Shatner's salute to The Captains

Starships and gorgeous green-skinned women aside, the future isn't always easy to face.

As William Shatner (BCom'52) remembers from half a lifetime ago.

"They tell me I went to bed for three days when I turned 40," says the now-80-year-old actor. "I was in a state of shock. Forty is a really bad age to turn. You're in disbelief (about growing older), but 40 -- you believe it."

Of course, middle age proved to be anything but unkind to Shatner. Far from it. In 1971, after all, Star Trek was merely another defunct TV series.

It wasn't until years later that it would be translated to a hugely successful film franchise.

Or that he would find himself headlining numerous other shows -- from T.J. Hooker to Boston Legal, for which Shatner won two Emmys, to the recently nixed sitcom $#*! My Dad Says.

Four decades after that traumatic birthday, Shatner -- and it's no transporter malfunction --is just about everywhere. This year alone will see him release a new Trek- themed documentary, The Captains; a new album, Seeking Major Tom; and a book, tellingly entitled Shatner Rules. And while $#*! My Dad Says was cancelled, he's already set a guest stint on the new season of Psych.

All of this, it should be noted, between lifetime achievement awards. Shatner recently received an honorary doctorate from McGill University. Last month he was recognized at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. And last year, he was honoured at the Banff World Media Festival.

Aren't work schedules supposed to lessen the older you get?

"What isn't well known is that Montreal made a terrible mistake on my birth certificate," he says with a chuckle on the phone from Los Angeles.

And this octogenarian's omnipresence extends beyond the borders of film and television.

Consider that last month, his rendition of the Canadian national anthem -- filmed by the National Film Board for the Governor General's awards -- went viral.

Technology, says this Tweeter, has created "a short-hand for whether something's working or not ... (The O Canada video) could've ended there, but now you're telling me it's gone viral and because it was amusing -- it even made me laugh, seeing it -- I imagine people will be entertained by it. That's another life for it."

Which isn't to suggest he has turned his back on interacting with fans in person. He recently performed a one-man show in Australia and he continues -- albeit less frequently -- to attend science-fiction conventions.

This weekend he will be on hand for the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

"I'm looking forward to the Calgary one because it's a Canadian experience. (The fans) are still as passionate as ever ... It's great fun for me to go up there and entertain them."

At this point is it fair to describe him as inescapable?

"Inescapable? Yes--unassailable, inescapable and untouchable. Although I like to think I focus on the thing I'm doing with as much intensity as I can, it doesn't stop you from putting your laser on another subject and focusing equally well."

The multi-tasking comes naturally, he says. "A lot of things interest me. I'm puzzled by many mysteries. And I wish I knew more about everything. So you could call me a Jack of all trades, but I'm multi-interested."

Already he has an idea for his next book, he reveals.

"I'm going to start work--I've got to sell it first--on a book on being 80."

Meanwhile, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo runs Friday to Sunday at the BMO Centre.

Read full article: The Sudbury Star, June 13, 2011