Did you know that William Shatner’s favorite color is that of leaves changing? Truth. And while autumn is a month away, August’s return to school begins thoughts of the season. If the thought of "back to school" is depressing, then how about "Shat to school"? That’s right, the ShatWatch brings you the latest news on William Shatner and his own adventures sure to make you happy despite looming homework.
Time.com Interview – Shat says no to Abrams Star Trek screening
Reporter M.J. Stephey interviews the Shat for Time Magazine Online, with behind the scene information on his recent Conan O’Brien appearances and he shares this when asked if he has seen the new Star Trek film yet:
I haven’t. Abrams sent me a message through the Web — what was it, Twittered me? No. YouTubed me? No, what has he done? E-mailed me. He e-mailed me saying he heard that I hadn’t seen the movie and he’d set up a private screening, and I declined the private screening and told him I’d buy him dinner
Shatner Talks Emmy Nomination
September 20th, Shatner will attend the Emmy’s where he is nominated once again for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama. He talks with TV Guide about the experience.
Shatner’s The Negotiator Bests President
The Opinion Research Corporation conducted an online survey of 1,043 people regarding negotiation. According to a press release by Priceline, "when given a list of candidates who might qualify as the best negotiator out there" the results were:
30% of men chose themselves
21% of women chose their spouse
15% of women chose themselves
12% of men chose their spouse
10% chose William Shatner
9% chose President Barack Obama
Shatner as a Credit Card
Speaking of The Negotiator, Bill’s character is now stunningly rendered on the new Priceline.com VISA rewards card. Get yours here if you’d like to charge with the Shat.
Charge with the Shat
Shatner Helps Protect Salmon
Long before "green" and "conservation" became household words, the Shat has been a champion of the environment. He continues with a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the effects of salmon farms on the wild salmon population. Times Colonist has an article on the Shat’s letter.
Shatner-News Photos of "Shatner Weekend"
Each year, the official William Shatner fan club hosts a "Shatner Weekend" in conjunction with Bill’s charity horse show event. The excellent website Shatner-News.com has photos of this year’s April event.
Giamatti Respects The Shat
In a new interview with the Independent Film Channel.com’s Alison Willmore discussing his new film Cold Souls, actor Paul Giamatti discusses his inspiration for a scene in the film where he sings a bizarre rendition of "Vanya":
Everybody thinks it was William Shatner. I wasn’t consciously thinking Shatner, I love Shatner and I wouldn’t make fun of him. What I was thinking was cheesy, ’70s TV… I mean… that’s Shatner, actually. That’s terrible.
Giamatti respects the Shat
New Shatner Media: Christmas & Everest.
For the Shatner Collector, there are some new item coming out this fall.
- A new holiday compilation CD entitled The Sounds of Christmas (released by independent label SOC Records) will feature a holiday song by Bill. According to the press release, the song was recorded 20 years ago by Shatner to help with his charity. The CD should be available in October, with more information available at soundsofchristmas.com
- Last year, Shatner starred as the voice of Santa Clause in the clever special "Gotta Catch Santa Claus". The DVD of the show will be available on October 13 for $17.99 and is available for preorder at Amazon.
- William Shatner’s 2007 movie Everest starring Eric Johnson (Smallville) and Jason Priestley (90210) is available now on DVD for $24.99 from Amazon. Based on a true story, Shatner plays investigator Norman Kelly in this TV movie.
Shatner Project DVD coming this fall
Following in the footsteps of Joss Whedon’s "Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long blog," TrekMovie has learned that William Shatner’s "Shatner Project video blog is headed to DVD this Fall. The DVD will contain classic and new footage, along with a commentary from his daughter Liz and outtakes. It will be available both as a download and DVD, probably around October. TrekMovie will have more details when it becomes available for pre-order.
ShatWatch Watches The The Shat on TV
Take a break from studying by watching William Shatner continue his dominance of all things television. All times are Eastern.
- August 18: Repeat of Shatner’s interview of Leonard Nimoy on Raw Nerve. BIO Channel at 8:30AM
- August 19: Repeat of Shatner’s classic guest starring role on Gunsmoke is available at 2PM on TVLAND.
- August 23: Two new episodes of Animal Planet’s Extraordinary Animals (hosted by Bill) are being shown at 3AM and 3:30AM.
I want that card how cool!
maybe Shats is starving off seeing the new movie until he gets called up for Trek XII
Hasn’t anyone who was remotely involved in the history of Star Trek seen the new movie? Is this some sort of protest?
2 — If so, maybe he’ll take it to the grave.
