William Shatner, of Kirk, Hooker, & Crane fame, will be signing comics.
* 5/2/09 1:00 PM at Golden Apple – Melrose Avenue. Los Angeles, CA.
William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor and novelist. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, captain of the starship USS Enterprise, in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing James T. Kirk and being a part of Star Trek as well as several co-written novels set in the Star Trek universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.
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Shatner also played the title role as veteran police sergeant T.J. Hooker, from 1982 to 1986. He has since worked as a musician, bestselling author, producer, director, and celebrity pitchman, most recently as the “Negotiator” for the Priceline.com travel website. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal, for which he has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Star Trek career
Shatner was first cast as Captain James T. Kirk for the second pilot of Star Trek, entitled “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. He was subsequently contracted to play Kirk for the Star Trek series and held the role from 1966 to 1969. In the episode “Operation Annihilate” he also played the corpse of the recently killed George Samuel Kirk (the brother of James T. Kirk).
In 1973, Shatner returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the animated Star Trek series. He was slated to reprise the role of Kirk for Star Trek: Phase II, a follow-up series chronicling the second five-year mission of the Enterprise, but Star Trek: Phase II was cancelled in pre-production and expanded into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the first six Star Trek films, and directed the fifth. In 1994, he returned to the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations – his character’s final appearance on the big screen, ending with the death of Captain Kirk. 1997 marked his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the movie sequences of the video game Starfleet Academy, although he recently reprised this role briefly for a Trek-parody DirecTV advertisement which began airing in late summer 2006.
In the summer of 2004, rumors circulated that the producers of Star Trek: Enterprise were considering bringing William Shatner back into the Trek fold. Reports in the media indicated that the idea was given serious thought, with series producer Manny Coto indicating in Star Trek Communicator magazine’s October 2004 issue that he was preparing a three-episode story arc for Shatner. Shortly thereafter, Enterprise was cancelled, likely ending all hope that Shatner would return to Star Trek.
Shatner has not been “offered or suggested” a role in the new film Star Trek, as of October 2007. Director J.J. Abrams said in July 2007 that the production was “desperately trying to figure out a way to put him in” but that to “shove him in…would be a disaster.” As a result, Shatner had invented his own idea about the beginning of Star Trek with his latest novel, Star Trek: Academy – Collision Course.
In 2008, he joined Star Trek: The Tour in Long Beach, California – an exhibition which is planned to tour 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada. In an interview, he spoke about accepting the dominance of Star Trek in public recollection of his career, and coming to terms with the adoration of fans.
Shatner writes in Star Trek Memories that “The Devil in the Dark” was his favourite original Star Trek episode. From his perspective, the episode was “exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent, it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best Star Treks.”
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