  "Invasion Iowa." |
Wanna make a movie with Captain Kirk?
That was the dilithium crystal carrot used to lure hundreds of Star Trek followers and other geeks out to Riverside, Iowa -- future birthplace of James T. Kirk.
Starting tonight, the actual town is the setting for Invasion Iowa, a prank reality series from the network and the producers behind The Joe Schmo Show.
The miniseries, which stars Kirk himself -- William Shatner -- begins tonight at 9 p.m. and airs all week on the U.S. superstation Spike (channel 32 locally on Rogers), concluding Friday -- April Fool's Day.
According to Trek lore (so it must be true), Kirk was born on March 22, 2228.
Iowa was mentioned as the birthplace on one Trek episode and some "enterprising" local decided Riverside was as good a place as any to fleece tourists.
For the past 20 years, Trekkers have been trekking to the small rural town (pop. 978) to celebrate all things Kirk.
Enjoying a career rebirth at 73 as a Boston Legal weasel, Shatner beamed aboard last January's Spike network press conference to promote the series.
Last fall, the Montreal-native and a film crew descended upon Riverside and punk'd the locals under the ruse that they were casting extras for a new sci-fi movie he was directing.
The townspeople (and others tracking the venture on the Internet) lined up for their shot at Hollywood -- only to eventually find it was all a big fat hoax.
"We didn't really dash their dreams. They're on television from Tuesday to Friday," said Shatner.
"Many of my motion pictures didn't last that long."
Cap't Hambone, as always, goes way over the top, arriving in town with a pseudo entourage including a fake spiritual advisor, a "nephew" body double (supposedly a bastard son of a wardrobe assistant on the original Star Trek) and a neurotic assistant -- all played by improv actors.
The people of Riverside prove there's no end to the number of humiliating stunts civilians will do in order to go Hollywood. One little old lady becomes Shatner's cue card holder. Others get tricked into pointless stunt duty. The town is told Sean Connery is jetting in to co-star.
It was all done in fun, Shatner insists. No locals were harmed in the making of this film. "Did we hurt their feelings, did we stunt them with the truth?" Shatner asked rhetorically, as only Shatner can.
Invasion Iowa was more of a love-in, he insists. By the end, a thousand people showed up cheering and crying. "We gave the town a lot of money," he explained. ($100,000 U.S., loser money on Survivor but still a haul in cable cash.)
The hoodwinked townspeople won all sorts of other individual prizes. Dreams came true for several folk, Shatner insists. "We're not laughing at them, they're laughing at us," he said.
It's a kinder, gentler Spike. No more Shmos, just regular folks basking in love and cash. Set phasers for fun.
The producers left behind hundreds of "Shats" green, yellow and red "mood" berets. They came, they pranked, they shat. Like there already wasn't enough shat on TV.
ALSO TONIGHT: Local PBS affiliate WNED has the extremely timely Nova special Wave That Shook The World, an hour-long look at the deadly tsunami that rocked the Indian Ocean late last December. Computer animation along with news and amateur video details the horrifying waves that killed at least 250,000 people (8 p.m.).
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