RobertScorpio
Pariah
I have a stunning announcemnt to make....
I like William Shanter's DENNY CRANE more than I like his Captain Kirk. I know it may pain some TREK fans, but I believe Denny Crane is Shatner's greatest role. Denny has far more depth than Kirk. And it is this depth that has allowed Shatner to really show his ability to act.
Captain Kirk is my favorite Trek character (Sisko is in second place.) And as much as I love Kirk, very little 'true' character development ever came for Kirk. You're probably raising an eye brow there. But if you really think about it, we really don't know much about Kirk based on his screen time (which means NO books). His family life isn't really ever gone into with great detail. We know he had a father, mother, brother, nephew and a sister in law. But not much of the Kirk family is really explored. Sisko and Picard got far more depth. I know why, they got seven years to TOS's three. But that isn't an excuse. He has had many girl friends, a son with one of them. (Kirk's spontanious son, to me, is a far more WTF moment than Sybok being Spock's brother. The obvious double standard that some of you place on those to moments is pretty, well, off track, to say the least)
Shatner's Kirk does evolve somewhat from TOS through the movies. Despite what most of you think, I do not believe he was out of character at ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL in Trek 5. I think we actually learn a lot about Kirk from that movie. I actually had the chance to read his original script treatment, and had they done that movie, as written, it would have been, I think, the best TREK movie. But the studio's budget cuts, Nimoy's meddling, all but gutted that movie. But even with all that? He acted in character. One of you pointed out the scene where he yells at Spock to shoot Sybok as being silly, as if Kirk was out of character. No he wasn't. He was trying to save the ship from a known terrorist who had some strange ability to corrupt minds. And at that point of the movie, Kirk did not know Sybok was Spock's brother. (I also find it laughable that some of you, and Roddenberry as well, thought Kirk was out of line for shooting the worm thingy that came out of Chekov's ear. Roddenberry thought he was out of character becaue that eel might have been the last of it's kind. Go hug a tree Gene!
(In defense of Luckinbill? I sat next to him on a flight from LA to New York way back in 1998. I think he gets a bum rap on this site from people who have no idea how scripts are written and how characters are written in them. Too many of you fetch about how un-Vulcan he was. He played the character as WRITTEN and as SUGGESTED by the director/writer (shatner). You may fault Shatner's writing, but that is how the character was written. From early on he was told to play his vulcan as unvulcan as he could. He actually met with Nimoy several times before filming to better find out how to be unVulcan. Had Connery played the role he TOO would have played the role as un-Vulcan as he could, because that is what the script called for. I think Luckinbill's Sybok is one of the more interesting Vulcans ever, and I repeat, EVER, to be in TREK. He did a great job!)
Back to the subject..
So....In conclusion. I think Denny Crane is a far more interesting character than Captain James T Kirk. We know about his uneasy relationship with his father. We have had many interesting episodes about his life, and his crazy way of practicing law. I wish they would bring ODO back, because I felt the two had a past that was far more interesting than Carl Sach.
And even with all of Kirk's un-tapped canon potential? He is still far more interesting than some of the other STAR TREK captains. That alone, to me, is a testiment to William Shatner. He has been able to fill in the gray area with just being William Shatner.
Robert Scorpio
I like William Shanter's DENNY CRANE more than I like his Captain Kirk. I know it may pain some TREK fans, but I believe Denny Crane is Shatner's greatest role. Denny has far more depth than Kirk. And it is this depth that has allowed Shatner to really show his ability to act.
Captain Kirk is my favorite Trek character (Sisko is in second place.) And as much as I love Kirk, very little 'true' character development ever came for Kirk. You're probably raising an eye brow there. But if you really think about it, we really don't know much about Kirk based on his screen time (which means NO books). His family life isn't really ever gone into with great detail. We know he had a father, mother, brother, nephew and a sister in law. But not much of the Kirk family is really explored. Sisko and Picard got far more depth. I know why, they got seven years to TOS's three. But that isn't an excuse. He has had many girl friends, a son with one of them. (Kirk's spontanious son, to me, is a far more WTF moment than Sybok being Spock's brother. The obvious double standard that some of you place on those to moments is pretty, well, off track, to say the least)
Shatner's Kirk does evolve somewhat from TOS through the movies. Despite what most of you think, I do not believe he was out of character at ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL in Trek 5. I think we actually learn a lot about Kirk from that movie. I actually had the chance to read his original script treatment, and had they done that movie, as written, it would have been, I think, the best TREK movie. But the studio's budget cuts, Nimoy's meddling, all but gutted that movie. But even with all that? He acted in character. One of you pointed out the scene where he yells at Spock to shoot Sybok as being silly, as if Kirk was out of character. No he wasn't. He was trying to save the ship from a known terrorist who had some strange ability to corrupt minds. And at that point of the movie, Kirk did not know Sybok was Spock's brother. (I also find it laughable that some of you, and Roddenberry as well, thought Kirk was out of line for shooting the worm thingy that came out of Chekov's ear. Roddenberry thought he was out of character becaue that eel might have been the last of it's kind. Go hug a tree Gene!
(In defense of Luckinbill? I sat next to him on a flight from LA to New York way back in 1998. I think he gets a bum rap on this site from people who have no idea how scripts are written and how characters are written in them. Too many of you fetch about how un-Vulcan he was. He played the character as WRITTEN and as SUGGESTED by the director/writer (shatner). You may fault Shatner's writing, but that is how the character was written. From early on he was told to play his vulcan as unvulcan as he could. He actually met with Nimoy several times before filming to better find out how to be unVulcan. Had Connery played the role he TOO would have played the role as un-Vulcan as he could, because that is what the script called for. I think Luckinbill's Sybok is one of the more interesting Vulcans ever, and I repeat, EVER, to be in TREK. He did a great job!)
Back to the subject..
So....In conclusion. I think Denny Crane is a far more interesting character than Captain James T Kirk. We know about his uneasy relationship with his father. We have had many interesting episodes about his life, and his crazy way of practicing law. I wish they would bring ODO back, because I felt the two had a past that was far more interesting than Carl Sach.
And even with all of Kirk's un-tapped canon potential? He is still far more interesting than some of the other STAR TREK captains. That alone, to me, is a testiment to William Shatner. He has been able to fill in the gray area with just being William Shatner.
Robert Scorpio
