Grace, Thy Name is Bill

No, we're not talking about William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton.

Although a worthy president to illicit comments (and really, who couldn't help but comment), political commentary I leave up the professionals like Dan Rather and Big Bird.

I especially liked the Bird's expose on how the Bush Administration has completely ignored the latest molting figures for migratory avians.

Shocking.

But even more shocking, last night, I realized that my television remote control, which glows in the dark, looks like the Starship Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C or D). As I was flying this glowing image of the Enterprise over my head, and whistling the TOS ("the original series" for the uninitiated) theme song, I was accounted a dork.

Why is this important?

In writing, we call this a segue.

In reality, we call it, "I couldn't figure how to get to the point I wanted to, so I employed a literary device about as subtle as a Mac truck filled with explosives careening off a cliff in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie."

But I digress.

I'm such a Star Trek dork, that I actually get rather upset over the beating that William "Bill" Shatner has taken over the years a professional. To Shatner's credit, he takes it so good-naturedly that he's even played farsical character based on himself. Witness Free Enterprise and Showtime.

So let's look at the illustrious, and oft mocked career of the Shatner and see if we can't tally some kind of accounting that will allow for, and deny, the berating that Shatner has taken over the years for his career and career choices.

Longevity if often cited as a successful key to a "great" professional. Like prophets or sandwiches, those that last the longest are usually some of the best. Jimmy Stewart, Katherine Hepburn, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lauren Bacall all had rather lengthy careers.

Shatner has acted, and continues to act, since about 1950, giving him as long a career as almost every name listed above. His most recent movie, Miss Congeniality 2 is due in 2005. Stewart's last movie? Yeah, it came out in 1991, thirteen years ago!

And don't give me that, "But Stewart is deceased," bit either. Olivier recently appeared in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and he's been dead longer than Stewart!

Well, what about quality of work. Of course Stewart and Bacall had long careers because they starred in quality work. Fine, fine. The face that launched a thousand starships has now grown into a multi-billion dollar empire spanning four decades and six, count 'em, six tevevision shows (extra points if you can name them all) and ten movies!

Now what did Olivier ever that allowed for ten sequels worth of scripts, huh?

Nothing, that's what!

He's also starred on stage,

Alright, well what about flexibility then? Some of the greats not only acted, but sang and danced as well. Well, glerbing (a term I'm trying out to reference both males and females interchangably, let me know what you think), perhaps you haven't heard of a little album called "The Transformed Man"?

No, really, you probably haven't heard of it.

Shatner's album is now considered a cult classic. But the man has a resume that would put mine to shame! He's acted on Broadway, worked for charity, breeds horses, speaks fluent French and Esperanto, and actually has a new album out with Ben Folds called Has Been.

Fine, fine, you're thinking but what does all this mean to me?

Oh, you want this to mean something?

Did Moby Dick mean something? Did The Bible mean something? Does the re-election of George Walker Bush to a second term mean something?

They do?

Oh, well then.

What this means is that anyone who has survived for as long and as well as William Shatner has, and turned what is essentially a cult-classic science fiction career into one of the longest running and most celebrated (whether mocking or self-mocking) careers in the history of Hollywood should mean that the man gets a little more then laughter for his effort.

Of course, laughter is what he's given us more often then not. So perhaps a laugh or two is just fine.