Shocked Shatner shunted from Star Trek XI William Shatner has expressed his shock and disappointment at not being invited to cameo in the forthcoming 11th celluloid outing for Star Trek - despite director J J Abrams apparently having said the ageing stacatto-delivery star "probably would have a part in the film". Shatner, 76, told AP: "I couldn't believe it. I'm not …
I can understand why the egomaniac Bill Shatner feels left out but I think the producers are missing a trick here. Sure, plot holes may appear if you simply allow the camera hogging bloatware* that is our man Kirk to take part but there are other roles for him to play... with only the most basic makeup, he could easily pass as a planet.
*Despicable attempt to make this comment and therefore by extension the article in any way relevant to technical gubbins.
...Shatner refused a cameo role and had asked for a proper part in the film. One wasn't available so he isn't in it. Apparently Bill feels he is too important to be limited to doing a Stan Lee walk on.
However the normal internet rumour mill rules apply so have your salt ready.
she couldn't even get that right, sending the Enterprise E off into the Romulan zone to get spanked by Picard's clone.
Nemesis was pretty dire..
Mind you, TNG was dire for about 6 seasons with maybe a seasons worth of good material.
DS9 ripped off B5 ((watch the fanboi's reactions here)
Voyager was dire for 7 seasons with maybe half a dozen decent episodes.
Enterprise was ridiculous. A ship that's supposed to be a 100 years older than the Kirk Enterprise but was actually superior in all the ways that mattered.
"A ship that's supposed to be a 100 years older than the Kirk Enterprise but was actually superior in all the ways that mattered."
They still hadn't thought to put in seat belts or toilets though. Even Voyager had a shower, but no loos. I can only imagine that after a hard episode's worth of Romulan bashing the poor Federation types were busting for a wee (hence I presume the dark easy-dry trousers).
B5 was great, although I'm disappointed nobody had the foresight to kick Delenn out of an airlock early on... she made The Riddler look positively succinct.
Muppets!
Obviously you've all forgotten Farscape. Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) FTW!
As for Kirk, I think he must be under the impression he's got cult status like the Hoff or Chuck Norris. Sadly for him his memo was spelt wrong ... it didn't say "People think you're a cult ...".
For those with hangovers "l" and "n" are relatively near each other on the keyboard .... ; )
You should have continued that quote, because the very next line makes it plain *why* he's not in the new film:
"I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision."
No, Bill, it's a decision not to subject the rest of the cast to your fat-headed self-admiring arrogance. You're making a right Bulgarian airbag of yourself, best if you were to shut up now ...
"Enterprise was ridiculous. A ship that's supposed to be a 100 years older than the Kirk Enterprise but was actually superior in all the ways that mattered."
Probably because the original ST came out about the time the transistor (bulk, in the little metal can with three wires coming out of it...) was hitting it's stride. They had NO concept of what computer systems and electronics would be capable in 30 years, let alone 200. Let's face it, your average smart phone has 10 times the processing power and at least as good of communication ability as the original ST series Enterprise.
Let's face it: when Enterprise (the series) came out, they really had NO choice but to update the electronics to something that was a bit more realistic based on what we can do now.
But it is kind of funny!
They don't need a loo. They set the transporter on narrow-beam and just dematerialize the material. Oh sure there's some, uh, buildup, as the transporter is operated in an uncalibrated "safe" mode that doesn't try to get every morsel. But as the life expectancy of a constitution-class starship crew is only about 3 seasons anyway, the long term health effects are minimal. But if you wonder why McCoy always looks so cranky, all you have to do is imagine the chief complaint at sick call.
I rather liked Janeway, though I got tired of the "unexplored-nebula-of-the-week" format of Voyager. And for those of you who think William Shatner can't act (which pretty much covers everyone who's seen him), he was in an early Twilight Zone episode (gremlins tearing up an airplane engine) where he showed potential. Perhaps he's just hard to direct.
So he's pushing 80 years old and he's not as trim and fit as he was in the 60s when he was on the original series. So what? Obviously he couldn't play Kirk, but he could still play Kirk's grandfather or an entirely different character. Shatner, despite his cheesiness has still done more for the franchise and to promote interest in Sci-Fi & space travel than most anyone else. (with apologies for the ridiculous TJ Hooker schlock he was involved with in the 80's) At least he had the graciousness to react to not being chosen with some dignity, only expressing his disappointment in the decision. I can only imagine what Paris Hilton would do if not chosen for something. (and there's your Paris angle)
A question for all you Shatner haters. What is it about your own lives that is so horrible that you need to hate a 70+ year old Canadian actor so much? I mean, what do any of you know about him as a person, or his life? How many of you have walked an inch in his shoes, never mind a mile? It's all so very clever to spew hate on some semi-anonymous comment board isn't it?
and raise you one Blake's Seven and a side of Sapphire and Steel..
I would say the new Battlestar Galactica shits all over any of the shows mentioned so far - but apparently this a retro reminiscence.
(Babylon 5 was brilliant to start with, but the last couple seasons were a bit on the dodgy side).
I don't need to get out more, I'm perfectly happy in my sad little HDTV world of scifi.
Ah, yes! Fanboi accusations... How ironic.
Relax. I *have* met the man. He has a sense of humor. When I met him, he was busy ripping jokes at his own expense. Rather good ones, at that. Somehow, I don't think he much gives a rat's buttocks *what* we say about him.
Carry on, folks!
