10.02.2004

Captain Jerk

Ok, I am going to write, for the last time, about the whole William Shatner/Riverside issue. I wish I could take credit for the title of this entry, but I borrowed it from the Iowa City Press Citizen's editorial about Shatner's "prank" on the good folks of Riverside, Iowa. Now I usually come up with witty captions to the photos I post on my online photo albums, as Homercles can attest to, but I guess I was a little too upset to do so earlier in the week for my entry about Shatner, and now all the good ones are taken. Anyway, my initial blog entry on Wednesday was a lot more critical of Shatner, in fact I started out by calling him some vulgar names. It was after I watched the local news that night when I saw that the residents being interviewed weren't too upset, that I decided to tone down what I wrote. After all, they were actually there and will be the ones possibly looking like fools on the Spike TV program next year. The Press Citizen thinks that Shatner and Spike TV should apologize to the people of Riverside, and I agree, but didn't he apologize when he broke the news to them? I admit that I wasn't there, so I don't entirely know.

The Press Citizen is not the only one appalled by William Shatner's hoax. Writer/director Nicholas Meyer, a University of Iowa graduate and writer and director of multiple Star Trek movie including the best of all of the films, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, weighed in on the issue yesterday. He thought it was a dirty trick. While Shatner and the production company gave Riverside quite a bit of money to soften the blow, Meyer made a good point in saying, "I read they got some money so it's all right. Isn't that what you do to a hooker?"

There was a letter to the paper yesterday from someone who lives in Riverside pleased, that while there is no movie being filmed, the town got quite a bit of publicity. And after all, it was all fun, but it was a very dirty trick on otherwise trusting individuals. Now it's hard to be too upset at Shatner when I sit back and enjoy watching people be made fools of on the Spike TV "reality" show Joe Schmo, but it's different when I am the one who is being made the fool. Hopefully William Shatner meant what he said this week when he told the people of Riverside that he would be back. If he actually does return, perhaps during the town's Trek Fest festival, it might be worth it.

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