Shatner Talks ‘Star Trek’ Flap + Announces Free Vegas Trip Promotion

In the Last couple of weeks William Shatner’s comments about not yet being asked to be in the new Star Trek have been all over the news. Shatner called in to the Howard Stern show this morning [listen to audio below] and right off the bat Stern dug in, telling him he was “carrying on like a crazy man.” Shatner defended himself saying that he only answers questions when asked and that “they blow it up.” The original Captain Kirk went on to say he “doesn’t care” about not being in the movie, but again stated that asking Nimoy to be in the film without himself was a “stupid business decision.” When asked what he felt about new young actors taking over the roles, Shat seemed OK with it stating “time marches on.”

Shatner also recounted that he talked to director J.J. Abrams multiple times on the phone and in person, including a time when Abrams came down to the set of Boston Legal and they had lunch. Stern and co-host Robin Quivers ribbed Shatner that maybe after seeing him acting Abrams decided not to put him in the movie. Later in the interview Stern recalled he and Shatner hadn’t seen each other in a while which promoted Shatner to joke “we had dinner that one time, and then like J.J. Abrams you never had dinner with me again.”

Shatner also voiced support for George Takei and Nichelle Nichols appearing in the NBC show Heroes. “They should load themselves up with all these wonderful people and talents,” said Shatner.

Meet The Shat in Vegas for Free
Shatner also went on to plug his latest projects, including the audio book “Exodus” and his latest Trek book “Star Trek – Academy – Collision Course.” Shatner also announced a special book promotion in conjunction with Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. On November 19th you can meet Shatner and get a free signed copy of his latest Trek book plus two free nights at a Las Vegas hotel. The catch is likely to be that you have to listen to a time share promotion before you get to meet the Shat. For more info call 888-30-GO-NOW.

Audio of full Shatner interview on the Howard Stern Show
[audio:shatnerstern1108.mp3]
(note you may need to reload page to hear the file)

More on Howard Stern’s show at Sirius.

Star Trek Academy Collision Course available now at Amazon

 

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The filming has just started! We will see! FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice to see the Shatner is a gracious and reasonable guy who nevertheless sticks to his guns. I would very much like to see him in the new movie but as it would only be a cameo anyway, I’m not sure it would matter that much. This is a guy who can still play Kirk in a lead role, and that I would really have enjoyed to see.

Prediction:

This thread will go really well.

I love you, THX.

Here we go again…

Shatner is just like a hangover that will never go away. IF he REALLY wanted to be in this film then he’d ask for barebones pay to be in it. He wants his cake and to eat it too. He’s just not worth it!

Longtime Lurker but I had to post. I hope they get Mr. Shatner in the flick but if not the powers that be have their reasons and I will just be glad to have another trek flick to look foward to. Thanks JJ, Orci and Kurtzman!

interesting listening. shatner is genuinley dissapointed about not being in the film. you can tell that. i agree with shat that the TWO of them should be in it.

i take issue with the guy who says ‘no one cares about nimoy’. thats rubbish. millions of star trek fans love nimoy and the bloke helped create one of tv and fims biggest best known iconic figures. what a stupid thing to say.

come on abrahams make it happen, theres still time to sort it. agree with #2
greg
united kingdom

Yeah – I agree, Shat did sound disappointed and he makes a valid point that it was a bad business decision because Nimoy is cast.

Hard to say how much of this is hype chasing hype and how much Shatner is originating. I will not believe he’s not in the movie until I’m driving home Christmas night ’08.

Robin Quivers on Stern.
Robin Givens was Tyson’s ex punching bag.

addendum – A bad business decision in his opinion which I tend to agree with.

