Flashback: William Shatner vs. Gorn in greatest Star Trek commercial ever

Since Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought back the Gorn, it’s time to revisit the funniest commerical from 2013. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just brought the Gorn back into the universe. They haven’t technically been seen onscreen since Star Trek: The Original Series‘ “Arena.” Even Strange New Worlds didn’t allow us a look at what it had introduced as monsters who fed humans to their young. (Thank goodness!) Actually, there was one more time the Gorn made an appearance on television, and that was the 2013 commercial for Star Trek: The Video Game which also introduced animated versions of the alien species.

In late March 2013, Bandai Namco Entertainment America released a commercial to encourage orders for the PS3/X360 game that included William Shatner and the Gorn reenacting their famous fight from “Arena.”  Of course, many, many years have passed since that battle took place, and it didn’t take long for both Shatner and the alien to realize they were both too old to fight like they had in 1966. And that’s what makes this commercial one of the very best.

The Gorn plays its part very well, even over-extending itself to the very end.

And that’s where the funniest part of this commercial comes into play. After scenes of a far more violent Gorn are shown in the video game, the ad reverts back to the living room where Shatner and the alien are still trying to catch their breaths. The Gorn is still holding its ears and wailing which leads Shatner to say “Alright, now you’re overacting,” something the former Captain Kirk has been accused of many times in his long career.

Though you might not be a fan of the video game, it’s hard not to appreciate the tongue-in-cheek humor that went into the creation of this commercial. And kudos to Shatner for being willing to take the potshots lobbed his way without rancor. The video has racked up close to three million views and over 800 comments from fans who, like me, found this to be a funny flashback to what some (okay a lot) of Trekkies consider a cheesy episode of Star Trek.