William Shatner has expressed his shock and disappointment at not being invited to cameo in the forthcoming 11th celluloid outing for Star Trek - despite director J J Abrams apparently having said the ageing stacatto-delivery star "probably would have a part in the film".

Shatner, 76, told AP: "I couldn't believe it. I'm not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me."

Leonard Nimoy will indeed reprise his role as Spock, joining Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Eric Bana as villain Nero, John Cho as Sulu, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Zachary Quinto as (young) Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Anton Yelchin as Chekov and Chris Pine as Kirk.

The film, slated to shoot from November to March 2008 ahead of a 25 December release in the US, will detail how the Enterprise crew met at Starfleet Academy and subsequently set forth on their first mission.

Sadly for Shatner, he'll have to content himself with other projects, including TV series Boston Legal and Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course, described as "a novel chronicling Kirk and Spock's first meeting". He lamented: "Having been in on the creation of it, I was hoping to be in on the recreation." ®

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