William Shatner, Certified Nice Guy

Bill will receive a humanitarian award in Providence, Rhode Island. He will talk about his life & career, do Q&A and introduce the Gonzo Ballet film.

Our good friend Capn Ho will be there and you should too!


"What's ... WRONG...with whatI'mwearing? You said! it! was! ... ... FORMAL!"

More here

Show #111 - July 18

Episode 111 on MP3

We review the movie - AGAIN! This time from a drive-in next to some train tracks.

Also: Star Trek meets the Roller Derby!

You should be reading Candorville

Candorville is one of the new comics in the SF Chronicle (and by "new" I mean it hasn't been running for 10 years...). One of the reasons I like it - besides the sharp political commentary and refreshingly non-white-middle-class characters - is that Lemont Brown, the main guy, is a Trek geek and is usually drawn with a Starfleet emblem on his shirt. In the current plotline, he's a journalist on assignment in Iran and has been captured. He tweets (follow him on Twitter!) to his friend Susan to "prove" that he's OK. Click to embiggen and enjoy the Trek goodness:

Shatfest! And the Butt Girls!

The Shatner Butt Girls are mentioned in this article from SFWeekly.

In space, no one can hear you mock.

July 23 - Party with Will the Thrill, Monica Tiki Goddess and the Butt Girls!

This is why you need to be on Twitter

Here's what greeted me when I checked my Twitter stream this morning (on my iPhone). I love the interwebs.

Oregon Trek in the Park

"Atomic Arts" is performing Amok Time at Woodland Park Amphitheater in Parkland, Oregon on July 18, 19, 25 and 26. It's free and sure to be lots of fun!

Listeners, we know some of you live near enough to see this and report back to us. SUPPORT LIVE TREK!

The Kirk Doll We Don't Want

Is that his space lunch he's reaching for?


"Back off, Cupcake! I'm not letting you steal my lunch and beat me up. Again."

Get Trek XI Kirk and all his little friends. Or not.

Bill Shills and Reveals How He'd Take On Chris Pine

And the host of Attack of the Show slams Pine in a major way of which we totally approve.

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

Show #110 - July 3

Episode 110 on MP3

We're at the San Francisco Theatre Fest at the Metreon
Maynard talks to us again!
Shatfest again! We will be there!!
Bill on Conan
Comments from you, the listeners!
Star Trek Wall Mural (and other cool Trek junk!)
Trek cakes at cakewrecks - wedding
Bad fanfic at Fanfiction.net
Star Trek Underwear: do Vulcans wear underwear?
Great Trek icons!


A tin for your cake (not death)

Kirk vs. Picard For the Umpteenth Time

Thanks to Nikki for letting us know that Wired.com has boldly gone where freakin' EVERYBODY has gone before and we wish to Grapthar we could stop going along!

As usual, the real entertainment is in the comments.

It’s a well-documented fact that the daughters of those who prefer Kirk grow up to become strippers.

Who says Trekkies never get out of their parents' basement.

Picard is a little too dramatic. A stentorian Shakespearian actor certainly seems hammish and bizarre captaining a ship. Everything he speaks seems artificially either over dramatic or carefully subdued. Each one too much to feel natural.

This is the first! time! EVER! that Patrick Stewart has been accused of being hammier than Bill. One for the record books.

The Prime Directive is for sallies.

Not exactly relevant but nonetheless entertaining.

Kirk. Jeez. How is this even a discussion?

Don't ask me, I'm just a podcaster.

And in closing...

And anybody who grew up with TNG, instead of the original series, shouldn’t get a say.

Amen to that.

No! More! Bloody Singing!

TNMC summarizes scenes cut from Star Trek XI.

Finally, at the end of the script is provided an alternate take on the scene in which Spock and Spock Prime meet. Before saying goodbye, Spock Prime hands Spock a locket. Spock activates the locket and sees a holographic video of Kirk, and by that I mean Shatner, singing happy birthday to Spock and congratulating him on becoming an ambassador. The message continues, basically telling Spock that the two of them should get back together one more time with a starship and just... explore.

The writer goes on to speculate why this scene was cut. Doesn't mention how incredibly slashy it would have been for Kirk to send Spock a locket (ew!) or that this would have been the Trek movies' second-most embarrassing musical moment, the first being "Row Row Row Your Boat" from STV. That's #1 because they weren't happy with how stupid & sappy it was the first time so they reprised it! OUCH!

Maynard Chats Up the Butt Girls AGAIN!

