The Hollywood Byte #43: Captain Kirk

William Shatner's days as Captain James T. Kirk aren't over yet, thanks to Bethesda Softworks' new videogame, Star Trek: Legacy. Shatner reprised the role that made him infamous to bring authenticity to the story. He is joined in this new game by the four actors who captained the other four Star Trek TV series.

Shatner said that performing in the recording studio for Star Trek Legacy was very different from bringing Kirk to life on the small and big screens.

"It was strange," said Shatner. "The strangest part of it all was doing the branching of the game, where there are a lot of yes responses and a lot of no responses. It's very amusing, actually."

Although the story, which introduces a new villain and spans 40 years of Trek lore, is one of the reasons Shatner came on board the project, he won't take credit for Dorothy "DC" Fontana's work.

"I didn't work on the story," said Shatner. "I was merely a hired hand in that. I promised them that if the game warranted it, I would do publicity for it. And the game certainly warrants it."

Shatner keeps his sense of humor when it comes to Star Trek today. When asked what it is about the sci-fi franchise that has kept it alive for four decades, he replied, "It's been waiting for this moment to become a really good game."

"There's a magic in Star Trek no matter what form it takes," said Shatner. "It's been an opera, it's been a TV show and it's been a movie, it's been a game, it's been a cartoon, and it's been a pinball machine. There are very few places left to go. It's been a slot machine, so it's followed many forms. It's been a game before and Star Trek Legacy is a game that's advanced."