![]() That's the only regret he had," says Tomczyk. "He said the only thing he did wrong in his career was he did Promise Margarine commercials after Star Trek, and he should have done technology commercials instead. While eating, Shatner reminisced about his early spokesman work with Promise Margarine in 1970. "I sat next to him and he was charming, intelligent and interesting," says Tomczyk. His reaction was the same as anyone who sees a computer for the first time."Īfter filming different sequences most of the morning, the crew went for lunch. "Basically it looked like a typewriter hooked up to a television set. "He was keenly interested and wanted to know how it worked," says Tomczyk. Their spokesman was not very knowledgeable, but he was enthusiastic. It was obvious it was the first time he had used a computer. He quickly filled up the screen with random gibberish, amazed that a television could display things other than television shows. "He thought it was wonderful and said, 'This is obviously the future,'" recalls Tomczyk. The captain of the Enterprise had just typed hello using the index fingers of both hands. As the Commodore crew stood around, they heard a click, then another click, then a couple of clicks, then a few seconds later another click. Shatner sat down in front of the demonstration VIC-20, which Harris had connected to a color television, and began slowly typing. ![]() Unfortunately, the former starship captain knew little of computers "He was hired to be the spokesman but he was not a computer guy at all," says Harris. The two were mildly curious to see how the captain of the Starship Enterprise would react to the latest in technology. He seemed like a nice guy and a professional actor." "I got to go to the set once while the commercials were being filmed and that was fun meeting Shatner. "I'm a big Star Trek fan so I liked it a lot," says Finkel. Star Trek was an obsession for Harris and Finkel, and it took effort to remain calm and normal around the object of their obsession. "I actually worked the computers in the background when Shatner was doing the commercials," says Harris. Trekkies Neil Harris and Andy Finkel provided technical support. It might have been nice to hang around with William Shatner there for a while, but it was pretty hectic in those days." "I passed it onto Michael Tomczyk to do most of it after that," he says. "He grudgingly accepted a sweater that was kind of reminiscent of Star Trek," says Tomczyk.Īfter things got going, Spencer left to do other business in New York with Irving Gould. I'm not doing your commercials as Captain Kirk.' So they went out and got him a normal looking wardrobe." "The first thing they did was provide him with wardrobe for the commercial shoot that was kind of a sweatshirt that sort of looked like a Starfleet uniform," recalls Neil Harris. ![]() Kornhauser & Calene hoped to use the Star Trek brand surreptitiously. "He was a very professional actor and he put it across well." "I was there when we first set up the set and got it going and introduced him," says Spencer. Kit Spencer, Michael Tomczyk, and scriptwriter David Rogers monitored the shoot. "We created the Shatner VIC commercials with a Star Trek type feel and the strategy of, 'Why buy just a game machine when you can play great games and learn computing too with a Commodore VIC-20.'" Commodore computers showed up in productions Shatner was involved in for years after that.Ī few bits and bobs taken from Brian Bagnall's fantastic book, Commodore - A Company On The Edge. Along with his wage they gave him a bunch of Commodore computers and showed him how to use them, or the PET at least. He'd never used a computer before and he was fascinated. The reason for this is that Shatner starred in a few commercials for Commodore, promoting the VIC-20. Spock: "I have been-and shall always be.your friend. Spock: "I never took the Kobiyahi Maru test. Spock: "Don't grieve, Admiral - it's logical: the needs of the many outweigh. ![]() Kirk and Spock are able to talk one last time-but this time separated by glass. Spock sacrifices himself to die of radiation sickness-but doing so allows him to save the crew of the ship. Then at the end of the film of course-one of the all time most memorable "Deaths" on screen. Spock: "In any case-were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." They discuss Kirk's promotion-and Spock feels that it was mistake-as Kirk's leadership as a Captain is needed. ![]() In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan at the start of the film, Kirk and Spock talk how they have been ordered to investigate something in their quadrant. To me - this is one of greatest scenes in the history of cinema. ![]()
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