Slashdot Mirror
Ask William Shatner
At long last William Shatner has volunteered himself to be strapped into the Slashdot Interviewee Victim Chair. You know the gig: Post your questions for the man, the moderators do their thing, and in a week or so we post the answers. So here's your chance to ask questions to the star of Iron Chef USA, Miss Congeniality and TJ Hooker!
Do you like the Star Wars movies?
Mr Shatner,
What is the scariest experience you have ever had with one of your adoring fans?
----- Documentation is worth it just to be able to answer all your mail with 'RTFM' - Alan Cox.
You appear to have a healthy level of distain for "Trekkies" who become obsessed with the series. Where does this stem from, and what would you recommend that these people do instead.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
I'd love to hear William talk about the Transformed Man LP. How seriously did you take the project at the time, and how do you feel about the way it's metamorphosed into a camp classic?
If Mr. Shatner had the choice, would he prefer to have his current acting status as a main character in a cult classic? Or would he rather have been a consistently good actor in "normal" tv-shows/movies/theatre?
Has he started using pricelie.com YET?
A) What was your personal favorite episode of the Original Star Trek series and why?
B) What did you honestly think of TNG, not as as a tv property but as a continuation of the philosophy of your original series?
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
How many shares of Priceline.com do you own? Any comments on the whole dot-com thing?
there's no place like ~
It seems that much of your fame today continues to be good-humored self-mockery: the Star Trek Futurama episode, playing yourself in Showtime, singing for Priceline. I'm sure this brings in the bucks, but what are you doing today that challenges you creatively and for which you would rather be remembered? Of what are you most proud? What have you done that's just for the money?
----------
I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
Over the years, much parody has been made of your apparent "overacting" on the original Star Trek series. How do you feel about this, does it bother you?
"Shatner, I'd fight William Shatner." --Fight Club
People who have witty things here blow.
Will Wheaton has showed up on /. several times, and proved himself to be as geeky as any of the slashdot editorial staff.
How much of a geek are you, Mr. Shater? Do you build your own PC from scratch and put Linux on it, or do you not even pay attention if your PC is Windows or Mac?
How does it feel knowing that you, amongst others, have helped to inspire four decades of technically minded people to apply themselves to bring some portion of reality to the fiction you have portrayed?
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
Mr. Shatner: What made you finally decide to allow us to question you?
What work would you say you are most proud of? And then what do you wish you hadn't done or could redo?
Des
Since Star Trek you've written a great deal of sci-fi novels. Did you have a leaning towards science fiction before your career as captain of the USS Enterprise? What are your most important sci-fi influences?
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
2 Part question really, with a renewed popularity and, from what I gather, a content life, how has you affliction (I have forgotten the name) that causes the ringing in your ears been? I had heard that stress can cause it to act up. As of late has presence of the ailment been reduced or eliminated?
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Did you really learn Esperanto for your role in "Incubus"? If so, do you still speak it?
how do you think your career would have been different? (Not that the career that you have is bad in any way, just curious what you were gunning for originally.)
We all know you started out as a Shakesperian actor, and I wonder what you learned from those rolls that you later applied in your science fiction career? What do you think of Shakespeare's place in the acting canon? Do you still stage act?
I have to say that my one of my favorite characters you've been was the villian in "Loaded Weapon." Of your many rolls, which was or which were some of the most fun or most satisfying? Do you have a particular genre (sci-fi, comedy, drama) that you most prefer?
Moderation: Put your hand inside the puppet head!
What do you think of that T-Shirt on Wil Wheaton 's site, with the name tag, "Hello, my name is William Fucking Shatner".
I am !amused.
as a actor you portrayed the leader of a crew that got to do an AMAZING thing - explore the galaxy/universe for new forms of life. what are your views on intelligent life? do you think there is OTHER intelligent life in the galaxy/universe? do you think humanity will last long enough to ever be able to explore the galaxy/universe? if so, do you think the 'star trek' universe captures that process accurately?
smd4985
P.S. I enjoyed your portrayal of the talk show host on Columbo!
White Commanche, OTOH, I didn't finish seeing - sorry.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
As a young actor, you showed great promise in such films as Judgment at Nuremberg. Ever since Star Trek, however, it seems you have never stepped out of the role of Captain Kirk. Do you ever regret the decision to take on that role?
You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
There is one! After looking through several masks to use for Michael Myers, John Carpenter settled on the William Shatner mask! Any comments?
