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!

Re:Speech

[Anonymous Coward]

He once said on Letterman:

"Because I...can't remember....my....lines..."

Official site, morons

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey idiots. You can answer most of these questions at his official site. [williamshatner.com]

Ask something detailed or original.

onion av club interview

[lysander]

The Onion AV Club just had an interview [theonionavclub.com] with Shatner. Besides being rather interesting, it's a list of questions that you can avoid reasking.

Re:Do you take yourself seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets not forget the movie "Free Enterprise", which is a true insight to his madness.

Re:Speech

[brassman]

About Stratford -- My ex's aunt saved a newspaper clipping from Mr. Shatner's "big break" in 1956(?) -- he took over the lead role in Henry V when Christopher Plummer was felled by a kidney stone. It was apparently quite a performance -- the dear lady described it movingly, including the part where the entire ensemble encircled him at the end, giving him their own standing ovation.

So, Mr. Shatner, what's next? Should we assume it'll still be a few years before you're ready to take on Lear? How about Falstaff?

Re:Music Career

[Triv]

he guest-starred on an album released with Ben Folds called "Fear of Pop" a few years ago - it's really friggin' good. Check it here [amazon.com].

Re:What happened to all those tribbles??

[Codifex Maximus]

No, actually, they multiplied and almost took over the Klingon homeworld. Ultimately, some enterprizing Klingon did some genetic engineering and created a "Glommer". The Glommer is a creature that sneeks up on tribbles, pounces and eats em. It has a voracious appetite.

Re:There's more

[Ricdude]

Big Giant Head (Shatner): I thought I saw something on the wing, but noone believed me.

High Commander (Lithgow): The same thing happened to me!

Hands down, the funniest moment ever on broadcast television. I missed half of the episode, clutching my sides in laughter. No one else in the room got it... Their loss. =)

Re:The Four Shatners MTV video clip

[Ubergrendle]

This is 100% deliberate, casted by Shatner. It was the climactic scene from Seven, played by Shatner's characters from Star Trek, Rescue 911, and TJ Hooker. It was very well done, had very high production values, and was a great segment on the MTV Movie Awards (Video?). It was so popular, a follow-up was created last year featuring Adam West ("batman") portraying Tom Cruise's character from Interview with a Vampire during the initial interview segment. It didn't work as well, but it too was clever.

One of the reasons why Shatner has endured is due to his self-effacing attitude. I actually think some of hte stories about his ego are exaggerated, or the result of people not interpreting his sense of humour correctly. Think of it...is Dennis Miller a wry comedian with a quick wit, or a pretentious twerp whose insolence and sarcasm is his claim to fame?

Re:MY ...GOD....MAN!!!!!

[DesScorp]

Actually, he spent a great deal of time at the Toronto Shakespeare Company. He was Christopher Plummer's understudy in fact. All joking aside, Shatner was considered a hot property at that time. His first big break was when Plummer was sick one night, and he had to do the Hamlet role. Audiences said he was magnificent. Serious roles like The Brothers Karamazov followed. He was nabbed for Star Trek because of his classical theater rep, and if you've ever watched the old episodes, some of his performances were damn good. He's went the Leslie Nielson route now, and doing a lot of comedy, but drama was originally his forte.

Re:MY ...GOD....MAN!!!!!

[Oopsz]

Actually, Mr. Shatner graduated from montreal's prestigious McGill University in 1952. Although enrolled as a Management student, he spent a lot of time in the theatre, being a member of the Red and White Revue, the Player's Drama Club and the Radio Workshop. In a historic 1993 referendum, the students of McGill voted to name their student union building the William Shatner building, and on a 1999 visit to the university, Mr. Shatner was heard to say that all his experience at McGill taught him "the joy of entertaining, the mechanics of production, how to have empathy to fear and how to enjoy and appreciate talent. It's not difficult to be a failure...[The] extraordinary feeling of success is much more rare than failure."

Oddly enough, after graduating with a BCom, his first job was at a summer theatre-- not as an actor, but as a bookkeeper...

Did you have a Wiz in the pool?

[erucsbo]

Was it really Mr. Shatner's house (well - swimming pool) that featured in the pool party scene in the Wizard of Speed and Time [wizworld.com] and did he have a screen cameo appearance that got left out because he only wanted to speak Esperanto?

Listen to Shatner at Amazon

[MyHair]

he guest-starred on an album released with Ben Folds called "Fear of Pop" a few years ago - it's really friggin' good

Cool, that link [amazon.com] has Real Player streaming samples. Shatner's contribution is audible in track 5: "In Love - David Davidson".

AH! Here is Shatner's "Transformed Man" album [amazon.com] with a sample of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" for those of you who haven't heard it. Unfortunately the sample is small and doesn't capture the whole performance, but you get the idea.

OMG Amazon says "Transformed Man" starts at US$75!!!

LOL, you have to listen to all the samples.

Director's Control in TV

[CleverNickName]

Well, let me clarify:

Directors do have creative some degree of creative control, and they are able to influence the tone and mood of their episodes. You wouldn't see an X-files director bringing the same style to, say, Hidden Hills...though it would make for an interesting story!

I know what you're talking about, in reference to shot composition and whatnot. That's usually all the director. Lighting, however, is all the Director of Photography. Usually the DP on a TV show that uses the same sets will have preset lighting (that's why the bridge and Ready Room always look the same, for instance) because it saves time. But! When a creative director tells the DP that he's going for something very dark and moody, or very bright and joyful, the DP will usually jump at the chance to do something creative...as long as it doesn't take too much time.

If I made it sound like TV directors are just point-and-shoot people, I really did them a grave disservice. They are afforded creative freedoms, and encouraged to make an episode their own, to be sure...just as long as it doesn't take too much time.

Re:MY ...GOD....MAN!!!!!

[OmegaGeek]

"Actually, he spent a great deal of time at the Toronto Shakespeare Company ..." I had always heard that his time was at Stratford, which is not too far from Toronto. He was, in his time there, considered to be one of the great stars of the Stratford festival. If you watch his acting, it may look overstated and comical on television or in movies, but the way he delivers dialog is perfect for the characters he played in Shakespeare's plays. His Marc Antony was reputed to be spectacular. It might not work as T.J. Hooker, but try his stereotypical cadence with Marc Antony's eulogy: "Friends ... Romans ... Countrymen - lend me your ears." Ooooo, don't it just give you chills.