Subtle Shatner - The Thread

[Lance]

I was thinking the other day about the subtle ways he suggests Kirk's relationship with his crew.

In "Where No Man...", for example, when the department heads assemble on the bridge and Scotty chimes in with (paraphrasing) "Engineering ready, as always.", Kirk gives him a subtle smile. In that moment, you really feel a history and connection between them, a trust.

Things like that, Shatner gets very little credit for, but they're peppered throughout the show and movies, and do a lot to round out the characters as people, not merely functions of the script.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

In "Where No Man...", for example, when the department heads assemble on the bridge and Scotty chimes in with (paraphrasing) "Engineering ready, as always.", Kirk gives him a subtle smile. In that moment, you really feel a history and connection between them, a trust.

Excellent point. You don't see any of that sort of warmth between Pike and his crew, outside of the "All ship's doctors are dirty old men" exchange at the end of "The Cage."

 

[Tallguy]

Shatner played a very believable character in the TV series but he seemed to have lost his way with the character in the films for me anyway! Maybe because he had been away from Kirk for so long?
JB

I'll vehemently disagree until 4. And even then... 5 and 6 is when he becomes more Shatner than Kirk. 2 and 3 are sublime.

I would love to see one more performance from him that was that good. (There's some moments on Better Late than Never that have that kind of calm. Seriously.)

 

[Hofner]

A lot of fans dislike the s1 episode "Miri" but i've always thought it was one of the better star trek episodes myself. I thought William Shatner along with everyone else in the ep did a good job, even the blah, blah part.
One scene that i found especially powerful is when Kirk is forcing Miri to face the fact that she was getting the disease's blemishes. I thought both Shatner and Kim Darby did a very good job on it. The way Miri's in denial and getting so upset by the unpleasant truth moves me almost to tears, I know myself how it feels.


Here's some very old memories from when I was only six years old in 1966. I remember having heard of William Shatner as being a good, up and coming actor. i had heard or thought to myself that the show Star Trek was lucky to get someone like him to star in it. That's not even considering that they got Lenard Nimoy to also star, I had not heard of him before Star Trek.

Robert

 

[Phaser Two]

Superb thread.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Superb thread.

Thanks! I'm enjoying it. Got any moments of your own to suggest, Phaser Two?

 

[Phaser Two]

Thanks! I'm enjoying it. Got any moments of your own to suggest, Phaser Two?

Oh, yeah. Thanks for asking! The Kirk-Scotty exchange in TWT would have been high on my list, that's for sure. Talk about a superbly acted scene by two talented performers; amazing.

Other examples:

Another Kirk-Scotty interaction, from MM: "Phaser report, Captain. No damage." Shatner's acting as Kirk immediately realizes what Scotty is saying and has to cover for the call is fantastic. In fact, MM is full of subtle Shatner moments. Another comes when Kirk has the wordless interaction with Uhura before he leaves the bridge for his quarters. Nichelle Nichols does a good job there as well.

"You speculate" from JTB; in fact, the entire interaction Kirk has with Thelev is gold.

The conversation with the Romulan commander in BOT (might have already been mentioned), particularly wordlessly accepting his adversary's fate.

Kirk's polite exchange with Garth when he and Spock are "invited" to dinner but Corey is not. "An oversight? // In that case we must decline with thanks."

The "No difference" speech to Garrovick in OBS. In fact, that entire episode is an acting masterclass by Shatner.

Facing Yarnek in TSC: "Mr. Spock and I decline to participate."

"Thank you" to the laconic technician in DOM.

It's minor but I love the way Shatner, in TWOK, looks back at the guy with the cleaning equipment as he and Spock stroll along.

Wordlessly looking at Sulu in an implied request for his opinion as to which planet to choose in SB.

Another wordless example: Shatner's facial expression of sheer revulsion and hatred toward Kras while physically tensing, probably to make a move for his phaser, at the beginning of FC after Grant is killed. The blocking of that scene is simply amazing. I don't know how many times they had to shoot it but keep an eye on Shatner the entire time after the opening teaser until they drop their weapons. Just fantastic stuff.

I'll stop there for now. I always get a kick out of it when anyone mocks Shatner's acting. The guy is not only not a bad actor; he's a fantastic one.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Another Kirk-Scotty interaction, from MM: "Phaser report, Captain. No damage." Shatner's acting as Kirk immediately realizes what Scotty is saying and has to cover for the call is fantastic. In fact, MM is full of subtle Shatner moments. Another comes when Kirk has the wordless interaction with Uhura before he leaves the bridge for his quarters. Nichelle Nichols does a good job there as well.

That's a good one! I also really like the moment at the end where Scotty stoically volunteers to stay in the Mirror Universe so that he can work the controls on the transporter. Kirk says no, he'll stay, and when Scotty passionately protests (Calling Kirk "Jim" for the one and only time in the series, IIRC), Kirk just softly but authoritatively says, "...That's an order, Scotty." Scott's quiet "...Aye, sir" is a heartbreaker, as well.

Really, "Mirror, Mirror" is one of those rare TOS episodes that utilizes the entire cast well. ("The Trouble with Tribbles" is another.) I'm sure that that's one of the big reasons for its popularity.

It's minor but I love the way Shatner, in TWOK, looks back at the guy with the cleaning equipment as he and Spock stroll along.