We love him. Here's our latest insane ramblings about the movie and a bunch of other crazy stuff.

You should all subscribe to his podcast, Maynard's Malaise!

SHATFEST!

Yes, friends, the Butt Girls will appear at Thrillville's Shatfest, this year in San Francisco!

As if that weren't enough, it's a double feature!

Impulse!



Kingdom of the Spiders!



Thursday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Admission $12
4 Star Theater (Clement at 23rd Avenue)

William Shatner, Career Counselor

Rule #1--Ask yourself: What would Bill do?

Shatner describes his career plan as "answering the phone." When someone called to say, "I've got a part for you," he had work.

"Sorry, I have to take this call."

Full article at the Courier Post Online.

Nichelle and Uhura RULE.

Once again Frederick at My Star Trek Scrapbook brings the awesome with a fantastic post about Uhura, featuring some amazing shots of Nichelle. I reproduce my two favorites here.

HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LOVE UHURA??? Three cheers for Captain Uhura and Her All-Girl Band!







And check out this gorgeous Frank Kelly Freas portrait.

Trek PEZ dispensers as Flash Drives!

I so want one! You can get Uhura, Sulu, and the Enterprise. No word on whether Kirk will be available. We suspect that one is SOLD OUT.

Show #109 - June 20

Episode 109 on MP3

Bill shills for stairs!
Shop with a Shatner?
William Shatner cologne? Send in your suggestions!
Jack Lemmon as Daphne in Spock's Brain?
New Think Geek catalog!
Go to My Star Trek Scrapbook!
Ultimate TOS Communicator Site at HeroComm!

Follow us on Twitter and leave reviews on iTunes!

Bill's E-Z Stairs video ad

Oh, Bill.

You can go to the website to watch it, or click here.

(I would have embedded it, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to stop playing automatically - and NO ONE wants to see this fucking thing play automatically ever time they visit the blog.)

Bill's E-Z Stairs print ad

SERIOUSLY? They used a 20 year old picture of him? This is really starting to reek of blackmail. What did he do to the stairs people to deserve this??

AND LOOK AT THAT SWEATER!!! AAAAAHHHHHH!

Save the Date!

Your own Shatner Butt Girls will appear at the San Francisco Theater Festival on Sunday, July 26.


Location: Metreon 4 Stage
Time: 12:20 pm
Price: FREE!

More info here.

Xmas with Crazy Pike!

Because nothing says Happy Holidays like a radiation-scarred Captain Pike tree ornament.


Press the button and you get dialogue from Kirk and Spock, and some beeps from Pike. And his lights work! Isn't that precious?


But check this out:

The one on the left is the image from main Hallmark page, and the one on the right is a screencap from the video you can watch from said page. I suspect the one they've used for the main page is a prototype or something, as the quality is much higher and it actually looks like Pike from the episode. But look how crappy the production version is! It doesn't look anything like him! His eyes are wide open, and his skin color is normal! THIS IS A DISASTER!


Also, Kirk?

Looks like Henry Winkler.

$28.

Start Your Week Off Right

Good work, Fresca!

Kirk and Spock Review the New Movie

"We should nevertheless destroy it." LOL!

In Honor of the NBA Playoffs - BASKETS!

Click to embiggen.

Bill with manpurse and basket


Manpurse and basket closeup


Bill + Pretty Girls = BASKET!



Found these treasures and more at zimbio.com.

Speaking of motorcycle accidents

It probably goes without saying but I'll say it anyway: LOOK AT HIS BUTT!

From our buddy at My Star Trek Scrapbook.

Bill by Ben Folds

Found this via @BenjaminFolds on Twitter - he took the pic about four years ago, after Bill crashed his motorcycle. We discussed the accident on the show but I can't remember which one. What a GREAT picture.


You can see the original post here, where the image is much bigger, and read the wonderful comments, the best of which is "That man will live forever!"

Other Than Bill...

Other than Bill (who's facing away from the camera almost the whole time), there's only one person in this video we wish we had been there to meet. And no, it ain't Tommy Turvy.



Can you guess who?

Two great photos

We've been terribly remiss on spreading the word about the My Star Trek Scrapbook (mentioned some months ago), which continues to be awesome. Frederick posted two great pictures, with comments, which I now share with you.


"What you don't see in this cozy shot is the knife Nichelle is holding behind his back."
(Lene adds: Also a great shot of Kirk doing his Bill the Cat impression)



"The crew reacts as the young Kirk gets the snot beat out of him again in the new movie about their exploits."

