When Gene Roddenberry tried to explain to NBC execs that his new show Star Trek would be “Wagon Train to the stars,” he had some evidence to back himself up:
This never before released two-disc set showcases the stars’ appearances on classic (and some completely forgotten) western programs from the 50s and 60s.
Disc 1 includes: Tate (1960): Episode Comanche Scalps starring Leonard Nimoy and co-starring a young Robert Redford in the critically-acclaimed but obscure series Bonanza (1960): Episode The Ape co-starring Leonard Nimoy and Dan Blocker Outlaws (1960): Episode Starfall Parts 1 & 2: Starring William Shatner, Cloris Leachman and more in a feature-length adventure. Disc 2 includes: The Lone Ranger (1949): Episode Legion of Old-Timers featuring Deforest Kelley, Clayton Moore & Jay Silverheels Last of the Mohicans (1957): Epiode The Scapegoat starring Lon Chaney Jr. and James Doohan Outlaws(1960): EpisodeShorty featuring Edward Binns, Alfred Ryder and Leonard Nemoy White Comanche (1968): The cult classic tamale western starring William Shatner & Joseph Cotten
Reviewer Roxana Hadadi at Express Night Out sums it up:
William Shatner is hilarious. We’ve known it for years, whether it was his super-serious attitude on the original “Star Trek” or his caricature of himself in those Priceline commercials — but you’ll gain a far greater appreciation for it with “Trek Stars Go West,” a collection of TV shows and films that starred “Star Trek” actors in Westerns before and during their time in fake space. Shatner as a peyote-smoking half-white, half-Comanche sociopath is probably the greatest thing you’ve ever seen the former Capt. Kirk do — you know, in a bad way.
Heigh-ho, Silver, and beam me up.
