As William Shatner celebrates his birthday today and takes a moment to reflect upon the last 12 months, he'll have to admit to himself that this has been a very good year. He won an Emmy for his skillful portrayal of the cunning, eccentric senior lawyer Denny Crane o­n ABC-TV's The Practice, and went o­n to capture a Golden Globe for his reprisal of the character o­n the spin-off series, Boston Legal. He showed several horses at the world championships in Louisville, Kentucky and expertly drove o­ne of his horses to victory, winning the Fine Harness Amateur Championship. Last Fall, he released an album with Ben Folds, his first in decades. The album entitled Has Been received wide critical acclaim landing o­n Rolling Stone's list of top 10 picks for the year. And now as March is winding down, he's just warming up.

Last week, he appeared at a Star Trek convention in Pasadena, participated in a Boston Legal panel during the Museum of Television & Radio's Paley Festival, worked o­n Boston Legal, and flew to New York to promote Miss Congeniality 2 which lands in theatres o­n March 24th. Bill reprises his role as Stan Fields in this latest installment of the Sandra Bullock comedy.

At Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam convention o­n March 12th , Bill acknowledged his upcoming birthday and said that it was "William Shatner Month," a bow to the feature film, mini-series and television series he's starring in simultaneously. The convention provided a fitting opportunity for Bill to explore his current projects in some depth as he answered questions from the audience.  He arrived o­n stage amid claps and cheers.  Someone yelled out "Denny Crane" and wanted Bill to repeat the mantra.  He kindly obliged.

Before opening the floor to questions, Bill invited everyone to come to the Hollywood Charity Horse Show  dinner party and dance which will be held o­n Saturday, April 30th at the Equestrian Center in Burbank, California.  Having dedicated himself to this annual event for 15 years, Bill was eager to point out that "it's a really worthwhile endeavor."  This year, Ben Folds will provide the entertainment.  Tickets are $250--but they are tax deductible.  During his appearance, Bill auctioned off a visit to the set of Boston Legal and several scripts and baseball caps to benefit the horse show. "Every penny goes to the kids," he said and added that this year "we are going to start a therapeutic riding program in Israel which will take in Bedouin, Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli kids."  O­ne woman from the audience mentioned that her child had Down's Syndrome and she was wondering if the Ahead With Horses program, o­ne of the primary beneficiaries of the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, might be of some benefit to her child, Cheyenne.  Bill agreed wholeheartedly and said that the money that was raised at the convention during the auction he was to hold later o­n could be set aside to allow her child (or a child that she designates) into the program.  It costs Ahead With Horses approximately $5,000 to support a child in the therapeutic riding program for o­ne year. 

Bill fielded several questions o­n Star Trek and pondered philosophically what it is "about Star Trek that made us all meet here again and again and talk and laugh and tell stories?"  Personally, he thinks it's the positive view of the future.  Today, he said there are forces at work trying to destroy the environment and "all of us must be vigilant in preserving what's left of the world in terms of clean air, clean water." Star Trek shows that 300 years from now "not o­nly will the Earth and the people exist, but they will exist with the technology and a life that is undreamed of now.  I think that's the value of Star Trek, and I think that's a message that we can't let die."  Bill went o­n to say that he and Judy and Gar Reeves-Stevens met with Paramount last year and pitched an idea for a new series revolving around Kirk, Spock and McCoy as adolescents, but the studio passed.  Simon & Schuster subsequently picked it up as a 2-book series tentatively titled The Academy due out in 2006.

One young man wanted Bill to elaborate o&shy;n the scene where he kisses Nichelle Nichols in the Star Trek episode "Plato&#39;s Stepchildren."&nbsp; Bill prefaced his answer by saying, "Forty years ago" and had to pause for the laughter that followed.&nbsp; <em>Forty years ago.</em>&nbsp; He continued, "Nichelle was the most beautiful thing you ever saw--and&nbsp;so was I."&nbsp; More laughter.&nbsp; Bill had the audience&#39;s rapt attention as he went o&shy;n to explain that the plot of the episode called for Captain Kirk to be forced to kiss Lieutenant Uhura.&nbsp; Several television stations in the South refused to air the show if the interracial kiss aired.&nbsp; It had never been done before.&nbsp; But, the way in which the scene was shot, the kiss stayed in the final cut and the stations ended up airing the program.&nbsp;

Bill spent a few minutes talking about Miss Congeniality 2 which was partially shot in Las Vegas.&nbsp; In the movie, his character is kidnapped and o&shy;ne of the scenes calls for him to swim through a porthole in the replica of a boat .&nbsp; The exteriors were shot o&shy;n location in Las Vegas while the interiors were shot in a large pool o&shy;n a sound stage at Warner Brothers.&nbsp; Bill said that as he was ready to shoot the interior scene and recite his lines which were something like "I&#39;m going in.&nbsp; I&#39;m going in," a better line came to mind.&nbsp; When the cameras rolled, he decided to try out the new line.&nbsp; Instead of saying, "I&#39;m going in.&nbsp; I&#39;m going in," he exclaimed, "I&#39;m going in.&nbsp; There&#39;s a cannon in my porthole!"&nbsp; The line worked, but Bill said he didn&#39;t know if it made the final cut.&nbsp;&nbsp; "We&#39;re o&shy;n an adventure together," he said.&nbsp; He urged the audience to go see Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous o&shy;n March 24th and see if they kept his line instead of the o&shy;ne that was scripted.

At the convention, Bill also spoke briefly about Invasion Iowa and was delighted when o&shy;ne audience member called the premise of the series "brilliant."&nbsp; Bill wanted to know how many people got Spike TV and was thrilled that most of the audience had access to the cable channel.&nbsp; Were Star Trek viewers likely to tune in he wanted to know?&nbsp; Absolutely.&nbsp; Bill said he hasn&#39;t seen the film yet, but has heard from critics who have previewed it that it is "really funny and really entertaining."&nbsp; The mini-series was shot o&shy;n location in Riverside, Iowa, future birthplace of Captain Kirk.&nbsp; Of the residents, Bill said, "We fell in love with them and they fell in love with us."&nbsp; Tune in to Invasion Iowa o&shy;n Spike TV, he urged, and see "what we did to Riverside and what Riverside, Iowa did to us."&nbsp;

These days more than ever Bill is savoring every moment of his life. As Matt Lauer noted when he interviewed Bill o&shy;n the Today Show last week, Bill seems to be really enjoying himself these days.&nbsp; Matt Lauer acknowledged that he himself was beginning to sound like the "William Shatner fan club" and in closing said to Bill, "I love the fact that you&#39;re having fun and you&#39;re doing so many things and you&#39;re making so many people laugh and smile."&nbsp; We agree wholeheartedly and wish Bill a very happy birthday.&nbsp; All the best...and many more!

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