Butt Girls Log

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Show #108 - June 4

Episode 108 on MP3

Questions about the MOVIE!

Where do they go from here?
How would Shatner!Kirk rate Pine!Kirk?
Kung Fu Monkey blog discussion about Trek
AssistNews.net - the Trek/Jesus quiz
News about Bill!
Pine and Quinto on SNL
ShatnerQuake!
Marjorie outtakes


Memory Alpha about NCC:
For those of you curious as to the origin of "Naval Construction Code", Mada101 is correct. It comes from a Diane Carey novel entitled Star Trek: Best Destiny (ISBN 0671795872) and features an "origin" story about James Kirk's early years aboard the first USS Enterprise and his father, Commander George Kirk and Captain Robert April through a series of flashbacks. At the beginning of several different chapters, the novel sets the scene location by utilizing the ship's name followed by the words "Naval Construction Contract 1701-A" or "Naval Experimental 2001" referring to a non-cannon starship USS Bill of Rights. From that novel, many acronym websites have decided to use that designation as hard canon fact, when we all know that most of the novels are not canon.

And Wikipedia:
NCC doesn't stand for anything. It was devised by Matt Jefferies, art director of the first Star Trek series. Jefferies, who is a pilot, based NCC on 20th century aircraft registration codes. In such 20th century usage, an "N" first letter refers to an aircraft registered in the USA. A "C" second letter refers to a civil aircraft. Jefferies added a second "C", just because he thought it looked better. Think of it as being like the arbitrary three-letter code that's part of automobile license plate numbers in many states.

Presenting ... THE KIRKULATOR!

Inspired by the Trekulator.


You want lens flare? I gotcha lens flare right here.


OK, I know I'll never compete with Lene (builder of the lightsaber-dildo and dress designer to Captain Brandt) but I NOW HAVE A KIRKULATOR!!!!

Herb Solow reviews Star Trek XI

It's very interesting to see which characterizations he takes issue with.

The original article is at bbc.co.uk but the comments (yay!) are at TrekMovie.com.

Rude Person came out of the cave to post this gem:

all of the people who majorly complained about the spelling error have imbalanced lives.

people, there i no reason to get worked up over a spelling oversite.

–on to Solow’s review.. i like that, and he hit Nimoy’s Spock dot on! with the, “tthe centuries of knowledge that always lurked in his eyes.” comment.

perfect.
i think Quinto will put that into Spock as the movies progress.. ;)

ICANT WAIT!

-im going to watch this movie again this weekend :)

yeah i wish peple wuldnt' get worked up over spelling oversites ..its punkuation what counts .

Star Trek TREKULATOR

I want one! Ganked from RetroJunk.com.
"Check gas!" "Gas OK!"

Captain Kirk's Favorite Weapons

According to Den of Geek...

Kirk’s best conversational skill, though, was his ability to ruin a computer faster than your grandparents would, simply by talking to it.

Well, yes, but I don't really think TALKING was his favorite - ahem- weapon.

iTunes reviews & Twitter

THANK YOU to all of you now following me (lenetaylor) on Twitter! I keep seeing new people adding me every day. Yay!

Now, you must all go and leave us a review on iTunes! We've got only SEVEN reviews and we're not even showing up in the first 30 Trek podcasts! Give us some iTunes love!

STII promotion on the Merv Griffin show

Bill, looking slim but wearing a horrible toupee and a Mr. Rogers cardigan.


Leonard's turn. Check out the hug with Bill! Bill, what's with "wroth"?


Leonard tells us what cons are really like. And De is introduced as "the young fellow who portrays Dr. MCoy"! Love the turtle story.


Steve & Eydie were Trek fans??? OMG!

TOS on IMDB

From the LiveJournal community startrek_tos:

The Internet Movie Database has full episodes of every TOS episode except two from the first season. I actually prefer these episodes to the ones on Fancast because the video quality is better. Plus, you get detailed information about each episode as well as trivia for the entire series on the same site. Just wanted to let my fellow Trekkies know.

There are also remastered eps at Hulu.com. Basically, there is NO EXCUSE for not watching TOS.

Shatner IS Shatner

The Guardian gets it right!

Shatner, personally, is OK he isn't in the new film. Shatner is happy the franchise is succeeding. Shatner didn't watch Star Trek much either, now you mention it. Shatner is perfectly comfortable no longer being Captain Kirk. Shatner knows exactly who he is: Shatner.

