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Shatner to the rescue
15/08/2006 10:16 - (SA)
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| Leonard Nimoy (Mr Spock), left, and William Shatner (Captain Kirk) pose in Los Angeles. (Ric Francis, AP) |
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San Francisco - The Starship Enterprise
is in trouble and, as usual, Captain James T Kirk has a plan to
save it.
William Shatner, who played the swashbuckling spacefarer in
the Star Trek television series and movies, is voicing Kirk in a new computer game in the face of ebbing interest in the
Star Trek franchise.
Star Trek: Legacy, due out in October, will let players
steer more than 60 starships - spanning all five of the
franchise's live-action TV series - into combat against foes
such as the militant Klingons and the all-assimilating Borg.
"The interest in Star Trek has waned in the last couple
years," Shatner said. "It's been
around a long time, it's a staple of American life and I think
we need something new and different in Star Trek."
In addition to Shatner, the actors who sat in the captain
chairs in the other four shows, such as Patrick Stewart from
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek: Voyager, have also agreed to voice lines in the game.
With the exit from TV last year of Star Trek: Enterprise,
and the next feature film not expected until 2008, some fans
fret that Starfleet is showing vulnerability - not to photon
torpedoes and cloaking devices but to audience apathy.
Shatner, who said he doesn't play video games but has a
grandson who is keen to teach him, hopes the medium can keep
the Star Trek flame burning.
"Once again, it's renewing itself," Shatner said.
The first Star Trek television show, created by Gene
Roddenberry and starring Shatner, aired in 1966.
In recent years Shatner's TV acting career has heated up as
he won Emmys for playing eccentric lawyer Denny Crane in two
shows, Boston Legal and The Practice.
He last lent his voice to a video game in 1997's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, according to the Internet Movie Database.
"I couldn't imagine someone else playing Captain Kirk, even
in a video game, so I kind of got a little territorial," he
said.
Apart from Legacy, other upcoming Trek titles include a space combat game for handheld devices, as well as an online PC game that will let huge numbers of players seek out new life and new civilizations simultaneously.
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