If you’re going to deep fry a turkey this Thanksgiving — and enjoy all that moist, succulent, juicy deep-fried goodness — please pay attention to William Shatner. And for God’s sake don’t do the deep-frying near a cheap plastic lawn chair!
Posts Tagged ‘William Shatner’
This Thanksgiving, Be Sure To Practice Turkey Safety (II)
Posted in Humor, tagged Deep-Fried Turkey, Humor, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Turkey safety, William Shatner on November 10, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Khaaaan!
Posted in Movies, tagged James T. Kirk, Khan, Movies, Star Trek, Star Trek sequel, William Shatner on April 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I’m waiting for the new Star Trek movie. It’s apparently being filmed, but the producer and director are keeping everything tightly under wraps — the better to surprise us when the movie is finally released, they say.
So, I’ll have to wait a while to see the new Star Trek 2 — whatever it might be called. In the meantime, I’ll just have to enjoy the original Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with one of the greatest William Shatner as James T. Kirk scenery-chewing scenes of all time, as an agitated Kirk screws up his face before bellowing his anger out to the universe beyond:
45 Glorious Years Of Star Trek
Posted in College, Entertainment, Movies, Technology, TV, tagged College, DeForest Kelley, Entertainment, James T. Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Leonard Nimoy, Montgomery Scott, Movies, Mr. Spock, Star Trek, Technology, TV, William Shatner on September 9, 2011 | 3 Comments »
45 years ago — on September 8, 1966 — Star Trek first beamed across the airwaves of American television sets.
On that day, viewers first began to know Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Montgomery Scott, Lieutenant Uhura, and the other regular members of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley became well-known faces and names. Equally important, fans were introduced to the inspiring concept of the United Federation of Planets, with its concepts of brotherhood, and science, and peaceful exploration and coexistence with alien races. The series offered the promise that better days lay ahead, when the human race could move beyond the racial division, strife, and savagery of the 20th century and realize its true potential.
Has any TV show been more influential to our society than Star Trek? Not only did it captivate legions of devoted fans, it created a durable franchise that spawned multiple TV shows and movies that populated various points in the back story and front story of the original series. It also introduced a host of sayings and gestures — “Live long and prosper,” the Vulcan split-fingered greeting, “Beam me up, Scotty,” and the Vulcan neck pinch, among others — that became, and remain, deeply engrained in popular culture. The show’s vision of future vessels and devices also influenced design of military vessels and technological concepts.
For all of its influence and inspiration, Star Trek was, at bottom, a pretty darned good TV show. (OK, some of the episodes stunk, but the good shows were really good.) When 4:30 came on a weekday afternoon on the Ohio State University campus in the late 1970s, you’d find countless students — me and Flameface included — gathered around their TV sets, cold beers in hand, ready to watch once more the familiar, classic exploits of Kirk, Spock, and Bones and revel in being part of their world.
Release The Kraken!
Posted in Humor, Movies, tagged Acting, Clash Of The Titans, Humor, Liam Neeson, Movies, Ray Harryhausen, Schindler's List, Taken, William Shatner on March 2, 2010 | 25 Comments »
I think being an actor would be an enormous challenge. To be successful as an artist, you have to understand your character, get into their skin, and faithfully assume their personalities and mannerisms. Otherwise, it will just look like someone acting. On the other hand, to put bread on the table, you will need to accept jobs in movies that aren’t exactly artistic triumphs — perhaps a remake of a popular TV show, or a comic book adaptation — often wearing ridiculous get-ups.
When Kish, Russell and I went to watch Shutter Island on Saturday we saw the preview for the remake of Clash of the Titans. The original dates from the ’80s and was a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion epic starring Harry Hamlin. The remake features, among other notables, Liam Neeson as Zeus, the King of the Gods. At one point in the trailer, Zeus says “Release the Kraken,” which is an enormous, large-toothed, screeching, earthen monstrosity.
It must have been tough for Liam Neeson, so memorable in Schindler’s List and recent fare like Taken, to speak that dialogue. As he does so he is clad in some glowing, shimmering kind of armored breastplate and a cape, with long hair and a long beard. How do you decide how to say such a line as such a character? “Release the KRAKEN!” “RELEASE the Kraken!” “RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!!” Waving hand and shrugging, “Release the Kraken.” Shatner-like: “Release . . . the Kraken.” (Shatner probably would have been a good Zeus, come to think of it.)
Neeson pulls it off, somehow, speaking the lines with a sense of weariness, indignation, and resignation, as his breastplate glows and his beard hairs flap in the breeze.
