London - As captain of the USS Enterprise, he had regular close encounters with aliens.
Now Star Trek star William Shatner has revealed he is certain that intelligent life exists in outer space.
The 82-year-old, who played Captain James T Kirk in the hit TV and movie franchise, believes the vast size of the universe means there must be creatures on other worlds.
He told the Daily Mail: “I don’t think there is any doubt there is life in the universe, yes.
“I don’t think that there is any question. The mathematics involved – what have they just discovered, 730 000 new planets the other day? Mathematically it has to be.”
He added: “You can see life on this planet, so if you had anything approaching the conditions of water and temperature the possibilities of life happening are certain. Just how it happens we don’t know yet, though I’m sure we’ll know soon. The conditions conducive to life must be prevalent all over.
“It isn’t all barren rocks and exploding stars. There’s something going on in the universe, and we can’t be the only one around in my opinion.”
As well as appearing in the original Star Trek television series, Shatner reprised his role in seven of the spin-off films and is currently voicing a power-crazed paramilitary leader in children’s science fiction cartoon Escape From Planet Earth.
He went on to insist that he is still happy to be typecast in sci-fi roles, saying: “It is not necessarily that I am drawn to these films, but people do put me and science fiction together and I don’t like to refuse the compliment.” - Daily Mail