William Shatner (Kirk) spoke about his myriad of upcoming projects, including Boston Legal's third season, Star Trek books, television commercials, music and a film he hopes to direct, again praising J.J. Abrams as a good choice to direct Star Trek XI.

Speaking to Starlog, Shatner said that he believes Abrams is "the perfect person" to bring the Star Trek franchise up to date. "He’s an aficionado and a brilliant storyteller and filmmaker," said the actor. "If anyone can find the essence of Star Trek...he's the man."

Shatner said he is bewildered by how quickly the time has passed since Star Trek's debut more than forty years ago. "It goes so quickly...there’s hardly an indentation in history of your presence," he noted. "You hardly make an impression on history. And shortly after you're gone, that impression is smoothed out by the sands of time."

Perhaps this reflectiveness explains why Shatner has worked so consistently at an age when many have retired. Of the series of Star Trek novels he has co-written, he said, "The pleasure is that these nine STAR TREK books reflect my life...it has been great being able to express myself and facilitate stories that have at their core the maturation of my life." He also joked that he did not have enough positive adjectives to express his pleasure at the success of his album, Has Been, and the birth of his latest grandchildren.

For his next project, the actor revealed, he is working on "something I've been trying to get off the ground for five years. It’s called The Shiva Club, and I’ll have more news on that in the next month or so. I'll direct it, but hopefully I won’t have to act in it." Shiva is a Jewish tradition whereby the family and friends of a deceased person gather together to grieve.

The full interview is in Starlog #350. These excerpts may be found here.

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!