Battlestar Galactica ripped off the shaky camera work from Firefly - a surprisingly good series that was prematurely canned just as it was getting into it's stride. Such a shame as the cast had really started to gel.
Battlestar Galactica's script just doesn't do anything for me - all my sympathy lies with the Cylons.
I can't believe the number of "sci fi fans" (and I use that term under advisement) posting here that have missed the new Battlestar Galactica, which is self-evidently the best sci-fi series in the history of ever. Adama ftw!
(dons flame retardant coat, and runs)
"A question for all you Shatner haters. What is it about your own lives that is so horrible that you need to hate a 70+ year old Canadian actor so much? I mean, what do any of you know about him as a person, or his life? How many of you have walked an inch in his shoes, never mind a mile?"
Well, for me it was "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," but i think the real nail in the coffin was Msr. Montalban blowing Shatner out of the water in "The Wrath of Khan" (far and away the best ST movie). It really was sad how bad Shatner looked contrasted with R.M., scene to scene.
Then Picard came along and showed us how a *real* actor captains the Starship Enterprise. No flings with alien floozies for him, no sir! He was a military man, through and through, with Shakespearean diction, to boot! Even if No. 1 was generally stiff and Wesley Crusher inspired a desire to have his head crushed mercilessly in an airlock door, Picard kept us (me) coming back, week after week. (and Troi's very large....er, hair.)
While i would agree that Shatner has done a lot to promote science fiction over the years (books and bad movies and the original series), let's face it, he's a terrible actor, and the only original cast member who pulls in the viewers is Leonard Nimoy, period. (willfully forgetting his stab at the Top 40, back in the day, of course. *wink wink*)
TOS retains its power; Voyager tried to emulate it - and it had Seven of Nine! Picard and Data could not save NG from it's verbosity and touchy-feeliness.
After TOS, I'd rate the original Outer Limits, Lexx and Red Dwarf.
Shatner inhabits Mt Olympus. His enemies will be crushed and put to flight like the cattle they are.
At first I thought, NO - cowboy cliches do NOT belong on my SciFi channel, but actually like most people here I started to get into it just as they killed the series off. Even the movie wasn't too shabby.
Camera shake, I feel fans of Star Trek TOS will have something to say about that - and perhaps someone ought to break the real reason he wasn't included in the new Star Trek film to Mr. Shatner - a few less biscuits sir, and I think you might have got back in.
"What is it about your own lives that is so horrible that you need to hate a 70+ year old Canadian actor so much?"
I fear you've answered you own question there...
You see, the real tragedy of Canada is that while they could have had British culture, French cooking and American technology, they instead got American culture, British cooking, and French technology.
<kirk imitation>Thank............. God......... </kirk imitation>
If they really want to do the movie going public a huge favor, I say they splice some stock footage of Scotty horsing around with the transporters and then pay the actor who plays Picard to stare into the camera and state: "Mr. Scott, beam his ass into a wall!"
...War On Terror In Space.
Seriously, it's so up it's own patriotic fire-in-the-hole that it's just unbearable.
"Oh look at all the seemingly immoral/impratical/stupid decisions that your President must do to protect you from a threat you don't understand."
Christ/Elijah/etc on a bike -- I know sci-fi has always been used to give an allegory to modern society, but that tub-thumping, jingo-istic sh!te should never have been commissioned.
It's blasphemy against the name of the single best tech demo ever![*]
[*] The original Battlestar Galactica was reputedly filmed as an effects vehicle for Industrial Light and Magic in order to drum up more Hollywood interest. Hence tech demo.
Well, maybe Shatner has been a little bit of an ass in his later life, but he *is* the one and true Captain of the Enterprise. Actually, as a kid I kind of liked the TOS characters more, maybe because of the movies? I just seem to like better the TOS crew than the TNG one.
That said, the TNG crew rocks too! ;) but I'm more fond of the original ones ...
Not that anyone's counting
B5 - #1 by a long shot..
Firefly
Galactica original
Lexx
Dr Who (modern)
Galactica new
Lots of movies and whatnot (inc SW:ANH-ROJ followed by ST:TPM-ROS
DS9
Trek movies
Voyager
TOS
All the rest that is Sci-Fi, bar for those I have forgotten that should be above, and TNG, which is a lot further down the list, below all other Sci Fi, and all stuff that isn't Sci Fi, and all that isn't even watchable. [comic-guy voice] Worst... crap... ever...
...the rest is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Shatner.
I have seen ST: Generations. I watched the plot, dialogue and pacing twist, creak and stumble as its creators tried to give Kirk a glorious, feature-length end, having pulled him out of the (plot) hole in which he had been quietly existing. It messed up the film. Also, putting Shatner up alongside a real actor really showed up his deficiencies. Personally, I think he should throw posterity (and ST) a bone and quit while he’s still ahead.
Anything from the first 5 seasons of StarGate was pretty nifty....and I still rate it higher than any of the Trek stuff.
Star Wars movies were WAY better than the Trek ones...and I mean WAY better.
Last I heard Shattner was big enough to play the part of a PLANET, rather than a captain...
Firefly, Lexx ftw
I LOVE the 1999 Lost In Space Movie.
No seriously, it's great. Matt le Blanc rocks in it, and Gary Oldman is as usual in fine form. Even the slightly ropey plot couldn't keep this great film down. If you haven't seen it again since it cmae out, I really do suggest you dust it off and give it another airing!
At the moment tho, I am really loving Stargate:Atlantis. No reason, just am.
-Jar
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