What if... William Shatner was in STAR TREK?

Yes, of course he was in the TV show and seven feature films of 'Star Trek', the franchise, but what about the new movie?

From TrekMovie:

"Most fans can remember that one of the biggest debates around J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie was about if it would (or should) include William Shatner. The film makers spoke of how they tried to find a way, but in the end felt it wouldn’t work. However, J.J. Abrams revealed that Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman did write a scene for Shatner, and today we have that scene for you to read.

Putting Shatner into Star Trek
TrekMovie received the scene below from one of our trusted sources and it has been verified to be the scene written for Shatner (but never shown to Shatner). The 'Alternate Scene B' actually creates alternative versions two scenes from the end of the movie: the moment between Spock Prime (Nimoy) and Spock (Quinto) in the hangar, plus the award ceremony with Kirk (Pine), Pike (Greenwood) and the Commandant (Tyler Perry).

Shatner would have played Kirk, but would have appeared as a recording. The timing of the recording is not stated, but would have have been before Star Trek Generations and therefore not violate the canon that Kirk was killed in Generations. J.J. Abrams has often noted that dealing with Kirk’s death was one of the hindrances of including him in the new Star Trek.

The Scene
Here it is…

—————————

ALTERNATE SCENE B

SPOCK PRIME
Then I ask that you do yourself a
favor… put away logic, and do what
feels right. The world you’ve inherited
lives in the shadow of incalculable
devastation… but there’s no reason you
must face it alone.

And from around his neck, he removes the PENDANT that
until now, we’ve only caught glimpses of. Places it on
the table beside his younger self. The feeling in his
eyes is profound…

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D)
This was a gift to me. Representing…
a dream. One we were unable to fulfill.
(softly)
The way you can now.

And moves to the door. Stops. Offers the VULCAN SALUTE:

SPOCK PRIME (CONT’D)
As my customary farewell would appear
oddly self serving, I will simply say…
good luck.

Their eyes hold. Spock turns, disappearing into the
corridor. Young Spock stares at the empty doorway a
beat, his mind a jumble of thoughts. Looks to the
pendant… and realizes it’s a HOLO-EMITTER. After
considering a beat, he hits an activation button and a
MOVING HOLOGRAPHIC MESSAGE materializes before him:

CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK. WILLIAM SHATNER. As always,
brash, wry, confident — and SINGING:

KIRK/ SHATNER
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to
you…
(stops, grins)
I know I know, it’s illogical to
celebrate something you had nothing to do
with, but I haven’t had the chance to
congratulate you on your appointment to
the ambassadorship so I thought I’d seize
the occasion… Bravo, Spock — they tell
me your first mission may take you away
for awhile, so I’ll be the first to wish
you luck… and to say…
(beat, emotional)
I miss you, old friend.

… and we’re PUSHING IN on Young Spock, taking in the
image of Kirk’s future self, the message, but above all —
the clear, unquestionable friendship these two men had…

INT. CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS

As Spock Prime walks off down the corridor, he passes
right by a man conferring with a nurse — the man pauses,
turns… it’s SAREK. Suddenly overcome by a feeling that
the stranger who’s just passed him is… oddly familiar.

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.)
I suppose I’d always imagined us…
outgrowing Starfleet together. Watching
life swing us into our Emeritus years…

INT. STARBASE ONE – HANGAR – ETERNAL NIGHT

MUSIC BUILDING — glass walls reveal THE ENTERPRISE at
dock, UTILITY CRAFTS floating around it, repairing.
Standing at attention in rows, THE ENTERPRISE CREW —
over four hundred of them wearing DRESS UNIFORMS — TRACK
DOWN the faces, all proud:

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.)
I look around at the new cadets now and
can’t help thinking… has it really been
so long? Wasn’t it only yesterday we
stepped onto the Enterprise as boys?
That I had to prove to the crew I
deserved command… and their respect?

And we STOP ON YOUNG KIRK. Composed, focused, proud. A
man. And to every fan’s delight, finally wearing his
YELLOW SHIRT. The FEDERATION COMMANDANT stands at a
podium:

COMMANDANT
This assembly calls Captain James
Tiberius Kirk…

Kirk breaks from formation, pivots, marches down the
hangar — past UHURA… SULU… CHEKOV… SCOTTY. All
Beaming. Notably absent, is Spock. Kirk ascends the
stairs, snaps to attention:

COMMANDANT (CONT’D)
Your inspirational valor and supreme
dedication to your comrades are in
keeping with the highest traditions of
service and reflect utmost credit to
yourself, your crew, and the Federation.
By Starfleet Order 28455, you are hereby
directed to report to Commanding Officer,
USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief.