Mr.Shatner, may I call you Bill?
Which alien/enemy/foe made you laugh the hardest on set when you saw it?
My personal favourite was the 'Pizza' that ate people - I think Spock mind-melded with it to save the day.
Seriously it must have been a wheeze on set for Star Trek! Spock in dungarees!
Seriously, Kirk just got many more women than any other ST character in any series. Where did that mojo come from, and where can I buy it online?
BTW his official site is: www.williamshatner.com/ (predictably). It answeres many of the "what have you been up to" questions.
Mr. Shatner,
Star Trek has been parodied many times in many different formats; other television shows, movies, comics and so on. You yourself have probably been parodied as much or more in people's "Captain Kirk Impression" stand up skits and the like. My question is, do you recall a favourite parody for it's comedy or cleverness of either yourself or the series?
Thank you.
After all this Star Trek biz and such, what's up for you in the future? Do you see yourself continuing your relationship with PriceLine and other commercial opportunities, or do you envision (or have planned) a larger project? Do you have plans to lay back and relax or to push forward into something else?
Blog,Twitter
There must be an incredible sense of pride at having been associated with a series responsible for so many high quality spinoffs (Next Generation, Enterprise, etc). What did Trek have that other TV shows didn't to make it so ripe for evolution/adaptation into other series? Do you like/dislike any of the series in particular?
Thanks. We're big fans here.
-FC
In the near future (10 or 20 years or so) computer graphics are going to be nearly indistiguishable from live-action films. You know when that happens hundreds of Trekkers are going to start using your voice and image and create new episodes of the original Star Trek series. Many will probably do this anonymously just for the fun of it, despite legal issues. How do you feel about the possibility of your voice and image being used this way?
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
I happened to have seen both of your Twilight Zone episodes (the famous "something on the wing of the airplane" one and the less-famous-but-no-less-interesting one where you are obsessed with a prophecy-dispensing toy in a diner) recently. I have to say that in both episodes I was taken aback at the unexpected quality of your portrayal. Even though everyone associates your face with Captain Kirk, the characters in the TZ episodes came through loud and clear, drowning out my preconceptions.
For this reason, I'd like to ask what you think of your humorous reputation for bad acting. Would you blame some of the egregious hamminess of some of ST on the perception that TV (or SF) wasn't "real" acting or was it directing? Or some other thing?
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
according to the Adam Sandler song. What was your religious upbringing? Do you consider yourself a religious or spiritual person? Has this had any affect on your creativity, particularly your SF writing?
Mr. Shatner:
What is your single biggest regret over your entire professional career (actor, author, cult figure, etc.) and why?
GMD
watch this
The Enclycolpedia Shatnerica states the following tale:
" Ron Asheton, the gutarist for punk rocker Iggy Pop, claims that, in the summer of 1975, Shatner made a pass at him in an L.A. bar.
Shatner supposedly approached him in the Hyatt House pub. "He wanted me to sit down, then he got kind of grabby," Asheton claims.
Horrified that Captain Kirk might be anything less than straight, he fled the scene. "Probably if I'd been drinking I would have sat down just for the weirdness of seeing what would happen," Asheton says.
(From "The Encyclopedia Shatnerica" by Robert E. Schnakenberg)"
Now, we know that both you and your alter-egos are straight, including your bizarre turn as a muderous hooker in Impulse. You have had beautiful wives.
Asheton himself has been the guitarist for a bisexual rock n roller. Yet HE denies any homosexuality. I've never heard your comments on it.
Answer, if you will, the truth behind this bizarre and probably untrue story: it's possible origins, and such. It's such a weird urban legend. I'd love to hear where it got started if you know.
dave
Harlan Ellison has always been bitter about the rewrites to City on the Edge of Forever and how his story was taken away from him. In the book about it he wrote that you had come over and counted the words in the script and had it torpedoed for due kirk having less lines than spock.
My question is what is your take on what happend with his script and your response to his accusations in the book? There is plenty out there about this that I'm sure has never come to light and I was wondering what your point of view on this issue is.
If you could fight in hand-to-hand combat with anyone in the world, who would it be?
I know you have stated many times that ST:5 was not waht it could have been because of production problems? So my Question is how would you go about fixing it? What was wrong in your eyes with the film? Personally I thought the bad guy pretending to be God could have used more backstory. Perhaps you could somehow retroactively connect it with the Q continum books that came out in the ST:TNG series a couple years ago...the entity playing God reminds me alot of the antagonists in those books.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
Dear Mr. Shatner,
... not to mention Star Trek became the stuff of legend. Not bad for a gig.
