Took over from Holliman IIRC
CNN did him dirty taking SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK away from him…all but forcing him to be a stringer…and losing an arm in the process.
Captain Kirk heading to space.. for real!
- Thread starter Khan 2.0
- Start date
Took over from Holliman IIRC
CNN did him dirty taking SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY WEEK away from him…all but forcing him to be a stringer…and losing an arm in the process.
He should have done that in microgravity!Ghouleddie74 gets introduced to The Kirk Drop Kick....
I’d risk a rib!
But horseplay was not his way that day.
Of all the space tourists to fly suborbital…he and he alone should get astronaut wings…because he gets it…
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I met Spiner and Frakes at the same con and both were hilarious and generous with their time. Everyone has their own experiences with them.
Clearly. Catch an actor in the wrong mood(or the fan or both) and you could have an incident.
George is becoming the guy he's been complaining about for years.
isn't this true for most human beings?
Yep. Shatner. Spiner. You. Me. Anybody. Catch me in the wrong moment and you'll wish you never even knew me.
This idea that Shatner is some supervillain who hates the fans is not borne out by evidence in recent decades.
This idea that Shatner is some supervillain who hates the fans is not borne out by evidence in recent decades.
Takei had made some inflammatory comments on why his space dock lines where it would be revealed he would be promoted Captain and commanding the Excelsior in Star Trek II were sabotaged by Shatner. He expressed this in a segment on E.T.* promoting his tell-all book "To The Stars" in which Shatner gave a lifeless performance where the director had to do continuous takes and as the takes went on Shatner delivered something which couldn't be saved. He claimed he knew what the director and the editor could do with a scene and it could not be salvaged; he thought it was a personal vendetta against him.
Here on this forum, I believe @Maurice had a thread where he shared an audio of that scene. From my POV it seemed to me the audio showed Shatner was pretty consistent in his delivery, most has been seen in the cut of the movie, and opens the door for Takei to have his moment. Takei, as Sulu, felt flat and robotic as if he was reading the lines on set, I believe the ratios were 1:3 and all 3 takes were Shatner got better as Takei was exactly the same to me. I guess it is easy to slander a star and a living legend about a scenario when it's believed the accusation can't be disputed because the events could never be seen or heard by the public. From what I gathered were Takei's account of the events were untrue and the nature of his accusation were disingenuous.
*Entertainment Tonight.
People are entitled to remember events anyway they choose. But when Takei and Nichelle insist that Star Trek was originally an ensemble series until Shatner made it a star vehicle, that's when I gotta roll the eyes. Sure, the series originally featured the supporting cast more, but how much of the change in focus had to do with budgets? Or following the money? Nimoy's popularity increased and he got more to do. Shatner didn't decide that (he probably wanted less focus on Spock). Then Kelley got noticed and promoted to regular. So with more screen time devoted to Spock and McCoy, who's gonna get the axe? The top billed and paid STAR? Or the day players? And don't blame Shatner for changing "This Side of Paradise" to a Spock story over a Sulu romance. Nobody on the staff was clamoring for more Sulu.
I'm sure Shatner was more worried about Nimoy taking his spotlight than worrying about whether or not George Frigging Takei had more lines or whatnot.
As for Star Trek II, the story was ABOUT Kirk and his journey. I doubt he cared if Sulu got his own ship in a few lines of dialog.
I'm sure Shatner was more worried about Nimoy taking his spotlight than worrying about whether or not George Frigging Takei had more lines or whatnot.
As for Star Trek II, the story was ABOUT Kirk and his journey. I doubt he cared if Sulu got his own ship in a few lines of dialog.
I used to believe most of the supporting cast's stories about Shatner. These days I'm not so sure. Actors have egos and some have egos far outstripping the size and placement of their name on the marquee. I have no doubt Shatner can be abrasive and a dick but De Kelley seemed to have few if any problems with Shatner and Nimoy's issues were also limited in number and severity, at least until the incident that led them to lose contact with one another near the end of Leonard's life. Seems funny that Nimoy wasn't given short shrift by Takei and the others when he got so much screen time, and nobody seems to have given Kelley stick when he got big chunks of episodes or even an entire story to himself.
I think Roddenberry sold Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan a rosy bill of goods regarding how important their characters were to be in the series. And early in the first season they got stuff to do, but it didn’t change the fact that Kirk and Spock were the main draw so they got most of the focus. McCoy also drew attention so he started to get more attention as well. By the second season NBC, the studio, Roddenberry and the writers leaned on the show’s strengths: Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley. Consequently the second tier day players got less attention.
The day players were on set only when they were needed while Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley were there practically every day working their asses off to make the show work. Shatner has been widely acknowledged by many for being a total professional and working his tail off. Small wonder Shatner might not have paid much attention to day players seen periodically.
