As amusing as it was to learn of the former Captain Picard’s fascination with female cinematic nudity, I find that I’m still looking for a reason not to re-create the famous stunt from The Poseidon Adventure (the original one, natch) by hurling myself out my office window and onto the skylight of the nightclub down below. I think I need some heavier ammunition to knock me out of my current funk… I need… the power of The Shat!
Yes, it’s another foray into the musical stylings of the one and only, the immortal, Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner! Today’s selection is perhaps his most notorious performance ever, next to his legendary rendition of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” It’s his fascinating interpretation of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” at a 1978 awards show. Notice how effectively he uses the props at his disposal, particularly the cigarette, to lend depth and character to the performance, to demonstrate the ennui felt by the song’s astronaut protagonist.
Ah, yes, brilliant… I’m feeling much better now…
I just don’t understand the conceit of a man smoking a cigarette in a space capsule. Even in 1978 I’m pretty sure they didn’t allow smoking on NASA flights. (They still offered an in-flight meal, though. How times have changed!)
Somewhere in the archive I’ve got a Mad magazine parody of Alien in which the captain is asking the Ash character — the android science officer — why they have to wear spacesuits on the planet if the sensors show that the air contains oxygen. Ash explains it’s because humans have adapted to breathing a mixture of nicotine and smog…