Everyone exaggerates Shatner, and that's understandable. One of Shatner's greatest gifts as an actor is his ability to play a scene like a man on the edge of total mental breakdown. So many of his most memorable scenes are played at that high end of the emotional spectrum that people mistakenly remember every thing he ever did in that way. But a lot of great Kirk moments are straightforward and lowkey, even underplayed, giving them so much more power. It doesn't matter what anyone says about Shatner as a human being. Without him and his passionate, swaggering, brilliant Captain James T. Kirk characterization, STAR TREK would be a forgotten footnote in TV history.
@@ko.ala.b the rest of the impersonations are all too parody/over done comical characters. But if you were to close your eyes and listen to Shatner and Pine, their voice and cadence are very identical.
It was a 60s sci-fi action adventure show where lots of fantastic things happened to the characters. This means that some scenes required some outsized acting which was appropriate to the fantastic events that occurred.
Of course that's overacting. Shatner never did anything else. There's a difference between overacting and playing a passionate character and this is the former.
I think Shatner actually performed Shakespeare in his younger acting career. It would have been cool to hear him say, "(shoulder shrug) 'tis the East... (hands raised) and Juliet... (unnecessarily long pause followed by a quickly delivered phrase) isthesun!
Captain Kirk, you couldn't get anyone finer for the part, simply brilliant The original Star Trek for me was like going to see a Shakespeare play only I kind of like this better.
holy shit, I love this! Many people don't know that Shatner began as a legitimate stage actor. He performed Shakespeare. He has the acting chops. When Star Trek began, Jeffery Hunter was the Captain. The producers thought his reading was too 'stiff' and wanted a 'broader' interpretation of the role. By 'broader' I think they meant someone who was not afraid to smile. Casting Shatner and Nimoy was probably two of the greatest casting choices in history. Two jews in space lol.
Shatner was Chrisopher Plummer's understudy in a Shakespeare play in Canada when they were both young. Plummer had nothing but good things to say about Shatner.
Maybe the two actors are Jews but Kirk is Irish and Spock is a pointy eared green blooded hobgoblin which in Dr. McCoy's book makes him also Irish not a brick layer.
Seth still exaggerates-- the exaggeration is what makes an impression funny, btw, some of you seem to have missed that-- but it's not as overdone as some I've seen.
I never thought of that. Obama has that 'clipped' way of speaking. He has a long pause........ thensaysaphrasereallyfast...... and then another long pause.
Watch the other speech he gives later in the episode and you'll see exactly why Kevin Pollack and Jim Carey started the standard staccato Shatner impression.
My fav Shatner speech in TOS was at the end of 'The Omega Glory'....."It must apply to everyone or it means nothing! Do you understand?!" Would love to see Seth do that one.
"Death Disease Destruction and Horror; that what war is all about,that's what makes it a thing to be avoided." Geneva Rules of engagement make war, organized and gentlemanly.I despise that masquerade.War should be horrible enough that you avoid it at all costs.With a 700 Billion Dollar Budget, they always have to provide reasons for that expenditure so we become the Security Guards of the World.
Shatner may not have acted so exaggerated in this particular scene, but the impression Seth is doing is dead on for a lot of Shatner’s TOS performances.
The Shatner impression has become so famous that you forget that he’s hardly like that in his roles. The impressions are too many shades removed from the real thing.
@@666MIHI The caricatures are nothing more than a cruel joke. Pollack, Carey and the others just do it for laughs. It's not a homage, nor an accurate representation of either Shatner or the guy he's portraying... it's just a poor attempt at a joke which gets more stale and ridiculous as time goes on.
It's funny, I see so many somewhat exaggerated imitations of Shatner, I forget what a good actor he is. It's like the Walken imitations, or John Wayne, right? They're inaccurate - but just so damn fun!
MacFarlane's cadence is comical but not accurate. I never really understood why impressionists sprinkle their versions of Shatner with random pauses and rapid-fire sentences - I admit it's _funny,_ but it's not really _fair._
Because he did talk like that. But the thing that makes an impression funny is taking a quirk and over-exaggerating it. His pauses weren't as pronounced and he didnt speed up quite so much, but the fact that he did at all is what people remember. I both enjoy Kirk impressions and think Shatner was actually a better actor than he was given credit for
As with other famous impressions, most people get their Kirk impression from the one done by a professional stand-up comic. In this case, it was Kevin Pollak. See what he does with Kirk, and you'll see what everybody does with Kirk.
@@marywealth6475And what everyone misses from these caricatures and parodies is what James Kirk was really trying to say in those soliloquies they all crack wise about.
Ironic Seth went on to make the Orville, a show more popular than any of Disneys attempts in recent years to revive Star trek. Because he knew what formula made it great.
@@drxshock6957 It can't, and never will. Look what they've done with Star Wars. You can only squeeze so much out of a stone, or dip from the well so many times before it's just a rehash of the same old stories and space battles.
Let's be honest if it wasnt for shatner overacting would we still be talking about it like we are 50+ years later? Exactly there isn't one dork out there that doesn't find kirk as a hero.
I don t get it. What's MacFarlane actually mocking: Shatner's acting or the lines being anti-war? because there was nothing bad about either. I can understand Bill M laughing as he s just an edtablishment yes man but you d think the audience would know better. I guess it s easy to cheer on wars if you're not PERSONALLY involved. Like all early ST the episode posed a moral question, and the reason why the series is still liked is that there will always ethical problems to resolve. I'm all for parody but i think this skit is just inappropriate given that wars exist, continue to spread, and technology makes killing quicker and less personal thereby demonstrating the truth behind the message.
Shatner got worse in the 3rd season, where as a Taste of Armagedon was a 1st or second - and a great episode at that. Also shows how bad an actor MacFarlane really is.
Fun fact - the number of children aborted in the UK every year is roughly equivalent to the number of British military deaths from all causes each year of WWI. Every year. Year after year. Can't think why that thought jumped into my head in the context of this particular episode of Star Trek. Answers on a postcard....
No child has ever been aborted. Use the real words, mixing in words which make your statement flatly untrue in an attempt to emotionally manipulate the reader undermines whatever argument you are trying to make.
@@celebrim1 What exactly does any of this have to do with this video? Nothing. Like "Joe Franics" you are a num-nut whackadoodle spreading your irrational beliefs everywhere you think you can get away with it.
