In spite of his absence from Star Trek XI, William Shatner is keeping busy and maintaining a sense of humor.

Shatner was interviewed recently prior to receiving his Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award (see story located here) as reported by IESB.net. Yet again, he denied rumors that he will be in Star Trek XI. "Nobody's told me," he said, when told there was a secret script with a scene for him. "When you find the person who told you, tell them to call." He went on to tease the interviewer. When asked "If there is a scene for you, you're going to do it?", he replied, "A scene where? When did you hear that?"

He reiterated his dismay on Shatnervision at not being included in the movie. "It was more like how could you not put one of the founding figures into a movie that was being resurrected?" he said. "I was there at the birth I wanted to be there at the rebirth. I would loved to have been. I don't take it personally, it was the way they were telling the story and they couldn't include the character. That's too bad." Shatner went on to explain why it didn't make good business sense to leave him out of the new movie. "I've become even more popular than I was playing Captain Kirk," he said. "I'm good box office and I get publicity like this. We're talking about the movie, which is publicity for the movie. I could have done a good job for them but they're going in a different direction."

Shatner admitted though, that he doesn't like to watch his own acting. "I've never watched the Boston Legal," he said. "I've rarely watched Star Trek even when it was on. I've not seen any of the movies. I don't watch myself. It's painful. When I direct and have to look at rushes of myself, I suck."

2008 will bring new work for Shatner, in the form of a new talk show, to be aired on the Biography Channel, titled Shatner's Raw Nerve. The show will be a half hour in length. When asked for an update on the show by Trekmovie.com, he said, "We're going to meet after the New Year and find out what it is I'm doing. We have a rough idea, but we haven't quite settled it yet. It's an experimentation in talk show. I want to touch a raw nerve, but whose raw nerve it is, I'm not quite sure. So if you have any thoughts on the matter, please send them to me care of Shatnervision.com.

To see the videos, go to the links located here, here, and here.

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