Star Trek

I have mixed feelings about Avery Brooks.  I liked him a lot in 'Hawk', and the show that series was spun off of (Spenser for Hire?), so I know he can act.  And as for casting him as Sisko, its posible that Brooks several degrees of tangent style was right for this most different of Treks.  Nevertheless I often felt he was phoning in his role on DS9 for much of the series.

Hawk was the spinoff from Spenser for Hire. 

Shatner overacted so much it's almost painful to watch now.  A little tone of voice or gesture does a lot.  I suppose some of that's 1960s TV vs. 1990s TV, and some of it's the writing.  A commander needs to be a little detached from his crew.  Kirk was such a pal to his senior officers, it's hard to see him sending them on a mission that they probably would't come back from.  It's hard to see Kirk disciplining anyone he was such a clown himself, and regarded orders from Starfleet Command as suggestions.

Brooks, I think, made the best captain we've seen in Star Trek.  His relationship with his son made him a much stronger character - families for the other captains have been afterthoughts, trotted out for one episode maybe and then forgotten.  Same with his relationship with Cassidy Yates.

You're right.. 

Kirk was a clown, a cartoon character, he couldn't even control Charlie X, You're right Sisko is a very believable Commander, and Shatner just think Kirk is the best and all the other Captains are beneath him, it's so obvious that's what that DVD is for, just listen to him sing Rocket Man and he think Avery Brooks is crazy ?

I think the Shat is jealous of the Sisko. Avery Brooks is ten times the artist Shatner will ever be.

Shatner is only as good as the one directing him, he did some good work in TOS because they had good Directors on that show, but he was totally horrendous in Star Trek V, in his fatheaded inflated ego he wants to be the God of Star Trek and every bows down to him, but out of all the Captains, Avery Brooks NEVER bowed to him, GO SISKO !

Avery was realy skiny in the interview and after it.

Maybe he was ill.

Shatner was funny with tha belly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AECEnj6r6k8

nice vid

I  see nothing wrong with Kirks' relaxed command style. One thing about Kirk...I think he would have been more likely to throw himself under the bus before one of his crew. That kind of commander inspires confidence if you ask me although it does make him more impulsive and reckless than the other Trek Captains. It was addressed in STII that Kirk had never faced death but had consistently cheated it. Picard and Sisko were more willing to send crewmen on one way missions than Kirk probably would have been and its telling that Scotty and McCoy had to physically restrain Kirk from entering the chamber in STII to rescue Spock. The other two Captains' would have been more accepting of the situation in my opinion. What I am saying is that Kirks weaknesses were also his strengths ( the same can be said of Shatner the actor actually which is probably why his characterisation is so dynamic ). Kirk would never send a crewman on a mission he would not grab with both hands himself. He was also a great delegator ( unlike Shatner ) and according to my ex-girlfriend the most overall attractive Captain ( which freaked her out no end because she never had a thing for an actor in an old TV show before ).

I agree that Avery Brooks phoned in his performances more often than not on DS9. He was the weakest link in that cast in my opinion. He had his moments however and was always solid when dealing with Siskos' relationship with Jake. I think in terms of physicality he was also the best fight scene performer on Trek ( although Shatner was more fun ).

I watched the Captains via Netflix.

 DS9 is my favorite Series, I grew up watching re-runs of ToS because that was my parents show.

All this to say, whether Brooks was stoned or drunk or both, he was communicating from a higher plane of thought and the jazz (which I love) music was the dialect in which he was communicating.

To Bill's defense, he was trying to reign in Avery so as to keep the improv from going off the really deep end.

I think the thing about The Shat, which is not always easy to pick out of his antics, especially if they are read and not seen, is that he has a wry sense of humor born out of a strange combination, at the same time both self-aggrandizing and self-effacing.

Some recent examples that spring to mind include singing "My Way" to George Lucas in his typical bad Shatner sing-speak, just after asking Lucas, "George... can I call you George?... you can call me Mr. Shatner."  Or the Priceline commercial where he's talking in that dude's ear, who is talking to his wife with the super-exaggerated Captain Kirk stilted speech.

Also, if you watch some of the interviews from the old films (they're compiled in the Blu-Ray movie collection, among other places), you may have that lightbulb moment, like I did, that this is just how he teases his friends.  When I saw him, with a stone-straight face, theorize that Nimoy only pretended not to want to come back and do Star Trek 2 as a negotiating ploy to get an extra hundred a week, and the writers killed his character in retribution; or that the death scene would have been better if the glass were frosted so you could see Shatner but only Nimoy's outline... that's when it hit me; he's just clowning the interview.

Give Nimoy credit; he gives as good as he gets.  Many of you probably saw the Lazy Day video he shot where he is just incomparably rude to everyone around him, and goes home and turns on the TV but is frustrated to find Shatner on every channel.

So I think Shatner was just teasing Brooks post facto about the interview.  He said similar things about Patrick Stewart, who then joined him on the stage for a laugh.  I think he just likes playing the role of that annoying but mostly-harmless uncle who likes to poke you in the ribs just one time too many.

You have to put it in context.  Up till 1966 the only scifi stuff we'd had was Superman (1955) Twilight Zone (1959-64) & what a GREAT show. Bill Shatner was in TWO of those playing very different characters to Kirk - BECAUSE HE'S AN ACTOR.  Oh, and did I forget the Jetsons! (1962)

Then out of the blue came this amazing show that showed black, white and blue people & aliens all getting along!!!

You cannot imagine the impact it had.  The people who discovered it at the beginning would make sure they were home in time to watch it no matter what they were doing - there was no way to record anything yet.   Star Trek was the reason I forced my parents to buy a coour TV!

People at work and kids at school started talking about a world where all this was possible -- where mankind could get past it's petty squabbles.  And lots more people started watching ... and on and on until where we are today.

The cold war had not long finished and that had sparked a whole lot of movies about aliens (the commie reds!) coming to kill us and destroy us and threaten our way of life. This was only a few years after "duck and cover" when children like me in school in Australia were taught how to hop under our desks and cover our heads to survive a nuclear bomb strike.

I wish there was some way for me to explain what an AMAZING life changing impact it had on us.  Just the thought that there was other possibilities ... WE DIDN'T HAVE TO BE AFRAID.

And let's not forget the Moon landing shortly after, and that everytime a Star Trek movie or new series came out NASA'a public profile shot up and better stuff happened there!.

Gene Roddenberry was a genius and a visionary!

And don't forget this was set IN OUR IMMEDIATE FUTURE.  Jim And McCoy were just like us.  Jim was a wild card - a bad boy who had enough self control to get promotions by dint of his unusual left-brain solutions.  (Incidentally, no one had ever heard the term left brain back then!)

I very much enjoyed the latest star trek movie. I thought he caught the character of a young Jim very well.

As to Bill Shatner, the actor, he is 81 years old and working full time on any project that takes his fancy.  Some of them are great and some of them are less - in my opinion!  Others might disagree.  But at 81 after working in the industry for 70 years you've got to admire his passion and staying power!  He;s paid his dues and I will watch anything he's brave enouygh to have a go at ... because every now and then something like last year's "The Captains" comes along, and I love and admire him all over again!

I have yet to see The Captains. 

too many replies to read everything but Brooks is a pretentious fruit cake... and I'm not refering to sexual orientation.  He's so full of himself that he can't even call himself Black like it's something offensive.

Yet to watched this movie, but  I am  very much looking forward to this movie.

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