Shatner Talks More About Being In Star Trek XI

In the latest ‘ShatnerVision’, the original Captain Kirk again talks about the dilemma of the how to make Star Trek XI work with two captains Kirk. He also reiterates the point that he and Leonard Nimoy should be in the film to ensure its success.


Shatner Talks Star Trek XI

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There’s absolutely nothing new here. I would love to hear Abrams talk about it.

All the talk about old and young Kirk meeting up seems to be merely speculation on the part of Shatner. It doesn’t seem to have any real basis in actual script knowledge.

Sounds like nothing new.

I’m leaning more and more towards wanting Shat in XI.

Shat’s being there helps reinforce my trust that Trek XI will honor its lineage and not go off on a bizarre tangent. Then again, Generations was supposed to be like that as well.

I still think its will help more than it will hurt.

“How charming and mystical will it be?”

Bingo, Shatman!

Let’s all hope that JJ is the guy to put our money on…

When Shatner’s daughter asks him, “you’d be like an Obi Wan..”, he says, “like a guru…” then pauses and has a subtle smile. Did anyone else catch that? The Shat knows more about the story then he’s telling.

I thought it was just gas…and we’ve seen a lot of that on this subject already.

How about a rating system which will warn us that this clip will shed absolutely no light on new ground.

In all this, my biggest regret is that De Kelley did not live long enough to be included–he will be missed. I hope JJ and company include him somewhere on video or a photo or something ala Jack Webb in Ackroyd’s Dragnet film.

Shatner knows more than what he is saying.

When you consider that the film is rumored to take place over several timeframes I think the whole old Kirk meets young Kirk is in the script.

I can’t wait to see Shatner back as Kirk.

I PRAY that this is not a time travel episode. Don’t get me wrong – I totally love Time Travel (especially “City of the Edge of Forever” and “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) but I honestly believe Star Trek has really been “Time Travelled to Death”. I prefer Kirk and Spock “flashingback to their early days” using that as a spring board to re-boot the franchise featuring their younger selves. The story needs to be completely fresh and original. Does anyone out there REALLY WANT TO SEE another time travel epic,???? Besides it can open up a can of worms, eg. “Old” Spock can warn Captain Pike about his impending doom, etc. etc. etc.

Yeah, after watching the clip, it sounds like Shatner is promoting the idea of his being in the film, while the script and JJ Abrams may have made no such commitment.

My theory is that Shatner is still negotiating a role, based on some contractual obligation that Paramount and Abrams are tied to, and Shatner wants an enormous salary for it too. This video is another attempt by him to make it hard for Abrams to turn him down.

Maybe there’s still hope he won’t be there to ruin it.

Time travel overdone in Trek? I’m sure that nobody has noticed that it’s been overdone…

Sisko: “James T. Kirk?”
Agent#1: “The one and only.”
Agent#2: “17 separate temporal violations. The biggest file on record.”
Agent#1: “The man was a menace.”

OK… maybe they’ve noticed.

Shatner is my pappi

Shatner is a superb showman. He doesn’t need to say anything new to get us yapping!

#7 et al – I agree, please don’t make this a time travel or dimension jumping thingie. In fact, keep it real. Or as real as sci-fi gets. Shatner and Nimoy can be reminiscing, but please don’t have men in their 70’s meeting face to face with themselves in their 20’s or 30’s. That’s just bad storytelling. We want a story we can relate to. No supernatural crap. Let them tip their hat, then get on with the movie!!!!

#10 – Shatner may BE your pappy. And mine, for all I know. T. is for Tomcat.

okay, my take on “the story”,

Shat & Nimoy want real parts, not cameos, it will be a story that has to jump around, sort of like Kill Bill 1 & 2 (or Pulp Fiction) where you can come in at any time and keep watching the film in a loop, this does not need time travel or younger & older selves to meet, either.

It does take some imaginative storytelling though.

Can J.J. do it?

hmmm

MAYBE SHATNER AND NIMOY COULD BE IN ALL MOVIES SO THAT THEY WOULD ALL BE ASSURED OF SUCCESS.

Like I’ve said, there’s a Kirk clone running around still alive in the TNG era.
But then we get into time travel again….. .GAAAA!!

#14. ALLEN ROSE

Oh man, that would be great… ya’ think it could happen?

Oh, wait… you were being facetious, weren’t you? Jeeez, that’s just mean! ;)

He(Shatner) could simply be what the younger Kirk would imagine himself as in old age.Presto ,no reference to Kirk’s death necessary.

#17 i agree Jon, I think many people are focusing too much on what they think Shatner is saying and not on what he is actually saying. All he seems to be referencing here when he mentions the “old kirk and the new Kirk” here is the notion of having him even appear within the film that has most of its story revolving around a younger Kirk and there being enough actual time to tell the story of explaining any inclusion of Kirk’s death or resurrection or whatever.

He is simply commenting on how he does not know for sure how William Shatner and another actor both playing Kirk will logistically fit within the perameters of a 2 hr film leaving ample time to explain why Shatner is physically there as Kirk while also leaving ample time to present the younger Kirk story line.

