William Shatner is a weird, weird dude. I can't say I blame him. He's been turned into a living god of sorts by "Star Trek" fans who worship him. Sure, there are plenty of cast members from the original TV series still around. Shatner's just the one with the biggest ego. Again, totally cool. I'm just saying.

Of course, true fans know that Captain James T. Kirk also has a flourishing music career of sorts. The sounds he makes fall somewhere between spoken word, Beat-era poetry and... well, no. It's spoken-word, Beat-styled poetry set to music. He's covered The Beatles. And Elton John. And now, Sarah Palin on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian.

Bless you William Shatner. Bless your weird, deranged ravings and all of the joy that they bring to the world.

William Shatner's past performances just keep living, breathing, and remaking themselves. "Star Trek" is now neatly rebooted with J.J. Abrams and Chris Pine. Meanwhile, Shatner's other sci-fi series "Tek War" has been revived as a comic book. Now Variety reveals that the "Trek" captain's private dick TV series "T.J. Hooker" is headed to the big screen for its moment of remade glory.

David Foster, Ryan Heppe and series creator Rick Husky are producing the film, while Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson have the task of writing the script. Chuck Russell ("The Scorpion King") is in talks to direct. No actors have yet been attached to the project. Read more...

The faces of the Twitter-Wood feed let their maple leaves fly high today for Canada Day, with William Shatner and "Twilight" actress Rachelle Lefevre among those wearing Canadian pride on their tweets. Their home and native land must have felt very loved.

The American Twitter delegation was busy as well, though, with Diablo Cody contemplating a Billy Idol-ish makeover. Chiming in with advice was none other than Andy Milonakis. Click on downward and you'll find their exchange, some "Twilight"-style vampire baseball for charity being played, and a tweet from Steven Spielberg's to-do list in the Twitter-Wood report for July 1, 2009. Read more...

Now you have a ready-made response for anyone who tells you that J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot stinks. As the film's tie-in marketing blitz continues to assault us from all angles, expect things to get a whole lot weirder. Take today's revelation that online retailer Genki Wear is launching a line of "Trek"-themed fragrances.

You read that right. "Trek" fragrances. One perfume, two colognes. Pon Farr, for the ladies, takes its name from a physiological condition which is essentially the Vulcon equivalent of "going into heat." It's a bit more serious for Vulcans, as they either mate or die, but we expect that the perfume is more harmless than that. Read more...

Editor's Note: Thar be spoilers ahead, so beware if you haven't seen "Star Trek"...

FROM MTV.COM:

This past weekend, $76.5 million worth of people saw Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy on-screen in J.J. Abrams’ blockbuster reboot “Star Trek.” The one person they didn’t see, however, is larger-than-life “Trek” icon William Shatner.

During the course of the film’s production, a bizarre battle of words erupted between Abrams and the 78-year-old original Captain Kirk over a never-filmed, top-secret scene. Recently, we got the spoiler-heavy details on the very different ending once intended as Nimoy and Shatner’s final time together on-screen.

“It’s true, we did write a Shatner scene,” Roberto Orci, one of the film’s writers and producers, explained.

Continue reading 'Star Trek' Writers Reveal The William Shatner Scene That Never Was

Director/producer J.J. Abrams' franchise reboot of "Star Trek" beams into theaters this week, and it ought to serve as a good introduction to the universe for folks who have never seen any of the shows. Hopefully they'll walk out of theaters curious to see what other "Trek" is out there. Which episodes should they look for? How will they know which ones truly deal with the background and characterization of Kirk and his enterprising crew (see what we did there)?

Don’t worry, soon-to-be-"Trek" fans. Cast your eyes downward for a breakdown of choice episodes from the original "Star Trek" series, which is now available in full on DVD. Read more...

There were many memorable characters aboard the Enterprise during the original Star Trek series. There was the intelligent and overly-honest Spock. The crotchety surgeon Leonard “Bones” McCoy. The compassionate and strong-willed Nyota Uhura. And leading them all was Captain James T. Kirk, a character directly inspired by Horatio Hornblower. Even now, years after we last saw him in command, fans love talking about Kirk and why he was so dang cool. So with the new movie coming out with Chris Pine taking the helm, let’s look at some of the qualities that made this man a hero.

Easy-Tear Shirts: A real man looks for any excuse to show the ladies his guns. Kirk clearly thought of this when he ordered all his uniforms to tear apart five seconds into any fight. This probably saved time when he left his fallen opponent to hit on nearby girls. Read more...

As Captain Kirk, William Shatner has saved the world on more than a few occasions. But could anything possibly prepare him for having to save Christmas?

We better hope so, writer/producer/"Die Hard" godfather Steven de Souza laughed – cause the holiday season is about to get seriously messed up. No, really messed up. As in so messed up the term messed up doesn’t even do it justice.

Shatner will star as the voice of Santa Claus in de Souza’s Rankin-Bass-esque animated “Gotta Catch Santa,” the filmmaker revealed, detailing a science-fiction fantasy plot which owes as much to quantum mechanics as it does to Christmas cheer. Read more...

- J.J. Abrams explains why William Shatner is not in new “Star Trek.” Hint: It’s because of William Shatner. (AMC)

- Speaking of Shia and director D.J Caruso – they might want to lawyer up. Dreamworks sued for “ripping off” “Rear Window” in “Disturbia.” (Yahoo)

- “Mamma Mia” star Amanda Seyfried joins Lass Hallstrom’s “Dear John,” about a young woman who falls in love with a soldier. (Variety)

- David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Paul Rudd join James Franco in “Howl,” which you first heard about here. (THR & MTV)