Subcommander Tal

@SubcommanderT • 5,648 subscribers

I mostly riff on Original Series Star Trek (and also run @misterleslietos) Occasionally live tweeting #AllStarTrek and #TOSSatNight (mute to avoid logorrhea...)

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I love old interviews like this, before Star Trek became widely popular. What strikes me is that Shatner and Nimoy are both very thoughtful, but not about the same thing. Shatner is more attentive to his *performance*; Nimoy is more attentive to his *character*… 1/

One wonderful moment I've always loved is Spock and Uhura's exchange in The Man Trap. It's so sweet and quotidian: I wish we had seen more of these interactions…

Walter Koenig’s Chekov was an eager young officer who often provided comic relief. But we see glimpses in Day of the Dove and Mirror, Mirror at how good he was at playing threatening characters. A good example is his gang leader role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Memo From Purgatory…

#Nobodytrek Energy. When Ambassador Kollos, an incorporeal being, assumed Spock’s physical form, he got to taste for a moment what it was like to be a creature of sensation. Nimoy was great in moments like this.

I had a fun time at GalaxyCon in Richmond this past weekend. One of the highlights was seeing William Shatner again and hearing him speak. I’m just amazed at his energy and coherence at age 95, and the humor and poignancy with which he considers his own situation… 1/

I was listening to an interesting interview with Ben Stiller (a big Star Trek fan btw) where he mentioned how fear is often a motivating factor in choosing a creative project, and I was reminded of Leonard Nimoy saying something similar in an interview near the end of his life:

I’m a day late for the 34th anniversary of Star Trek VI. It’s not my favorite Trek film, but it has my favorite trailer… I was in High School when this came out and was so excited for it!

This speech never gets old. Original Star Trek in many ways was wary of utopian thinking, of ideologies, and was keenly aware that humans have dark and violent instincts that we will always have to be vigilant against, which includes having a defensive stance when necessary… 1/

This is what I love about Star Trek: even in the middle of the silly “space hippies” episode you can find a committed performance like this, augmented by poignant music. The hippie followers are played too broadly of course, but the idea of an insane charismatic leader is great.

No wisdom like Original Series wisdom…

Did anyone else get 2OO1 vibes from this part of the recently-released Unification film? This was my favorite moment: TOS Shatner/Kirk in particular looks great, and the scene reminds me of the end of the Kubrick classic where Dave Bowman meets his other selves…

Tell me I’m not the only one who sometimes gets out of bed and deliberately stretches like this…

I remember watching this when it aired—I always watched Shatner when he appeared on late night tv—and it still tickles me!!

I’ve been listening to an album of Star Trek sound effects lately, and I love how harsh and metallic the transporter sound is. In the early episodes especially you hear a lot of buildup to the “beaming” sound and it gives you the impression that vast energies are being gathered.

I recently found some excerpts of Original Series Star Trek musical scores and couldn’t help but give them a whirl. Allow me to inflict some on you with my shrill oboe playing… 1. Vina’s Theme/Survivor’s Encampment

I love old interviews like this, before Star Trek became widely popular. What strikes me is that Shatner and Nimoy are both very thoughtful, but not about the same thing. Shatner is more attentive to his performance; Nimoy is more attentive to his character… 1/