MovieChat Forums > T.J. Hooker (1982) Discussion > Silly vehicle for William Shatner

Silly vehicle for William Shatner

posted 12 years ago by robbytara
6 replies | jump to latest

Come on! I have watched every episode and basically the producers have made out Hooker to be a top athlete and a ladies man on almost every episode. Each and every episode Hooker gets into a sprinting foot race and usually catches the evader, even if they are half the age (as most are), then, all the good looking ladies just flock to Hooker. I am sure that this show seriously inflated William Shatner's ego. Wonder why Hooker did not at least try out for the 1984 Olympics in LA as a runner. After he would have won several gold medals, he could have spent all night making love to the female Olympic team.

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 12 years ago

His running is EPIC! lol.

[–] w22nuschler 12 years ago

I loved it when Hooker would run after the bad guys. That was my favorite part of the show. I just loved that show. It was a whole lot of fun to watch. I am tired of people bashing it for not being reality. I hate most shows that try to be real. Adam-12 and Dranet are exceptions.

[–] ShadowsouL 12 years ago

Adam-12 and T.J. Hooker are exactly the flip side of each other.

Adam-12 is a very realistic cop show, and T.J. Hooker is Adam-12 on steroids (the steroids being Shatner).

The concept of Shatner as a cop is ludicrous, which makes it all the more entertaining.

By the way, Shatner's running in both Star Trek and T.J. Hooker is brilliant. Apparently, you're not supposed to run like that. I used to run like that, and my gym teacher always used to laugh at me. At the time, I did not realize I ran like Shatner. Now, I'm proud of that fact.

When he does a light sprint or jog or trot, did you notice how Shatner's arms bounce up and down vertically, like C3P-0?

Did you also notice how in almost everything he's in, Shatner's always grabbing people by both arms?

The guy's priceless.

Douglas, there's no shame in being a trash-can licker.

[–] elvimark01 9 years ago

In Vengeance Is Mine, Hooker does a running jump off an apartment complex balcony and lands on fleeing suspect Randy Powell...that's one laughable example of his macho man side.

As for the ladies' man element, it's hilarious to see gorgeous Kristen Meadows (in the episode A Matter of Passion) blow past Romano and fly right into the arms of Hooker. The guy landed some very unlikely babes over the run of the series!

[–] bozo_500 9 years ago

As for the ladies' man element, it's hilarious to see gorgeous Kristen Meadows (in the episode A Matter of Passion) blow past Romano and fly right into the arms of Hooker. The guy landed some very unlikely babes over the run of the series!

yes but Hooker just happened to look like WILLIAM SHATNER. so what the hell do you expect a woman to do?

[–] b5erik 8 years ago

The thing is - Shatner did most of his own running, and as much of the fighting and stunts as the producers would allow.

Watch the show. The use of a stuntman is much less common for Shatner on T.J. Hooker than on most shows of that era that had action sequences. Hell, even a legit athlete like Lee Majors had a stuntman do a lot of his stunts (and some of his running, even), but Shatner did a ton of his own physical work on this show, and at his age at the time (over 50) that was amazingly impressive. I'm 48 and I'd have to work my ass off for months to get in good enough shape to do what Shatner did on T.J. Hooker!

Given that, I'm perfectly willing to buy in to the idea that Hooker kept in great shape and could outrun a lot of the bad guys and pull off the stunts that Hooker did on the show.