In the last week a new DirecTV commercial has shown up that features William Shatner playing a movie era Captain Kirk. The commercial is part of DirectTV’s new ‘fourth wall’ campaign were they show scenes from popular films re-edited to have some of the actors talk to camera about the clairty of DirectTV. Previuos commercials featured Vern Troyer from ‘Austin Powers’ and Ben Stein in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. The new Trek commercial uses footage from Star Trek VI. Walter Koenig and Leonard Nimoy are also featured, but it appears their footage is taken from the original film. And here it is…
Is the Shat the next Regis?
In other Shatner news, Reuters is reporting that Shatner will host a new primetime gameshow for ABC called ‘Show Me the Money’. Movieweb reports the show will be made by Endermol (who do Deal or No Deal ). From Movieweb
"We were looking for a great showman," said Endemol USA president DavidGoldberg. Shatner’s "an instantly recognizable entertainer" with a"naturally warm and witty presence."
Not first Kirk Commercial
by the way, this isn’t the first Star Trek themed commercial Shatner has done, here is another he did in the 90s for the UK’s PowerGen. (also features James Doohan as Scotty)
…thanks to Kelvington for the DirectTV commercial vid capture
Hey, the Shatner-Kirk still works! :-)
Ahh…My old freind,Kirk.
That commercial makes me think they don’t need a prequel. Just bring in Shatner.
Yes, he was made up to be suprisingly less old and fat than I expected. Seriously, much better than, say, Nimoy these days.
Wow!! Shatner looks great.
He could still play Kirk.
Why bother with a prequel when you could have the real thing?
I wouldn’t believe Shatner in the center chair again, but he’d be fine in a desk job. Too bad Kirk can’t be an admiral again.
WOW!!! That was so cool. Man oh man, they better cast him in the new movie. He looked fantastic in that commercial!
Yep … he could do it … let’s just hope he does the bookends of the new movie well …
A wonderful 40th anniversary gift from William Shatner (and no doubt a nice DirecTV paycheck FOR William Shatner).
What excites me more than the fact Shatner did this, is that he didn’t phone it in. It’s not just dress-up. He actually gave a confident, commanding appearance as Kirk — not his Shatner-as-pitchman persona and not Denny Crane — and he doesn’t break character even though the schtick is meant to be amusing.
Whether it’s Shatner’s own eagerness to give Kirk one more go for old time’s sake, or a shrewd effort to increase fan pressure on Paramount to give him a big Star Trek XI payday, I don’t care. Captain Kirk is back, and it’s great to see him, even as a shill.
Brought a tear to me eye!
Is it just me, or did his mouth not move “right”? I’ve the commercial on TV and it looks as though Shatner’s mouth is digitally manipulated (poorly, I might add).
I missed a word:
… I’ve seen the commercial …
so THAT’S what all this hype about Kirk being back in some form of media was all about…(this has been a moment of sarcasm.)
Great to see Kirk again in the 40th anniversary year!!
Is there a wmv of the Powergen ad do you know?
I hope they bring back Shatner and Nimoy as Kirk and Spock for ST XI. As this commercial proves Shatner can still pull off Kirk (He looks almost the same he did in TUC)
As a matter of fact this is a great chance to bring back kIRK out of the nexus alive and well.
I for one have no intrest in ST XI unless Shatner and Nimoy play Kirk and Spock. I’d be happy if it was just a cameo role.
I love it, Shatner is still very much Kirk!!
KIRK LIVES!!!!
I will be interviewing some of the people behind this commercial. Let me know if there is anything you want me to ask them
Try and catch the commercial on TV sometime. It’s easier to see that there’s a lot of digital manipulation going on with Shatner’s close-up. The hair, certain face movements, a lot of nitpicky stuff just seems out of place.
Not that I’m saying he didn’t do a good job, or anything…
Saw this last week; and the the first time it really threw me, because I only noticed in my peripheral vision, and it was over before I was sure what I’d seen. However it was done… I think it was pretty darn amusing and I think it was an okay job of it, much better than that Austin Powers spot which, IMHO, sucked. :-D
Anthony, I’m sure it’s on your list of questions but could you ask if the made Shatner look that good through old fashioned pancake or CGI trickery?
If they did all that digital manipulation, then why couldn’t they get the uniform exactly right? The Starfleet insignia isn’t authentic. It looks smaller, and is clearly not the same as the shot when he walks past Spock taken from STVI. The captain rank pin on the uniform doesn’t quite look right either. (Nitpicking I know, but that’s what we do.) Looks to me like all the closeup shots, and the one in the turbolift are all brand new. The hair is easy to do without digital mainpulation since it hasn’t been real for almost 30 years! :)
Shatner and Nimoy appeared together last year in a Priceline.com commercial, but that wasn’t the first time they’d worked together for an ad. About 20-25 years ago, an airline (it might have been Pan Am or one of the others no longer in existence) did a series of spots with famous pairs flying their airline. One I recall was Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and another was Shatner and Nimoy.
Followup: The airline in question appears to have been now-defunct Western Airlines:
Anthony, ask `em why no Paramount-CBS trademarkings are seen in the ad, and why the Shat’s glued-on sideburns were square and not trimmed in “Starfleet fashion”. Maybe the pointy sideburns are trademarked too.
Looks like the hairpiece might have been one of the older thicker wavy ones with lots of gray hair that escaped the auction and glued on temporarily for the ad. And I’m guessing too that the uniform might have been one of Scotty’s old ones or else the Shat was girdled and trussed into an old Kirk suit.
The square sideburns are seen in the Kirk walkby in front of Spock to the elevator. Looks like almost all of the Kirk footage in the ad was new insert stuff.
Freeking awesom to see Shatner as Kirk again!!! More more more!!!!
What happened to Shatners nose?
It looks like Kirk is a little digitally enhanced in this one.
Looks great though!
I wish I could download the second movie. That one is GREAT and really funny!
Fun nostalgic ad.
Funny … and sad. Nothing is more funny and pathetic than self-parody.
The 1st season TOS was the pinnacle of Star Trek, from which they have been sliding downhill ever since.
– – – –
“We had cleansed ourselves of the inferior ones. Now you bring the evil back!”
– – – –
Finally! I’m so glad that I’m not the only one to notice the weird nose thing. I love Wm. Shatner and the fact that he doesn’t take himself too seriously, so I’m disappointed in a way that he allowed his appearance to be altered for vanity’s sake. (The only thing I could think of as a reason was to try to thin out his face?)
It has to be digitally enhanced with shantner or his mouth movements
over previous footage.. Have you seen boston legal shatner looks like he weighs 280 all bloated up no way that commerical is him now body wise.
I agree, I think it is all “Undiscovered Country” footage. I think when he is talking it is footage from when Kirk is inviting Chancellor Gorkon to dinner.
only among Trek fans could something like this provoke so much discussion..
and for all the “digital enhancement/alteration spotters”…. I’ve noticed one thing in my years is that when someone really wants something to be there.. they’re going to find it, and no amount of cajoling or dissagreement will convince them otherwise.. “his neck doesn’t look right!*’ *Older man wearing a tight-necked shirt?… especially if he’s carrying a little extra weight (a condition I am all to familiar with) is going to look a little off where the neck meets the material, no doubt due to them using digital cameras to “film” the new sequences vs I’m sure the original was still using traditional film cameras, which can explain a lot of other oddities as well… such as I’ve noticed that digital cameras will sometimes, if the people responsible are not VERY careful, make the person look superimposed on a background (wether they actually are or not is irrelevant)
I’m tired, its nearly 7am here and I haven’t slept yet.. so thats where I’m going.. rambling ends, now.