Where No Actor Has Gone Before?
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| Title: | Where No Actor Has Gone Before? |
| Creator: | Sarah Smith |
| Date(s): | June 1982 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Where No Actor Has Gone Before? is a 1982 essay by Sarah Smith.
It was printed in Communicator #6.
The topic of the essay is Star Trek: TOS, the relationship between Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry's authorial intent, and acting styles.
From the Essay
All ST fans, whether, pro or anti K/S, would surely admit that Kirk and Spock have something' pretty special going for them on the screen. Even non-fans, although they might not attach any particular importance or significance to what they are seeing, would probably admit that Shatner and Nimoy work well together, and that their on-screen relationship is one of the major reasons for the programme's success.
That the chemistry is there is undeniable, and I find it more than interesting to speculate on how it got there. Was it carefully worked out? Did it grow over a period of time? Or was it simply a glorious accident?
Of course both characters in their own way, are an actor's dream. Gene Roddenberry had done so much of the groundwork, some people would argue all the two actors had to do was add the icing to the cake. I don't agree with that though, because a writer can only do so much with the characters - the actors are the ones to bring them to life.
Of the two, Leonard Nimoy has gives us more clues as to how Spock developed, for he has frequently spoken about Spock's conception etc, and this is perhaps more understandable as Speck was very much his creation. Spock is unique. He is the first and only because he is alien. Watching early episodes, it's obvious that the character developed over a period of,time,: though. It didn't happen overnight. For a while at least Spock wasn't 'quite right', and the sophisticated, finished product took time to arrive.
Even in the early episodes though, when Spock isn't yet 'fully formed', there is still a very special something there between Kirk and Spock. Does this mean that the screen chemistry did occur by accident? It couldn't have been planned in those early days, or have had the opportunity to grow over a period of time. Roddenberry is on record as saying he always conceived of the K/S relationship as a love relationship, whether you see this in terms of brotherly love or something else, but surely not even he or the two actors could have been aware of the potential of what they had at that stage.
Which brings us to Kirk, and to William Shatner's unique style of acting, which more often than not involves throwing in everything including the kitchen sink, and then some more.
How could Spock not respond to such a bombardment of the senses you might ask? And could this be the secret of their success? In all seriousness though, Kirk could have turned out to be a stuffy, boring,, character. He could have come across as the traditional two dimensional hero figure, and very little else, even though he has been equated with Hornblower and/or Alexander the Great.
Certainly in some respects it could be said Shatner had the easier job in character creation - a hero is a hero is a hero. So how on earth do you add something new to the stereotype and stop the character from being boring? In his case, the way he succeeded in making Kirk special was by emphasising the humorous possibilities of the character, as he's admitted, and his crazy style of over acting, which is exactly what was needed to compliment the Spock character.
And it's very good too, except in a few isolated, cringeworthy cases, notably the 'I've lost control' lift scene from 'And the Children Shall Lead', which is high farce; I always have the feeling he got bored with the atrocious script in that episode and decided to have some fun with it.
His philosophy seems to have been 'it doesn't matter why they remember you, as long as they remember you' - and to play the hero and be memorable you have to set out to be different. Let's face it — it's pretty difficult to be memorable when you're sharing the screen - with a green skinned, pointed ear Vulcan, but he found a way.