Pine as Shatner Kirk (SNL)

Pine going 'full Shat' at last
http://trekmovie.com/2017/05/06/wat...t-original-star-trek-episode-and-more-on-snl/

 

If they do make a fourth movie, it would be nice if Pine introduced a little of Shatner into his performance. Nothing over the top, but somewhat subtle.

 

Okay, that will not go down as one of the classic SNL Trek sketches. I get what they were going for -- failing show making a desperate grab for ratings -- but it was entirely unfunny. Not to mention that the set was rather inauthentic, they didn't have the actual incidental music like they did in Shatner's "The Restaurant Enterprise," and their inability to find a good Spock continues. Although was that the same guy who played Sulu in the Belushi and Shatner sketches? I think that was the joke behind him saying "we've never seen him before."

I'd say he already did that somewhat in Beyond.

 

Yes it was. It's a running gag that he plays Sulu. He's also in "Love Boat the Next Generation" when Sir Patrick hosted.

 

That was awful, but it's weirdly surreal to see Pine in Shatner's uniform. Kinda reminds me of that pic of Henry Cavill in Christopher Reeve's old Superman suit.

Now I want to see Ben Affleck in Adam West's Batsuit.

 

Hell, he did it in 09.

*walks onto the bridge in gold uniform, looks around with a bit of a smirk.* "...Bones!" That was so Pine channeling some Shatner.

 

Chris Pine as Captain Kirk… Now that's hilarious!

 

Pine did a good job of channeling Shatner, but aside from that, the only good part of this was the mildly amusing hit job on Neil deGrasse Tyson's enthusiasm.

 

I liked that as well.

 

I thought the Tyson segments just made the sketch even more unfocused. What's the point of getting Pine to play Shatner playing Kirk if the sketch is more about "Spocko" and Tyson than it is about Kirk himself?

This is Akira Yoshimura's fourth appearance as Sulu, though he's played various other roles on SNL over the years. He's actually been the show's production designer since the beginning, and they draw on him when they need an Asian character in a skit because they've never actually had an Asian cast member per se.

 

He's played Sulu in all the sketches, starting with that one.

 

I'm sure complete authenticity was at the forefront of their minds when devising the sketch.

 

They've done much better in past SNL sketches, which was my point. As I mentioned, "The Restaurant Enterprise" was authentic enough to use actual background music from the show, much of which hadn't been released on album at the time, so they must've actually tracked down the tapes and gotten the music clearances. Past SNL Trek sketches have been labors of love, made with care and effort. This felt lazy by comparison.

 

Most of the last 40-odd years of SNL hasn't been remotely funny. Nice to see that they're carrying on the tradition.

Edited to add: It's tough to do live sketch comedy. It's hit or miss at best, but it's been a lot of miss in the last several years. I don't think they know how to do it any more.

 

^There you go. The original sketch did a pretty good job capturing the general look of the bridge, though not its exact details. The one in the Pine sketch is weird, taking graphics meant for small console display screens and blowing them up to huge size.

 

I just rewatched the new skit, and I think I'm going to give them credit for trying to send up Laurence Luckinbill's sudden and painful appearance as Spock's half-brother, too. It doesn't make the skit any funnier, but still - it seems to be in there.

 

A Sybok comparison didn't even occur to me. I was thinking more along the lines of Cousin Oliver. (Or Poochie, to make a slightly less dated comparison.)