Tagged: William Shatner

Star Trek: Captain Kirk’s Depression-era Workwear in “The City on the Edge of Forever”

Thanks to a suggestion from reader Rob Sundquist, today’s entry will boldly go where no BAMF Style post has gone before!

William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, Episode 1.28: “The City on the Edge of Forever”

Vitals

William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, time-traveling starship captain

New York City, Fall 1930

Series: Star Trek
Episode: “The City on the Edge of Forever” (Episode 1.28)
Air Date: April 6, 1967
Director: Joseph Pevney
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Costume Designer: William Ware Theiss

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Fans of Star Trek who are familiar with BAMF Style may not be surprised to learn that my inaugural post from this groundbreaking series covers “The City on the Edge of Forever”, the penultimate episode of the first season which has endured to be considered among the series’ best.

The episode begins on the USS Enterprise as first officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) reports that the starship’s turbulence is the result of “actually passing through ripples in time”. An accident results in medical officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley) accidentally injecting himself with a massive dose of cordrazine, an in-universe stimulant that sends the doctor into a paranoid frenzy.

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) recruits Spock, communications officer Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), chief engineer “Scotty” (James Doohan), and two redshirts onto the mysterious planet where Bones beamed himself, where they discover a time portal with the ability to transport entrants back to any time and place.

Bones leaps through the portal to evade capture, resulting in altering the past so dramatically that the crew’s reality—and ship—cease to exist. Thus, Kirk and Spock thus have no choice but to leap into the gateway in pursuit of Dr. McCoy… landing them in New York City, circa 1930, at the intersection of the Prohibition era and the Great Depression. Continue reading →

The Twilight Zone: William Shatner’s Suit for a Nightmarish Plane Ride

In honor of the 60th anniversary of this iconic episode, today’s post is the third to be written by the curator of the popular Instagram account @jamesbondswardrobe. Enjoy!

William Shatner and Nick Cravat filming The Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (Episode 5.03)

Vitals

William Shatner as Robert Wilson, paranoid middle-aged “husband, father and salesman on sick leave”

Aboard a Gold Star Airways flight across the United States, Fall 1963

Series: The Twilight Zone
Episode: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (Episode 5.03)
Air Date: October 11, 1963
Director: Richard Donner
Costume Designer: Mitchell Leisen

Background

Portrait of a frightened man: Mr. Robert Wilson—thirty-seven, husband, father and salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent the last six months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home—the difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilson’s flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he’s traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to Mr. Wilson’s plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone.

Yep, not much more background is needed than that—thanks, Rod Serling! Our “hero”, played by the legendary William Shatner, nestles in for what should be an uneventful plane ride home. If we learned anything from the likes of Don Draper and Pete Campbell, dressing for air travel in the sixties meant wearing your regular business duds. Loafers hadn’t yet become the de facto footwear to have on when boarding a plane, and men “dressing for comfort” seemingly translated to them just wearing a more comfortable suit. Continue reading →