TrekMovie is gearing up to celebrate our second annual "Shatcember". Below we have a preview of the second season of William Shatner’s Raw Nerve, plus a preview of the special edition of Kingdom of the Spiders. We also have your guide to keeping an eye on Bill for the next month. [UPDATE: added video of Shatner with Kate Mulgrew and Brent Spiner]
Shatner’s Raw Nerve Season 2 Preview
Shatner’s Bio Channel talk show Raw Nerve is back in a couple of weeks. The Bio Channel has added a preview for the second season of Shatner’s Raw Nerve to the official site, where you can see Bill talking to Gene Simmons, Rush Limbaugh and Regis Philbin.
Raw Nerve Season 2 promo at Bio.com
Other guests for season two include Mackenzie Phillips, Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Springer, Larry Flynt, Tony Danza. The first two episodes are December 6 at 10PM and 10:30PM Eastern Time on Bio. The guests are Rush Limbaugh and Regis Philbin.
Fine Shat Cinema: Kingdom of Spiders Spec. Ed. DVD coming January
William Shatner may have starred in seven Star Trek feature films, but his movie career is much broader than that. Shortly before Star Trek The Motion Picture, he appeared in the cult classic, Kingdom of the Spiders, which will be out in January on a special edition DVD from Shout! Factory. The new version has an interview with Bill along with a director’s commentary and behind the scenes stuff and more. Here is the DVD trailer.
Shatner, Mulgrew + Spiner hang
They guys over at GeekChic pointed us to this brief video they took of Bill hanging out backstage with Brent Spiner and Kate Mulgrew.
Shat Talk: Bill to appear on Conan (again)…on Monday
Bill announced on Twitter that he will be appearing on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on Monday November 30th. This will be Bill’s eighth appearance (as a guest and in sketches) on the Tonight Show since Conan took over in June. Since his first appearance, the infamous "bird flip" event (below), and subsequent "Palin Poetry" readings, Shat seems to be Conan’s viral go to guy. So tune in to see what they come up with.
Shat Talk w/ Headroom Clip
Bill has been doing talk shows for decades. One of his strangest appearances was the following from 1987, but just uploaded on YouTube. Bill appeared on the Cinemax show The Original Max Talking Headroom Show.
More Shat TV
Here is a guide to your Shatcember TV viewing in the next two weeks.
December 1
10PM BIO Star Trek: Captain’s Log (rerun)
11PM BIO Biography of William Shatner
December 4
4:45AM IFC Kingdom of the Spiders
December 5
2:30AM COMEDY CENTRAL Denis Leary Christmas Special (rerun)
December 6
10PM BIO Raw Nerve Season 2 Begins
10:30PM BIO Raw Nerve Season 2 continues
December 8
5PM DISXD The Wild
December 10
9AM TBS Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (guest star, rerun)
“Why would…..Spiders…suddenly turn aggressive?”
That’s our Shatner!
Kingdom of the Spiders part 2 by JJ Abrams in an alternative universe with a new, young and exciting version of Bill Shatner, coming soon to a theater near you!
Kingdom of the Spiders is an awesome B-horror film, so I’ll be picking it up.
He had a broader TV career than that, as well. Who could forget his work on Twilight Zone?
#4
His work on TZ was great. I can remember two episodes: “Terror at 20,000 feet” & “Nick of Time.” Were there any others?
Oh, and don’t forget his supporting role in “Judgement at Nuremburg.” Another good one.
oh, sorry, that was “Nightmare at 20,000 feet”
People always talk about Citizen Kane, but give me Kingdom of the Spiders ANYDAY!
Shatner and Limbaugh on the same screen. Life is good.
SnakeDoc
He did a really good “Outer Limits” back in 1963 or ’64 titled “Cold Hands, Warm Heart.” It concerns an astronaut (the Shat) who, after returning from a mission to Venus, can’t get warm.
“Kingdom of the Spiders” was run last week on the Independent Film Channel (IFC.) Keep your eyes peeled for more runs.
Some…..one, Some…..thing, has taken over my……ship! My…….crew!
They need a triple feature DVD:
“Kingdom of Spiders” starring William Shatner
plus-
“Night of the Lepus”* starring DeForrest Kelley
plus-
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”** starring Leonard Nimoy
*same basic movie as Shatner’s, but with bad-azz bunnies!
**special guest villian: soul-sapping snap beans.
Oh, and Nimoy did 2 of the original Outer Limits, the classic “I, Robot” and the incomprehensible “Production and Decay of Strange Particles.”
Earlier this fall I had my photo snapped with Bill at the Big Apple Comic Con. He was on a barstool and the people who ponied up for the photo op came up and stood next to him. To the envy of all my friends, I got to look down on his toupee at close range. That’s right, it was like having the Shatpiece under the microscope.
