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Shatner: Still the Captain, But Still Not in 'Star Trek'

By Michelle
October 27, 2007 - 10:00 PM

William Shatner may not be in the new Star Trek film, but he's still getting plenty of attention as Captain Kirk.

StarTrek.com reported that Shatner's fellow Enterprise captain Patrick Stewart (Picard) will bestow upon Shatner the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award, presented during the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival. That event will be hosted by Malcolm McDowell, who played the enemy of the two captains as Dr. Soran in Star Trek: Generations.

The ceremony will take place on December 9th at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, preceded by four hours of remastered HD original series episodes. Many other luminaries will take place in the festival and the official web site promises a "spectacular presentation."

Yet Shatner still sounds disappointed if not outright bitter that he has not been asked to be in the movie. "I couldn't believe it...having been in on the creation of it, I was hoping to be in on the re-creation," he told The Associated Press. "What a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn't seem to be a wise business decision."

It isn't that Shatner needs the work. "I've got a lot to do," he said. His recent jobs include not only working on a new Star Trek book and his regular role on Boston Legal, for which he has won two Emmy Awards, but narrating the Christmas spoof Stalking Santa, which is scheduled to be released on DVD on November 6th.

Shatner is not, however, likely to collect the remastered original series episodes, nor to join his longtime colleague Leonard Nimoy - who is in the upcoming Star Trek movie - in working as a photographer.

"I don't collect those things," Shatner told MovieWeb. "I don't even take pictures...I find myself reluctantly taking pictures because what's past is past. You can't recapture it...the time is gone, the only thing you know is the present." He also admitted that seeing photos of himself when he was younger is "somewhat horrifying."

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