Alec Baldwin can read my mind

Inexplicably, we never got to our fourth big Who want's to be Shatner nominee, Alec freakin' Baldwin. We must return to this topic soon, but here is Alec racking up a few more Shatner points:

And now, politics

With this blog post I hereby nominate Chuck Norris for the Presidency of the National Rifle Association.

Are Shatner nominations still being accepted?

'cos if they are then I nominate Joe Rogan.

Who wants to be a Shatner? Part 3

(see also, part 1 and part 2)

Our second nominee for Shater the Second is....

DOCTOR SHAQ, a.k.a. The Diesel, a.k.a. M.D.E., a.k.a. L.C.L., a.k.a., The Big Baryshnikov, a.k.a. the Big Aristotle and Master, a.k.a, Superman.

Seven feet and one inch of Shatner Potential, Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal has a lot going for him in this competition. Shatneresque details include, but are not limited to, the following:

* He is a famous basketball player.

* He is a famous basketball player who is famously bad at a key component of the game, the free throw.

* Like many of our nominees, Shaq is a musician. His 1993 debut album, Shaq Diesel, went gold. He also performed a song on the Pootie Tang soundtrack.

* Shaq starred in the cow-tipping episode of Beavis and Butt-Head.

* He's a dilettante pro-wrestler, having attacked WWE superstar "Carlito" with a chair.

* Shaq is a reserve police officer with the Miami Beach Police, in which capacity he presumably carries both badge and gun. He is also an honorary U.S. Marshal and was previously a reserve officer in the L.A. Port Police.

* Shaq has his own martial art style, with the shatneresque name of "Shaq-fu," as chronicled in the video game, Shaq-fu.

* Shaq-fu is one of the worst video games of all time.

* In Curb Your Enthusaism, Larry David takes Shaq down.

* Shaq allegedly does his own stunts in his movies, since 7'1" stunt men are hard to find.

* Shaq played Kazaam the gentle Genie in Kazaam the movie. In this movie, according to Wikipedia*, the genie was trapped in a basketball for thousands of years. It must have been one of those Sumerian basketballs.

And finally, lest you think Shaq doesn't have the geek cred to be Shaterrific, remember that Shaq has played DC superhero Steel in the movie Steel. Steel is friends with and inspired by Superman. Shaq is also a big Superman fan in real life (see nicknames, above), and sports a tatoo that says, "You're not Superman."

Shatner Potential: 8.4 out of 10

What's your rating? Let us know in the comments.


------

* This is a case where Wikipedia is not to be trusted, unless Boromir and Steven Tyler were both in Kazaam.

Who Wants to be a Shatner? Part 1

During September I'm going to be trying to answer a question that has been vexing me for some time:

Who will fill Will Shatner's shoes when Shatner no longer cares to?

I'm obviously not talking about a specific gig--like Boston Legal or a Priceline commercial--that will need a new actor when Shatner feels like quitting. Chances are he'll outlast that show and maybe even that company.

Instead I'm referring to the unique cultural space that is William freakin' Shatner. If he retires or checks out, will there be a Shatner-shaped hole in the world, or can some younger actor/director/singer/author achieve almost full Shatnerness?

This isn't really about Star Trek. There is no doubt that William Shatner could not be William freakin' Shatner without Star Trek, but neither is Star Trek in any way sufficient.

To help flesh this out, let's mention a few things that made this Shatner:

ITEM: Shatner starred in one of the only movies ever made that was written entirely in the made-up language of Esperanto.

ITEM: In the film Free Enterprise, Shatner plays "William Shatner," and it is not a flattering portrayal. Also, according to Wikipedia,

Hip-hop artist "The Rated R", joined by Shatner, provides the concluding musical number, which is a tribute to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Heh.

This is just the beginning. We've got four serious nominees so far, and I'll be posting facts to support their claim on Shatnerhood, as well as more information about Shatner himself to further define and refine our conception of what it would take to fill his shoes. If you've got an actor or actress in mind who might fit the Bill, let us know in the comments.