• William Shatner - The Favored Nations Clause (Star Trek - James T. Kirk)

    From mummycullen@mummycullen@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (MummyChunk) to alt.tv.star-trek.tos on Wed Oct 23 22:24:08 2024
    From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos

    During the 1966u1969 "Star Trek" television series, William
    Shatner and Leonard Nimoy's lawyers drafted what Shatner termed a
    "favored nations clause," with the result that whatever
    Shatner receivedue.g., a pay raise or script controluNimoy also got
    and vice versa. Nimoy had directed "Star Trek III: The Search for
    Spock" (1984) and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
    (1986). Shatner had previously directed plays and television episodes;
    when he signed on for "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"
    (1989) following a pay dispute, Shatner was promised he could direct
    the next film.

    Nimoy noted that this was the most physical film in the series, which
    reflected Shatner's energetic sensibility and what he enjoyed doing
    most on the series - "running and jumping." DeForest Kelley
    noted the physicality required for this film and enjoyed doing things
    that he had not been asked to do in years. "I was very pleased to
    see that he (Shatner) brought it along in fine style," he said.
    Kelley noted that his own ambition to direct had deserted him after
    seeing difficulties Leonard Nimoy faced directing the previous two
    "Star Trek" films.

    According to George Takei, he originally turned down this film because
    he did not want to be directed by Shatner, with whom he has had a
    longstanding feud. But Shatner convinced Takei to reprise his role.
    Takei has said that, despite studio pressure to complete the film on
    time, Shatner maintained a creative and enthusiastic atmosphere on
    set. "I have enormous admiration for his ability to block that
    kind of pressure from seeping on to the set." Moreover, Takei
    acknowledged, "despite our sometimes strained personal history, I
    found working with Bill as a director to be surprisingly
    pleasant."

    Initially, Shatner believed that this film would get a positive
    response. In the morning after the opening night, he woke up Leonard
    Nimoy to tell him that the Los Angeles Times had given the film a
    positive review. Soon after, a local television reporter also gave the
    film a good review, and Shatner recalled that he incorrectly
    "began sensing a (positive) trend." He later agreed that the
    film nearly ended the movie franchise, and looking back on the film
    called it a "failed, but glorious attempt" at a
    thought-provoking film, that did not come together.

    View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=676824795#676824795

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2