Well we have reached the first day of filming the new Trek,

and sadly its the first day that,,yes,,, Im starting to give up hope of Mr Shatner really being in this.

oh when will the “Kirk death mistake” be fixed,,,

*sniff*

Was hoping to get this laid to rest by now. *sigh*

Don’t know if anyone saw Boston Legal this week. But there was some funny in-jokes going on. The other characters complaining how the character Denny Crane was always thinking about himself all the time. There was a gag where he hits his intercom button asking for security. And a few other subtle and seeningly Star Trek related jokes. To my ear, it sounded like they were sort of poking fun at this whole subject of Shater making more out this being in the film then was really true.

I do believe the press is making more of this then Shatner has. But then Shatner did provide some fuel from his answers.

Let’s hope we see him in this film.

Thanks! we in the UK and rest of world don’t get to catch or notice these broadcasts if it wasn’t for this site, very enjoyable listening to His Shatness at His relaxed best like this…!

#12

Spock somehow changes the timeline. After he returns to the present (his present), somewhere he unexpectedly meets Kirk (in a scene somewhat reminiscent of ST II when he meets Kirk in a hallway at Starfleet Academy and gives him the book “A Tale of Two Cities” as a birthday present). Spock hadn’t realized his effect on the timeline would negate Kirk’s death and you see the emotion welling up in him (though not too much). Kirk notices this and wonders what’s wrong with his old friend and asks “Spock… What’s wrong?” to which our favorite Vulcan replies, after a pause “Nothing. All is well.”

There. Kirk is now undead and we can forget about that idiotic TNG movie Generations and all other cheesy TNG movies and we can all be happy and dream of happy things from now on.

Captain Kirk died on Veridian 3. His rock grave is still there I’m sure.

I know there are people who want Shatner in the movie, and I can understand some reasons why. I, for one, do not want him in it. But, if you honestly think that the film will fail based on Shatner not being in it then you are completely out of touch with society. This film is a huge attempt to push ST to the next level and re-invigorate it to make it relevant to society once again.

As a college student, age 22 who, in my opinon, is completely in touch with the people around me, I can say that no person wouldn’t see the movie if Shatner wasn’t in it. I can say they wouldn’t see the movie because it is Star Trek. It is “nerdy” or “uncool.” Let the the producers, director, writers tell their own story and do their job on bringing Trek back to the limelight. Having Shatner in it for the sake of having him in it is not a wise business decision. Not the other way around. Nimoy was cast because he fit into the story and older Spock is a necessary character. If Shatner can’t fit into the story then Shatner can’t fit into the story.

17: You saved me from saying it. Spot on!

Hmmm…I would see the movie if Shatner wasn’t in it…but I’d be terribly dissapointed in both Abrams and Star Trek XI!
And if the movie isn’t just absolutely amazing…I won’t bother to buy the DVD. If Shatner and Nimoy were both in it…I’d buy the DVD just because I buy everything that has that couple in it. ;P

17–I agree with everything you just said. JJ is trying to make it cool to be a Trek fan……..for the first time ever.

Ryan said “I can say that no person wouldn’t see the movie if Shatner wasn’t in it. ”

Isn’t that like a triple negative? LOL :-)

#17. Ryan

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Do you guys have any idea how difficult it’s been for me to get a SINGLE person to go and see “The Menagerie” with me next week? The same friends who loved Casino Royale, who flocked to Transformers, who loved Batman Begins, won’t touch “Star Trek” with a 10 foot pole because it’s too nerdy.

Gasp! How can this be?!!! Chatner is in “The Menagerie”, and he’s the hottest actor on the planet right now! Don’t these people realize his greatness?! ;)

oops… Chatner = Shatner…

Then again, with all the talking he’s been doing lately, maybe Chatner isn’t such a bad nickname after all… :)

“And if the movie isn’t just absolutely amazing…I won’t bother to buy the DVD.”

So if the movie is just plain amazing, rather than absolutely amazing, that’s a deal-breaker for you? :-)

Shatner is turning into one of those typical septegenarians who will talk the ear off of anyone willing to listen………..

“y’know, sonny, back in my day, I used to be in a really popular T.V. show…..and it was IN COLOR!!!”