.. different actors have enjoyed varying amounts of popularity. George Takei, Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and yourself have enjoyed very robust post-trek careers. Others such as Wil Wheaton, James Doohan, seem to have tremendous problems making it work in a post-trek acting environment.
Over a generation ago, you landed an acting job on a show being produced by someone that wanted to make a cowboy show in space. The show was wierd, the pay was good, and the publicity was fantastic.
Since then, and after a long pause (mostly filled with shows like Dr. Who and Space 1999), viewing audiences have been treated to five perspectives on the Star Trek universe.
Other shows have come out with varying degrees of sucess. Babylon 5, V, Farscape, and Firefly have come out to rave reviews, while others like Space Rangers and the TekWorld series have met unfortunate ends.
What do you think is the formula for a successful science fiction show on television today? Why do you think the Star Trek series has enjoyed such a phenomenal and sucessful run?
Finally
What has enabled you to remain robustly and diversely employed as an actor post-star-trek?
Sincerely,
Martin Bogomolni
Science Fiction Fan
"Don't worry about the problems you have in mathematics, I assure you mine are much greater." - Einstein c.1919
What was it like to do the first on-screen interracial kiss? How much effort did it take to make the studio go along with it, and how much of an effect did it have on you and the show as a whole?
After the tragic and untimely death of your wife Nerine, a recovering alcoholic, you took the courageous step of establishing a fund in her name to benefit Friendly House, an organization for recovering alcoholics. How is that work progressing, and has your involvement with this effort helped you work through this loss?
I know that this subject must be painful for you, but I'm sure there are many in the slashdot community who would benefit from your experience and insights here.
Years ago, when you hosted SNL, you participated in the now classis Trekkie sketch (actually, one of my all time favorite SNL sketches).
:)
Was that sketch a catharsis for you, a means of finally casting off some chains and letting the world know what you think and feel, or was it just a sketch? I am not dissing you, your work, or Trek fans, but, let's be honest here, some people do need to, in your words, "Get a life!". Do you/did you feel that way, or was it just an act? Come on, be honest.....
I will preface this by saying I am a mild trekkie and as such, I immensely enjoyed the 1999 film Galaxy Quest.
I think everyone who has seen Galaxy Quest will agree that the show that it is based upon is, in essence, "Star Trek". It follows that Tim Allen's Character was essentially meant to be you.
So my two part question is this:
Did you enjoy the show, and, how accurate was their portrayal of life after Trek?
One of the few times I have seen Shatner sympathetically was in an anecdote he told in part of a video shown at the Smithsonian Museum of Air & Space's gratuitous Star Trek retrospective.
Shatner said he was picked up by a limo in the 70's to go to some function. The driver suddenly pulled over and said, "Mr. Shatner, I've been waiting a long time to talk to you." Shatner thinks uh-oh. "You see, I'm a Vietnam vet and was held as a prisoner of war." Shatner thinks, oh shit.
The vet goes on to explain that while he and his buddies were held under torturous conditions, they used Star Trek to stay sane. They could speak to each other in the darkness and would try to reconstruct the scripts from memory, one person playing Spock, another Kirk, and so on.
It was one of the oddest bits of Trek trivia I had ever heard, and related with sensitivity by a man infamous for being a dick in public and private. I still think he's an egomaniac, but not one incapable of turns of humanity.
How does Shatner feel about Wheaton's success selling T-shirts emblazoned "I'm William Fucking Shatner"? see wilwheaton.net
:)
Tragically for Wil's semi-playful vendetta, he had a very pleasant encounter with Shatner at a television taping and, at least temporarily, suspended the jihad.
Hi Bill,
I'm curious to know what you think of the "modern day" Star Trek shows that come out every now and then. I feel the shows have degraded in quality, and have become less reminiscent of the original series with each new series that comes out. The Next Generation was generally good, but following shows seem to be progressively less interesting and engaging. Granted, it's a tall order to create a show that surpasses the original Star Trek, but I think they could have done a lot better.
At the risk of biting the hand that feeds (or fed) you, I'd like to hear the honest truth as you see it. What do you think of the four Star Trek spinoffs? Is the franchise still kicking after so many years, or is it time to put it out to pasture?
