William Shatner School of Acting: CLOSED !

The first time I watched an episode of Star Trek (the Classic one), I was sitting in my diapers on the floor in front of our black and white TV in Alberta, Canada. I had no idea what I was watching but my mother, in her mid-20s, had become an avid fan of the show. She was an attentive mother; seeing to our every need, but for 1 hour a week we were not allowed to interrupt her unless we were on fire. I may not remember the first broadcasting of those original Star Trek episodes, but it went deep into my impressionable little mind. In fact, since my father’s name was also William (Bill) and absent from our home, I was 3 years old before I realized that William Shatner was NOT my “daddy”.
Now over the years, since those first days of Star Trek in the 1960’s, William Shatner (now known as “The Shat”), has gotten a reputation for over acting. Hamming it up , if you will. But whether you think he was merely doing a great job of acting or over-acting, you must agree that all eyes were on him. He is electric, full of life and definitely has “IT”, if anyone can figure out exactly what “IT” is.
Now let’s warp forward into our recent past. A few years ago some very talented and ingenious people realized that special effects had grown to a point where just about anything could be visually represented, by just about anybody, in a very cost effective way. So they went back over all the episodes of the Classic Star Trek and “ramped up” the special effects. They didn’t change the look of the ship or star bases or aliens, but they were able to change the space, planets and Enterprise manoeuvring to make them more accurately represent what the script was depicting and how the actors were reacting. Basically, they took cheap-o effects and made them more realistic, while still staying true to the original Star Trek stories.
Now enter actor William Shatner. When the actors were performing their roles they had to use their imaginations for everything. There really wasn’t anything on the screen, they really weren’t flying around in space and what we saw at home was never there for them to react to. It was all in their imaginations.
Now I’m watching these episodes with the new special effects and I see Captain Kirk react to them and he seems to be doing so very appropriately. It’s not OVER acting at all.
For example:
In the episode, “The Squire of Gothos”, the Captain and crew believe they have just escaped a very dangerous alien and are high-tailing it out of there as fast as possible, only to discover that the planet is following them. They try 90 degree turns (a hard left), but the planet is still in front of them and accelerating towards them. Then a hard right, then a 360 degree turn (which is a complete spin in  a circle) , yet the planet is still in front of them and they are about to splat right on it, like a fly on a newspaper. When Mr. Spock declares “Cat and Mouse” you feel the frustration and fear of being trapped and unable to get away. With Captain Kirk’s ship and crew’s life hanging in the balance, no escape possible and death very probable, is any reaction too much?

It’s the same with “The Doomsday Machine” (aka. The Planet Eater). You finally see how tiny the Enterprise is in comparison to this massive planet-eating carrot and that no matter what  weapons they hurl at it, they make no more dent than a mosquito trying to penetrate a suit of armour. So, I ask you again, is it possible to over react to watching your ship and crew being dragged into this device to their absolute destruction?
   Doomsday: Old Effects
                                              
  Doomsday: New Effects

I submit to you, that William Shatner never over acted or “hammed” it up, but that it simply took all these years, and advancements in special effects for the rest of us to catch up with his imagination. He, as an actor, was imagining and reacting to situations and threats that were so lame when it came to the final depiction of them that his performance seemed out of proportion.
So, I also submit to you , that William Shatner has never gotten the accolades he deserves and that the jokes about his acting should cease and desist. From here on out, the William Shatner School of OVER acting is now CLOSED!

P.S. If the Enterprise really is being whipped around like the Special Effects now make it appear, it certainly would explain why all those crew members are falling out of their chairs and being flung around the bridge. But as my Mom said, “That’s still no excuse for not having seat belts.” And after all, she was a Star Trek fan before I was. When we first watched the episodes together, she understood them, I was drooling and pooping my diapers. I bow to her experience.