Kirk turns. Walks to… PIKE. In a wheelchair now,
wearing an ADMIRAL’S UNIFORM. Overnight, his hair’s
turned totally grey — but despite his trauma, his
pride’s overwhelming. They SALUTE each other:

KIRK
I relieve you, Sir.

PIKE
… I am relieved.

He opens a BOX in his lap — glorious in repose, a MEDAL:

PIKE (CONT’D)
And as Fleet Admiral, for your… unique
solution to the Kobayashi Maru, it’s my
honor to award you with a commendation
for original thinking.

Pike containing a smirk, pins the medal to Kirk’s
chest…

PIKE (CONT’D)
(a touch choked)
Congratulations, Captain.

KIRK
Thank you, Sir.

Kirk turns to the crowd. Eyes shining. WILD APPLAUSE.
OUR MUSIC SOARS. Bones leans in to Sulu, rolling his
eyes:

BONES
… Same ship, different day.

As Kirk rejoins his crew for hugs and congratulations, we
go to the BACK of the hangar… SPOCK PRIME. Watching.
Moved beyond words. He turns and leaves them to it… as
he goes…

KIRK/SHATNER (V.O.)
I know what you’d say — ‘It’s their turn
now, Jim…’ And of course you’re
right… but it got me thinking:

INT. STARFLEET HOSPITAL – EARTH – DAY

Our montage comes full circle as we END on Kirk’s
transmission:

KIRK/SHATNER
Who’s to say we can’t go one more round?
By the last tally, only twenty five
percent of the galaxy’s been chartered…
I’d call that negligent. Criminal even —
an invitation. You once said being a
starship captain was my first, best
destiny… if that’s true, then yours is
to be by my side. If there’s any true
logic to the universe… we’ll end up on
that bridge again someday.

Stops, grins. Because this is the part he needs to say
most…

KIRK/SHATNER
Admit it, Spock. For people like us, the
journey itself… is home.

Young Spock’s face. Lost in feelings that flood through
him.

—————————

But would Bill have done it?
Even if the Abrams team had decided to go ahead with this scene, there is no guarantee that Shatner would have done it. He had stated he 'does not do cameos' and the above scene appears to fall into the cameo category. Abrams had also stated that this 'no cameos' position of Shatner’s was part of their decision process not to include him in the film. Now that the scene is public, maybe Bill will make another one of his video blogs about it. One thing is for sure, this is not the last word on Shatner and the new Star Trek… there is still the sequel."

'No cameos'? Huh? What about Showtime and Fanboys? You're telling me those are starring roles?

Anyways, this would've been a poignent scene, if Shatner had shot it. Not that the actual ending of the movie is not as good or better. I think the one you see is better, faster and leaves the viewer (especially non-Trek fans) wanting more (ala Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).

T.J. HOOKER jumps into the movies

From ComingSoon.net:

"T.J. Hooker is headed to the big screen as an action comedy with David Foster, Ryan Heppe and series creator Rick Husty producing.

Chuck Russell (The Scorpion King, The Mask) is in talks to direct. The writing team of Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson will script the story, which focuses on the relationship between the title character and his father.

The TV series, produced by Aaron Spelling, debuted in 1982 on ABC and ran for five seasons, the last on CBS. William Shatner starred as a no-nonsense patrol sargeant, with Adrian Zmed, Heather Locklear, Richard Herd and James Darren co-stars."

Okay. I have a few opinions - all positive - for this. Chris Pine should star as T.J. and William Shatner should star as the father. And the action comedy should be more like Paul Blart: Mall Cop (which was a funny movie).

William Shatner gets animated with THE GAVONES

From People.com:

"'While the Star Trek franchise he helped make famous is achieving success at warp speed at the box office, the original Captain Kirk is exploring the final frontier of cyberspace. In The Gavones, his new YouTube cartoon, William Shatner directs and voices Don Salmonella Gavone, who's struggling to pick an heir from his four misfit sons. The pilot episode has just been posted, with the next installment due out within a month. Think of the Gavone family as the-Sopranos-meets-Hollywood, says Shatner. 'It's the mafia in Hollywood trying to make a hit – and half the family think it's murder and the other half thinks it's a movie,' Shatner told PEOPLE.com exclusively. 'It's a comedic Soprano family.' In the pilot, Shatner used friends and family to voice the characters. Down the line, Shatner says that Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Martin Scorsese are likely to appear – their cartoon likenesses, anyway. 'We can get anybody we want with the flick [of a pen],' he says.