By the way, I have to tell you that you were my idol growing up. I learned everything I needed to know about women from Captain Kirk!
Concerning the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Do you consider them to be a boon or a bane to actors and actressess?
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
You've been involved in numerous high-profile animated series (from Star Trek:TAS to Futurama and Family Guy). How does work on shows like these compare to live-action acting for someone as well-known as yourself ?
I alternate between posting +5 and -1 Comments. Karma: +53 -47 = 6
Mr. Shatner:
Considering that Star Trek was supposed to be a serious show about the future, there were an awful lot of gorgeous women running around in skimpy outfits on the set and you had your shirt off half the time. How did you, the other actors, and Roddenberry feel about the sexual undertones in Star Trek? Was it something forced on you by the studio? Or did you feel it was a legitimate part of the show?
GMD
watch this
Mr Shatner,
If you went back in point to the moment you were offered the role of Captain Kirk, would you still take it? If so, why? If not, why and what would you have done differently?
Also, given that you agreed to a Q&A, I have to ask; are you a regular reader of Slashdot?
My
Limekiller
It's fairly well known (at least here in Canada) that you attended McGill University for some time. They even went so far as to rename the Student Union building the Shatner Building.
I've heard that you were invited to the renaming ceremony, but refused to attend. I've also heard that you generally speak very poorly of your time at McGill. What was it about McGill that was so dreadful/horrible/annoying/etc that has made you so sour on the subject?
Karma: Excellent (Mainly due to Bill & Ted's Karma Adventure)
How much of the Captain Kirk character was developed by you, and how much was developed by Roddenberry?
Go here for teh [sic] funny.
Some Film and TV roles seem to transend themselves and take on a life of their own. Michael Landon is Charles Ingalls from Little House on the Prarie, Yule Brenner is the King of Siam, George Scott is Patton, and you are, of course, Captain James T. Kirk. I know you lampooned the trekkies on SNL, telling them to "Get a Life", but how much does the Star Trek genre affect your life and career. Even now, is it difficult to land roles without someone imagining you as Captain Kirk? Can you remember a time before you heard the word "Romulan" or do you envision a future where you can forget it? Also, can you give a sense of how annoying it is to be given Star Trek references while trying to run your everyday errands?
"This isn't a study in computer science, its a study in human behavior"
You've had, to say the least, a very interesting life with many ups, downs, and detours. So I have a two part question.
1) Based on your life experience, what is one thing you'd advise no one EVER do, and why?
2) Based on your life experience, what is one thing you'd advise everyone to definitely do (at least once), and why?
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
Mr. Shatner, I would ask you what you thought of the captains that followed in your footsteps: Captain Picard, Captain Sisko, Captain Janeway and Captain Archer, of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise respectively. What sort of input did you have, if any, in the four series? Are you planning to do any more scifi TV shows? I enjoyed your Tekwar series. Which do you like portraying more, a good guy, a bad guy, or an anti-hero? Thanks for allowing us to pester you with questions you've probably answered many times over. =)
Julie Moult is an idiot.
One of the best Saturday Night Live shows I can remember was when you appeared on it as a host. I thought the skit of you at the Star Trek convention was excellent, BTW. Especially when you tore into the Trekkies who seem like the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.
Though your diatribe ("Get a life people") was brushed aside as the talk of the "Evil Kirk", what's your real opinion of the die hard fans? Granted many are a bit excessive, but do you appreciate the attention or do you find it annoying at all?
The 911 recording from your call reporting your wife's tragic pool accident, has been played, re-played, and played again on radio stations throughout the country. In fact, I heard it just the other day. In the weeks following the accident, the recording was played almost constantly.
Usually when I hear the recording, its associated with classless humor, usually radio talk show hosts trying to be funny, cracking "shatner jokes" and similiar.
I know personally that if my wife met a tragic and untimely death, I would despise all those making jokes about it!
How has this public attention (mockery) to the incident effected your life?
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Here's a variant but perhaps related question:
Anyone familiar with the history of the theater knows the names of great actors like Richard Burbage (a member of Shakespeare's company) and Sarah Bernhardt. We know their work only by reputation, however; their performances are of course lost to history.
You are one of the very first group of actors in history whose performances are, barring some cataclysm, going to be preserved forever. When you showed up to perform at Studio One or Playhouse 90, on anthology series like "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone," or later on series television like "Star Trek," did it ever occur to you that work you may have done with little or no rehearsal would have that kind of persistence? If so, did it affect your work? If not, is there anything you would have done differently?
