What would William Shatner like to see Denny Crane do next season on Boston Legal? "I'd like to see him play Captain Kirk in the new 'Star Trek' movie," Shatner joked.

The National Ledger caught up with Shatner, who despite an upcoming book release and another Emmy nomination remains disappointed that he won't be included in the eleventh Star Trek film. "They haven't invited me to do it," Shatner explained.

The actor said that he had no idea who would play young Kirk, saying, "It seems they're looking for an unknown, so I have no idea. I don't have a finger on that pulse. I've barely got a finger on my own pulse." As for the issue of his own aging character, he noted, the writers have solved all questions about Kirk's old age by having a "dead Kirk."

"I feel sort of like a wallflower. I'll watch the dance from the wings," the actor said. It won't be quiet, since Shatner is nominated yet again for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the Emmy Awards and his Star Trek book The Academy will be released in October:

It's the story of young Kirk and Spock and the forces that molded them. I used the Darfur situation for what generates the excitement. A conflict in which there are child soldiers -- and Kirk and Spock are not much older than those child soldiers.

Shatner has also recorded a newly oratorio of "Exodus" with the Arkansas Symphony and a DVD with the Milwaukee Ballet, Gonzo Ballet, which he describes as "kind of out there...based on five or six songs from my album Has Been...filmed with eight cameras, and with interviews showing how a ballet is born."

The original interview is here.

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