Top 50 Shatner Moments in Trek, pt. 3: 30 - 21

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. See here for pt. 1 and here for pt. 2. Lots of ground to cover today, so here's pt. 3, comin-atcha!

30. 

"Just testing... Be in touch with you later..." plus freakout(s)

"Whom Gods Destroy"

Most attention is paid to the madness that follows the above line:

Makes complete sense - just look at him, up there. I didn't screencap how he starts pounding on the floor afterward. And yet the lead-in ("Just testing...") is so ridiculous, not only because Shatner delivers it so awkwardly but because it'd be silly for Garth (who - not that anyone needs me to tell them - is shape-shift-impersonating Kirk in this scene) to stumble so badly, here, as well. But that "be in touch with you later" that comes tumbling out never fails to make me laugh.

As does this.

29.

"What's Happening to Lt. Youhoara?" 

"The Gamesters of Triskelion"

When Uhura is menaced off-screen by her drill thrall, the Captain is so concerned for her safety that he gurgles her name rather memorably. This is one of two (we already saw the other one at spot 43) cut-to-commercial moments that Shatner hit so hard out of the park that the ball is still traveling in outer space.

28. 

"If you! Can't! Keep! Her! That's your problem." 

"By Any Other Name"

As part of the gang's solution to overcoming the Kelvans, Kirk decides to seduce the lead female antagonist to so befuddle and overload her with physical sensations - and inflame Rojan to jealousy - that they can... well, here the plan kind of breaks down. Basically, it's to distract the Kelvins so they can try and regain control of the ship, but what happens is a fistfight followed by Kirk offering the same thing they've been offering them the whole episode and Rojan - who is supposed to be so jammed-up with human feelings so as not to be thinking straight - suddenly rationally apprehends the situation.

Who cares, though? Watching the crew go about their subterfuge is a lot of fun, and Shatner brings his typical A-game to the mugging about. (Also from this episode: "they've transformed the whole crew!" Replete with fist banging on table. Blood alone moves the wheels of history!)

27.  

"NO BLAH BLAH BLAH!" 

"Miri"

I mean he does about as good a job as you can to try and convince a group of alien children to give up their urchin anti-vaxx lifestyle and embrace science and the Federation. But no dice. At least not through his heroic discourse. 

There's a bit of genuine anger in the scene where Kirk removes the little bonk-bonk tyrant from the chair or desk and throws him to the floor. I wonder if Shatner belted him one off-camera.

26. 

"There she is! That's the one. What have you done with Spock's brain?" 

"Spock's Brain"

The question of the franchise, right there, perhaps the century itself. (Either the 20th or the 23rd.) Beyond the wonderful absurdity of actually posing it is Shatner's insanely dedicated delivery of it.

And speaking of dedicated:

25. 

  

"Spock's Brain" Pain Freakouts

And that's only four of them! (See here for more.) There's a generous amount of screentime devoted to this in this episode. Shatner especially (as expected) exploits the crap out of the opportunity.

24. 

  

DOUBLE SHOULDER GRABS

Kirk's signature move, performed in just about every episode, so this is a representational spot for all of them. A lifetime achievement award of sorts.

 

Variations include the double-shoulder-grab and sudden-head-turn, the double-shoulder-grab-and-ol'-besame-mucho, or the ever-popular all of the above, plus knock-out punch. Examples abound, but here's one from "Gamesters:"

"I'm... sorry, Shanna."

23. 

 "The Enterprise Incident," pt. 1 

Pound for pound is there more Shatner dynamism in this single episode than any other of the series? Arguably so, yes. I decided to split up my entries between pre-Romulan-surgery and post. Even so, there's just so much... as with many spots here, let's consider these representational of all of them, not limited to what I screencapped. (Not pictured: "Let her rant - there's nothing to say!")

When he's pretending (well, "pretending") to be an unhinged renegade, there's the whole interrogation and fake-murder scene, which starts with him making the face (above), continues with as high-level a harangue as Shatner's ever delivered ("Shut up, Spock!"), then the mother of all dramatic-pause-death threads ("I'll ... ... kill you!"):

And then it's capped off with Spock employing the "Vulcan Death Grip" and Shatner's lapsing into a silent scream so powerful it fooled even those most cunning of spacefarers (allegedly), the Romulans.

Brilliant stuff. If you ever need more reasons to hate Nemesis, watch this one again.

22. 

   

(a) "Open it." 

(b) "Landru... LANDRU. WE ARE THE ARCHONS, WE'VE COME TO SPEAK. WE ARE THE ARCHONS, WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU."

"The Return of the Archons"

I bow to few in my adoration of this episode. But (as with "The Enterprise Incident" or "City on the Edge of Forever") even though it's one of the best episode (and my personal favorite) of the series, that doesn't mean Shatner still doesn't throw us all a few favors here and there. Principally: (a) Kirk's kind of a dick to everyone on Beta III. He's got no time for this nonsense. As they start to piece it all together, he realizes he has to bully his ally to get into the Hall of Audiences. The beats of this scene are vintage Shatner. ("Here is Landru." "Open it." "But this is Landru." "Open it.") Leading into (b) Holy moley, this entrance into Landru HQ is even vintage-ier Shatner. What did we do to deserve this? And his delivery/ emphasis is so singular here - especially that "we've come to speak" part and the way he kind of trails off with the end of "want to talk to you."

Really, though, it's everything from "Open It" right through the end that I'd like to include here at spot 22. I mean putting aside the episode as an excellent template for Kirk-the-world-destroyer/computer-suicide-whisperer, there are some wonderful vocal highlights of 60s Shatner on display here.

21. 

"The Enterprise Incident," pt. 2

Here we have the post-Romulan-surgery stuff from this episode. From the very first (Kirk's drinking in Scotty's wonder at his appearance) every moment is gold. but let me just single out two quick sequences:

(a) "Over there!"

and (b) this fantastic sequence of Kirk being discovered, his judo-kicking the guard unconscious with one sidestep move, then the sudden head-turn to the cloaking device. 

 

Also, I love that he just walks up to it, does a double-shoulder-grab on it, and then just unscrews it. Such security!

~

Next: Into the Top Twenty!