While the producers of "Invasion: Iowa" do all they can to remove the sting from their premise, Shatner restores it. He seems fully aware of the show's artistic and moral implications, and his detailed, imaginative performance keeps this awareness in the foreground throughout. He seems to approach this assignment not just as a televised prank, but as an epic improvisation that lets him stay in character continuously for weeks, satirize Middle America's worst fears about Hollywood arrogance, and investigate the kinship between acting and lying. . . .
It's a great and uncategorizable performance -- great because it grasps the ethical implications of the film crew's deception with a sureness that eludes the show's producers and editors, and is impossible to categorize because you've never seen anything quite like it.
When did the public first realize Shatner's greatness? Probably December 20, 1986.
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