Wig trouble.

Reader Margaret sent us an interesting tip - a moment she found within Star Trek's infamous blooper reels. The blooper comes from a fight scene from the second season episode "A Private Little War".


The toupeed Bill Shatner is fighting a bewigged stuntman (a classic wig v toupee battle - the aliens in this episode all wear rather silly wigs).


But in one take, the stuntman has a wig malfunction "I'm having/I've got wig trouble..." he says as his wig falls off. Sadly, the clip is so short we never get to see Bill Shatner's reaction. Perhaps he said "Tell me about it!" or he ripped off his own toup and the two men jokingly began throwing hairpieces at each other, while the bemused crew watched on! Here's the very brief blooper in real time and then slow-motion:

And here's a clip of the undoubtedly toupologically demanding scene in question:

In this particular fight scene, Bill Shatner is doing all of his own stunts. Thus, there can be little doubt that similar extreme toupological malfunctions happened to Bill Shatner throughout the course of the series, despite some well-trained moves designed to protect the toupee at all times - for example the "toup roll" (the roll produces a centrifugal force, which helps keep the toupee stable):

"Charlie X"

So why aren't there any bloopers of extreme Bill Shatner toupee malfunctions? Here's the likely (very simple) answer:

When the budget-conscious Star Trek was being filmed, after each take, the director would have the choice of calling for a "print" meaning that the camera negatives from that take would be printed and viewed as "dailies" the next day, or he could say nothing, which would mean that the negatives could be discarded (a common process). Occasionally, a director would say "let's print that" or "save that" on something other than a take that he was pleased with - a blooper.


These bloopers would then be saved and cut together at the end of the season and viewed by the entire production at the end of season wrap party. They weren't ever intended to be viewed by the public (see here for Leonard Nimoy's anger over the bloopers becoming public).

However, Bill Shatner toup bloopers were evidently a no-no. So the question of why there aren't any Bill Shatner toup bloopers is likely because no director ever dared to yell "let's print that" after the series star had an on-camera toupee incident. Can you imagine the daggers that Bill Shatner would send in the poor director's direction?!? Directors of the week were replaceable - the series star's image was far more important.


But at least we get Bill Shatner causing a stuntman's wig to fall off (see here for a bald patch on Bill Shatner's own stunt double).

In a wider sense, fight scenes like the one in "A Private Little War" underscore how Star Trek can be watched and re-watched not just for the characters, the stories, the humor, the morality plays, the philosophy, the 60s aesthetics - but also to study Bill Shatner's toupee. What will each fight scene bring? Will there be ruffling? Will a knock or bump produce maybe even one frame of historic toupological revelations? How quickly will Captain Kirk's hair become unruffled and freshly re-styled? Will the lace line show? Will the lid flip? So much to look out for - it's no wonder that Star Trek has remained popular even after 45 years of reruns!

Watch the first two season's worth of blooper reels here. For more on the fate of unused Star Trek negatives, visit startrekhistory.com.

Reference points and the four phases of the toup.

Finding common frames of reference is crucial in the field of toupology in that it enables the numerous scientists at the William Shatner School of Toupological Studies to measure and contrast changes in William Shatner's toupee against a fixed point. Which brings us to Bill Shatner's gold uniform from the original Star Trek series - or close approximations thereof - as a way to highlight the "four phases of the toupee" which, incidentally, closely mirror the concept of the classical elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire - though not necessarily in chronological order, or at all...

First, we have the "Jim Kirk Lace" (circa 1958-1969):


Then, we have the "Lost Years" (circa 1969-1976) from Pray for the Wildcats:


Then, we have an early "TJ Curly" (1976-2000) - though still in a state of transitional flux - from an appearance in 1976 on the game show Hollywood Squares:


Flash forward an entire decade and we have a true "TJ Curly" (likely still "Phase I") from Bill Shatner's infamous 1986 appearance on Saturday Night Live in which the actor donned a very close approximation of his original Star Trek costume.




