Nit Wits #32: Shamrock Feb-28-2007
The Types of Stones Glass Houses Like by Chris Dunmire
While watching a re-run episode of the original Star Trek series on TV Land the other night, I amusedly watched Captain Kirk engage in hand-to hand combat with a Gorn, an intelligent reptilian humanoid with super strength.
Within the roleplay conflict between the Starfleet Captain and the latex leviathan was a rock-throwing scene where the Gorn picked up a boulder and lobbed it at William Shatner. Knowing the boulder was really a "Hollywood rock" (a fake movie-prop stone probably made out of a spray-painted foamy thing), I watched closely to see how the boulder un-naturally moved, bounced, and rolled on the Star Trek set as it nearly missed the captain. "Real rocks wouldn't act that way!" I shouted at the TV as if it could hear me.
I enjoy watching vintage Star Trek episodes just to pick up on stuff like that. The old 60s "future" technology, the alien costumes, and the dramatic acting all are a stitch. A few moments later, that life-crushing boulder somehow pinned Kirk down on the ground and he "struggled" while the foamy rock twittered over him. As I wondered outloud to my companion how the cast pulled off those scenes without breaking out in laughter, he reminded me that they were "paid actors".
Anyway, with St. Patrick's Day coming up on March 17, and fake Hollywood rocks on my mind, "Sham-rock" seemed like a natural joining of the two. Now I wonder where I can get a box of those rocks? Maybe this Movie Prop Store has some. •
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