How very strange - I actually recognized most of the references!

My favorite note from Shatner's career was the name of his policeman character, "TJ Hooker", though this may be lost on people not from southern California.

Ace, we agree 100% on Kingdom of the Spiders. Great ending to the flick, gave me nightmares.

Also, one can't forget the all-Esperanto Shatner classic Incubus-- the greatest movie ever made in a completely artificial language.

Before Friday, that is.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Yeah, cool ending. 70's sci-fi wouldn't have existed without big matte paintings.

I watched the first episode of Boston Legal because of James Spader, but I kept watching because of William Shatner, a.k.a. Denny Crane. The character must have been tailor made for him.

Sadly, I no longer watch. Their bitter turn to the left, coinciding with the appearance of Candace Bergen, has left me cold.

I sure do miss Denny, though.

The show is embarassingly leftist, and the James Spader character sucks. (I love James Spader, but his character is a douche.)

But Denny Crane... Denny Crane rocks, and keeps me coming back for more.

Serves as Chairman on the American version of Iron Chef

Well, Gattaca made inventive use of Esperanto for the PA announcements. Pretty inventive film all around, actually.

But there was a *whole film* in Esperanto? Throw in The Transformed Man, and the word "fascinating" really doesn't do justice to Shatner's career.

That's a cool site. Good stuff all over it.

One other guy who's in the Leslie Nielsen range (but not Shatner's mega-range): George Hamilton.

In music, Tom Jones.

(And of course, Mr. Paul Anka.)

I've always had a soft spot in my shrivelled black husk of a heart for William Shatner. Though I will admit I cheered when finally Kirk bought it.

I might have cheered when Kirk bought it, if it had been the legendary death he deserved; i.e., in the process of wiping out an entire planet of Klingons *without* the forehead implants. What they actually did was utterly lame.

Shatner is so great that Tim Allen's best film performance (Galaxy Quest) is him ripping off Shatner.

Shatner is so great that the best work Joe Jackson and Ben Folds have ever done is with him fronting them (Has Been).

Shatner is so great that Priceline actually survived the dot.com bust.

Yeahp.

No no no no...you people don't get understand. You know how good Shatner is? Shatner's so good that, for my money, the best album of 2004 was his collaboration with Ben Folds, Has-Been.

I'm not fucking kidding, Ace. I bought it thinking it would be a novelty item, something I'd listen to twice and then file away next to Nimoy singing "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" and, hell, that OLD Shatner stuff. But it's actually an excellent album, both musically and lyrically. It's at turns hilarious, moving (seriously, without annoying sad-sack pathos), and winkingly parodic. The idea that the Ace himself hasn't heard - and adored - "You'll Have Time" is in itself a travesty.

Seriously, man - pick it up. The most well-known song from the LP (the "Mr. Tambourine Man"-style desecration of Pulp's '90s Brit-pop classic "Common People") is actually the weakest.

Actually, I think I have that song downloaded, and I was just listening to it... a little. But I'll give it another listen.

William Shatner ROCKS!! He seems like a guy with such a good sense of humor about himself - so totally likeable unlike so many of the Hollywood narcissists ... I love seeing him in every new venture and I enjoy supporting such a niceguy.

I used to dream of being one of the native women in aluminum foil ravished by Captain Kirk ... or that hotty Uhura .... ok, a white ten year old Uhura with no bust to speak of .. but I don't see how that would have stopped 'ol James T. ...

Kerry: well yeah, that's true. But that entire movie was kind of lame-o. It had the new PC UN-In-Space Next Generation crew.