Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: Princess Leia is ready to tackle Captain Kirk. The daughter of Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds (Singin’ in the Rain, Best Actress Oscar nominee for The Unsinkable Molly Brown), Star Wars franchise actress Carrie Fisher has humorously taken on William Shatner – Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek TV series of the 1960s and big-screen features of the 1980s. The War of the Words between Fisher and Shatner is a silly but enjoyable parody of the ongoing, pointless, and, in some instances, more than a tad demented rivalry between earthbound Star Wars and Star Trek nerds.
Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher vs. Star Trek actor William Shatner: Princess Leia takes on Captain Kirk
Star Wars’ actress Carrie Fisher takes on Star Trek actor William Shatner on a brief video posted online. (See below.)
But why would she do that?
Well, Shatner has been making humorously disparaging comparisons between Star Trek and Star Wars, with, obviously, the former coming out on top.
Whether you’re a Star Trek or Star Wars geek – or in case you couldn’t care less about either movie/television franchise – this cleverly edited Carrie Fisher video is an enjoyable must.
And check out further below George Takei’s defense of both Star Trek and Star Wars – while attacking their common enemy: Twilight.
Carrie Fisher vs. William Shatner as Star Wars vs. Star Trek nerd rivalry reaches stellar parody heights.
Captain Kirk & Princess Leia’s metal bikini
Things start out mildly, with Carrie Fisher rebutting William Shatner’s Star Trek vs. Star Wars comparisons: “They’re not in the same league! I mean, they have the word Star in the title …”
From there, it gets personal, as Fisher affirms that “Bill has borrowed” Princess Leia’s metal bikini. To sunbathe? For a photo shoot?
She then dismisses Shatner’s Star Trek costume as “the sort of outfit you would wear at a [would be U.S. Vice President] Sarah Palin roundup.”
In case you think that couldn’t go any lower, it could and did: “And I hear that [former Republican U.S. Vice President Dick] Cheney likes Star Trek.”
Precious kidney stone
And then there’s the issue of the precious kidney stone, which William Shatner sold – it was both his kidney and his stone – for $75,000.
“Now, keep in mind,” Fisher tells us in deliberate fashion. “This is an item that … comes out of the person’s … penis, ultimately, yes. And that, to me, has never been something erotic. ‘Oh, is that out of William Shatner’s penis? Did it finally come out?”
Equally unerotic was the time when Star Wars director George Lucas allowed Shatner to don Darth Vader’s costume. “I’d never seen someone so excited. But he couldn’t do it. He used to ask, you know, for line changes when you could never see his face, right?”
Carrie Fisher movies
Carrie Fisher’s face can be seen in more than 30 movies, beginning in the mid-1970s – her film debut was in a brief role in Hal Ashby’s Shampoo (1975).
Yet with the exception of the Star Wars movies, Fisher has never been the leading woman (or star) of any major – or even minor – box office hit. Personal issues, including a serious drug and alcohol problem, were impediments to the progress of her career.
With leads hard to come by, Fisher settled into playing supporting roles of varying degrees of importance in both quality and low-grade productions.
Her career peak was in the 1980s and early 1990s, when she was seen in Irvin Kershner’s The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Richard Marquand’s Return of the Jedi (1983), in addition to supporting roles in Sidney Lumet’s Garbo Talks (1984), Woody Allen’s Woody Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally… (1989), and several other “A” productions.
During that period, movies featuring Carrie Fisher in a lead role turned out to be total bombs – e.g., Steve Rash’s period comedy Under the Rainbow (1980), with Chevy Chase, and Tim Kincaid’s supernatural comedy She’s Back (1989), with Robert Joy.
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
The daughter of actress-singer-dancer Debbie Reynolds (Singin’ in the Rain, Mother) and singer/actor Eddie Fisher (Bundle of Joy, also with Reynolds; BUtterfield 8), Carrie Fisher had herself – in novelized form – played by eventual Best Actress Academy Award nominee Meryl Streep in Mike Nichols’ comedy-drama Postcards from the Edge.
Veteran Shirley MacLaine (Some Came Running, 1958; Best Actress Oscar winner for Terms of Endearment, 1983) had the Debbie Reynolds role. Fisher adapted her own bestselling novel.
Despite its box office – and, to some extent, critical – success, Postcards from the Edge remains Carrie Fisher’s sole (credited) screenwriting effort for the big screen.
For the small screen, she co-wrote:
- The comedy These Old Broads (2001), directed by Matthew Diamond, and starring Debbie Reynolds, former rival Elizabeth Taylor (who “stole” Eddie Fisher from Reynolds before unceremoniously leaving him for Richard Burton), Shirley MacLaine, and Joan Collins.
- The Emmy-nominated comedy documentary/special Wishful Drinking (2010), directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and starring Carrie Fisher as herself, as portrayed in her one-woman Broadway show.
George Takei: Star Trek Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu takes on the harmful Twilight sparkle. On any given day, you’ll find juvenile rivalries erupt across the globe between Star Wars and Star Trek geekdoms or, perhaps, between Marvel and DC geekdoms. But now we have a new and improved one, courtesy of Star Trek actor George Takei, who pits the guy-oriented Star Wars & Star Trek combo against the gal-oriented Twilight Saga franchise.
George Takei affirms Star Trek and Star Wars spat must stop so common sparkling enemy can be thwarted
“Fellow Star folks! Cool it down!” admonishes Star Trek veteran and Star Wars: The Clone Wars guest star George Takei in a hilarious follow-up clip to the (sadly, earthbound) YouTube video wars pitting Star Wars Princess Leia a.k.a. Carrie Fisher against Star Trek Captain Kirk, a.k.a. William Shatner.
In an attempt to prevent the hostilities from spreading – say, Mark Hamill lashing out at Nichelle Nichols – Takei reassures us all that “each [Star] is wonderful in its own special way,” adding that “what’s needed today more than ever is Star Peace, for there’s an ominous, mutual threat to all science fiction.”
The menace is “called … Twilight,” he explains, “And it is really, really bad.” It’s also not science-fiction, but never mind.
What makes Twilight so, so bad?
Instead of acts of heroism and epic battles, it features vampires “that sparkle and mope and go to high school.”
(Sorry, the George Takei video has been removed from source.)
Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Star Wars image: 20th Century Fox, via giphy.com.
Carrie Fisher Garbo Talks image: United Artists / MGM-UA, via Pinterest.
Image of George Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek: CBS Television.
“Carrie Fisher (Star Wars) vs. William Shatner (Star Trek) + George Takei vs. Twilight” last modified in June 2018.