Shatner's cameo in Star Trek (spoilers)

[Bounty]

http://trekmovie.com/2009/05/12/shatner ... e-tidbits/

The first paragraph and video discusses Shatner's proposed cameo in the movie and the reasons it was dropped.

The basic idea was that young Spock, in his meeting with his old self, would not believe he and Kirk go on to be life-long friends, to which Old Spock hands him a disc with Kirk's last holographic birthday card. This would be an image of Shatner as Kirk telling Spock how good a friend he was, seguing into the voice-over during Kirk's promotion scene.

Could this have worked? Orci and Kurtzman disagree about it and I don't really know what to think about it; if they insisted on getting Kirk into the movie, this would have been the way to do it, but I don't think there was a need for Kirk to make the cameo in the first place. It may (well, would) also have been pretty challenging to make Shatner look the way he did in 1994, though I suppose if they went with a Wars-style static-y tiny hologram they could fudge the image quite a bit.

[Mr Bean]

Could this have worked? Orci and Kurtzman disagree about it and I don't really know what to think about it; if they insisted on getting Kirk into the movie, this would have been the way to do it, but I don't think there was a need for Kirk to make the cameo in the first place. It may (well, would) also have been pretty challenging to make Shatner look the way he did in 1994, though I suppose if they went with a Wars-style static-y tiny hologram they could fudge the image quite a bit.

Audio only could have been the trick or head-shot only. Or we can edit the hell out of the video to make him looking 94'ish.

[Havok]

Would young Kirk even recognize himself, what... 35 years older? Hell, Shatner barely looks like the same person he was in TOS.
I think, if they wanted to add a scene, maybe do it through one last mind meld with young Kirk... do it in a series of images and emotions... that way you get Shatner in, but it can be all through out the TOS timeline.

I'm a fucking sucker for nostalgia though. I would have loved to seen Shatner.

[tim31]

I agree on audio-only, but the point still stands: giving Shatner a cameo, as much fun as it might have been, would have been a stretch to justify. Nimoy's appearance was integrated into the plot, whereas a passing Shatner soundbite would have felt forced.

[Bounty]

Would young Kirk even recognize himself, what... 35 years older?

The disc would be for Spock, not Kirk.

[Havok]

Would young Kirk even recognize himself, what... 35 years older?

The disc would be for Spock, not Kirk.

Oh. Right. I wonder what young Spock would say about old Kirk? He would probably tease him about his hair and getting fat in a very Vulcan way.

[Ryan Thunder]

I can't see it working. It would seem forced, IMHO.

[open_sketchbook]

I can think of one place it would have worked, namely the mind meld.

Spock Prime's Voiceover : "... and that leads us here, to our only hope, you." (Image of new Kirk with old Kirk briefly superimposed, we see who the man is and who Spock remembers.)

[Ryan Thunder]

I can think of one place it would have worked, namely the mind meld.

Spock Prime's Voiceover : "... and that leads us here, to our only hope, you." (Image of new Kirk with old Kirk briefly superimposed, we see who the man is and who Spock remembers.)

Well, that would've actually been even worse, in my mind...

[Drooling Iguana]

From the article:

"If you follow 'The Next Generation' [TV show], elder Spock went off to Romulus to be an ambassador in two episodes called 'Unification 1' and '2', and [our] idea was that it was a long, long mission, and Kirk would have died by the time he returned to Earth [because they] just wouldn't have the same lifespan," Kurtzman explained of the Vulcan. "And so [this DVD] was essentially Kirk sending Spock a goodbye."

How would this have worked? As far as Spock knew, Kirk was already long dead by the time he went to Romulus.

[Havok]

Maybe they decided that the TNG Movies sucked and they weren't going to acknowledge them.

[Bounty]

Or they have Spock start his mission before 2293.

[Solauren]

SOmething that could of worked was a memento of some kind near the pilot controls that Young Spock grabs before being beamed off (having figured out what's going on), and then older Spock telling him 'it was the last gift I ever got from the best friend I've had my entire life'.

At which point, Spock turns it on and we see a hologram of Kirk wishing him a happy birthday and 'Live Long, and Prosper'.

however, tacted on, and entirely unneeded.

[Ryan Thunder]

SOmething that could of worked was a memento of some kind near the pilot controls that Young Spock grabs before being beamed off (having figured out what's going on), and then older Spock telling him 'it was the last gift I ever got from the best friend I've had my entire life'.

At which point, Spock turns it on and we see a hologram of Kirk wishing him a happy birthday and 'Live Long, and Prosper'.

however, tacted on, and entirely unneeded.

That's probably one of the better ways to do it, if you absolutely had to, for some reason.

It'd still probably end up on the cutting room floor, though, since it does little to advance the plot.

[CDiehl]

Could this have worked?

Not really. It seems like shoehorning Shatner's version of Kirk into the movie for no good reason.

I don't think there was a need for Kirk to make the cameo in the first place.

I'd say you're right. The only reasons I can imagine for this are fanservice and stroking Shatner's ego. Neither of them are good enough.

make Shatner look the way he did in 1994, though I suppose if they went with a Wars-style static-y tiny hologram they could fudge the image quite a bit.

Both of these elements just make the idea worse. Not only would they have shoehorned William Shatner into this movie, his cameo requires a bunch of special effects to make it work. It would be even creepier than that DirecTV ad he was in a couple years ago with his current face on his body from STVI.

[Battlehymn Republic]

I'm sure there will always be time for Shatner cameos in future sequels.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

I'm sure there will always be time for Shatner cameos in future sequels.

Provided he doesn't keel over from old age first. The man is a mere two years from his 80th birthday, after all.

[Havok]

I'm sure there will always be time for Shatner cameos in future sequels.

Provided he doesn't keel over from old age first. The man is a mere two years from his 80th birthday, after all.

Holy shit... Kirk is 78? wow.

Man, I'd almost like to see him have one more crack at the chair someway.

[Havok]

Thinking about this more, I think the best way to have had a cameo of Kirk that wouldn't have seemed forced and would have still tugged at the old heart strings would have been to take the 'last gift' hologram idea but place it in a spot in the movie at the end where you see Spock Prime witness a moment between young Kirk and young Spock, maybe something before Spock decides to stay in Starfleet and Kirk visits him and asks him to do so as his XO before old spock convinces him to do so. Then after Spock reports to the Enterprise, you cut to old Spock on the shuttle and he pulls out a little disk and activates it and the 'last gift' hologram plays.

You get Kirk, but not for either of the new characters, and you get Spock's love and friendship with Kirk as it is the only belonging, besides his clothes, that he has left from his old, basically destroyed, universe.