Famed vocalist, avid Twitter user and star of “T.J. Hooker” William Shatner has “Star Trek” on his mind. As some of you may know, “Star Trek” was a goofy science fiction television show from the 1960s that starred the Priceline spokesman. That little show has blown up into a crazed phenomenon that features numerous spin-offs, hit-and-miss films, documentaries, cartoons, books, albums and an upcoming Web-only series, because that Internet is what the kids are into these days. Like how the kids were once into this Bob Dylan fellow, whose song “Mr. Tambourine Man” Shatner has covered over the years (a step up from the original, in my opinion).
Though he refuses to be confined into a box of 60s songs, as he somewhat recently covered a song by CeeLo Green.
All kidding aside, Shatner (whom my wife and I briefly met at Comic Con two years ago) wants to do something special for the 50th anniversary of “Star Trek” next year. Something that more than likely does not involve him reprising his character James T. Kirk in a serious manner. It seems he has his heart set on celebrating the show with a musical or variety show, he told the Guardian.
“I’m attempting to sell a 50th anniversary show, but so far I’ve had very little luck. Maybe because Paramount’s going to do their own — but I don’t know how they can do their own without me. I’ve never been contacted. … I’ve been actively trying to do a 50th anniversary show … We had a big company say: ‘What about a musical or a music variety show?’ That got some traction — but nothing’s come of it yet,” Shatner said.
Though it sounds like at this point getting a “Star Trek” musical is on par with passing the Kobayashi Maru test. But if anyone can do it, it seems like Shatner is the guy.
The JOE-DOWN 