Looks like another Shat-tastic roundup of events for the weeks ahead. Here’s my contribution to ” Shat-to-school” August. Anyone with Netflix instant cue can cue up in The Andersonville Trial, with Shatner, Richard Basehart and more. Great stuff and even greater to see it readily available to the millions of Netflix subscribers. If you haven’t seen it, you owe it to yourself to witness a great video adaption of a great play. Everyone in it, including Shatner , is terrific.
Shatner overdose.
I’m sorry, I think the fact that Shatner hasn’t seen the movie yet is kind of ridiculous. ESPECIALLY after J.J. offered him a private screening! I mean, come off it….
Is it just a petulant protest of the fact that he wasn’t involved?
Some kind of stunt?
Does he honestly think it will stink?
Apologies to the Shat, but the man’s kind of ridiculous.
And a Shatner credit card? Now I’ve seen it all….
The King of Self Promotion
Paul Giamatti, now THERE’S a great actor! :)
A Shatner Christmas album. Now, I’ve got to get that! It will go with my collection of strange, interesting, bizarre, laughable, or just plain bad, Christmas albums I have. Right next to the Jim Neighbors, James Brown and perhaps the worst, most awful one of all, my Partridge Family Christmas album (it really is bad…they didn’t seem to put a lot of thought into this one) I really wanted it to be good.
Yes, this was indeed a good article as I go into the week about to start a new school year myself. And I love finding the old guest stars on Bonanza and Gunsmoke. I look for that all the time. A real guilty pleasure. Thanks John for this article.
I love the Shat!
Who cares if he hasn’t seen it or not. But you have to admit, he’s good at keeping his name out there. :)
11
Here, here to that. I love the Shat.
So he’s finally run out of excuses. Not that any of them had been plausible, anyway. Tell ya what, John Tenuto: I’ll be interested in ShatWatch AFTER he’s seen the movie. Until then, I’ll pay as much attention to him as I would any other whining, petulant child.
Big deal. He’s not interested in seeing the movie. Get over it, people.
There are plenty of movies I don’t care about seeing, and, honestly, I don’t care if I don’t see ST ’09 again. It wasn’t that great. Oh … IMHO, of course — before I get it from the ol’ “majority opinion” folks again.
Hope you win that Emmy, Shat-man.
Yes, like only a select privileged few before …
Now you too can have William Shatner in your pants!
Or should that be “The Shat in your pants”? Guess it all depends on what you’re into.
15 – Funny! Thanks for the chuckle!
Who cares if Bill watched the movie or not. He’ll watch it when he feels like watching it. He’ll catch it when they start airing it on TV. He won’t wait for the movie. The movie will wait for him ;) . now THATS captain kirk.
possibly i understand why Shatner has avoided seeing the new movie. to begin with i don’t recall i’ve EVER heard him offer much praise for the works of other artists – he’s always too busy hyping his latest appearances/projects.
having worked for 20years in the video-rental business, i also began avoiding many popular movies about which i might receive that classic “did you like the movie?” inquiry from a customer.
better not to see the movie at all if you find you might be at risk of having to say something uncomplimentary about the film. and let’s face it, there probably aren’t a lot of 80year old men headed to the theater to see goofy-summer-blockbusters like the TrekFilm anyway. so why would he want to see it any more than anyone else?
Shatner hasn’t even watched a full TV episode of TOS, because he doesn’t like seeing himself on screen (as many of us do). I think the only Trek movie he saw consciously, completely and with interest, was The Final Frontier.
I can’t wait for Shatner to see the movie. All the whining on these threads gets old fast…
Giamatti is massively underrated, brilliant actor.
Shat’s ‘piece is looking a little “ratty” (to qoute the great late Bob Justman) time for a new one Bill!
Ed Reimers, Admiral Fitzpatrick in “The Trouble With Tribbles”, has died at the age of 96.
When will Rawnerve start again? I like that show.
Shatner weekend? We already have Shaturday! Just kidding.
American schools start up in August? I had no idea…
If Shatner does have any interest in appearing in the sequel, he probably should have taken JJ up on his offer. But other than that, if he really doesn’t want to see the movie, why should it matter to us?
“Comfort supersedes style.” I agree!
#10
Ok, I’m gonna tell you a secret – I own a Christmas Album by….uh…The Kelly Family. I feel strangely relieved now that I’ve made this confession..:))
Shatner’s can’t be worse; I think he’ll rather come up with something really… unseasonable… :)
#11, 12
Ah, I love the guy, too – he does have backbone.
Thanks John for the article – entertaining and informative, as usual.
Here’s hoping the Shat can win another Emmy!!
