At times, I would make the joke that Adam West is a poor man's William Shatner, their mannerisms are the same, they both have W's in their names and their career paths are eerily similar... they starred as pop icons on TV in the late 60's and have survived on the kindness of strangers and friends with couches ever since. However, Mr. West has yet to reach the pinnacle of popularity or afforded the superstar status of one Mr. Shatner. Why? One word: Subterfuge.
I recently realized that I had never seen the two together! EVER! I started to wonder if they were, in fact, the same person using special effects and mind control to appear as if they were two individuals. Through some very superficial investigative research I found the following excerpt of an interview with Mr. Shatner (from ugo.com):
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Interviewer: I just read about an Alexander the Great pilot you did for television with Adam West.
Mr. Shatner: Was Adam West in it?
Interviewer: Yes.
Mr. Shatner: [very thoughtfully] Huh.
Interviewer: Do you remember it very well?
Mr. Shatner: I remember doing the pilot. It was basically a pilot on Alexander the Great, a great subject matter. We rode fast horses without a saddle, which is a skill in itself. Had some wonderful moments making that picture.
Interviewer: So you don't remember Adam West?
Mr. Shatner: I don't remember Adam being in the series, but if you say so, he was.
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The very elusive William Shatner, ladies and gentlemen.
Did you notice how he cleverly parried the damaging assertion that they were actually separate people? He let the interviewer believe that he was acknowledging the existance of footage containing himself and Mr. West. However, I wondered about that supposed television pilot and found this evidence:
Is this the 'smoking gun'? If this one small image does indeed reflect reality, then I have saved humankind from an uncertainty that I'm sure would have plagued the planet for millennia to come. However... can we ever truly be sure... Adam West has a Batcave and William Shatner has traveled through time in a spaceship... their natural charm, resources and powerful form of 'delayed acting' may be too much for the truth to overcome.