About

William Shatner is a Canadian actor best known for portraying the character James T. Kirk in Star Trek franchise.

History

On September 22nd, 1966 the second pilot episode for Star Trek was released, which was the first episode featuring Shatner as Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. In 1969, the series was canceled. In the 1970s, Star Trek gained a cult following from syndicated reruns of the show, leading Shatner to begin appearing at Star Trek conventions. In 1979, Shatner played Captain Kirk in the feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and went on to play the character in the following six films in the franchise.

Online Presence

In June 2008, Shatner launched the @WilliamShatner^[4] Twitter feed, which gathered more than 2.53 million followers over the next nine years. In February 2009, the official William Shatner Facebook^[5] page was created, accumulating upwards of 1.1 million likes within eight years. On February 19th, 2013, the /r/WilliamShatner^[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the actor, which gained over 3,900 subscribers over the next four years.

On YouTube

On March 12th, 2006, YouTuber Des Sherwood uploaded a Star Trek clip dubbed with fart noises titled "William Shatner: Captain Kirk farts" (shown below). Within 11 years, the video gained over 1.8 million views and 760 comments.

On January 2nd, 2008, a video of Shatner performing a spoken word version the 1972 soft rock song "Rocket Man" by Elton John (shown below, left). On May 30th, 2009, YouTuber Fall On Your Sword uploaded a remix of a Shatner interview titled "Shatner of the Mount" (shown below, right).

4chan Use

On May 7th, 2017, Shatner replied to a tweet asking "what boards do you browse on 4chan," noting that he mainly views the /tv/ (television and film), /b/ (random) and /x/ (paranormal) boards (shown below, left).^[1] Within 48 hours, the tweet gained over 4,100 likes and 2,300 retweets. That same day, he responded that he found Baneposting "ridiculous" (shown below, right).^[2]

Related Memes

Khan!

Khan! is a YTMND fad that uses a memorable scene from the blockbuster 1982 feature film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

If I Ignore It, Maybe It Will Go Away.

"If I Ignore It, Maybe It Will Go Away" is text added to a picture of William Shatner in the 1963 Twilight Zone Episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. It shows him trying to ignore a gremlin stating back at him though a window, with text not present in the episode being added. It has being used in various photoshops showing people trying to ignore certain issues.

Search Interest

External References