It’s amazing to think that he began his career 58 years ago in 1951 and he is still receiving Emmy nominations! How many actors in history have career with such longevity let alone still receiving award nominations?! Along the way he has amased a very impressive list of Film and Television apperances indlcuding some very memorable characters, most notably of course Captain James T Kirk!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shatner
I have to say that he have the right not to see, as the actor of Kirk , he has a different perspective of Star Trek. Not as a fan.
Saying that , I understand the the fans want him to say what he thinks, it’s about the only one not have said anything except the comments on the trailer.
But in a free country your not obliged to see a movie , you even have to pay for it, lets leave him in his lost (bc the movie is good) and perhaps start a countdown to Kirk to see the new movie hehehe…if he ever see-it
Perhaps on TV :-(
Thanks to the release of Star Trek TOS on Blu Ray, I have created a few new Shatner fans! Young folks who had never watched TOS before are blown away by how good it is. Their inclination was to laugh at first, because they assumed it’d be pure cheese, but by the time episodes like Balance of Terror or COTEOF ended, they had certainly changed their tune!
Not long now til Season Two!
I have been thinking Shatner not wanting to see the movie is somehow related to his admitted fear of death. Seeing a new, YOUNG actor playing Kirk on screen only makes Shatner’s age harder to deny and I do think he tries to deny it.
#17 ” He’ll watch it when he feels like watching it. ……. He won’t wait for the movie. The movie will wait for him ;)…”
That needs to be on a bumper sticker. Classic!!
And it really boils down to a brilliant move by Shatner. He has successfully avoided having to answer all stupid questions that he KNOWS will come his way, by simply not seeing the movie. Well played, Bill Shatner.
30 – Good for you! Nice work! Glad you helped some of our young people recognize the quality of the show, the writing and the performances. Well-deserved kudos, indeed!
Leonard Nimoy needs to just round up Shatner already.
“Damn you, sir, you WILL watch…”
The only way Shatner will see the Trek film is if an undercover mole smuggles a copy in and projects it on a tent wall @ his Charity Horse Show and hog ties him to a barrel/horse rail and shoves tooth picks in his eyes!
#30
Well done, buddy! :)
27
The Kelly Family? Help me out. I’m not familiar with that one
My Davy Jones Christmas album is bad too. Love Davy- was dissapointed in that one.
I look forward to Shatner’s album
Shatner should come out with a clothing line of mens slacks…………
This way when a woman comes up to a guy and asks, “what kind of slacks do you buy?”, the man can respond, “I SHAT my pants!”
#38. How sexist of you. Why exclude the women. He should come out with an extremely short Star Trek inspired mini-skirt.
The ad can say: “If you aren’t wearing this skirt, you ain’t wearing Shat”
#39
Why not Shat toilet paper? Boggles the mind, doesn’t it??
“Next time you need to sh*t, use shat!”
It is Mr. Shatner´s thing, whether to see the movie or not. I didn´t like the new movie, so I don´t think he missed anything :-) But I understand people who liked the movie and are surprised, that he hasn´t seen it yet.
#17: “He won’t wait for the movie. The movie will wait for him ;) . now THATS captain kirk.”
Amen, brother. Cue the theme to “Shaft,” subtly re-lyriced as “Shat.”
Daaaamn right.
@ #19
I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
I wonder if he’ll be writing books in the new timeline since he hasn’t seen the film (worked for him & TNG after all, didn’t see the show, has several books in the TNG universe!).
#37
No worries – I think they were more popular in Europe than in the US. Below’s a link you might want to check out. Enjoy! ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Family
Shat’s unwillingness to see Star Trek (that is its name) is lamentable. Threatens to render him as irrelevant as Bernd Schneider.
Well, he still hasn’t watched the new film. How surprising.
I liked the guy in TOS and the movies.
But outside of Trek, and as a person in interviews, I think he’s an arrogant git with WAY to much pride. Meh.
I mean c’mon. JJ Abrams invites you to a private screening, and even than you decline?! Grow the heck up already! If you ask me, he’s avoiding the film. Simply because he’s not in it, and he cant handle that fact.
Why the hell does Bill have to see the new film just because people think he should? He has every right to feel betrayed over the whole issue, but the fact that he takes it with good humour is a mark of good character. I haven’t seen the new film either and have no wish to do so.
Why are so many folks worried whether Mr. Shatner has seen the movie? Do we know if he even goes to the movies?
Heck, I’ve never seen “The Simpsons, South Park” or any other of the Fox cartoons… zero interest here and no pleading an cajoling would change my mind either (and yeah, I know South Park is not a Fox network cartoon).
I never saw ER in all its years on TV or any of Quentin Tarantino’s films… so why fret over whether someone has seen something? It’s all a matter of personal tastes… and certainly not worth all this drama and fretting.