I asked an entertainment media reporter/ editor friend of mine about the movie and Paramount, Shatner, etc.
His quote….
“I talked to Damon Lindelof who does Lost and he said he was working on the script but he wouldn’t say which cast would be featured. He was real sneaky about it. ”
This neither confirms or denies any of the reports and rumors. It DOES confirm that Anthony and crew are as well informed as the best of the rest of the media.
Thank you to my friend and Trekmovie

He has mentioned that dealing with Kirk being dead is a problem. They wouldn’t insult the intelligence of the fans and ignore it. It also doesn’t make sense to see an Obi-Wan type thing, because there are no ghosts in Star Trek.

One fear I have of old Kirk meeting new Kirk is that the scenes could have an echo of Nemesis, two actors asking us to believe they are different outcomes of the same physical being. I didn’t buy Tom Hardy as anything remotely resembling or related to Patrick Stewart.

Avoiding that problem increases the risk is that, even if they avoid the bad vibes of Nemesis, the new Kirk actor would be obligated, by Shatner’s presence, to mimic Shatner. For a new Trek franchise to be successful, the new Kirk must be more than a William Shatner impression. But if we see the two actors together, there’s the contradictory need for them to be the same.

Shatner asks, “How do you get the old Captain Kirk to meet the young Captain Kirk?”

Easy. You don’t. It’s a terrible idea, for all the reasons stated above and more.

That said, I’m all for casting Shatner and Nimoy in the movie. It’s possible they could even have meaningful roles v. cameos or flashbacks. If I were doing a character-based “origin” story for Kirk a la Batman Begins, I could easily see Shatner playing George Kirk Sr., James’ father. And I bet Nimoy would make a compelling villain. These guys are good actors, let them do something different. And there is so much territory to explore in the characters without resorting to cheap time travel chicanery.

Which brings me to this: casting is obviously important but so is a good story. When was the last time you saw a first-rate script in a movie? More often than not I’m left with the impression that scriptwriters get halfway or two-thirds into it and say, “Oh the hell with it, this is too hard. Let’s just start blowing things up, put the hero in temporary jeopardy and get on with it. The audience only cares about the fx, anyway.”

If they REALLY want to revive the franchise and attract a mainstream audience, they need to start with good chararacterization, a good story, and then build from there. Tired plot devices or over-adherence to ‘canon’ will guarantee a mediocre result.

With all due respect to William Shatner-the idea of an old Kirk meeting a young Kirk is absolutely horrendous. He tells us that Paramount is taking a big risk with this revival and to help sell the ideas to fans he and Leonard Nimoy should be included in this proposed film. Besides failing to mention other original cast members be permitted to be in the film-it appears he just is basically promoting self-interest no matter how illogical and absurd his speculation is. Mr. Shatner fails to even take into account recent casting changes to such characters as Superman and James Bond-let alone centuries of stage actors performing Hamlet, King Lear etc. We respect past interpretations of beloved characters, but we can also handle different actors playing these characters in this and future incarnations. Let us all step back, breathe and just see what J.J. Abrams has in store!! Let us all realize that the story is the most important element-even over saying our favorite actors essay their familiar roles again. To Mr. Shatner I say perhaps the best role for you in the film would be one that would catch us all by suprise-maybe playing the part of Starfleet admiral that busts young Kirk’s chops!! Continued success to all and I eagerly look forward to this new vision of a familiar and much loved universe.

How to get young Captain Kirk to meet old Captain Kirk WITHOUT incorporating time travel, and have it be a reasonably coherent and logical subtext of the films greater plot.

(I say this because Shatner really backpeddaled magnificently when pressed on this issue by his daughter, he shut up rather quickly, skittish acting, I’d say it’s a legitimate plot device)

A. Parallel universes (possibly including Mirror Universe)
B. Q
C. Clone of Kirk
D. Reanimated evil corpse Kirk / Reanimated Good corpse Kirk
E. Something occurs in the universe that triggers a calamity resulting in various timelines merging- not so much time travel, but “lack” of time, a bridging of eras coexisting together.
F. Mental delusion, Kirk speaking to his older self in his mind
G. Hologram technology
H. The Guardian of Forever (I dont consider the Guardian Time Travel, but rather an entity that exists outside of the realm and dimension of time.)
I. Revisitionist history retroactively quickly rewriting Trek history to accomodate a still alive present timeline Kirk.
J. An apology for having killed Kirk in the first place and a promise to never screw the pooch so dastardly ever again signed with blood.

Im leaning towards H, I, or even J myself.

I agree w/ him that they need Shatner and Nimoy to make it work. This is also something of tradition in Star Trek. All the television series and movies have had this kind of passing of the baton. Putting old Kirk and new Kirk in the same scene may not be a very good idea. That’s why I’m hoping for a more flashback type of thing.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it w/ my last breath- I do not support a restart like Bond or Batman. Bond was based on a series of books and Batman was based on a comic book. Star Trek is not! It all started w/ a t.v. series and evolved from there. It may have branched out over the years but always had it’s common roots. A complete restart risks alienating it’s current fans (myself included and I’m one of those people who’ve followed through the years and given Paramount more of my money than I’ve given to the US govt). Staying true to it’s roots but making it so that everyone can understand is the safer way to go.

