Showing posts with label William Shatner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Shatner. Show all posts

Monday, March 22, 2010

Happy Birthday William Shatner!

I have said many times, and I'll say it again, I am not a Star Trek fan. I am a William Shatner fan. I first watched Star Trek in syndication and I truly cut my Shatner teeth on T.J. Hooker. The man has entertained me in television, film (Free Enterprise is genius), computer games (the Scott Bennie written Star Trek adventure game episodes are wonderful), books, and in music. For most of my life, the words Shatner and "recorded music" brought to mind weird performances of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Rocket Man," and "Mr. Tambourine Man," (on the Transformed Man album) but thanks to Ben Folds, William Shatner released a wonderful record HAS BEEN. Prior to that album's release Shatner and Folds did a nice duet on Conan O'Brien.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Shatner on Shatner at LA Times

Geoff Boucher has a post covering a recent conversation he had with William Shatner over at the LA Times' HERO COMPLEX blog. Naturally, the subject of Shatner's disappointment in being excluded from the JJ Abrams movie is discussed. Shatner wishes he had been Bobby Ewing'ed into the movie, as does -- secretly for some -- everyone else.

Everyone, dammit!

Including JJ!

Some random blog carried a story, based on what a best friend said he heard from his cousin, that she read on Ain't It Cool news that stated that JJ had a screenplay where Kirk comes back as his virile young self, seduces a couple of women, and then rapidly ages. Then he realized he couldn't use it because he'd already done that narrative in FOREVER YOUNG. -- If you believe this regarding the screenplay, some huckster wants to talk about a real estate venture with you.

One finds it difficult to imagine STAR TREK without Shatner. For some, like the editors at GEEK MONTHLY, Shatner is the franchise.

Here at Cinerati, we're Shatner fans first -- STAR TREK fans second. KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS is more palatable than ST: GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (aka ST: VOYAGER). Denny Crane is pure genius.

But we know that Shatner is a controversial figure. It's fun reading through the comments section, fake former cast member posts and all. They are really amusing and indicative of how first impressions with actors in public places can shape one's opinions regarding the merit of an individual.

For the record, I have two Shatner autographs. One attained through his assistant and one signed in person while Shatner was suffering from a massive flu that failed to prevent him from signing autographs at GenCon SoCal. Shatner's dedication to his fans, and to exposure certainly, was admirable. Far more admirable than Walter Koenig's "reading" from his as yet unpublished (if it will ever be published) novel. Koenig's act of reading the book, which contained an annoying ad nauseum "itsy bitsy spider" refrain, before adoring fans seemed more selfish than any act that Shatner has been accused of perpetrating.

The most credible description, in my opinion, of Shatner behind the camera is the book CAPTAIN QUIRK which shows him as odd, at odds with the non-leads, friendly with the guest stars, and friends with the extras and stunt men. QUIRK presents a version of Shatner that isn't fawning, but allowed me to keep my own hero worship, it also matched my personal experience.

For a quote that best personifies what we here at Cinerat love about the Shatner, let me quote Cory from the HERO COMPLEX comments section:



William Shatner is made of pure awesome. Even awesome thinks Bill is awesome.

Cheers to you for years of entertainment, laughs and all-round awesomeness.


As Stan Lee would put it, "'Nuff Said."

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

William Shatner is Getting His Own Interview Show on Biography

For those fans who where told by William Shatner to "get a life," it might not surprise them that Bill has a "Raw Nerve" or two. But I bet they never would have guessed that "Shatner's Raw Nerve" would be the title of a celebrity interview show on the Biography channel.

As everyone who reads this knows, I am a big William Shatner fan. One of the reasons I am such a big fan is that Shatner is willing to try anything once to entertain his fans. He has "written" books, "sung" on cds, starred in movies and tv shows, done streaming online videos for his myspace "friends." He'll even make fun of himself like he did in Free Enterprise.

It looks like Bill has found a new way to entertain his fans, an interview show. According to Variety (hat tip to Kate at Fishbowl LA), the show will be 30 minutes long and "producers will make an effort to book guests separately from their movie and other junkets." When was the last time that happened? I would love to see conversations with actors and politicians during a time when they aren't promoting a product or running for office. If anyone can pull that one off, it will be the Shatner.