I've heard Shatner was required in his contract and/or insisted on having the most lines....so how did we get the Kirk-lite Tholian Web?
Tholian Web & Shatner's Contract
- Thread starter Methuselah Flint
- Start date
Shatner's contract does not survive in the archival record, but a ton of correspondence about his contract does, and it provides a pretty good idea what specifics were in it. Suffice it to say, there's no evidence to support the rumor that Shatner's contract required him to have the most lines in any given episode.
It seems clear that Shatner had a contract clause, or at least a verbal understanding, that his part would not be exceeded by any other part in a script. Harlan Ellison has told of Shatner inspecting the COTEOF script for this, and Norman Spinrad said some of Nimoy's lines in "The Doomsday Machine" had to be cut for this reason. It's in one of Spinrad's youtube videos.
So I think Shatner was one of many TV leading men whose agents got them some protection after Jonathan Harris's brilliant performance stole Lost in Space out from under Guy Williams. Nobody in a starring role wanted to be the next Guy Williams.
In the case of "The Tholian Web," all the show would have needed was for Bill and his agent to grant a one-time exception to the rule.
So I think Shatner was one of many TV leading men whose agents got them some protection after Jonathan Harris's brilliant performance stole Lost in Space out from under Guy Williams. Nobody in a starring role wanted to be the next Guy Williams.
In the case of "The Tholian Web," all the show would have needed was for Bill and his agent to grant a one-time exception to the rule.
Shatner was certainly protective of his part, but the Norman Spinrad story is a bad memory at best, and baloney at worst. I have the shooting script and nothing deleted from it matches the exchange between Nimoy and Shatner that Spinrad remembers.
An actor being protective of his part and having a clause in his contract that ensured he would have the most lines (or the most scenes, etc.) are two different things.
EDIT: One more thing - "The Galileo Seven" is another episode were Nimoy has many more lines (and scenes, I imagine) than Shatner.
I wonder what Shatner's reaction was when he found out that Kirk wasn't in the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon" at all! Did the producers even tell him about that episode?
Given Shatner's professional work schedule, he probably didn't notice.
My understanding is Shatner would be sent his part of the script and he would go into whatever sound studio was available in the city where he was at the time and record his lines.
With The Tholian Web, while he wasn't on screen a lot during the episode, the other characters were constantly referring to Kirk in their dialog.
Which explains lines like Uhura's ``Where's Kirkie?'' and Scott asking, ``When is our friend Kirkie going to be here?'' and Sulu asking ``Is Kirkie going to meet us at the fireworks factory?''
Yeah, but even if he wasn't informed or didn't notice at the time, I figure he had to find out that an episode was produced without him at some point, even if it was long after the fact. I'm just wondering if his reaction was more along the lines of, "Huh, that's weird" or "WHAAAAA---? How COULD they?"
It's more likely that Shatner told them he'd be unavailable for a given recording deadline, and "please write me out of one story." There's no way he was dying to voice a cartoon episode and they stiffed him. They were lucky to ever get him.
Susan Dey worked on Partridge Family 2200 A.D. for only two episodes, and they didn't get Shirley Jones or David Cassidy at all. In the world of '70s cartoon adaptations, it's fairly notable that Shatner and Nimoy were both in TAS.
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I don't think it was Shatner's decision at all. Larry Niven said that he had no interest in the character of Kirk and intentionally didn't include him in the adaptation of his story.
Great points. Too much rumor and anti-Shatner fairy tales were dished out to fans over the decades, and the record should be cleared.
My favorite storyline about Shatner was the prevailing one, at least the one I was reading, around 1975: that he was the coolest guy in the world, women swooned over him, and the cast all loved each other like family.
I'd be happier if that story had survived. But a handful of people who worked with him briefly had to become puffed-up, preening haters to supplement their own stalled careers.
"The Tholian Web" revolved around Kirk, which would have been good for Shatner's ego, at least!
Honestly, I thought William Windom (who played Commadore Decker) has openly said in interviews that Bill Shatner was indeed counting his lines during the filming of episode, and he's one guest star who didn't find 'Star Trek' to be a "Happy Set" as he termed it?
^^^
Or is this hearsay too (I did a quick google and can't find any interview where Mr. Windom mentions the line counting - but I honestly do remember reading about it somewhere.)
Sometimes it is better to not know how the sausage is made.
Windom recalled the following when Cushman (ugh) interviewed him:
"They were being very protective of their roles, and I remember that they [Shatner & Nimoy] were feuding. I didn’t have anyone to laugh about it with because everyone there took it all so seriously -- but I thought it was funny. I’ve seen it on other shows, of course. That happens a lot -- counting lines in scripts, and whose chair is bigger and closer to the set, and ‘Where’s my parking place?’ All that crap. I felt like telling them to get over it."
If Windom said anything more specific about Shatner line counting to Cushman, those comments didn't end up in the book.
Actor + Big ego = Potential successful actor
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