At ninety years old, William Shatner keeps on going. The original Captain Kirk has a brand new album coming out next month and he has released a couple of music videos for it.
Bill’s latest is… Bill
Following up from his 2020 album The Blues—which was a #1 hit—William Shatner has a brand-new album coming out on September 24 simply titled Bill. On this new release, Shatner has teamed up again with Grammy-winning country musician Brad Paisley, this time for a more personal album that has Shatner delivering his autobiography in a series of songs.
One of the new music videos features the song “So Far From The Moon,” about a hard time in Shatner’s life in 1969 after the cancellation of Star Trek, which gave him a different perspective on the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The other music video released today is for “Clouds of Guilt”; the title pretty much sums it up.
Find out more and pre-order the new album at BilltheAlbum.com.
Find more Star Trek celebrity news at TrekMovie.com.
That was cool. (One minor nit, though, the shuttle didn’t launch for the Moon, guys. That’s the big ole Saturn V you’re looking for.)
Love it, but if this is suppose to be autobiographical, the song lyrics should be “So far from the Stars,” not “the Moon”…like, duh, right?
I’m sorry, I love you Bill, but I just don’t effing get it.
It seems pretty straightforward to me: if you don’t sing, then why are you making records?
Spoken word albums have been around for a long time. In fact, there’s a Grammy Award specifically for them.
If you dont write proper articles, why are you puplishing Text on the Internet?
Because Leonard Nimoy could sing, and Shatner didn’t want Nimoy to outdo him. :-)
So… you’ve never heard of poetry, Andrew? How about Johnny Cash?
Spoken-word albums have been around for as long as albums have been around. If you “don’t effing get it,” that says more about you than it does about Bill or the art form.
I should’ve known that my comment would meet with this reaction. Heaven forbid I express an unacceptable opinion.
You seemed to be under the impression that albums are only made by singers. It’s not that your opinion was unacceptable, you were simply mistaken.
Ah, but I wasn’t. I know the art form exists.
I was simply expressing how it doesn’t speak to me.
Spoken word albums, and you say, “it doesn’t speak to me”.
I see what you did there, Andrew. :>)
Rhythmic 🎶 😊
The talking you do reminds me of a Jesus song that Johnny Cash wrote & sung: “When the man comes to town.” ❤
Unsolicited advice:
Seek Jesus N O W .
We’re born fallen.
And the ONLY thing that can EVER TRANSFORM US
is to be reborn of the Spirit of Jesus. Not to be confused with manmade religion! (lukewarm people are not Christian).
Prayers that they awaken SOON!
With childlike sincerity, ask:
“Lord, if you’re real, then please tell me or show me.” “I need to know!” (something along these lines).
The Lord WILL RESPOND.
Be still. Listen.
No man can save you.
Man cannot save himself.
🚩 Trouble is coming.
Much worse than what’s taking place right now. Seek Jesus while there IS STILL TIME. 🕚 🚩
Read John 3:16
Romans 3:23
Romans 10:9-13
Regard God in ALL your decisions. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
⚡🙏⚡ ~Elise
It totally reminded me of that song too! Thanks for remembering which Cash song that was.
In Clouds of Guilt stranger is spelled wrong. But I like it anyway
The true star of ‘star trek’
You’re right, William Shatner is the “true star” and co-founder of Star Trek because without him as Captain James T. Kirk, there never would’ve been ANY Star Trek at all and people seem to forget that. NBC passed on The Cage because it was too cerebral and because they didn’t like Jeffrey Hunter. So Willam Shatner took the role and made it his own. Have no doubt, the show was meant to be his starring role.
But other characters such as Spock, Dr.McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov all became popular in their own right. Star Trek was not an ensemble show in the beginning but it became that way over time. Without William Shatner, there would be no Star Trek because NBC would’ve passed on it again. So, without William Shatner and the Original Series, you don’t get TNG (because who knows what would’ve happened to Gene Roddenberry if NBC passed on Star Trek again since Star Trek was his baby.), DS9, VOY, ENT, DIS, PIC, LOD, Short Treks, the Animated Series back in the ’70s, and 13 feature films.
You don’t get NONE of it without William Shatner. And people should give him more respect and more props because without the Original Series and Captain James T. Kirk, there would be no Star Trek as we know it today. There would be no franchise, which is celebrating it’s 55th anniversary this year, without William Shatner. So people should give him more respect then they do for everything he’s done for Star Trek because he deserves it.
Just to let you know something about me, I’ve been a Trekkie since I was 12 and I just turned 42. The Original Series was in syndication back then in the early-’90s. I came into Star Trek when the 25th anniversary was going on. The first episode of Star Trek that I ever saw was when I was 6 with my Mom and it was The Trouble With Tribbles.
I didn’t know what the show was about but I loved seeing the purring furry things😄. Then I saw Encounter At Farpoint when I was 8 and I liked it. I watched it with my Mom and Dad in 1987. So I’m a lifelong Trekkie who loves ❤️ ALL Star Trek (but especially the Enterprise 💖.) and I can honestly say that William Shatner does deserve a lot more respect and credit then people give him for helping to create this vast universe and franchise that is going strong still 55 years later.