So why has Shatner, who most recently starred in Boston Legal, turned his hand to animation? 'I decided a cartoon on YouTube would be really fun,' he says. 'All those media forms like Facebook and Twitter, we don't know where they're going to take us; certainly YouTube is unique in its form. So it seemed like a good idea to investigate how to do entertainment on it.' Priceline is sponsoring the series, which will comprise 6-7 episodes and run twice a month."

Huh. Looks interesting, but I was hoping for like something Star Trek-related but... what do I know?

P.S. - here's a link to the official YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/THEGAVONES

Kirk was back... then scrapped

From Slashfilm:

SPOILERS for Star Trek

"You might recall that JJ Abrams originally approached William Shatner to make an appearance in Star Trek, but the actor declined because he felt like it was nothing more than a tiny cameo.
'We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing,” Abrams told AMCtv. “But the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo.'.... IO9 talked to Trek screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and discovered the details. Apparently the cameo would have taken place in that very last scene when Old Spock and New Spock finally meet each other. After he explained that he 'couldn’t interfere, because it would have diverted [Kirk and Spock] away from their friendship' … 'and that their friendship is the key to the whole sort of shebang,' elder Spock presented young Spock with 'a recorded message from Kirk.' 'He [elder Spock] said, 'Don’t take my word for it.' And he handed him [younger Spock] a little holographic device and it projected Shatner,' revealed Kurtzman. 'It was basically a Happy Birthday wish knowing that Spock was going to go off to Romulus, and Kirk would probably be dead by the time…' And the message would have 'turned into a voiceover, at the end of the movie.'"

Here's my idea. Okay, Shatner got killed in Star Trek: Generations, right? What if since the timeline is all screwed up, old Kirk did not get killed and is still alive and well to appear in a Star Trek sequel? Huh? Anybody?

P.S.: GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Shatner Dismisses Feud Over Star Trek Movie

From IMDB.com:

"Former Captain Kirk star William Shatner has dismissed rumours of a feud with the cast of the new Star Trek movie, insisting there's no bad blood. The veteran star was upset when director J.J. Abrams refused to include him in the new movie, choosing instead to recast the roles made famous by Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley. But Shatner is adamant any tension was a joke, and wishes his successor as Kirk - actor Chris Pine - the best of luck. The actor tells U.S. TV show Extra, 'I wish them all the best. I certainly hope it's a great success.' And he has a special message for Pine: 'Chris, good luck... and hold your breath. It's going to be a whirlwind.' Shatner insists he hasn't ruled out one day returning to the franchise: 'If the movie is successful and they make another one, never say never as James Bond... I loved 'Star Trek' in all its many phases. I dearly would love to be a part of it.'"

If you want visual proof, check this out: http://trekmovie.com/2009/04/25/jj-abrams-cast-attend-shatner-charity-event-w-first-meeting-of-the-kirks-bill-chris/

William Shatner's so famous, he can get Willie Nelson to play for him. I wonder if he performed a spoken word version of "On the Road Again" - "On. The. Road.... AGAIN. Just. Can't. Wait...TO GET ON...THAT ROAD...AGAIN!"

UPDATE:

From IMDB.com:

"William Shatner claims that the producers of the upcoming Star Trek movie are so determined to keep the plot under wraps that even his friend Leonard Nimoy, who, unlike Shatner, has a cameo role in the movie, won't tell him what it's about. In an interview with the syndicated The Insider TV gossip show, Shatner said, '[He] is maybe my dearest friend, so I'm so happy for him -- but he wouldn't tell me what the plot was'. About not being asked to participate in the film, the former Captain James T. Kirk said, 'It's peculiar, and I'm sad about it, but that's the way they did it.' Nevertheless, Shatner indicated that he is anxious to see whether the movie can achieve success given its reported $150-160-million budget. He noted that the earlier Star Trek movies 'peaked out at anywhere between $80-100 million in box office grosses. ... so they've got to make four times that' to become profitable, he said."

He's, of course, (purposefully?) forgetting his own Star Trek movie, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier that grossed... oh, let's see... this is from Wikipedia:
"The Final Frontier grossed $52,210,049 in the U.S. and around $70,000,000 worldwide against a $27,800,000 budget. Though profitable, the film was considered a financial disappointment by many. It made only around half what [Star Trek IV:] The Voyage Home had made, and it quickly dropped off the box office charts after its solid $17,375,648 opening weekend. It sold the fewest tickets of any Star Trek film up until Star Trek Nemesis thirteen years later, in 2002."

BTW, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - best Star Trek film I've seen before Star Trek.