Kirk is dead by the ‘current’ 24th century timeline, so the fact that they tried and failed to get Shatner’s Kirk into the picture in a big way does of course suggest part of the film is set in the 24th century after his death.

I for one wouldn’t enjoy having him pop up as a hologram, or a dream, or a flashback.

I think this shows how seriously the writers and producers are taking continuity, and bodes well for the film concept as a whole

Has Shatner been told not to say anything about being in the movie so not to spoil the outcome? If true or not he is over doing it with his complaining to a point that you don’t want to see him in the movie or anywhere.

Shatner keeps talking about bad business decision, screw business. Too many business decisions are what kill movies.

#17 ryan

i dont think the film will fail if shatner isnt in it. i think it will do well regardless. i juts think it makes sense for him to be in it with nimoy. hes well, active and able to do so…so why not. for me there would be a gaping hole in it. the death of kirk in generations was hanlded poorly in my opinion and i think he was killed for the sake of sticking bums on seats.

he is a golden opportunity – a once in a life time opportunity to do so many things on so many different levels. for me to see shatner and nimoy both handing over the baton would be awesome. it would be like an endorsement of the new crew. to see these guys together as kirk and spock one more time would be amazing.

i just think its the right thing to do.
greg
uk

Howard Stern and Robin Quivers — two people incapable of speaking without detracting from the sum of human knowledge.

I especially enjoyed the sagacious Mr. Stern’s profound observation that “Nobody cares about Leonard Nimoy.”

At any rate, Shatner does admit in the interview that he’s “a little sad about not being in the film.”

He’s lobbied his best, but it ain’t gonna happen. Filming is underway and there’s no more writing.

Hey, I hear there’s a “movie insider” over at TrekBBS who has some big scoop about all this. :lol: :lol:

Aww, go Bill Shatner, you crazy man.

#30-
link or topic name?

They have until March 08 to make Shat an offer he won’t refu$e. That’s plenty of time to negotiate a deal. If you don’t think Shatner’s part is already on the page you’re kidding yourself. If the money starts to talk, Shat will walk the walk.

Oh jeez…I found it …never mind….sigh… :(

It’s just SO disappointing that William Shatner (more than likely) won’t be in the movie. It would of been such a wonderful opportunity to have him and Nimoy together again. Without a doubt, it would make the movie – unforgettable.

I just think what’s obvious and troubling about the movie is not that Shatner won’t be in it, it’s that it appears to involve time travel and the death of , or removal of KIrk and or Kirks yet again. If that ‘s the plot I have to quote the Kirk himself in STII: “As a physician you of all people should appreciate the danger of reopening old wounds.” But I don’t know the plot so they may not go that way.

Here’s some business reality, and cultural reality. Star Trek is geeky and uncool, but in unequal leveles of uncool. At the far end of the nerdy- live-in-their-mom’s-basement-celibacy scale are the painfully earnest TNG, Voyager, and DS9 fans. NO sense of fun over there. At the other end are the TOSers, who (while still measurably uncool) at least have some sense of humor, icon cache, and the more established emotional bond with American culture. The most recent TNG movies were never going to tap into any mainstream interest because to do so, they would have had to pander to mainstream story demands, and risk offending their true believers in a huge internet temper tantrum.

So the new ST movie has a chance to cross over a little bit by bringing back the more accepted characters, and even one of the TOS icons, Nimoy. This guarantees that ST faithful of all stripes should come back to see the new film. But they aren’t numerous enough to put it over $200mm, I fear. By featuring only Nimoy, they inherently limit the potential crossover mainstream (ie non-Trek fan) audience by not making the movie a bigger “happening”, that a Shatner-Nimoy appearance would make it. So when Shat criticizes his absence as a business mistake, he has a point.

