William Shatner's character of James T. Kirk will likely live on for recorded history, and he recently moved one step closer to immortality yesterday when a new statue of Kirk was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s on Hollywood Blvd.

Kirk was frozen in time as Admiral Kirk from his Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan days, apparently the preferred choice of CBS Paramount.

The flesh & blood Shatner was on hand to mark the occasion and you can watch video of the unveil directly below, courtesy of TrekMovie.com, who also have several more photos of the event on their site which you can check out using the afore-referenced link.

While at the event, Shatner talked briefly about the next 'Star Trek' movie, conceding openly to reporters that he's interested in it.

"I have no plans, because I don’t make those plans," he said. "JJ Abrams has my fate wrapped up in his two little hands. I would love to be in the next Star Trek, if he so thought that would be good for it."

So, JJ Abrams has said openly he'd like Shatner in the next 'Star Trek' film, and Shatner has said he'd love to do it. So why do we have such a hard time believing it will happen?

Probably because we think it would be a horrendously contrived idea. The first film played that card...and the thought of the Shat playing some role other than Kirk in a 'Star Trek' film makes us cringe; it would immediately destroy the suspension of disbelief and take one out of the movie.

What do you think...?