William Shatner to beam into Saskatoon for comic expo

Captain James Tiberious Kirk has set course for the prairies this weekend.

William Shatner, who played the famous space captain in the original Star Trek series, will be signing autographs and taking photos at the Saskatoon Comic and Entertainment Expo at Praireland Park on Sunday.

“I’ve never been to Saskatoon but I’ve criss-crossed Canada one way or another,” Shatner said on Gormley Wednesday morning.

Shatner said it’s not Starfleet business bringing him into the Bridge City, it’s the special experience of meeting the fans.

“It’s quite extraordinary actually. I don’t do many of these and when they all come and look to me thinking I’m Captain Kirk, I have a sense of being inadequate which follows me around quite a bit,” Shatner said with a laugh. “They are loving people who have come to see someone they have seen on television, in my case all of their lives and their parents lives. It’s quite awesome. I’m always touched by it.”

The 84-year-old actor sat at the helm of the USS Enterprise from from 1966 to 1969 on television and in multiple Star Trek movies. His career has seen other television shows, Broadway shows, and a bit of a musical career.

Born in Montreal, he said he would never have expected the Star Trek role to become important around the world.

“We shot for three years and I loved every moment of the part, it was so well written. One day they said ‘the ratings aren’t good enough, you are cancelled.’ We all stopped, we all went a different way to continue our lives. That was the end of it or so I thought. Then it wasn’t,” Shatner said.

He said the fans have pushed the show into pop-culture history and it’s why he is always happy to do talks and take questions at comic expos.

“What I try to do is be in contact with them, find out what there questions are, what they want to know, try to give them answers. I have all kinds of things going, a couple of books coming out next year, a new show that I’m doing,” Shatner said.

“There is so much going on and I want to communicate this to the fans and that’s why I’m there.”

Shatner will be at the expo Sunday. For more information visit the website.