William Shatner has reprised his role as Captain James T Kirk for a computer game version of Star Trek.
He said he could not imagine anyone else as the character and "got a little territorial" when the part came up.
Players will battle Klingon warriors and Borg aliens while steering more than 60 starships, which are adapted from all five series of the TV show.
Shatner has said his grandson plans to teach him how to take part, as he does not usually play computer games.
"If it's a good game, keeping true to the characters the best they can, and having an interesting story that branches, I think a game can bring a freshness to a franchise like Star Trek," Shatner told the Reuters news agency.
"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"
"The interest in Star Trek has waned in the last couple years.
"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," he said.
The first Star Trek television show, which was created by Gene Roddenberry and starred Shatner, was broadcast in 1966.
The most recent series in the Star Trek franchise, Enterprise, ended last year, and the next film is not due until 2008.
Shatner has won Emmy awards for playing eccentric lawyer Denny Crane in two series, Boston Legal and The Practice.
His voice has also been used in a computer game before, in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in 1997.
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