Live long and prosper🖖.
Yes, John. I agree. I’m 66 and was there when Star Trek first aired. William Shatner fit the part perfectly. We can tease now about how, over the many years, he turned into this big over the top ham, but he was well suited for the role from 1966-69. Shatner, in his prime, brought the character of Captain James T. Kirk to life.
Yup, sir, I agree. He is hammy today for a reason though. He does the opposite of Star Trek because he imbued Captain Kirk with himself. I got to actually be part of a livestream with William Shatner last year and he answered 2 of my questions, which was so awesome!
My first question was about his Star Trek novels and if he’s ever going to write another one and my second question was how much of Captain Kirk is actually him? And he told me and everybody in the livestream about how actors put a certain amount of themselves into every role that they do but with Captain Kirk, he put everything of himself into it. So he IS Captain Kirk. In my opinion, the greatest Captain in Star Trek.
So when you watch TOS, you’re watching William Shatner just be himself on screen and I think that’s totally awesome!!!! Patrick Stewart is doing that with Picard now on his new show. Picard and Patrick Stewart are one and the same now and that’s probably because of William Shatner. Because him and Shatner are friends ever since Generations.
But that’s why William Shatner’s performances are soooooo different from TOS? On the Original Series, he portrayed himself and everything else he’s done has just been him playing a part. Pretty neat, huh? I did love him as Denny Crane and the Big Giant Head, though.
I really didn’t need to see him try to talk to a dolphin on Six Million Dollar Man or see him have a nude scene with Angie Dickinson in Big Bad Mama 😂. I could’ve done without that 😃! Live long and prosper 🖖.
“see him have a nude scene with Angie Dickinson”
Yes, usually when there’s that much ham on display, it’s during a banquet! :>)
😂🤣😂🤣😄😆😆😄😂🤣🖖.
“and people seem to forget that”
No one forgets that. What a silly statement.
Actually, it’s not. A lot of Trekkies give more respect to TNG then they do to TOS. I’ve seen it at conventions with the younger Trekkies growing up more with TNG then TOS. Just going from personal experience here 🖖.
Norman Spinrad — the author of the TOS episode “The Doomsday Machine,” as well as several SF novels — wrote an essay called “Star Trek in the Real World,” which appeared in the book Boarding the Enterprise, edited by David Gerrold (author of “The Trouble with Tribbles”) and Robert J. Sawyer (an excellent SF author).
In that essay, Mr. Spinrad says, “William Shatner was hired as the star, but Kirk was never the central character in Star Trek, and never could be. Whether Roddenberry intended it or not, Mr. Spock was the central figure of Star Trek, and in the end, it was the character of Spock that enabled Star Trek to transcend television, to survive, in one incarnation and another for nearly half a century, to pass into the collective consciousness of popular culture as surely as Superman, and to take science fiction with it.”
Personally, I think both Kirk AND Spock are better when they’re together and have one another to play off of. :-)
Absolutely. It’s Spock who was most popular with fans when the show was on the air, as anyone old enough to have watched it back then can attest. It’s Spock who is the more endearing character. It’s Spock whom people dressed up as during the first conventions in the early 1970s. And it’s Spock around whom the show revolved more. If Kirk had been killed off but Spock had stayed, the show would have done just fine.
There’s a reason why, when they were casting the Kelvin movies, the first person they cast was Spock, and then looked for an actor who would have chemistry with Mr. Quinto.
If you read the book The 50 Year Mission vol.1, which is a great book by the way, it says that Captain Kirk was supposed to be the star of the Original Series. In an interviews I’ve seen of Gene Roddenberry, he even said that when he pitched Star Trek, he pitched it to NBC as Wagon Train to the stars and Captain Kirk was supposed to be the sheriff and Yeoman Rand was supposed to be his girlfriend, per NBC. That all changed when Grace Lee Whitney had to be written off of the show. Gene Roddenberry had no idea how popular Spock was until the 2nd season when they faced cancellation the 1st time.
Yes, I agree Spock is a more popular character but without Captain Kirk, there would be no Star Trek. Spock can’t carry a show by himself, especially not back then on NBC. Lucille Ball had to step in and help keep Star Trek on the air back then. So if Spock’s popularity was enough to keep the show on the air then why did they need such a big star to step in and stop the cancellation on their behalf?
As for the JJ Abrams films, you should do some research because William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were both supposed to appear in the 2009 film. I’ve read the original script with the deleted scenes in it that William Shatner was supposed to be in. They had to change the script because William Shatner wouldn’t come down from his $1 million price tag that he was getting for a movie back then. He hit the $1 million dollar mark back when he did Generations and Paramount didn’t want to pay him anymore because every movie his fee went up.
