Shatnerpalooza!

I was poking around The Perfect World forum the other day and found a link owner CalGal posted to a New York Times article about a film only William Shatner could have made, The Captains. It's a documentary about Shatner all the captains. (Shatner.)

In “The Captains,” which Mr. Shatner wrote and directed, he interviews the five performers who have succeeded him as “Star Trek” leaders, on starships or space stations: Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine.

. . .

Much of the fun of watching “The Captains” is waiting to see just how shameless a huckster and self-promoter Mr. Shatner can be. You don’t have to wait long. He starts his journey by flying to England to visit Mr. Stewart, and on the tarmac he greets an executive of the aerospace company whose plane will carry him. It’s a blatant product placement, but it’s more than that: in the course of the conversation, it comes out that the man’s career choice was inspired by “Star Trek.” “He became an aeronautical engineer because of me!” Mr. Shatner says, with limpid satisfaction.

. . .

Striding among the booths, he encounters a series of actresses who are there to make money off their “Trek” connections — Jeri Ryan, Sally Kellerman, Grace Lee Whitney (the ageless Yeoman Rand). Each time he turns to the camera and says, this was the most beautiful girl in the history of “Star Trek."

(Emphasis added.) Heh. I love the way Shatner plays "a guy named William Shatner." He's always right on the edge of being a douchebag but never crosses the line. There's a self-deprecating quality built into his act. He's always making fun of himself, and he's in on the joke. It's a parody of The Self-Absorbed Actor. Or is it an act? Very skillful indeed.

There should be an Oscar for off-screen lifestyle and self-promotion, the "Living the Life" award. Heck, just call it "The Shatner."

Shatnerpalooza sounds like fun. So does that documentary. I don't get Epix, so somebody tell us about it. The Captains started on Epix channel on Friday, and Shatnerpalooza is already underway.

Trailer below the fold. (Thanks to "gu1tar.")

posted by rdbrewer at 02:01 PM

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