Shatner Claims OG Status

Make room on the bandwagon cause someone else is jumpin' on: Shatner claims that in the early '70s he was personally and professionally involved with one of the 5 Venomy Venoms and was granted 'Honorable Venom' status.

Shat claims that he and The Lizard(aka The Gecko) became very good friends during Shat's time as Head Fight Coordinator of Shaw Bros. Studios. The Shaw Brothers hired Shat as a fight consultant after Star Trek was cancelled in '69. Indeed, early Shaw Bros movies like Dirty Ho (see video) amply showcase classic Kirk style Kung-Fu, including his legendary double-handed overhead blow(DHOB).

"It was sometime during '71. I was sitting at home finishing-up lyrics to my next single when I got a call from Chiang Lei from Shaw Bros Studios. He'd just reviewed about 40 Trek episodes and was just amazed at my fighting skills. He didn't believe me when I told him I did all that without wires, too.

At first, I suggested he get in touch with Takei -- him being Chinese or Japanese or whatever. But long story short he made me an offer I couldn't refuse and the rest is history."

When we later asked about his alleged "personal relationship" with The Lizard, Shat was more elusive, offering only:

"Let's just say that I taught him a few of my Top Secret Kung Fu moves off-camera. And though these didn't involve wires they did involve chains and rope.

Good times, man! Good times!"

Shat started to get teary-eyed and dusted off a box of old pics. He generously shared a few with us:

We commented that "The Lizard" in these photos looked suspiciously like Gorn from the Trek episode 'The Arena' (see video). Mysteriously, his cell phone started to cut-out and we lost the connection.

That Shat! We'll share details of our upcoming meeting with him next week.

Shaw Confirms Mr. Toasty

3VV was able to reach King Hu from Shaw Studios to check facts on the story SLJ shared with us earlier today. Though Hu could not confirm the relationships among SLG and the Venom Crew he did confirm that SLG was, indeed, approached about the role of a 'Master Toasty' -- planned to be the greatest nemesis the Venoms faced to that point.

Shaw Studios was kind enough to dig up this piece of concept art from back then:

Though the Shaws were well-aware and congratulatory of SLG's movie successes since the days of The Black Eel, they admitted they didn't see much potential in him in the early days:

"He was very loud man. Always with mean face and yelling. Even when he making jokes or saying good things he so very loud man. He very black too and have big eyes."

Thank you, Shaw Brothers!

Sammy...an OG Venom??

Seems Sammy really, really wants to join the team. In fact, he’s claiming to be an original member of the Venomy Venoms who was forced out because he was a black man.

Just received this from his publicist who says it’s a picture of Sam and Chiag Sheng with a personally written message of thanks from Sheng himself:

Sammy -- the original Undercover Brother?

“See, it’s like this, man. What most cats don’t know is that them Shaw Brothers weren’t really “bruthas” at all — they was perpetratin’! So when a real brutha stepped to them and was like ‘Hey! I wanna join yo team’ they got all scared and stuff.

They tried to fit me in at first. Called me the ‘Black Eel’.
Problem was, what the f— would an eel be doing fightin on land with a bunch of toads and snakes?! So I sat on my ass for 3 films before puttin an end to that s—.

Fools tried to get me back by saying I was a perfect fit for the evil villian in their next film. My name would be ’Master Toasty’. Toasty?! F— that, biatch!

Yah…but we was all good, good friends.”

We’re gonna have to verify the authenticity of the photo and his story. But you gotta hand it to the man — he loves his Venoms!

Who doesn’t?

3+2 Venomy Venoms?

Looks like our new blog is already a hot item in Tinseltown as we’ve already received inquiries from an A-list and a C-list celebrity(we won’t say which is which).

Sammy “I Said It” L. Jackson stopped by 3VV offices yesterday seeking an application to join the team as a Fourth Venom. Though we don’t know why someone would think we were seeking an addition to the team, we had to hear the man out. He had that crazy look in his eye:

"I’m versatile, you know. You need me to be your mentor then I can be your mentor. Kinda like a Mace Windu. You need me to lay low and be a sidekick then I can be a sidekick. Kinda like Jules in Pulp Fiction. Need me to infiltrate the bad kung-fu on a solo mission then I’m game, too. Kinda like Shaft.

I’m Shaft, biatch!"

We snapped a photo of Sammy to attach to his application and thanked him for his time. We’ll have more on this later.

Sammy submitting his app

As for William Shatner: though we had initial thoughts that it’d be kinda cool to have Captain James T. Kirk on the team(if only to attract a few alien chicks to our desert cave) we couldn’t quite get past the ’60’s style speedos he apparently can’t let go of. “Shat” was a little confused by our reaction:

"But…Sulu…said….it looked good on…me. He told me that if you guys didn’t want me then he had the perfect role for me to play. We've got a private casting call at 3:00pm today at his house, as a matter of fact.

He swore speedos and hairy chests were in. He swore!"

We had to ask him to leave but we did set up a meeting for later this week. More on this later.

Shat was shocked when we told
him to go home and get some pants

Venoms Resurrected?

After a few years of dormancy, reports from the desert are that the 3 Venomy Venoms may be back on the scene. Nobody really knows what happened to the famed trio that could always be found playing cards at cafes around Seattle. Rumors ranged from in-fighting due to debates over whose kung fu was stronger to them being recruited as a Special Ops team in Iraq. Stay tuned for more information!