Top 50 Shatner Moments in Trek, pt. 4: 20 -11

Into the Top Twenty - hold on to your toupees and conceal your girdles; torpedoes away!

20.

"Damn it, Bones... I need you."

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Shatner sure is somber in TMP, isn't he? We're a long way from "Whom Gods Destroy" here. I think it works for the film, but it's interesting how even when approaching the role/ story from such a perspective something like this comes through. I mean, this is such an over the top moment! You can even see how Bones is startled by it. 

...

Well... Christ, Jim, if you feel that strongly about it. Give me a minute to shave, I guess. (I hope the redesigned Sick Bay still has my magical spray bottles....)

19.

"Voyager 6!?"

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In addition to just being such a cool moment (even if it was, like anyone needs me to say it, somewhat precedented, i.e. "to boldly go where Nomad had gone before") it's Shatner's delivery of the line that sticks with me through all these years. Just the right blend of surprise, alarm, wonder, and Shatner-ness.

Incidentally, I forgot until just right now - I'd meant to include "Uhura, get the medics down here.... GET THEM NOW!" from The Search For Spock in this countdown. Huh! Too late to find room for it now, but where should it go? I throw the question out there. It might not even be a Top 50 moment, just a delivery I'd earmarked as a prototypical-Shatner-delivery/moment.

His whole attitude in that scene, actually. The whole movie, really. TSFS is precisely who Kirk is; Nimoy understood the character very well.

18.  

"Kirk... to Enterprise"

"Dagger of the Mind"

Where No Blog Has Gone Before just performed an excellent analysis of this episode - I encourage you to go over yonder and read in more depth. As for our purposes here, is Kirk's time in the Recall chair the most Shatnerian of the entire series? Very possibly. It's absurd. And heavenly. But this stumbling out from under the menace of the mind ray and fumbling with his communicator "Kirk... to Enterprise..." is just goddamn glorious, as is the complete breakdown into sobs that immediately follows. (That had to be one hell of a transmission to get, up on the ship! I hope it was included on the Captain's Log tapes sent to the Starfleet Archives.)

17. 

"Took full poison..." 

"A Private Little War"

A few months back I had the flu and was alternating between fever and chills. This sequence was in mind the whole time. I wonder how many people die from pneumonia (or something comparable) and instead of a white light just hallucinate/ observe some hazy version of this very scene. As last-moments-of-life go, that sounds okay to me. (Kirk's lingering "Cuu-uuure" might confuse or make cruel such a scenario, but hey.)

16. 

"The Enemy Within"

If you're gasping at your computer screen right now that this is not higher in the countdown, I understand. (One particular moment is higher, and we'll see it next time.) Otherwise, after I shook everything out, here's where Shatner's undeniably iconic performance as both his good and bad selves split in two by that goddam-always-something-with-this-thing transporter, landed. Doesn't mean it's not Hammer of the Gods level awesome, of course. 

I thought it'd have been higher myself, but I don't argue with my spreadsheets, even when they argue with me.

"I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!!" is on any reasonable list of Greatest Moments on TV/ of the 20th Century.

15. 

"I...! Have Had...!"

"Enough of you!"

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Great Klingon villain is dispatched in great fashion on great set piece in great film - news at eleven!

Tied with "Fine, I'll kill you later" (Also from TSFS.)

14.

"The Cloud Minders"

Oh man! If Klum were alive to see this, I'd be getting an earful. "This should be Number One what's wrong with you!?"  I think he and I communicated via nothing but Kirk dialogue at least 40% of the time, and of that 40% a good half was solely from "Cloud Minders." 

This is another "whole episode" sort of deals rather than a single line. Altho were I to single three, they would be (1) from the image above: "We had a bargain - why'd you break it?" Shatner delivers it as more of a statement than a question, but the best is the vocal effect from behind this rather-flimsy mask over his mouth. (2) "Your orders... are to stand by." Difficult to really explain. See, the whole time Kirk is in the cave his rationality is being reduced by the Xenite gas, exposure to which erodes reason, temper, and intelligence. As per usual, Shatner seizes the moment to seamlessly bring Kirk -and all of us - to the brink of insanity and beyond. And (3)

"I said - dig!!"

(Honorable mention: "BOTH WILL KILL." I can only goddamn hope that someday, when in a similar situation (i.e. if some High Advisor asks me if I'm as brave with a what-ever as I am with a phaser) I think to be so matter-of-fact and immediate in response.)

13. 

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle..." 

"This Side of Paradise"

No explanation necessary. (God I hope that link stays active forever. Ditto for the one up there from "A Private Little War."

12.

"I... can't... LEAVE" (With Face)

"This Side of Paradise"

Kirk discovers that angrrrrr can rid the host body of the spore's malevolent disease-curing, good-vibes-bringing influence.

And the miracle of discovery is written all over his face.

11.

POETIC EPISODE ENDERS

Here I don't mean any of the ending monologues, such as mentioned elsewhere, but the little devastating cappers Kirk adds to events, usually accompanied by an awkward glimpse from the long-suffering Dr. McCoy, who - outside of our imagined transcriber at Starfleet Records - absorbs more of these than anyone else.

"Serpents... Serpents for the Garden of Eden. We're very tired, Mister Spock. Beam us up home."

...

"Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves?"

...

"I was thinking about the buffalo..."

...

"Beauty... survives."

You get the idea. These moments are from "A Private Little War," "Who Mourns for Adonais," "The Man Trap", and "That Which Survives," respectively.

~

Into the Top Ten! And Beyond Infinity Itself.

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!