Thursday, March 22, 2012

Happy Birthday Mr. Shatner!

William Shatner's birthday is today. How old is he? Who cares? Here's one of my favorite scenes from all Star Trek, from the much-maligned Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.



Trek V is what I consider to be a 'noble failure', in that it doesn't succeed, but even as it falls short it has some really nice moments, and it really tries to do something interesting, something that really involves sending the Enterprise crew into an unexplored place to confront an unknown. The above scene comes early in the film, while the crew is on shore leave, and Kirk, McCoy, and Spock have gone camping in Yosemite. If nothing else, this film understands that at the heart of the original Trek crew is the three-way friendship of Kirk-Spock-McCoy, a fact which the folks in charge of the current Trek original crew reboot seem to be missing completely.

Anyway, happy birthday to Mr. Shatner! May you row your boat gently down that stream for many years to come!

3 comments:

Jason said...

Sigh, Star Trek V. I was dating this girl at the time who'd never seen a single episode or movie, while I of course was salivating at the prospect of a new Trek film. I'd spent weeks talking up how great the old show was and how much it meant to me and finally got her to show some enthusiasm... and then we went to see it and it was... well, Star Trek V. I remember she turned to me as the ending credits were starting and said, "I'm sorry." I was so disheartened... and I've never seen this one since.

That said, I did like this scene, and also the one where McCoy relives turning off his father's life support...

Ben Varkentine said...

Personally, I'll forgive a lot just for: "Excuse me...what does God need with a starship?"

Andy said...

HA!!!!! 'YA GREEN BLOODED VULCAN!!! It's a song!"