather than The Shat. That's not to say there's not enjoyable stuff later on, it's just the ratio between actually acting and hamming it up shifts more and more towards the later as he goes on.
I don't know if he's ever admitted it, but I really hope around the time he did Rocket Man he was on lots and lots of hardcore drugs. That'd explain it.
As for the man himself, generally he's better in early Trek when he's still well respected theatre actor William Shatner rather than The Shat. That's not to say there's not enjoyable stuff later on, it's just the ratio between actually acting and hamming it up shifts more and more towards the later as he goes on.
I don't know if he's ever admitted it, but I really hope around the time he did Rocket Man he was on lots and lots of hardcore drugs. That'd explain it.
Speaking of Mr. Shatner, he will be at the US Navy's decommissioning ceremony for the USS Enterprise on Saturday:
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=777338
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=777338
He's not an actor. He's a star.
Really, he long ago decided to play himself playing an actor playing himself. "Free Enterprise" was the best thing that every happened to Shatner. He completely redefined himself.
As for his earlier work, it is absolutely in the style of every other drama on TV at the time. Check out "Bonanza" or "The Big Valley." Almost all shows were broadcast and then rebroadcast only once. That was the expectation, anyway. There was no time for subtleties. The audience needed to be told fast what the story was about.
Is it often hammy now? Sure. But no one, even in the first decade of syndication, ever, ever complained about it. I lived through it all, and while fans complained about certain guests, no one ever criticized the regular cast's performances. Back in the '70s, the most common complaint about Shatner in "Star Trek" was that he was sometimes "fat." (Which I just do not see in TOS. Maybe a few extra pounds, but never fat.)
Really, he long ago decided to play himself playing an actor playing himself. "Free Enterprise" was the best thing that every happened to Shatner. He completely redefined himself.
As for his earlier work, it is absolutely in the style of every other drama on TV at the time. Check out "Bonanza" or "The Big Valley." Almost all shows were broadcast and then rebroadcast only once. That was the expectation, anyway. There was no time for subtleties. The audience needed to be told fast what the story was about.
Is it often hammy now? Sure. But no one, even in the first decade of syndication, ever, ever complained about it. I lived through it all, and while fans complained about certain guests, no one ever criticized the regular cast's performances. Back in the '70s, the most common complaint about Shatner in "Star Trek" was that he was sometimes "fat." (Which I just do not see in TOS. Maybe a few extra pounds, but never fat.)
"They were talking to me! To ME, Steve!"
The expression on Lee Majors' face says it all.
It does, but that was also his only expression.
"They were talking to me! To ME, Steve!"
The expression on Lee Majors' face says it all.
It does, but that was also his only expression.
Cold!!
I'll see your margarine commercial, and raise you a Loblaw's commercial (Loblaw's is a Canadian supermarket chain):
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Kh8Pii0p4[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Kh8Pii0p4[/yt]
I have another clip from that show here:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSQ3UqBKJ0o[/yt]
Shatner is a decent actor. There's an interesting clip here where he discusses his method:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5lTlkWPsqo[/yt]
By the 1980s theatrical acting was no longer appreciated, and Shatner's reputation had taken a hit because of how pushy he had (necessarily?) been during his lean years. By the 1990s, he took a cue from George Foreman and Leslie Nielson and realized he could reinvent himself. He gave the public what it wanted -- perhaps at the expense of some good performances.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5lTlkWPsqo[/yt]
By the 1980s theatrical acting was no longer appreciated, and Shatner's reputation had taken a hit because of how pushy he had (necessarily?) been during his lean years. By the 1990s, he took a cue from George Foreman and Leslie Nielson and realized he could reinvent himself. He gave the public what it wanted -- perhaps at the expense of some good performances.
Whatever it must have been like being a co-star of Shatner's, I do distinctly remember all of the TOS cast saying that being DIRECTED by him, in ST V, was completely different. Strictly as a director, he was totally professional and treated the entire cast with 100% respect. There was none of the baggage that came with being a fellow *actor* during the original series.
That being said:
That being said:
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