The supporting cast might have thought the show would have been more of an ensemble piece from what Roddenberry pitched to them, but the reality didn’t play out that way. Consequently the supporting cast felt cheated and chose to direct their displeasure at Shatner rather than Roddenberry and the writers who obviously leaned on the main cast that was obviously so popular. This might have been fanned by Shatner not giving them the degree of acknowledgement and recognition they felt they deserved, so he became the focus of their resentment.
I suspect this simmering resentment didn’t really come to the fore until the cast started doing the convention circuit and fans started fanning their egos with how important and integral they were to the show. Takei and Doohan really seemed to take this to heart and thereby cultivated their escalating animosity toward Shatner.
So a seeming lack of sufficient acknowledgement and recognition becomes taken as a deliberate show of disrespect and belittlement. Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig eventually got over it. James Doohan never did. And Takei is still driven by it and doesn’t look to be over it anytime soon.
Meanwhile Shatner goes on with his life.
The day players were on set only when they were needed while Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley were there practically every day working their asses off to make the show work. Shatner has been widely acknowledged by many for being a total professional and working his tail off. Small wonder Shatner might not have paid much attention to day players seen periodically.
The supporting cast might have thought the show would have been more of an ensemble piece from what Roddenberry pitched to them, but the reality didn’t play out that way. Consequently the supporting cast felt cheated and chose to direct their displeasure at Shatner rather than Roddenberry and the writers who obviously leaned on the main cast that was obviously so popular. This might have been fanned by Shatner not giving them the degree of acknowledgement and recognition they felt they deserved, so he became the focus of their resentment.
I suspect this simmering resentment didn’t really come to the fore until the cast started doing the convention circuit and fans started fanning their egos with how important and integral they were to the show. Takei and Doohan really seemed to take this to heart and thereby cultivated their escalating animosity toward Shatner.
So a seeming lack of sufficient acknowledgement and recognition becomes taken as a deliberate show of disrespect and belittlement. Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig eventually got over it. James Doohan never did. And Takei is still driven by it and doesn’t look to be over it anytime soon.
Meanwhile Shatner goes on with his life.
Walter Koenig fully admits his own insecurities are part of the problem. He's apparently always struggled with his self worth. He never felt like he had a voice in any decision making, even in the films. He hated his Lord Fauntleroy collar in Star Trek III. When they decided to lose it, he was relieved but was asked why he didn't say anything beforehand. That was his own lack of confidence.
It was fake drama. The actors were all in on it, it was to get money from magazine interviews. The clickbait bollocks of it's day, so they got a little income between movies.
Actually, DeForest Kelley apparently stopped talking to Bill for a year in a fit of rage over Shatner laughing over how Kelley's dog died (apparently the dog ran into an active sprinkler fountain and died and when told of this Shatner started laughing, although he later clarified he didn't mean to be insensitive but found the situation funny and couldn't help the reaction). And as far as I know Kelley isn't the one who related this event to the public, but Shatner himself: http://airlockalpha.com/419/deforest-kelley-remembered-html
Yeah I think Shatner was always intended to be the star, given just how expensive the show was and the fights over actor salaries, they wouldn't have wanted to make it an ensemble show. And honestly, if you look at Star Trek Discovery right now, even TOS feels more well rounded because characters like Rhys, Bryce, Nilsson, Owo, and Detmer have literally nothing to do despite Disco fans saying they want to know more about these characters.
Still, that's predictable anger over a misunderstood reaction. That's not fifty years of petty handwringing and nagging.
Shatner does have all the tact of sandpaper hygiene products.
Shatner does have all the tact of sandpaper hygiene products.
The bizarre thing is that Shatner claims he doesn't know what Nimoy got angry about and apparently Nimoy's own children like Adam told Shatner they don't know either. Shatner speculated it was inadvertent use of Nimoy footage in his documentary, but Roberto Orci claims in the comments at https://trekmovie.com/2016/03/25/review-leonard-my-fifty-year-friendship-with-a-remarkable-man/ that this isn't the reason. However, given Orci's penchant for saying odd things in the past, it's not clear if he actually knows the reason either. And with Nimoy gone it doesn't seem like anyone will ever know why he and Bill fell out at the end (although to be fair Nimoy's illness may have been affecting his thinking)
Sadly I can believe both scenarios. Shatner using footage of Nimoy without his permission AND Nimoy's health deteriorating so far that it affected his relationship with Bill. Shatner doesn't always use the best tact and Nimoy was in very poor shape towards the end of his life, and when you're that sick it's easy to strain your relations with loved ones.
There were very few actual dramatic ensemble shows in prime time back then. It just wasn't the norm. Especially a SF adventure series.
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