(What I'm trying to get at here is that while most everyone recognizes that some early television ranks with the classics, the fact of the matter is that television in the early days was very much a sausage factory: there was no backlog of syndicated material, and a lot of content had to be churned out. People generally didn't sit around saying, "Gee, we're creating a new genre of theatrical art, how should we think about that?" -- there was too much work to be done. Even years later people didn't appreciate the significance of the early years of television; a lot of film was thrown out or left to rot. So maybe the question I'm trying to get at here is really, "Now that we recognize that significance of the early years of television, do you think about your work as an actor differently now than you did then, and if so how?")
As a tinnitus sufferer (brought on by noise trauma, like you), I take comfort in knowing there are celebrities such as yourself who have overcome this intrusive malady to live a happy life and accomplish great things.
What techniques/treatments have been successful for you in dealing with this disease?
Given your general willingness to have strong opinions and your role in the ever-expanding world of Tek War, not to mention your playing T.J. Hooker, how do you feel about the virtual disappearance of the so-called War on Drugs since September 11th?
Rustin
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Galaxy Quest obviously satired not only the characters of Star Trek as they behaved on camera, but also the characters of the on actors that portayed them. Did you like the movie? Do you think the weaknesses of the Star Trek franchise that the film hyperboles are fair? Did friction between you and your co-stars on the convention circuit ever approach the levels suggested in film?
"You can't dissect him, predict him, which of course means he's not a lunatic at all."
I don't think a lot of people take an auteuristic view of Star Trek, but I used to follow which directors were which on TNG and follow their styles.
:)
My favorite directors have to be veteran Cliff Bole ("Best of Both Worlds", "Silicon Avatar", Voyager's "Dark Frontier") and Les Landau ("Chain of Command II", "Family", "Night Terrors").
Did you have any favorite directors, or did they all seem interchangeable like the old days of movies? Since "Best of Both Worlds" is better than some of the Trek movies, I'd really like to see Bole helm a feature. No such luck. Is there any particular reason? Can I get in touch with him?
Just recently you took part in a massive paintball charity match in Joliet, IL for your "Ahead with Horses" charity, in which you, as Captain Kirk, led the Federation against a team of Klingons and the Borg. It sounded like an amazing idea!
So, what I'm wondering is, how did it go? Did you enjoy paintball (and reprising your "Captain Kirk" role)? Also, I heard mention of the entire thing being was to be documented in a video. Is that still in the works, and if so, where can one purchase it?
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
Since the majority of questions seem Trek related, here's one that's not:
If a major network came to you and offered you the chance to helm or take the lead in a new series of your choice, what would you want to do? Would you return to your stage roots? More Sci-Fi? TJ Hooker Returns? What would give you the most satisfaction?
and
What did you think of John Lithgow's reprisal of your TZ character in Twilight Zone: The Movie?
The original was one of the few episodes that stuck with me. Despite the goofy looking creature, it had that feeling of paranoia and claustrophobia that one would get when cornered by the unknown.
Looking back on the show with a bit of a post-modernist eye there were some really interesting subversive themes laced into the ST plot. The occasional anti-capitalist themes, the concept of the Federation as a nearly perfect communist society, the promotion of secular humanism and multiple episodes where the plot was literally man against god. There were the racial harmony themes, anti-religious themes and the prime directive itself could have been taken as a statement against cultural imperialism. All of this on tv in a world where Joe McCarthy was still a very fresh memory.
Now I know that Rodenberry was responsible for most of it, but how did it feel to be caught up in something like that during the 60's? (This is such a set up for the response, "I was just a tv show.")
17 years ago, I worked for a non-profit called "Ahead with Horses" which taught physically disabled children to ride horses, and in some cases to vault on them (think gymnastics on horseback). If I remember right, Mr. Shatner was a generous supporter of the program (with both his time and money).
My question is this Mr. Shatner: which are your favorite charities? What's you favorite story related to one of them?
Thanks!
Personally its not God I dislike, its his fan club I cant stand (bash.org)
Regarded as a historical TV moment, you have had stories related that you forced the 'kiss' between yourself and Nichelle Nichols to be put into the episode. What we're your reasons behind pushing for the inclusion of the kiss - was it purely on a moral basis or did others influence your decision? And, because of this action, we're you ever put into an uncomfortable position (threatened by certain groups, not permitted in a select club, etc.)?