William Shatner’s Finest TOS Performance?

[kaj21206]

I really loved Shatner in Where No Man Gas Gone Before. After Gary is changed into a near god Kirk is grappling the entire episode about killing Mitchell. Spock is the other half knowing they will have to kill Mitchell because his power will keep growing. After Gary kills Kelso Kirk finally goes after him and in they finally fight when Dehner saps Garys power and hes back to normal just for a few seconds and Kirk is ready to kill him he stops again after Gary confused says "Jim?" Kirk says Garys name with that last bit of despair was a great scene and both Lockwood and Shatners acting made it a great scene. Still probably my favorite scene in all of star trek. Truly sad..

That's a great scene. I think the best scene is his speech to Dehner moments earlier. That's when he claimed the role as his own. I don't think Hunter's Pike could pull off that speech.

 

[Mudd]

COTEOF.

 

[Tallguy]

COTEOF.

Hard to argue. I also think it's one of Nimoy's.

 

[TRON JA307020]

That's a great scene. I think the best scene is his speech to Dehner moments earlier. That's when he claimed the role as his own. I don't think Hunter's Pike could pull off that speech.

Yes. He gave a great speech to her. Another great scene. Shatner is really a great actor. Highly underrated.

 

[Victoria]

I feel I should put in a word for the much (and rightly) derided "Plato's Stepchildren". Shatner's imitation of a horse is surprisingly good. That's really got to have taken some acting skills.

 

[TRON JA307020]

I feel I should put in a word for the much (and rightly) derided "Plato's Stepchildren". Shatner's imitation of a horse is surprisingly good. That's really got to have taken some acting skills.

Well he does have thoroughbred horses and rides. Lol

 

[Photon]

I just watched the scene where Captain Kirk returns to the Enterprise bridge after the crew ‘mutiny’ in ‘This Side of Paradise’. I really felt empathy and sympathy for his character during his Captain’s Log monologue.

Your choice for Shatner’s finest performance, either a scene, an act or a whole episode…

Miramaneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Just kidding.

Enterprise Incidient

 

[Spock's Barber]

Miramaneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Just kidding.

Enterprise Incidient

Or, “I…AM…KEE-ROK!!!”

 

[RubySlipppers]

I've got Turnabout Intruder going in my office today and I dearly love when Kirk is filing his nails and acting increasingly like Janice. I hahahaha Every Single Time!

 

[TRON JA307020]

I've got Turnabout Intruder going in my office today and I dearly love when Kirk is filing his nails and acting increasingly like Janice. I hahahaha Every Single Time!

Not a great episide story wise but yeah shatner is hamming it up the way only he can. Every time he said "Arthur" as Janice Kirk I crack up. Lol

 

[willa6276m]

He's perfect in "Turnabout Intruder", an specially difficult part, considering he wasn't even playing his usual character. And I also love when the script allowed him to show his more comedic side, like in "Tribbles" and "A Piece of the Action".
In general, he's great with subtle emotions (repressed grief or anger, a fleeting worried thought...). Not so great when the script calls for bigger action, like screaming in pain or acting crazy.
But Shatner was really good in most of the episodes.

Agree. Plus he was very sick when filming Turnabout Intruder. He had a flu and fever.

In addition Roddenberry came to the set during filming to tell Shatner he wouldn't be able to direct the next episode as planned because NBC didn't want more episodes. So he was disappointed, dejected and sick. But he's a pro. He got it done.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

COTEOF.

TNT. No beach to walk on.

 

[publiusr]

Getting out of Bezos gumdrop, silent and thoughtful—as kids were whooping it up.

THAT was his greatest performance…ever

 

[MakeshiftPython]

Gonna be a dissenter: I don't like Shatner's delivery of the "risk is our business" monologue. When I was first aware of it, I had only read a transcript of it, and hadn't actually seen the episode. When I finally got around to it I found it very underwhelming because I thought Shatner played it way too big. "THAT'S WHY WE'RE ABOARD HERR!"

"Return to Tomorrow", like many episodes from S2 and S3 were one of the last I ever got to catch up with. So when I initially watched TOS, it was mostly S1 episodes, and I had gotten used to Shatner's performances in those. If I were to pick his best performance, it would probably be from S1. So when I would finally catch those later episodes, it kinda took me aback how Shatner would GO BIG a lot. I'm really not a fan of that, and not sure why he went that direction in later episodes.

 

[Tallguy]

Quiet Shatner > Big Shatner pretty much every time. "I know nothing" is far better than "You Klingon bastards".

But Risk is Our Business is pretty much the Quintessential Kirk Performance. (And the MUSIC! *swoon*)

(Isn't this thread a year stale?)

 

[Ssosmcin]

Quiet Shatner > Big Shatner pretty much every time. "I know nothing" is far better than "You Klingon bastards".

Well, to be fair "you Klingon bastards" is quiet.

The three deliveries are just varying in emotion. The first is so low it's hard to even hear. The second has intense grief attached - and is the loudest. The third is filled with both grief and resolve.

It's not Shatner going big. "Khhaaaan!" is going big. "I...have had...enough of...YOU!" is going big. "Klingon bastards" is Shatner on point.

(Isn't this thread a year stale?)

In before the lock

 

[Maurice]

In addition Roddenberry came to the set during filming to tell Shatner he wouldn't be able to direct the next episode as planned because NBC didn't want more episodes. So he was disappointed, dejected and sick. But he's a pro. He got it done.

IIRC, NBC had the option to pick up a few more episodes, but didn't exercise it, and the show would have known that in advance. The network could often be slow to give orders, but that's beyond last-minute. And I'm pretty sure there were no other scripts in the production pipeline, but I could check.

And I know this is ancient…

I don't recall a laugh track on Tribbles or A Piece of the Action. Although if you listen really closely you can actually hear Roddenberry scowling.

But I dunno where people got the idea Roddenberry disliked comedy. He and Coon cooked up "Japan Triumphant" as a "sort of comedy" episode that fortunately never went anywhere, and he didn't put the kibosh on Coon rewriting "A Piece of the Action" into a comedy after Coon left for Universal. Coon's secretary, Ande, flat out told me in person that there was no big battle over comedy or anything else between the Genes.

That said, we know Justman didn't like the Tribbles script.

 

[Ssosmcin]

But I dunno where people got the idea Roddenberry disliked comedy.

You can certainly assign Mark Cushman some of the blame for perpetuating that. He leans heavily on the idea that he didn't like Star Trek becoming a full on comedy and the shift to a much more straight faced third season was less Freiberger and more Gene.

The truth? I don't know. That's what you're here for.

 

[Tallguy]

But I dunno where people got the idea Roddenberry disliked comedy.

I thought I've heard it from a few places. But no, I don't have a reference.

You can certainly assign Mark Cushman some of the blame for perpetuating that.

If I learned anything from Cushman I'm embarrassed.

 

[Dar70]

I'm not picking one.... ...his whole body of work as Kirk in TOS is my favorite.... 60 years later and no one has been able to top Shatner as Captain.