I’ll admit it. I didn’t shed any tears when I heard William Shatner wouldn’t be involved with J.J. Abrams’ forthcoming Star Trek reboot/prequel.
But apparently some folks still can’t get over it - chief among them, Shatner himself. Speaking to AMC’s Sci-Fi Scanner, Abrams addressed the issue of not using everyone’s favorite ham:
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“It was very tricky. We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.”
Boys and girls, what you just read was Abrams’ diplomatic way of saying: “Bill Shatner is miffed we didn’t stroke his ego by making the whole film about him! So he ran off to film Priceline commericals and more episodes of Boston Legal that no one will watch.”
Uh, Bill. This is a reboot - i.e. a brand new interpretation of the characters, mythology, etc. using new actors. Granted Abrams’ film is supposedly a hyrid of prequel and reboot that sorta follows classic Trek lore. And it does bring back Leonard Nimoy as Spock.
But still, I digress. You’re dead, Jim! Get over it!
Besides, you’ll get your wish. This new Trek film is about Kirk - albeit not you, but new-comer Chris Pine.
Star Trek beams into theatres on May 8, 2009.
Source: Sci-Fi Scanner
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17 Comments
But it’s not a re-boot if it adheres to the canon…
j/k
maybe Shatner just wanted a death scene that didn’t involve the cheapest set in Trek movie history (and that’s saying a lot). I mean, it was scaffolding and rocks for cheaps-sake
Hey that scaffolding and those rocks looked pretty futuristic too me.
I’m sure the Blu-ray version brings out the fake rust paint, lol,,,
Yeah typical Shatner, wants the film to be about him, and then when they kindly tell him to go pound sand, he turns into a wanker,,,
I really liked kirk but Shatners such a jerkoff.
Taking him out of the new film was a good idea,,, !!!
Btw,,, nice picture Jamie, that’s from the Shatner Roast!
Funny dvd.
He should be fan bombed with the message he used long ago aginst fans…
“Get A Life!”
In honor of Mr. Shatner, we have compiled a list of some of his most glorious moments for your enjoyment:
http://www.screenjunkies.com/general/13-craziest-william-shatner-moments
it would of been ill-advised to include Shatner in the film. The character is dead, its over. lol
Man I simply can not stand Shatner. I’m still not sure if I want to see this movie. I’m not a complete Star Trek fan. I loved loved loved The Next Generation and I sort of Enjoyed Deep Space Nine, but I hated Voyager and I thought the original Star Trek was so very terrible. To fair to the first Star Trek it was only bad because of the terrible acting, bad writing, cheap everything, bad dialogue , and how incredibly cheesy it was.
Only bad because of those, eh Daniel?
I can’t decide on Shatner myself. He’s certainly a popmpous ass, but he also seems to know he is, and has made fun of it.
But the idea of him being in a reboot made no sense.
Did anybody notice a little odd about the “new Kirk”? The actor’s name is Christopher Pine right? Well is it a little coincidental that the Enterprise’ previous captain was Christopher Pike, one letter difference from the new Kirk’s real name?
Farleedude, if that’s JJ’s way of final casting, this is gonna be a real short trip…
With seeing the new Bridge photos he’s already down in the count.
I think were looking at a Star Trek movie that’s gonna be very hard to swallow…
I don’t think the movie could be any worse than the original Star Trek show. Sorry I know a lot of people hang on to it for being the first or being pretty original, but lets face it the show wasn’t good. It was pretty awful. I mean bad acting, bad dialog, cheesy stories, terrible sets, and did I mention the god awful acting?
Star Trek The Motion Picture was a very unique Star Trek film…
It wasn’t the worst Star Trek film…
It gave the fans the biggest glory shot of the Enterprise, and some great story plotlines.
“Kirk Unit”.
Come on we all loved it,,,,!!!!
I didn’t. I really couldn’t get in to any of the films or the show that featured Shatner and his bunch of non talents.
To each his own.
I saw him at a Con in Minneapolis years back and all he ranted about was how he was typecast as Kirk and T.J. Hooker.
I sure hope hollywood tries to reboot T.J. Hooker with a feature film. He made the character of T.J. Hooker come alive!!! Wait!!! There were way more senseless close-ups of him than Heather Locklear . . . forget it.
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