How was Shatner "overacting" on the Star Trek program?

[DerekG]

I just finished the Season 1 collection from my local library, and in all honesty, I'm not making a connection between his performance and the innumerable imitations. He had a distinct style, but there definitely was some subtlety on display there. What, does his acting devolve in the subsequent seasons?

[Beringia]

1. my opinion

is that he had a certain style that was very self-conscious, to a point that is not naturalistic. So he seems narcissistic. I enjoy watching him a little, but I am not a Star Trek fan. I kind of liked Spock, or the idea of him, and the actor.

[Dr Morbius]

2. I've seen every episode at least ten times. I know most by heart.

Please identify the "subtlety" on display. I didn't see it. Also, it's worth pointing out that in that era, very little television was actually good or well-acted. Very, very little. Shatner wasn't the only one on the show to overact; I'm a doctor, not a ____, dammit!

I don't think Shatner's acting devolved over the course of the three seasons.

Watch other shows of the era, like Gilligan's Island, The Munsters, Wild Wild West, Mannix, Batman, and perhaps you'll agree TV in the 60's was an entirely different animal than more recent fare. Lots of poor acting, but it was the kind of acting the public was expecting at the time.

[MiddleFingerMom]

12. The shows you mentioned (except for Mannix)...

.
...were either camp or goofball comedies -- of COURSE, the acting
was horrible. It was more exaggerated Vaudeville than anything else.
.
Same era: Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Mission Impossible, Perry Mason, The
Prisoner, and The Twilight Zone.
.
To name a few.
.
Shatner pretty much emoted his whole career -- UNTIL Boston Legal,
IM(never)HO. Even though his character is larger-than-life...
his portrayal of that character is SUPERB.
.

[pokerfan]

3. Shatner's style originated with his forgetting his lines

While serving as an understudy at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada, Shatner had to play the title role in Shakespeare’s Henry V on only a few hours’ notice and without the benefit of rehearsal. His hastily cobbled performance-full of abrupt stops and inappropriate pauses when he forgot the dialogue-was hailed by critics as remarkably intuitive and full of passion. Always quick to respond to positive feedback, Shatner began to incorporate these techniques into subsequent performances.

http://irreference.com/william-shatner-on-acting

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Shit! When the revolution comes, critics will be first up against the wall.

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. Well that explains everything. LOL

[Writer]

4. It's not too dissimilar from other programming filmed during that era.

Many actors on television were stage actors that didn't know how to ratchet down their craft for a smaller screen. The Shat is one such actor. :)

[TreasonousBastard]

6. He was a major drama queen-- operatic in dimension, and as long as...

the show was popular, he hammed it up more and more as he went on.

Specifics? Can't go into each scene like a drama coach, but for the most embrassingly hammed up performance in TV history, find him in "The Andersonville Trial" and see him put everything he learned in Star Trek to use. He did kinda seem to calm down a little on that cop show, but I just didn't like the show enough to watch.

I gotta admit, though, as much of a laughing stock as he became, He was perfect as Denny Crane-- one of the great, classic TV characters. The past is entirely forgiven. Either he magically became an actor, or the writers knew exactly how to write for what he had to give, but it makes no difference-- he was great.

[AnArmyVeteran]

8. He's still alive! He's STILL great!!!!!

[WolverineDG]

28. Check him out in Judgement at Nuremburg nt

[AnArmyVeteran]

7. Shatner: "The greatest over actor in the history if acting". I came up with this in the 80s...

I say the above with great affection for Capt Kirk. I loved Shatner's overacting style. There can be no other Captain Kirk. I just wish the network hadn't pulled the plug on Star Trek so early. We would have a lot more gems we could have watched. It's amazing how many technological advances were born from ideas shown on that series. Bill Shatner even did a two hour special about how Star Trek changed the world. It's a must watch for any fan of Star Trek or fans of technology. I'm still waiting for a 'tractor beam' to be invented. But from scientific journals I've read it even seems possible.

I still think Captain Kirk could beat Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a fair fight. My little brother and I each had their favorite, but since I grew up with Captain Kirk, I thought he could easily win. Jody, my brother, grew up watching the Star Trek featuring Captain Picard. I hated to see Captain Kirk get killed in Star Trek: Generations (Stardate 48650.1), but he died in a valiant effort.