Shatner didn't always know he was Shatner. He described his epiphany to US talk show host Conan O'Brien about a decade ago. Everyone at Star Trek conventions was always talking about "Shatner this" and "Shatner that", Shatner recounted. They were going on as if Kirk/Shatner was a hero with magic powers, some sort of binary god. Who WAS this mythical figure, this "Shatner", Shatner wondered. Then, he said, it dawned on him. HE WAS SHATNER.

From that moment on, Shatner has been Shatner as intensely as any celebrity has ever inhabited a personality. He is one of the few famous people to embrace the fact that his image is nothing more than a plaything of the public, a sort of reality TV star before the genre existed.

Howard Stern gets it right, too!

Bill quietly and firmly reduces a director to jell-o

Bill's Toupee Survived the 1970s!

And it's still working! Watch this clip from "Population 436," a 2006 movie that not only features Bill's toupee atop the leading man, it's also very similar to some of those made-for-TV movies Bill made in the 70s.



I'm pretty sure Bill wore that blue shirt in Kingdom of the Spiders.

A different sort of Kirk Light

And that's not all!

There's Kirk Butt!

And Kirk Butt Shadow!

And - HOLY TOMATO! - Kirk Bicep Light!


Thanks, Di!

We! Love! Our! ... LISTENERS!!!

J.J., Bill Shatner is on the line

Here's a great article in which Bill talks about the possibility of having J.J. Abrams on Raw Nerve.

If Abrams does accept an invitation to appear on Raw Nerve, Shatner says he would like to explore the director's early years, rather than the controversy over their Star Trek stoush.

Ummmm...what's a stoush? Is it like a cooter?

Latinum Kirk!

Another media conquered!


Click to embiggen and read the description, which is coincidentally apropos to our discussion of Kirk's leadership qualities in our latest podcast.

Kirk is yours for only 5 installments of $25.00, plus shipping and handling.

If only.

Older than TOS found it at Nostalgic-G blog "which has an insanely detailed review of Trek-related Playmates paraphernalia." Thanks, OTT, for sharing!

Show #107 - May 22

Episode 107 on MP3


THE MOVIE!
We talk about everything, lots of spoilers, lots of complaining, lots of things we loved!!
What will we call Old and New Spock?
For a real take on the Kobayashi Maru, read JK's story What Lies Within

Also, find Lene on Twitter, and Audio Boo

Hitler on the new Trek movie.

I totally agree about Kirk. Punk!

Two Reasons to Watch T.J. Hooker

Kirklight...


... and LOOK AT HIS BUTT!


Sent to us by Amanda who presents a very good argument for T.J. aka 1970s Bill!

Bill spoofs the new movie, part 2

For some reason, the video was pulled from the NBC and Hulu sites but the lovely and talented Ruby Pearl posted to:

Bill spoofs the new movie

In this one, Bill's part starts about 2 minutes in. Enjoy!

Bill & Jay Leno spoof the new movie

Tonight Show May 19, 2009
Bill's sketch starts about 17 minutes in - Very funny! And no nose-picking.

Logan is Funny About Obnoxious Kirk.

Courtesy of Loganotron - I'm so glad that he's being snarky!

Just Jared has an amazing gallery of shirtless Chris Pine pics. Included are two adorable ones. My first fave is of Chris digging for space gold up his Jefferies tube. My second fave is Chris reading the New York Times and sticking his tongue out in a “These words are hard to understand” sort of expression. So cute.

Bill makes a cartoon. I'm afraid to watch.

Via People online:

While the Star Trek franchise he helped make famous is achieving success at warp speed at the box office, the original Captain Kirk is exploring the final frontier of cyberspace.

In The Gavones, his new YouTube cartoon, William Shatner directs and voices Don Salmonella Gavone, who's struggling to pick an heir from his four misfit sons. The pilot episode has just been posted, with the next installment due out within a month.

Think of the Gavone family as the-Sopranos-meets-Hollywood, says Shatner.

"It's the mafia in Hollywood trying to make a hit – and half the family think it's murder and the other half thinks it's a movie," Shatner told PEOPLE.com exclusively. "It's a comedic Soprano family."

In the pilot, Shatner used friends and family to voice the characters. Down the line, Shatner says that Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Martin Scorsese are likely to appear – their cartoon likenesses, anyway.

"We can get anybody we want with the flick [of a pen]," he says.

So why has Shatner, who most recently starred in Boston Legal, turned his hand to animation?

