William Shatner kicked off his career as a promising young actor in the company of the prestigious Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. But when, despite strong notices for his performances, he failed to springboard to stardom like his Canadian colleague Christopher Plummer, Shatner lowered his sights and embraced the philosophy of a working actor. This isn't a knock. He shined in his "The Twilight Zone" episodes, and was superb as a racist interloper who stokes violence against the Black residents of a small town in Roger Corman's "The Intruder." However, he also took so many guest roles in television that he ran the risk of driving down his value by dint of his ubiquity.

Three seasons and several great episodes of "Star Trek" fixed that for Shatner, but throughout the 1970s he become closely associated with a kind of laughably serious, easily parodied manneredness. The ne plus ultra of Serious Shatner might be his portrayal of veterinarian Rack Hansen in the nifty 1977 exploitation flick "Kingdom of the Spiders." The movie works as intended, but you'll be snickering all the way through it as Shatner does battle with a biblical flood of tarantulas. (It's like the feature length version of Indiana Jones knocking the creepy-crawlies off Satipo's back in "Raiders of the Lost Ark.")

Eventually, Shatner realized he'd descended deep into self-parody, and decided he wanted in on the fun. In 1982, he found the perfect project to scratch that silly itch.