Last week, William Shatner, who is now 77, had hip replacement surgery. During surgery, his heart started beating erratically and there was concern that he might die on the operating table. His weight has only lately been a concern, but he’s recovering well. Best wishes, Bill.

Shatner will appear in Horrorween, a comedy horror, this year. While he’s not currently part of the new Star Trek XI movie, there is a possibility for his Captain James T. Kirk character to be written in. For an explanation of how this could be, given that J.J. Abrams said “Kirk already died”, read Screen Rant and io9 – but be warned that there are potential spoilers in the articles linked to.

Personally, I’ll be hugely disappointed if Shatner doesn’t at least have a cameo. J.J. Abrams already disappointed me with Cloverfield (which he only produced), and I’m hoping his directing and producing in Star Trek will redeem him (in my eyes).

While we wait to find out if Shatner will be written in after the WGA strike is resolved, enjoy some bloopers from various Star Trek series.

William Shatner was recently lamenting on TV the fact that he wasn’t invited to be part of the next Star Trek movie. Worstpreviews has some great insight into this issue.

Apparently since Shatner’s character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, was killed in Star Trek VII: Generations. Co-writer Roberto Orci indicated that they have not figured out to get around this issue without getting fans upset, but that a Shatner cameo is possible. The current Writers Guild of America strike also prevents changes to the script until after the strike is over.

If you watched Generations, you might agree that it’s hard to be 100% sure that Kirk actually died. At any rate, we’re talking science fiction here, with multiple universes and multiple plot devices. It SHOULDN’T BE that hard to have Kirk appear as far as a script goes. Especially since Leonard Nimoy plays an older Spock against Zachary Quinto as a younger Spock. This movie predates the original TV series in terms of timeline. So why not have Shatner play Kirk’s father or grandfather.

Current cast include Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Chris Pine as Kirk. Release date is Dec 25th, 2008, though a proper movie name has yet to be chosen. A fan mockup clip is below, entitled Star XI – The Wrath of Kirk. Also check out the parody clip Star Trek: Frasier further below.