Happy Birthday, /u/WilliamShatner!
I am glad that he has made it to 90 and is so happy and healthy. I think I will make a donation to a local horse foundation in my area in his honor and watch Star Trek II: TWOK and a few episodes of Boston Legal.
Anyone know how to watch any Rescue 911???
That was pretty funny, especially since his music choice is one of my favorite Devo songs.
Bobo must be jealous - I bet he wants to break some jaws...
Story here. Holo programs next.
So I took it upon myself to read the aforementioned behind-the-scenes account of the production of the worst of the original Star Trek movies, published in 1989, the same year the movie came out. I'm not gonna do a book report, but here are some things I learned and thought I'd share with the class:
SPOILERS FOR STAR TREK V AHEAD!
Shatner and Nimoy's agents had negotiated a clause in their contracts where whatever one got, the other had to be given as well. This clause favored Nimoy more than Shatner for years, but after Nimoy got to direct III, Shatner had the power to demand the director's chair as well.
Shatner's original idea was a story about the actual Devil pretending to be God and using a "Holy Man" as his pawn (the misguided "Holy Man" was inspired by firebrand televangelists). When they got to the Devil's planet, there were supposed to be Angels and Cherubim, and when the Devil became angry, the Angels would turn into Furies. At the end, Kirk is the only one who sees through the ruse, saves Spock's life, and the two of them rescue McCoy from the river Styx. All very much rooted in Judeo-Christian iconography, laced with Greek mythology.
Paramount's chairman Frank Mancuso gave the green light to this initial idea, but when Harve Bennett (producer and writer on Star Trek II-IV) came onboard, he convinced Shatner to change the villain into an alien posing as God, then Gene Roddenberry got involved and strongly opposed dealing with religion in Star Trek (and was backed by Asimov, Clarke, and Bradbury, all of whom Roddenberry asked to weigh in). To appease Gene, the script was reworked so it made clear the alien wasn't specifically posing as the Judeo-Christian God, but he appeared as a different god to different people.
Nimoy objected to the scene where Spock and McCoy succumb to Sybok and betray Kirk, leaving Kirk as the sole voice of reason, so the script was changed to instead have the trio together the whole time.
Shatner also wanted Sybok to ride a white unicorn, and was very attached to a specific visual where a galloping unicorn has an impaled victim's lifeless body dangling from its horn. Roddenberry nixed the unicorn because it was more fantasy than sci-fi.
The Furies that attack the heroes on the "God planet" were changed into six hulking rock monsters, then budgetary concerns changed that from six monsters to just one. An expensive rock monster suit was built, complete with a mechanish that emits smoke from all over its body and an
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Hit the big 9-0 last week, so a belated happy birthday to the man!!
He prospered - AND he lives long!! :)
At some point after Star Trek, William Shatner did a local television commercial in St. Louis, Missouri for a furniture store call DeBasio furniture. Would have been late 70's/some point in the 80s when he fame was waning. Can't find video of it anywhere.