You guys who want a new actor to do a completely different Kirk remember Robin Curtis’s Savvik? So different from Alley’s that fans hated it, and they never appeared in the same movie together. Fans of the Star Wars movies however loved Ewan McGregor’s portrail of Obi-wan b/c it was a combination of Alec Guiness’s mannerisms and Ewan’s done diliberately.

As for Shatner being older, I’m pretty sure if he lost a few pounds and dusted off his old hair piece, he could pass for Kirk pre- Generations.

You know, the ageing 15 years or so of Shatner and Nimoy doesn’t matter so much – they can use the SFX technique used in X-Men 3 to make them look TUC-age.

Star Trek XI: The Search For More Money

Picture it: A quick flashback to the engineering section of Enterprise-B in Generations just before the Nexus wave hits the ship. Kirk has just effected the repair when a wrinkled old hand reaches out and touches him on the shoulder. It’s Spock, back through time to save his best friend. He beams both their asses out of there just before the wave hits the ship. No visit to the Nexus, thereby fixing TOS history line and Picard in the future will have to come up with an alternate solution of how to leave the Nexus and beat Soran. Say returning a little earlier to the Enterprise when he and Soran are both in Ten Forward, walk in with a security team and slap the psycho’s ass in the Brig? This, of course, is what the thinking Captain Picard SHOULD have done in Generations in the first place. Nah, makes too much sense!

#29.. Michael.. I love that idea. Would be a good one.. I don’t mind the time travel thing. I would love a mirror universe thing too. But then again.. that’s just me.

#25. Josh T

I gotta go with A, E or H as the most viable, workable solutions.

But man… I & J would be sweet. I’d even give my Fed Ex number to have J Priority Overnighted! By the way, who’s blood? ;)

i think i may have just gotten an idea from what the shat said,,,,lets see if yall can run with this….in star trek 5 ….he said he knew hed always die alone….could it be when he was younger he met his older dead self?…could that explain his cockyness at dead because he knew hed live through years of danger because he knows he’ll die in his 60’s?….sounds like a way of workin the shat in.

#32

I like the idea of picking up on that line from STV. There’s something about the closeup of the Shat that says there’s something more to be explored. Good writing could make all kinds of things from past Trek incarnations really “pop” — things from TOS, the original cast movies, and Generations. We’ll see!!

I don’t want XI to be saddled with resurecting Kirk, explaining Generations or any of it. We all want this to be successful and to do that we need to keep it exciting, thoughtful (but not boring) and very Trek. But don’t muddy the story line with contrived Kirk meets Kirk scenes. If it goes too far to explain his death and the events that preceded it, it may appease some fanboys, but the mainstream will shy away. I want a good story and in my mind, Shatner’s presence is not necessarily needed for that to happen. IMO

X

The Guardian of Forever… There is alot we don’t know about the Guardian. I can imagine the Guardian bringing Kirk back. For some reason, I picture Kirk, laying on an old slab of stone, his eyes opening and sitting up, not knowing where he is. He looks over to his side, and see’s the glowing portal of the Guardian. Kirk asks “Why am I here?”, and the Guardian tells him “It was not your time to die…”

Something like that would be haunting. As for Spock, it could be that the Guardian was sending him messages in his dreams to return for Kirk.

I think Chris Doohan has a better chance at the Scotty role then Shatner has at being in STXI What do u think/

Sorry Kathy, but I disagree. Shatner will be in the movie, as will Nimoy. Its something that the fans want.

Just reading these posts over the past few months tells me that there are many diverse opinions and desires regarding the new movie, and the future of the Trek franchise. It’s obvious that not all fans are hoping and wishing that Shatner and Nimoy will be in the next movie. I for one, don’t really care either way.

If they can come up with a really good story that somehow incorporates an older Kirk and Spock, then I’m all for it. But, if they have to sacrifice having a quality script and believable plot, just to have these two actors in the movie, then I think it’s a big mistake.

For myself, I don’t think it’s imperative to the success of the new movie that Shatner and Nimoy be in it. But, from all the comments JJ Abrahms and Shatner have been making, it sounds like it’s all but a done deal that they will somehow be involved.

I think instead of trying to figure out a story that brings back Kirk from the dead etc., it would be better to see all the surviving original series actors together in one final film, playing cameo roles. This would be a wonderful way to show appreciation to the original series actors, and well as “passing the torch” to the new generation of star trek actors and characters.

I guess in the end, what really matters is that the writers produce a good script, and the director makes a good movie! I hope the new movie appeals not just to Star Trek fans, but to a broader audience as well. That will not only make the movie a success and profitiable, but it will reinvigorate interest in all things Trek, something the franchise needs now.

As for Shatner’s video comments, I can’t help but feel he’s taking too much credit for the success of the trek franchise. Yes he’s has made an enormous contribution to Star Trek, but so have many other talented and dedicated people….

Having Nimoy and himself in the next movie will not “make or break” the franchise as he seems to claim. It may very well help the movie, or it could hurt the movie. Who knows? It all depends on the script.

Mike :o

Long live Spock and Quark!