Happy Talk Like William Shatner Day!

William Shatner is turning 80 years old today and in honor of this momentous occasion, it’s Talk Like William Shatner Day!

In case you could ever forget that. particular… cadence, we’ve assembled the best of the good captain’s spoken word song catalogue. Satisfy yourself with the above version of “It Was a Very Good Year,” featuring Shatner and a good number of familiar Trek poses. (He is Kirok at least once during the recitation.)

Or, click below the cut for an amazing range of absurdity, from a serenade to George Lucas, to a rap about Caesar, and then off into some kind of psychological breakdown regarding a flying taxi.

“Your Way”: Shatner sings during a celebration (roast?) of George Lucas.

“No Tears For Caesar”: An original spoken rap composition, as featured in the film Free Enterprise. (Starts 20 seconds in.)

“Taxi”: Starts out slow but stick with it, if only to hear him scream, “There’s a wild man wizard, he’s hiding in me! Illuminating my mind!”

“Common People”: Paired with clips from the animated series and a healthy dose of Spock/Kirk.

“Rocket Man”: We couldn’t forego this Shatner classic.

We had to limit our selections to five or six, as Shatner’s ouevre in regards to song and spoken word is practically bottomless. (And we didn’t even get to Nimoy!) Let us know if we missed any hidden gems!

Stubby the Rocket is the mascot and often random voice of Tor.com. It also has problems with wizards hiding in it, illuminating its mind.