[Mb-civic] WOW...Shatner's Latest Enterprise - Frank Ahrens - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Shatner's Latest Enterprise
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By Frank Ahrens
The Washington Post
Sunday, March 26, 2006; F06

Ah, William Shatner. How effortlessly he moves from show to show, era to 
era, platform to platform.

For those of you who missed him as Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship 
Enterprise in "Star Trek" in the 1960s, there was "The Barbary Coast" in 
the 1970s. Or maybe you bought his 1968 album, which featured a 
spoken-word version of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."

No? Maybe you saw him as hood-hurdling police officer T.J. Hooker in the 
1980s, or on "Rescue 911." Missed those? Maybe you read his "Tek War" 
novels. You probably saw him sing in Priceline.com television ads in the 
1990s, or in the film "Miss Congeniality" or in any number of 
self-spoofing roles that continue today.

Heck, he's even created a new character -- mad-cow-afflicted, gun-toting 
lawyer Denny Crane on ABC's "Boston Legal" -- that may, may enter the 
Shatnerian pantheon alongside Capt. Kirk.

Now, like a virus that hops to successive hosts as they are introduced 
into a system, Shatner is mastering e-commerce: He's started his own 
online club to sell DVDs to sci-fi fans. ( http://www.shatnerdvdclub.com/ )

For a one-time annual fee, the site says, of $47.99 ("Dammit, Jim! I'm a 
doctor, not a bank!"), customers gain entry to the club, which will give 
them access to a "selection of rare and compelling Sci-Fi, Fantasy & 
Horror films, personally selected by William Shatner."

Okay. First off, there's no such thing as a "one-time annual fee." It's 
one or the other. The site promises that sci-fi buffs will "own the 
underground hits no one else has!" but fails to actually, um, list most 
of the titles that Bill will send you, once a month, for $4 per DVD.

"Only members can enjoy expert selections from the William Shatner DVD 
Club," the site reads. "We never publish a list of our constantly 
evolving collection." It grudgingly lists three examples: "Ginger 
Snaps," "Immortal" and "Dragon Storm," a made-for-the-Sci-Fi-Channel 
film. All three have received fine marks from the critics.

I mean, as much as anybody, I implicitly trust Bill Shatner and his 
judgment in all matters. This is the man, after all, who pioneered an . 
. . entirenewwayof . . . deliveringDIALOGUEthat . . . no one had seen . 
. . BEFORE! Or SINCE!

But I'm not sure I'm ready to plunk down nearly $50 on the idea, even 
though, as the site reads, "The iconic Captain Kirk has watched 
literally thousands of Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy films and has 
selected his personal favorites for you."

Wait a minute: Who's watching these movies, Shatner or Kirk? ("Dammit, 
Jim! I'm a doctor, not a Jungian psychoanalyst!")

I might be even more wary of the upfront fee if I checked out, oh, say, 
Netflix, and found out that for $9.99 per month I could rent -- one at a 
time, viewing and then returning one DVD and then getting another -- as 
many DVDs as I could watch in that month. With Netflix, there is no 
upfront fee, the DVDs are mailed to my house and returned in prepaid 
mailers, I could hold onto each DVD as long as I want, and I get to 
choose from a list of 55,000 DVDs that are in plain sight. ( 
http://www.netflix.com/ )

I understand that's not the same as Shatner and his "team of expert film 
critics" (now, there's a job) picking out movies for me, but it might 
have to do.

Tell you what, though. I might be willing to pay $47.99 and $4 per DVD 
to join a William Shatner DVD Club that sent me only movies starring 
William Shatner.

Oh, sure. It'd be fun to watch him acting mano-a-maniac with Ricardo 
Montalban in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." That's a holiday 
favorite in the Web Watch household and should be in yours.

But where else would you get the chance to own 1961's "Judgment at 
Nuremberg," a fine retelling of a Nazi war-crimes trial, in which a 
young Shatner acts opposite Werner Klemperer ("Hogan!")? Or, best of 
all, "Incubus," the 1965 art-horror classic starring Shatner filmed 
entirely in Esperanto?

Web Watch had the great pleasure and privilege of hanging with Shatner 
in Spring 2001, when he hosted the Miss USA pageant in Gary, Ind., as 
unlikely a combination as you'll find anywhere. The man's energy and 
keen eye for new enterprise was amazing.

I am certain that he would find nothing more personally edifying than 
selling a library of DVDs starring himself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500095.html?nav=hcmodule
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