I was a huge William Shatner fan in the 1970s. To clarify that, I was thin but fanatical about the man. Here is a very odd magazine that focuses on celebrities and the art of self defense. The fact that this even exists is puzzling. Did they really think it was profitable to print an entire magazine about this subject? Apparently, which is why we see The Shat karate-ing his way through his opponent, while shrieking "hiya" and praying the glue holding on this toupe holds until the end of this beating.
I'm genuinely perplexed about this cover, especially since it was published in 1974 during Shatners lean years. This was when he was doing B movies and had no money. So why did they put him on the cover? Another inexplicable link in the gold chain that is William Shatner.
7 comments:
Never saw the appeal of Shatner. He doesn't hold a candle to Mr. David Cassidy. By the way, great site, keep the 70's alive!
Yeeeaaah! The "Shat"!
In 1974, Shatner was in TREK's peak convention years! See http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/08/captain-kirk-and-crawdaddy-1976.html for his cover feature in the oh-so-hip CRAWDADDY just a couple years later.
FIGHTING STARS was started to cash in on the Martial Arts film success and ran for a ridiculous amount of issues, often cover featuring famous folks who had little to do with martial arts just to sell mags! Larry Hagman appeared during his long haired, mustachioed, glasses-wearing LSD phase, just before resurfacing as JR Ewing!
the inexplicable link in the gold chain that is William Shatner
That sums it up about as well as anyone could.
More than likely they took this shot between takes on the set of the infamous, inane, insane, incredible -- IMPULSE!!!! Bill is in full-on, flat-out "evil (and sleazy) Captain Kirk" mode in this celluloid wonder. Yowza. Anyone who says Shatner is a ham from this episode of this or that, or this STAR TREK film or that, probably hasn't seen IMPULSE. He is simply porcine in this role. Absolute crystalline perfection.
See this movie and be stupefied. It is ESSENTIAL "Shat" viewing, I'd say REQUIRED. If any film in the history of cinema needs a special Criterion Company DVD release...THIS. IS. IT. See it if you dare. Enjoy.
Great comments, everyone. They're making me laugh! I must thank Booksteve for the great info he provided in his comment. I had forgotten about the ST fan conventions.
I can understand the interest in Martial Arts due to the proliferation of films that came out due to Bruce Lee's success/death. But the concept of a celebrity martial arts magazine is still insane.
A good follow up to the magazine would be "The Secret of Toupee Fu", the manual for older celebrity martial artists.
I also recommend "Impulse" (aka Want a Ride Little Girl) to anyone who hates Shatner or loves bad movies. Shatner goes over the top, round the bend, down the street, into the next county and back again with his out of control acting. It is unintentionally hysterical and his clothing has to be seen to be believed. Tons of bad polyester clothes including a white pimp suit complete with white fuzzy pimp hat. Oh the humanity...
I'd also like to admit that when I first read Jimtex's comment, I thought he said Shatner was "porcupine" rather than porcine. Oddly enough, I think porcupine is a pretty good way to describe The Shat's ill fitting hair piece.
Man wouldn't it have been great if they got Chuck Norris to do a kunf-fu photo shoot with the Shat-Man.
I recently found a great ad in an old issue of Black Belt magazine that had Norris shilling for Action Pants, jeans that look like jeans but are all elastic-y so that he doesnt bust out of 'em during a serious round-house.
Post a Comment