It's funny that you mention that, because IIRC, Nicholas Meyer specifically calls that moment out in his commentary on TWOK, saying that he wished Shatner had just ignored the guy. After all, how much attention do you really pay to a janitor vacuuming in the hallway?

 

[Tallguy]

It's funny that you mention that, because IIRC, Nicholas Meyer specifically calls that moment out in his commentary on TWOK, saying that he wished Shatner had just ignored the guy. After all, how much attention do you really pay to a janitor vacuuming in the hallway?

I get Meyer's point. But having watched him for decades now, I don't think Shatner ignores ANYTHING.

 

[Phaser Two]

That's a good one! I also really like the moment at the end where Scotty stoically volunteers to stay in the Mirror Universe so that he can work the controls on the transporter. Kirk says no, he'll stay, and when Scotty passionately protests (Calling Kirk "Jim" for the one and only time in the series, IIRC), Kirk just softly but authoritatively says, "...That's an order, Scotty." Scott's quiet "...Aye, sir" is a heartbreaker, as well.

Yes! Absolutely! Scotty and Kirk are my two favorite characters, closely followed by Spock, so that scene is one of my favorites in the whole series. (In fact there are honestly very few interactions between Scotty and Kirk in the entire series that I don't like or that I don't think are well-acted and well-written. Doohan and Shatner just knew exactly how to play off of each other, and the characters' relationship is written and played perfectly.)

I knew I would forget several even in the list of those I provided, and yours is one I should definitely have included. In the vein of subtle Shatner acting, by the way, after Scotty's heartbreaking (perfect choice of words on your part) compliance with the order, Shatner delivers a soft smile as he moves back closer to the transporter console, acknowledging his appreciation Scotty's gesture of friendship and affection. It's an awesome coda to a perfect scene. I bet that smile wasn't in the script and was all Shatner.

Really, "Mirror, Mirror" is one of those rare TOS episodes that utilizes the entire cast well. ("The Trouble with Tribbles" is another.) I'm sure that that's one of the big reasons for its popularity.

Yeah, great point. I agree. Sulu isn't in TTWT and I don't believe Chapel is in either MM or TTWT - Mirror Universe Chapel's persona might have been interesting - but yes. Those are outstanding ensemble episodes. I submit that FC and OBS are two others.

It's funny that you mention that, because IIRC, Nicholas Meyer specifically calls that moment out in his commentary on TWOK, saying that he wished Shatner had just ignored the guy. After all, how much attention do you really pay to a janitor vacuuming in the hallway?

Oh, really?? That's absolutely hilarious as I wondered as I typed it how many people really noticed that. Turns out the answer is: well, quite a few, Phaser Two - including **the director!** I have never seen/listened to the DVD commentary for TWOK but I'm certainly going to watch it now; thank you!

I always found that little moment to be perfectly in keeping with Kirk's character. Kirk - and Shatner - notice everything. It's one of the reasons why I never found it unbelievable that so many people in Starfleet, the Federation and beyond knew who Kirk was, were friends with him, or respected him even if they wanted to kill him and his whole crew. As Spock said in TPS, he was an extremely dynamic individual.

 

[Marlonius]

Shore Leave: Spock tells Kirk that Vulcans consider "rest" to be sitting still and conserving energy and that he doesn't understand the human need to do activities while on leave. Kirk just smiles to himself, happy and content to see Spock being Spock.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, great point. I agree. Sulu isn't in TTWT and I don't believe Chapel is in either MM or TTWT

Well, I don't consider Chapel to be a main character.

Mirror Universe Chapel's persona might have been interesting...

Well, if the Mirror Universe is the opposite of ours, I suppose that their Chapel would have to be interesting in some fashion. God knows that ours wasn't.

 

[Spock's Barber]

A subtle moment when Kirk clenches his jaw after finding the dead technicians on Memory Alpha in Lights of Zetar.

 

[Hofner]

There's one subtle Shatner moment that I've always noticed although it may not be all that subtle and I'm not sure it can be attributed to any acting ability on Shatner's part. I have never seen anyone else mention it.

In the episode Operation Annihilate, there's a scene where Captain Kirk turns the dead body of his brother Sam over.

The camera is looking over the shoulder of the guy who's standing in for Shatner playing Kirk. He turns Shatner, who's playing the part of the dead Sam Kirk over and Shatner's body kind of... "quivers"... or "jiggles".

I used to notice it Every. Single. Time. I. Saw. It.

I'm not complaining about it, it didn't distract me, it was just a moment I always noticed. I wouldn't think it was deliberate, I guess Shatner was just making his body limp playing the part of a dead man.

But you know how some people just can't take Shatner's acting seriously, they think his acting has always been over the top scenery chewing. I can just see them laughing hysterically at how extremely over the top, ultimate scenery chewing the Shatner... "quiver" is when he's playing the part of a dead body.


Well, I hope no one will curse me for mentioning this. I hope I won't make it so that if you hadn't really noticed it much before, you will certainly be noticing it Every. Single. Time. You. See. It. from now on.



A little more seriously, here's a couple more Shatner moments i always liked although they're not real subtle. I won't mention what episode they're from, you people should be able to guess.


Here's the first:

"not with MY ship you don'T."

And here's the second moment,look at Shatner's face when he says this, he's really only looking at nothing but a blank screen if even that.

"Full astern!"


Well, that's it for now.

Robert