Once known as the guy who told Trekkies to “get a life,” William Shatner has come full circle on the Star Trek franchise.

“The interest in ‘Star Trek’ has waned in the last couple years,” Shatner said in a telephone interview. “It’s been around a long time, it’s a staple of American life and I think we need something new and different in ‘Star Trek.’”

Not exactly the same Shatner of years ago, is it? I, for one, applaud Shatner for a couple of reasons: 1) Star Trek is indeed a unique phenomenon which is only rivaled by the Star Wars and possibly Lord of the Rings franchises in terms of fan base, and 2) Actors should embrace the roles that made them famous: to do less is a shameful elitism.

I understand the desire to be more than a one-trick pony, but if your talent deserves that recognition it will come without having to walk away from your previous work. Prime examples are Clint Eastwood - once exclusively a spaghetti western film star - and Harrison Ford of Han Solo fame. Both of these actors have had long and extremely successful careers without deserting the characters that made them household names. In recent years, Shatner has been able to do the same with his Emmy-award winning turn as Denny Crane in Boston Legal, and roles in films like Miss Congeniality.

Patrick Stewart and Kate Mulgrew will also be taking part in the Star Trek: Legacy game project, so if you’re a Trekkie the voice talent alone is probably going to be enough to make picking it up an absolute must.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Suri Cruise isn’t a figment of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ imagination.

Tom and Katie took baby Suri to a birthday party for Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s son Jaden at an L.A. roller rink where one person said, “Suri is a beautiful baby with no deformities that I could see. She has gorgeous dark, curly hair and looks like Tom.”

On the way home, Cruise and Holmes came across a couple who had just been involved in a car accident and stayed with them until emergency services arrived. Many articles have proclaimed Tom a ‘hero,’ but that would be overstating the case: he and Katie did something kind, but it wasn’t exactly hero stuff.

I’m of the mind that this whole demonization of Tom Cruise and his relationship has been a lot of piling on by very petty people. Has he been over the top in some of his public demonstrations? Of course. But the reality is that there are a whole lot of women who would give their right arm to have their significant other (let alone Tom Cruise) be so open about how in love with their wife they are. Many would give a few fingers just to hear it privately, so cut him some slack there…

As far as “hiding” Suri, I can’t blame them. A baby is a baby is a baby, no matter whether it’s the child of a celebrity or not. I can understand the public clamor to see Suri, but I can also understand the desire of her parents not to parade her around as if she were some sort of accessory akin to Paris Hilton’s chihuahua.

I don’t agree with Tom Cruise on many of his “religious” stands, but things like this show that he’s not a bad guy at heart. I say give him and Katie a break and let them enjoy being new parents for a little while…

New times call for new thinking, and the marketing folks for Samuel L. Jackson’s new film, ‘Snakes On a Plane,’ enlisted his help to do a little outside-the-box marketing for the movie.

By going to the film’s website, you can have Samuel L. Jackson call a friend (or have him call you) with a personalized message which includes an “order” to go see the movie.

I give New Line and the marketing firm VariTalk kudos for really being innovative in finding a new and fun way to advertise their film. After all, who wouldn’t like to have a message from Samuel L. Jackson saved in their voicemail?

Sad news today from the set of ‘The Kingdom,’ an upcoming thriller starring Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx…An assistant propmaster, Nick Papac, died yesterday after crashing his ATV into an SUV.

Shooting had already wrapped for the day on a road near Mesa, Arizona, which had been closed for the film production. No details were provided as to how the accident occurred, but it’s always sad when a young person loses his life prematurely.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends…

…and it’s about time too…

After one of the most public and ugly separations in the couple of years, Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards have reached an “amicable resolution” of their divorce. Does that mean they’re getting along? No, it just means the lawyers have agreed on how to split the money. Isn’t it funny how even the word “amicable” means something completely different inside Hollywood than outside?