"I decided a cartoon on YouTube would be really fun," he says. "All those media forms like Facebook and Twitter, we don't know where they're going to take us; certainly YouTube is unique in its form. So it seemed like a good idea to investigate how to do entertainment on it."

But here's the buried lede, as Harry Shearer would say:

Priceline is sponsoring the series, which will comprise 6-7 episodes and run twice a month.

Of course they are!

Well, here it is. Will someone please watch it for me?

Shatner auction for premiere tix pulled by eBay

Posted by Paul, the admin of the Shatner BBS:

The auction got pulled by eBay - if you can believe that.
This is what they said:

"Unfortunately, we had to remove your listing because the following information violates our policy:

In description:100 of the Proceeds from this auction will benefit Mr. Shatner's Hollywood Charity Horseshow"

If it didn't have that line it would be fine so instead of having the over $1000 bid that was currently on the item - eBay decided to end it.

In looking at the eBay Policy they have this outside charitable company called Mission Fish which is "in charge" of handling the charitable donation auctions. They require non-profits to register in their database to be able to benefit from an eBay auction.

Ah but there's a catch. In the fine print it says:

"Because we’re a nonprofit, we keep a small part of each donation processed to offset bank fees and other expenses. The deduction for Community Seller donations is based on the size of the gift: our percentage gets smaller as the donation gets bigger. We never take more than 20% of any donation, and our average deduction is roughly 10%. "

I hate when people make it so damn hard to do something good.

Love is what makes the cold universe warm.

Thanks, Mr. Atoz!

No Hate Like Internet Hate

Turn on your caps lock, turn off your spelling checker and FLAME ON!

OK GREAT MOVIE, BUT LIVE IN PEACE AND PROSPER CRAP, Comon, LOVE THE REAL SPOCK, LOVE THE SCOTTIE DUDE ESPECCALIE, BUT KIRCK IS A CUPCAKE, AND BONES, EXTREMELY HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL Cannon people need to relax (and move out of you parents basement) this was the perfect movie and the plot solved all of your(our) concerns. And I AM the biggest Geek of all.... My son is 8 and his name is James Tiberius Mu----! SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!

This movie is an abortion.

I just want my male reviews guys not to take about another man's sexiness. That was a little too much to take.

Just a few random comments posted in reply to Entertainment Weekly's review of Star Trek XI.

Talkin' Mythology

Is Captain Kirk an American icon?

Americans have spent much of the past 50 years bringing our fictional protagonists down to eye level. Where once we had Captain Ahab and Paul Bunyan and John Henry, now we have Rabbit Angstrom and Jack Bauer and Tony Soprano, characters consumed by their faults or quirks or doubts.

That makes for great tragedy and great realism but, perhaps, not great myth. And “Star Trek,” as a history of the future we desire, is unrepentantly mythic.

Translation: Shatner Kirk, yes. Pine Kirk, not so much.

BTW, have you watched The Omega Glory lately? Kirk even gives a "come-hither" look to the American flag! You can't get more iconic than that!

PvP on Trek

A great comic, and a great blog entry. I didn't get teary at the end, but I did get total chills when Spock intoned "Space, the final frontier...."

My father introduced me to Star Trek. We used to watch the original series whenever it came on.

One of my favorite memories of watching the show with my dad might be a little bit embarrassing for him. But I’m going to share it with you anyway.

One time, my dad cried at an episode of Star Trek. It wasn’t any special episode either. It was probably one he had seen a million times before and never cried at. It ended like every episode of Star Trek ended, with Kirk and Bones laughing at Spocks inability to understand their illogical emotions. Over the credits, Kirk gives Spock a sharp slap to the arm and my dad laughed out loud. Then he paused and he got a bit overwhelmed. He got misty. Happy misty. Sentimental misty.

When I asked him why he was tearing up, he simply smiled at me and replied. “Because they’re friends.”

And I remember my mother coming in and doting on him and finding it endearing that he cared so deeply for fictional characters.

You’re going to hear a lot about this new Trek. People are going to talk about the action, effects and the casting. They’re going to even talk about how careful the film-makers were to weave this new series into existing Trek continuity. Those are all great reasons to see Star Trek. Make no mistake though, the reason you’ll love this movie is the same reason my dad loved the original. “Because they’re friends.”

I got a teared up a little at the end of Star Trek. They got me by using the original theme music in the ending credits. My dad was there with us to see the movie. It felt good. It felt like home.

I can assure you… this is most definitely my father’s Star Trek.

Click to embiggen