MYTH? Barbare Eden/Kang's slap on the back to Kirk

[Nerys Myk]

If the timing is correct, pull isn't necessarily required. Could be as simple as the writer (Roddenberry?) asking for suggestions.

Curious how much collaboration between writers/producers and actors would be happening at that early stage. To my eye and ear the early season one takes on the characters were very much on the page and writer driven. Later I think Shatner and Nimoy began influcing the shape of their characters. OTOH McCoy seems to be written for Kelley.

 

[UssGlenn]

I was picturing something like "Hey, we are recasting Yeoman Smith, anybody got name ideas?"

 

[Nerys Myk]

I was picturing something like "Hey, we are recasting Yeoman Smith, anybody got name ideas?"

My thinking is that would happen in the writer's room or Gene's office not on set or even at a read through. But what do I know?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

The slap could have been harder than Shatner was expecting (TVTropes calls that "Enforced Method Acting," and references the "staking" scene of Dracula: Dead and Loving It), but assuming it was even intentional, I'd say it was more likely either (a) Ansara doing a bit of actual Method acting, or (b) another regular cast member put him up to it as a prank.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

If the timing is correct, pull isn't necessarily required. Could be as simple as the writer (Roddenberry?) asking for suggestions.

That's right. "The Corbomite Maneuver" was filmed in late May and early June, 1966 (The Star Trek Compendium and clapper board pics). And William Shatner was not a powerless actor even at that stage. His contract gave him a part-ownership of the series. In today's industry, he would have had a producer credit. Of course he could suggest a character name.

 

[Shat Happens]

Legend has it that the ensuing crack from that clap continues to echo even to this day.

let's see


date of the slap = 29/August/1968 that's about 20276 days ago, or 1,75E+09 seconds, times the speed of sound 340m/s equals 5,96E+11m

That's 4AU

The slap has not yet crossed Jupiter's orbit

 

[Henoch]

Since sound can't travel in space, maybe the clap sound waves are just continuing around the Earth (circumference ~24,800 miles), so, how many times has the clap echoed around the Earth? 370,337,231 miles /24800 miles = ~15,000 times around the Earth, or ~15,000 clap echos. Did I just hear a clap go by, again?

 

[feek61]

Not

That's right. "The Corbomite Maneuver" was filmed in late May and early June, 1966 (The Star Trek Compendium and clapper board pics). And William Shatner was not a powerless actor even at that stage. His contract gave him a part-ownership of the series. In today's industry, he would have had a producer credit. Of course he could suggest a character name.

Not that it is really relevant, but here is the only memo I could find regarding Rands name:

 

[UssGlenn]

Someone looked down at the name on their Remington-Rand typewriter when making that list.

 

[Ragitsu]

Did I just hear a clap go by, again?

That would be me: suitably impressed by the efforts you chaps put into this collective calculation.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Not

Not that it is really relevant, but here is the only memo I could find regarding Rands name:

I wonder who Janice was?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Janice Trigger?

What is she, a yeoman or a horse?!?

 

[Phaser Two]

Fantastic thread. I personally love that scene because whether Ansara put too much into the slap or not, Shatner completely ran with it. (And I don't buy the Barbara Eden story for a second - as an early poster upthread noted, we've never heard anything solid about Shatner being anything but a complete professional with the abundant and quite attractive women all over the set for three seasons. Given the very welcome #metoo era and movement, that's pretty conclusive at this point.) The whole sequence looks terrific no matter who intended what.

"Day of the Dove" is an episode that depended greatly on Shatner's extraordinary physicality. Many episodes do, but this one is certainly among the pinnacle of those that would have been far, far less effective if Shatner hadn't had those amazing abilities and delivered them in spades. He takes Kang's punch on the surface and does his own fall. He delivers a tremendous counterpunch in the lounge/guest quarters - and comes off as a highly credible adversary for Kang/Ansara despite a five to six-inch height deficit. He swordfights very convincingly. He effortlessly picks up Koenig as if the latter weighed about 40-50 pounds. He also does a great job of selling the bridge scene where Kirk prevents Spock from attacking Scotty as "this dude is five times stronger than me but I'm going to use my superior hand-to-hand skills here to stop him." Simply a bravura performance.