Hell, what does it take to be a network executive? Have your brain removed? They cut Star Trek and then cut Boston Legal. I thought the ratings for Boston Legal were great, but maybe the political views on that show doomed them. I thought the writers of that show were brilliant and the best on television. Boston Legal earned seven Emmy nominations. But that didn't stop the dimwitted network executives from pulling their plug. Do you realize that almost none of the old television shows would have lasted past 6-10 episodes with the criteria network executives use now. It takes time to build an audience but now they don't wait. And I don't wait either. Because I know if I start to like a program it will get dumped. So I'm not going to invest my time getting to know the characters or the theme of the programs knowing the program could end any second. I wonder if network geniuses realize they are destroying audience loyalty? But they don't care. All they are concerned with are short term financial gains, a typical corporate condition where they don't care about moderate long term financial gains.

William Shatner was absolutely perfect playing the role of the right wing, gun-toting Denny Crane. And I loved those scenes at the end of the show where Denny Crane would always reveal a soft (almost liberal) side of himself to Alan Shore, played by the great actor James Spader.

[MadMaddie]

9. I love his acting in Star Trek!!

[edbermac]

10. No blah blah blah!!

At 1:40...now that's real acting!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnPDNnCMLSg&feature=related

[AmyDeLune]

11. What scares me is that I don't even need to look at the clip...

I know it from your quote...

[Coventina]

14. LOL! I use that quote a lot, along with "BONK BONK on the head!"

:D

[LeftyMom]

13. The writing tanks in the late second and third seasons, for sure.

Desilu cut the budget back even farther, so the focus was more on writing stories that used props that were readily available than on writing good stories. The acting got hammed up a bit to compensate for terrible lines, I suspect. The climax of The Omega Glory is probably the best example of this.

But it's important to remember that the hammy acting was the fashion, and the soundtrack and writing are generally about as subtle as a brick to the temple as well.

[sarge43]

15. Turnabout Intruder (the last episode) is my choice for Trek OS at its worst.

The basic idea wasn't bad -- a personality and gender switcharoo, but letting The Shat play a neurotic bitter woman? Not a good idea. Let's just say his performance wasn't ham with a side of corn; it was the entire state of Iowa. And the writing sucked, shallow and sexist. If he could have gotten on the lot, Roddenberry probably would have done someone an injury.

[Dr Morbius]

23. I hate The Cloud Minders.

Turnabout Intruder is bad, too, but the Cloud Minders is the absolute worst IMO. Slow-moving, heavy-handed, and they reuse that awful "through-the-stairwell" shot from previous episodes. Ugh!

[Bucky]

16. About the sound track... you have to blame "Mission Impossible"

It was the first show that made its soundtrack deliberately distracting, almost like an additional character in the show. In the 60s subtlety was out and big was in. So Trek went for a hamfisted soundtrack and hamfisted acting.

[LeftyMom]

18. I actually really love some of the really overly dramatic soundtrack.

The fight music from Amok Time comes to mind.

[Bucky]

17. Check out episode where he reads either the Constitution or the Declaration--I forget which it is...

But far as I know, most of the impression are based on his jerky reading in that episode. He's transcendently bad, with out being so bad he's good there.

Normally I really enjoy Shatner's hammy style. But like Bill Murray's, it really needs the right director to keep him from getting out of control.

[LeftyMom]

19. The Omega Glory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b56e0u0EgQ&feature=related

It's overacted, preachy, the absolute worst Trek has to offer.

[sarge43]

20. The Omega Glory - the Declaration.

I watched it once and :puke:'d. Even General Ripper probably couldn't stomach that one - mindless cold war cliches. No one shined in that 'sode.

There are a handful of actors who can transcend a bad script and indifferent direction; Shatner isn't one of them. When he has the right combo, he can be excellent.

[baldguy]

24. Roddenberry thought that ep was the best ever. He put it up for an Emmy for Best Screenplay.

Of course, Roddenberry was the guy who wrote it.

[sarge43]

25. Huh. That's just sad. n/t

[jobycom]

21. He doesn't, really, but it's like watching people do imitations of DeNiro from Taxi.

Everyone who tries to mimic him can't do it without overacting, so they assume he overacted in the first place.

Happens with John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart, too.

[Orsino]

22. Like a motherfucker.

And sometimes it was awesome.

[bigwillq]

26. Shatner overacts in every thing he does

One of the worst actors ever. Never got his appeal.

[WolverineDG]

27. Season 3

bad scripts lead to bad acting.

dg

[KamaAina]

30. Well, for one thing, he was trying to convince us that that godawful rug was actual hair

:eyes: