TOS Turbolift

[Henoch]

Um, is this the TOS Tubolift thread or the Shirtless Kirk thread?

It's Shirtless Kirk in the TOS Turbolift, so, yes, this is fair discussion for the TOS Turbolift thread.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

More likely they wanted to boost ratings among female viewers by getting their male lead's shirt off frequently. At the time, they figured the big draw for the ladies would be Shatner, rather than Nimoy as it turned out.

That may well have played into the Corbomite shirtless walk; Roddenberry seemed to think in those terms. But I suspect the director wanted to convey the sense of "gritty intimacy" that you see in the better WW II sea battle movies, where the men are raw and personal, and a "you are there" feeling is created through unguarded realism.

This kind of film making effort is why Kirk is seen eating corn chips on the bridge in "The Man Trap" (when he tells McCoy to take a red pill). And Corbomite was brimming with effort, almost as if it was a third pilot. They put their hearts into it.