In the beginning of this whole divorce situation, my sympathies were with Denise. However, after the skeevy move with Heather Locklear’s husband, Richie Sambora, I started to rethink those sympathies. A wise man once said ‘For every beautiful woman, there’s a man tired of putting up with her [stuff].’ And then I remembered that it wasn’t like Charlie’s reputation as a partying ladies man was a big secret, so she knew what she was getting into before she ever married him. So I wound up just being tired of hearing about the whole thing pretty quickly after that…

Now it looks like both of them can chalk this one up to poor judgment and move on…

It sounded like a great idea: hold free outdoor screenings of movies at the location where they were originally filmed. That is until they got to the dreamiest place in cinematic baseball: the Field of Dreams.

It seems that the ‘Field’ sits astride two properties, with basically half being owned by family farmers. One family said yes to the screening, but the other said no. But the show goes on, so it went on in what was originally left- and centerfield with barricades and ropes blocking off the rest of the field.

So why did the other family say no? The article points out the irony nicely:

“We turned it down because we don’t believe in commercialization,” Betty Boeckenstedt, sister of house/landowner Don Lansing, said as she closed up the Field of Dreams Movie Site gift shop before the program began. “Of course, there was no Kevin Costner when we were approached, but we don’t do any events. It’s not our vision.”

Translation? They wanted to get paid, and free screenings don’t put money in your pocket. So they told the promoters to take a hike, and now they’re mad they because they would definitely have said yes if they had known that Kevin Costner was coming….

In what has been one of the oddest couplings since Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett, Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson are finally separating after six years of marriage.

While six years is practically forever in showbiz, the reality is that whenever you saw the two of them together there was always the question that immediately sprang to mind: what is she doing with that guy? Evidently, that question finally occurred to her too…

As soon as the ads hit the airwaves, it was inevitable. Victoria’s Secret ads starring Heidi Klum introducing a new bra includes her line: “They call me ‘The Body’ — and now I have a bra named after me.”

But, wait a minute…The supermodel known as “The Body” isn’t Heidi Klum, it’s Elle Macpherson - and has been since the mid-80’s. So Macpherson and her people are understandably miffed at the misappropriation of the moniker.

I’m not an expert in the laws surrounding this sort of thing, but my layman’s take on this is that - should Macpherson decide to - she could have a decent shot at winning a lawsuit over the issue. It wouldn’t be a slam dunk though, since I don’t think she’s ever registered it as a trademark. Her use of the nickname over the years and marketing of products using that nickname would certainly establish some sort of claim that it “belongs” to her.

In any case, it was tackiness in the extreme for Victoria’s Secret to use the nickname for the new bra. Are you seriously telling me that with all the marketing geniuses they have, that this was the best they could do? The only explanation is that they knew it would make headlines and wanted to free publicity for the launch of the new line. Shame on VS for pulling such a cheap stunt to generate publicity, and shame on Heidi Klum for taking part in it…

People magazine is telling us that Kanye West has proposed to long-time girlfriend, Alexis, and she has accepted. According to the article, he popped the question on a two-week overseas trip.

There’s a surprising lack of information about Alexis - no last name or occupation are provided. No doubt we’ll find out more about her as the big day approaches, but in the meantime we hope for their sakes that the length of their relationship prior to getting engaged is a good omen for an enduring marriage.

Congrats to both Kanye and Alexis…

Ever wonder why some celebrities keep appearing on the front pages of tabloids and we know pretty much every intimate detail of their lives while we rarely see and know very little about the personal lives of others?

Emmy Rossum has the answer:

“If you want to avoid the paparazzi you can… If you go to the Coffee Bean + Tea Leaf (coffee shop chain) on Sunset and Fairfax (Los Angeles), you’re going to get your picture taken…If you eat at The Little Door (media-unfriendly Los Angeles restaurant) or a trillion other great restaurants, you won’t have a problem…I don’t live a life that encourages attention. What am I worth to the tabloids if I’m not sleeping around or falling down drunk?”

See Lindsay, it’s not that difficult…