That’s why they changed the cast to the TNG cast and they did the same thing to them when their price tags got too high, they wrote them off with Nemesis. As a matter of fact, if you know anything about William Shatner, then you would know that the reason he and Leonard Nimoy stopped talking in the years leading up to Leonard Nimoy’s death was because Leonard Nimoy sold out and did the 2009 movie without William Shatner. Instead of having William Shatner’s back, which they were best friends and he should’ve done, he sold out and said “Let’s make the movie without him”. Same thing with Into Darkness.
William Shatner sat around waiting for a phone call, his words, and his phone never rang. But Leonard Nimoy was in it again. He sold out Shatner again and that’s why William Shatner wasn’t talking to him in the years leading up to his death. And Spock became a breakout character, yes, but Captain Kirk was always supposed to be the main character.
Kirk is supposed to be Gene Roddenberry and Roddenberry himself said that in interviews for TNG back in the ’80s. Captain Kirk was Roddenberry in the ’60s and Captain Picard was more of how Roddenberry was in the ’80s, those are Gene Roddenberry’s own words from an interview back in the ’80s when TNG was just beginning. Once again, Spock became a popular character but originally the main star was supposed to be Captain Kirk. And if you watch the 2009 movie, more of Captain Kirk’s backstory is explored then Spock’s.
And the reason why JJ Abrams cast Spock first is, if you read any interview with him from 15 years ago because he started casting for the 2009 movie back in 2006, was because that was gonna be the hardest role to recast because so many people love Spock. He already knew who he wanted to play Captain Kirk and that’s why Chris Pine went and visited William Shatner and got his permission to play Captain Kirk before he agreed to accept the role. Also, he wanted to pick up some of William Shatner’s mannerisms so that he could incorporate that into his Captain Kirk too. Star Trek doesn’t work without Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr.McCoy.
But, if you do your research, the original star of Star Trek was Captain Kirk and Spock became a breakout star. That’s from Gene Roddenberry himself. Not the producers or the writers or set designers or props or directors. The creator of Star Trek himself has stated numerous times that Captain Kirk was the star when he pitched it to NBC as Wagon Train to the stars.
Now you’re entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine and I will not budge because I am a super fan of William Shatner’s and because without Captain Kirk, there is no Star Trek. Live long and prosper 🖖.
I think they’re better together too. Spock helped Star Trek along but it wasn’t him alone that allowed it to transcend. A lot of the important morals that came from Star Trek come from Captain Kirk. Spock had quite a few moments but Captain Kirk had more and that’s why I say people forget that Captain Kirk was a central figure.
People empathize more with Spock than with Captain Kirk and that’s why Spock became more popular. And the reason Captain Kirk was considered the central figure is because the normal audience tuning in back in 1966 would be able to identify more with Captain Kirk then the guy with the devil ears and those words come right from Gene Roddenberry’s mouth. He loved all the characters but the one he saw himself as on the bridge was Captain Kirk. That’s why I say that Captain Kirk was the main star of Star Trek.
The greatest Star Trek episode of all time is a Captain Kirk episode – The City On The Edge Of Forever. That’s about Captain Kirk falling in love while trying to prevent Dr.McCoy from altering the timeline. If Spock is such a “breakthrough character” then why isn’t Amok Time or Journey To Babel considered to be the all time greatest episode of Star Trek? Then, in season 2, Spock became a breakout star.
Kirk and Spock are always together on licensed merchandise but, originally, Captain Kirk was supposed to be the central figure of Star Trek and it’s stories🖖.
“Clouds of Guilt” is surprisingly GOOD. There’s a misspelling in the lyrics, though. :)
This is awesome! I had no idea he was working on a new album, let alone an autobiographical one. I look forward to hearing this. I do wish he would write another Star Trek novel, though, with the Reeves-Stevens’.
He didn’t finish his Star Trek: Academy trilogy and I keep hoping to hear that Simon & Schuster are going to release the last two novels and every year nothing! It’s been almost 15 years now since the release of his last Star Trek novel and I really don’t see him doing another one because he’s so busy now. But I keep hoping! I know he associates his Star Trek novels with all the pain he was going through back then, dealing with the loss of his wife, because I actually got to ask him about doing another Star Trek novel during a livestream last year and he said that he didn’t want to revisit that part of his past because it’s too painful for him.
I keep hoping he’ll change his mind, though. But I know what he means because I lost my daughter in 2008 to pneumonia and I really don’t like revisiting that part of my past either. Live long and prosper, Trekmovie 🖖.
Bill Shatner is Capt Kirk. Capt Kirk was the All American Hero, a career Navy man out there for God and Country. A man on a mission.
Through it all, Kirk was the hero. Sure, Spock was, well, fascinating but Kirk was The Man and yes he always won the girl. He was a sailor after all.
You know, Shatner’s life is remarkably free of scandal, especially by Hollywood standards. Surviving divorce is no easy thing for a father. Shatner’s story is the story of many millions of Americans who, in the late 1960s, thought they too were out there, alone, fighting the crazy that got crazier each day.
Since that what Kirk did with his loyal-unto-death crew, it’s not hard to identify with him, especially when the show went into reruns at the height of the Viet Nam, Sexual Revolution/Women’s Lib/New Left assault on all things America.