Shatner Gets A Goatee?? The Return Of Mirror Kirk??

Hey guys, it's Donnie...We are currently living in a world without Star Trek. Ever since The Next Generation went on the air in 1987, there has been some form of Trek in active production. Right now, the franchise has temporarily stalled out. There are no shows actively running and the powers that be at Paramount can't seem to get started on a new film. The talk up till now has been that producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have worn out their welcome among fandom and that the best way to really get the franchise going again is by essentially starting over. There's been much discussion of a "Starfleet Academy" prequel movie, in which we would follow a new crew of recruits as they struggle through the Kobayashi Maru and midterms and whatnot.

Well, CanMag.com has a scooper reporting that according to Linda Park (Hoshi on Enterprise) the Academy idea has been scrapped in favor of a story set in the infamous Mirror Universe. I've ALWAYS loved the Mirror Universe, and I've been impressed with the way it's been used in the franchise to date, i.e. a way to expand upon characters and plotlines, instead of a crutch to use when you run out of ideas. Personally, I'm not convinced that such a movie wouldn't be exactly that: a way to keep the franchise hobbling along until they can figure out something else to do with it.

HOWEVER, I haven't even gotten to the best part yet. Check this out:

The current script – I ASSUME ‘ONE’ OF MANY - apparently has events set in what is called a “Mirror” Universe. It will enable Trek actors past and present to play roles, including William Shatner. Apparently Shatner was in talks to do a guest role on Enterprise, but it didn’t work out. Why? Apparently he wanted a) more money b) would rather do Trek films. Solution? The ideas for the episode of the Enterprise episode he was going to do will now be incorporated into a movie. Yep, Captain Kirk’s back - SOMEHOW. [Linda Park] wasn’t unsure of her involvement or her show’s cast’s involvement but said she “thinks” it’ll be Shatner, Captain Picard and maybe Archer.

Yeah. Shatner. Did anyone see him singing and dancing as the devil in the Comedy Central Last Laughs '05 special? Amazing. Last night I watched Boston Legal for the first time in a while, and it merely reminded me that Shatner is a goddamn genius. There's a part of me that would love to see Mirror Kirk, Picard and Archer. Although I'm not really sure if there's really any elegant sort of way to span all those timelines without turning it into a giant clusterfuck. And am I the only one that wants to see the rest of the DS9 storyline play out? The show ended with Sisco and Gul Dukat not quite dying and getting pulled into the Celestial Temple in the Bajoran Wormhole with the promise that The Emissary was gonna return and a big ruckus was gonna go down.

I'm such a nerd.