I have to say, in all seriousness, that is one fine hairpiece. It looks real. You can see his scalp through it. I was overwhelmed by the majesty of the experience.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Shatner” I said. He replied “Thank you.” We exchanged parting glances. Neither of us had to say it. We both knew. The honor wasn’t meeting Captain Kirk, T.J. Hooker and Denny Crane. The honor was meeting the owner of that fine piece of knitted upholstery.
I can’t get that with Patrick Stewart. Bill is my captain.
#4, 5
“The Intruder”, guys, don’t forget “The Intruder”. :)
Thanks for the article, John.
The intruder is one of the finest acting jobs that william Shatner ever did.
Bill Shatner went on to star in three more Star Trek feature films, the Emmy Award-winning shows Rescue 911 and Boston Legal, and in his smash follow-up album Has Been.
Whatever happened to Max Headroom (Matt Fewer)? He played head games with Captain Picard in “A Matter of Time”.
See what happens when you taunt the Shatner? You get tossed to the second-string hitters on The Next Generation. ;=)
Wasn’t Matt Fewer the cranky neighbor in “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”?
Matt Frewer recently played a super-villian (retired) in WATCHMEN.
Shat is “Pray for the Wildcats” with Andy Griffith is great! And Shat wears a motorcycle outfit that looks like his classic gold command tunic. Andy Griffith is a bad ass.
For anyone who continues to give Shatner flack about his toupees…
…please go take a GOOD, LONG LOOK at one Mr. Walter Koenig and then tell us with a straight face that Shatner’s rugs are terrible.
Wow I wish Shatner would do the flying Kirk kick into Rush Limbaugh…if only.
Is it just me, or does Max Headroom sound just like Berlinghoff Ramssmussen?
Couldn’t they release “Kindom of Spiders” on Blu-ray as well?
20: Agreed!
My daughter and I posed for a photo with Walter at a convention back in April, and although he’s smiling and looking directly at the camera, it appears his hair is facing approximately 45% in another direction.
As always, a very nice guy. His wife was very nice, too.
13:
Shatner no longer wears a hairpiece — he got a transplant/hair plugs sometime in 2000, so his hair now is real! See shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com for more info.
sorry the link didn’t work – it’s http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com
BTW I’m not affiliated with that blog at all – just impressed by the research they did on Shat’s toupee!
25+26
I can assure you that the Shat is wearing a weave/hair replacement of some kind. I know somebody high up in that profession and they are quite sure Shatner is wearing some kind of weave that is very delicate and must be replaced every two weeks. They told me the specific name for it, but I forget. Being made of delicate materials it is very realistic looking (and very expensive), but it has to be replaced often. Hey, it’s not like the Shat can’t afford it.
Besides, for Shatner to have plugs he would have needed to transplant a LOT more hair from the back of his head than he could afford to spare.
27:
I don’t know — I still think he had a transplant – he might thicken it up w/ a piece sometimes, but there isn’t that much hair on the top of his head still — see this pic:
http://www.en.shatner-news.com/gallery/shatnerweekend2009.php?12
6. Kirk’s Revenge – November 28, 2009
oh, sorry, that was “Nightmare at 20,000 feet”
There was also a TV movie called “Nightmare at 37,000 Feet” which featured Mr. Shatner.
Scared the crap out of me when I origonally saw it in 1973; being only 8 years old at the time.
28:
That’s just it, the weave I’m talking about is so realistic you can see right through to the scalp in parts. The fact that we’re debating it is what makes this new hair replacement technology so darn good!
And expensive…..as in $1200 every two weeks!
Kingdom of Spiders was great entertainment!
Can’t wait to pick it up on DVD!
28: The fact that we’re debating it is what makes this new hair replacement technology so darn good! And expensive…..as in $1200 every two weeks!
…Which may explain why he’s charging $80 to stand next to him for ten seconds and pose for a photo at these conventions.
The only thing more incredible than this is that schmucks like me and 400 other people are paying it.
32:
Well, yes, but let’s not split hairs over this!
Re: #16 – Matt Frewer had (has?) a recurring role on SyFy’s excellent “Eureka” series in recent years. He plays an Australian animal behaviorist.
Re: 20 & 24 – I saw Koenig walk up the center aisle before addressing a convention crowd way back in 1983, and I remember looking at the back of his head as he passed me (I was seated on the aisle) and being amazed that he had a comb-over that started at the base of his skull. I think he still does the comb-over, judging by the way his hair looks.
Scott B. out.
…. so anyway, when will we get the Shatner scene in the special edition of Star Trek 2009?
:-)
35:
Never, because if they HAD filmed it and not included it in the theatrical release, they would have to pay the Shat millions just to include it on the DVD.
And that ain’t gonna happen!
22. the same man who played rasmussen played Max Headroom…
12. Funny thing about that Outer Limits with Nimoy…he went into the reactor room to save the whole crew…
William Shatner–awesome.
Rush Limbaugh–awesome.
Both o’ them in the same room, talkin’ man talk and random stuff–AWESOME!!!
MEGA DITTOS, BOYS!!!