This is why I have always believed that, while dumb, Paramount is not irredeemably stupid. They know that Shat is pretty popular right now, and that he is their only ace in the hole to spark crossover interest. That is why I say Shatner will deny he is in the movie until the moment he appears on screen at the premiere. Him appearing would create a buzz that would make the movie a must see event. He’ll be there.

#37:”Here’s some business reality, and cultural reality. Star Trek is geeky and uncool, but in unequal leveles of uncool. At the far end of the nerdy- live-in-their-mom’s-basement-celibacy scale are the painfully earnest TNG, Voyager, and DS9 fans. NO sense of fun over there. At the other end are the TOSers, who (while still measurably uncool) at least have some sense of humor, icon cache, and the more established emotional bond with American culture. ”

That’s unadulterated drivel. Perhaps it’s self-persuasive.

First, thank you to Anthony for the audio.
Second, 888-30-GO-NOW.
Third, I think this interview shows that Shatner is not being arrogant, annoying or infantile. He’s had the same story the whole way through. J.J. Abrams gave him a pep talk, then never got back to him. The only reason the story continues is because J.J. has been silent. Plus I think you’re probably be hearing a lot more of this kind of thing. All the media outlets will mention Shatner’s absence when talking about the movie. I am with Robin Quivers in that I don’t understand why they would talk about including Shatner but not have that already in the script?

I find it interesting (after all the previous talk) that no “A-List” actors have been cast in this movie. I wonder what/who they are saving up their pennies for. Couldn’t be for Shatner could it?

#38 Oh, come on. No drivel, adulterated or otherwise. Are we disagreeing about the degree of nerdiness, or my over the top ad hominem generalization of the TNG guys? (OK, I like to tweak ’em, but I am good natured, not mean!) Surely we aren’t saying that ST is cool? I have been watching since the early 70’s, and even I admit ST isn’t very cool. I love it, but isn’t exactly John Wayne. Aren’t we posting here to have fun?

39. Greg2600 – November 8, 2007
First, thank you to Anthony for the audio.
Second, 888-30-GO-NOW.

What are you hyping? I don’t dial something without a little knowledge of what’s up.

He’s not going to be in it….. it’s time to be accepting folks and move on. If that means you don’t see the movie, I am cool with that…. will you be?

My mom watches Boston Legal (I got her into it by saying it was kind of like L.A. Law) and has little interest in sci-fi. Considering the years of BL, Rescue 911, T.J. Hooker and the rest of Shatner’s incredibly long resume there must be millions of people who enjoy Shatner but aren’t into Star Trek.

Shatner does have crossover appeal, but I don’t think one more appearance in a non-starring role can make more people cross over to Star Trek who haven’t already in the past 40 years. If Shatner’s non-Trekkie fans haven’t already sought out his past Star Trek work, available everywhere, they’re not going to because of this movie.

wait a minute… Shatner said no one talked to him and now he says he and JJ had several conversations? And lunch….

All that Biotching in here about “no one contacted him… how dare they…” blah, blah, blah…

More assumptions…

#41:” Surely we aren’t saying that ST is cool?”

Certainly not – I just wasn’t buying the Orwellian “some animals are more equal than others” schtick. :lol:

#45 Xai thats well documented stuff prior to the announcement of Nimoy in Shatner out. Go to Trekweb archives. Shatner and Nimoy met with Abrams prior to the writing of the script.

#30 you don’t mean like Herc at AICN do you lol

Come on JJ break the silence. Mr Orci, it’s gone on too long. Yay or Nay. You are on strike therefore anything you say is between us ;)

gotta love the scam….the want my credit card and a 150.00 deposit lol

I want “Barbary Coast” on DVD…right now!

#47 Dalek,
Agreed… many saw it… but he should not be acting ignorant or indignant.
A friend of mine in the media has interviewed him twice over the years. He found him to be an Adam Henry on both occaisions. He’s proving it again with the repeated “stupid business decisions” quote.. much like this Tahiti Village time share thing that I hear spread all over the radio too.