The whole sketch can be viewed here:

Finally, the closest costume match we could find for the "Denny Crane" look era (2000-present day) - we're increasingly inclined to believe it's another hair system--a toup!--rather than plugs - is something called William Shatner's Spplat Attack. In this 2002 show, Bill Shatner dons a Star Trek-esque costume - but, probably at Paramount Pictures' insistence, the actor wears red so as to not be too closely identified with the franchise.

And that's how one simple Star Trek costume can prove so useful to the field of toupology! See here for some interesting retro-Kirk toup outliers.

The scalp of toupar.

What exactly are the trio behind Bill Shatner looking at?

A while back, we brought you a brief glimpse of Bill Shatner inadvertently lifting the lid on his toupee use in the Star Trek episode "The Empath" (see here for the images). A similar example can be found in the episode "Turnabout Intruder" (see here). Now, thanks to reader Margaret, we have a third example from Star Trek's infamous Season 3 from the episode "The Lights of Zetar".


In this instance, the rear of the toupee appears to have been neglected by the hairstylist, leading to visible bald patches showing through on either side of it - quite remarkable really. Here's the first example, first at regular size and speed, then zoomed in and slowed down:

And here's the second, far more pronounced example:

But rather than just pointing to these kinds of toupological slip ups, a crucial part of what we at Shatner's Toupee try to do is to understand their meaning, placing them in an appropriate context. Much like reading tea leaves (known as tesseography or tassology), toupology seeks to find insight based on the contours of Bill Shatner's toupee. What is it saying about society; about mankind; about the times; or about the declining quality of Star Trek?

"The Lights of Zetar" - embarrassing nonsense

In our humble view, "The Lights of Zetar" is the single worst episode of the entire original Star Trek series. Unlike the notorious "Spock's Brain", which is at least entertaining, albeit ridiculous, this episode is arguably a complete unwatchable mess from start to finish. Scotty suddenly so in love with a woman that he stops loving the Enterprise's engines? Just one example highly indicative of the lack of attention given to characterization during Season 3.

So, were the holes in Bill Shatner's toupee commenting on the character and plot holes in the episode? The script is unfilmable, and so the toupee will also be! And is it really a coincidence that what most will surely agree is one of Star Trek's worst episodes also contains one of the worst Bill Shatner toupee moments in the series? One lesson is clear - if the toupee isn't happy, then producers take note...

That better not be my toupee!

In his book How Bill Shatner's Toupee Made Star Trek - The Real Story, producer Bob Justman noted a trick that he successfully used to add extra spice to Bill Shatner's performance:

"In the second season episode 'By Any Other Name' featuring actor Warren Stevens as Rojan, and the third season episode 'Day of the Dove' featuring actor Michael Ansara as the Klingon Kang, I didn't tell Bill that these actors would be wearing toupees that quite closely resembled the one that he wore. When those actors turned up on the set, there was an instant tension between them and Bill - almost as if someone was treading on his turf."


Bob Justman continued:

"Truth is, I knew that this kind of toupee hostility - Bill even suspected they were wearing one of his toupees - would add an additional layer of animosity and energy to Bill's performance, and I think that shows up on-screen in both of those episodes. There is a real visceral tension there."


While our intention here at Shatner's Toupee is certainly not to "out" toupee wearers...


...nonetheless, it is pretty clear that both Stevens and Ansara were/are indeed adherents to the philosophy of the universal piece.


However, unlike Bill Shatner, Ansara has been photographed toup-less and has also appeared bald on-screen (for example here):


But what really matters here is that in true Star Trek style, both "Day of the Dove" and "By Any Other Name" end with Captain Kirk and his nemesis finding a resolution to their conflicts.

Gene Roddenberry wanted to show how toupee squabbles can hinder mankind's progress

Peace triumphs over piece, while the universe proves big enough for more than one Jim Kirk-style toupee on the Enterprise. A truly uplifting message indeed.


note: Bob Justman never said or wrote any of the above.