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Ask William Shatner Whatever You'd Like
He's Canadian, he's proven himself a successful comedic actor and writer, filmmaker, and musician, but (no matter what else he does) in many people's minds he will always be James Tiberius Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise. Now, William Shatner has agreed to answer your questions. We'll pass on to him a selection of the best reader questions; you might want to read up on Shatner's official home page (and the Wikipedia link above) to knock out some of the most obvious ones. We'll pass on to him a selection of the best questions. Note: it's tempting to pile them on, but please try to follow the interview question guidelines by posting one question per post — ask as many questions as you'd like, though. Shatner is on vacation right now, but will work on answering your questions when he gets back.
In your early days, there were only a few major television networks, and it was much more difficult to move back and forth between television and movies. Today, with so many cable shows, the internet, and with actors moving much more freely between movies and television, do you think young actors have it easier? Or do you think that the proliferation of reality television and the "noise" of so many channels/series has actually made things harder for scripted actors?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
How bad do the fans actually get? What's your most bizarre anecdote about annoying Trek fans?
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
For good or bad, your professional image is forever stamped by your brief portrayal of Kirk. If you could go back and remake your career into that of an actor who has a successful career in smaller, more varied roles, would you?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Mr. Shatner: I recently watched my way through The Original Series and you were constantly pulling your uniform shirt down. I've also heard that the red uniforms from the movies were quite cumbersome to design and wear. Which was more uncomfortable to you, the uniforms from the original television episodes or the red command uniforms from the movies?
If you had a pony, what single trick would you teach it? Do you think said pony could make a living out of it for forty long years and how would you recommend they go about it?
Wearing pants should always be optional.
Outside of the Star Trek series, you've had a large number of regular, one-off and recurring roles. What would be your favourite role prior to the beginnings of Star Trek and after the original ST series run? If different, what was your favourite one-off?
In the late 80s/early 90s you penned the TekWar series of novels that spun off a few different franchises. Did you consider this a success and do you intend to do any more sci-fi writing in the future?
Given your rather unique history in show business, and the myriad of projects that you've worked on (who can forget Incubus?), is there any project in your past where, even now, you look back even now and say, "What was I thinking?"
Thanks, Captain.
"Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life." -- Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations_, Book 9, 37
So what are the fans like at the T.J. Hooker conventions?
When you told Jon Stewart the pauses in your delivery were due to "...forgetting [your] lines", was this an actually true answer or was it a way to avoid the question; if avoidance, could you give the real answer now?
(back in 1995 or so you were still noted as an archer: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/longterm/archery/archfact.htm and had been for quite a while -- photo here: http://www.archeryhistory.com/archers/pics/shatner.jpg )
If so, how often, using what equipment? Still using a compound or have you gone back to using a recurve or longbow?
If you do still shoot, do you travel w/ your archery gear? Any issues in doing so? Or amusing anecdotes?
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
You seemed to have a great relationship with Mr. Spader - was that all fantastic acting, or did you become friends - as in you still see/speak with him even after the show ended?
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Growing up, Star Trek was one of the things that got me interested in engineering and the sciences. It made me want to see the future, or create it myself. What do you think should be done to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers?
Of course he has.
http://interviews.slashdot.org/story/02/12/05/1444246/William-Shatner-Replies
See that article and the questions that led to it for a previous round of "Ask William Shatner".
In fact, check all of the previous Slashdot stories for some good questions. Perhaps it'd be of interest to know what happened to the 'Starfleet Academy' show he pitched. And maybe it'll prevent the "Star Trek vs Star Wars?" question which he already addressed a while back.
Mr Shatner -
Recently I saw you in the Raymond Kurzweil documentary (Transcendant Man) where you emphatically said that you do not want to die.
This year, you have exceeded the average life expectancy of a male for ANY country in the world. Iceland is highest at 80.2 years; you are now 80.5 years.
So my question(s): Are you still fighting the battle for physical/mental immortality? If so, how? If not, can you describe the process you have gone through to accept your mortality and ultimately death?
Thanks very much for your insights.
BTW I loved your work in Star Trek as a youngster, and your cover of Pulp's "Common People" just a few years back.
When I was a kid, your commercial for the Commodore VIC-20 convinced me that I had to have one (because Captain Kirk was advertising it!). I used it to learn some programming (both BASIC and assembler) and it was the early foundation for what I do today. The question: Did you actually use one of them day to day or was it just something they hired you to advertise and they gave you one and it sat in the corner?
I got this one.
Pretty sure Mr. Shatner would reply like this:
"Well Mr. Arcite, firstly thanks for being a fan. Secondly, up the dosage on whatever meds you are on. Please. You referred to me by my real name, but then actually asked me about my experiences in a movie as if it existed. This is why Trek conventions need security, or why I am glad they have one.
Normally, I would say get a life, but in your case I would say pick a life."