Realizing that loyal fans wanted a bigger piece of him, William Shatner is now ready to give it to them through the official re-launch of www.williamshatner.com on Wednesday. The revamped Web site will not only feature new interactive content, it also represents Shatner's commitment to create an open forum and develop interactive relationships with his fans while giving them unprecedented access to his personal and professional life.

STARTREK.COM caught up with Shatner during a series of interviews on the Paramount lot yesterday. "An innovative, unique Web site is launching on February 20, and I will be directly concerned with everything," Shatner said. He will personally utilize message boards and chat rooms on the site to establish regular "communication between the fans and myself."

The site is primarily run by his daughter, Lisabeth Shatner, who will help keep her father involved in the midst of his very hectic schedule. "Liz will be talking to me — as she does anyway — continuously, so that if it's not directly from me, it's from me through my daughter," he explained.

"On the Web site, I'll be sharing a good part of my life," Shatner said regarding the "unprecedented access" the site promises. "I'm carrying a digital video camera, and I'm making tapes for everybody. So what's happening is, in certain aspects of my life, I'm photographing, and I'll just give it to Liz to edit and to put on the Web site. Streaming video of what's it like to be in front of a convention or at a Hollywood opening or at a party or whatever." (Photo by Rafael Winer, courtesy of Creative Light Entertainment)

Another new multimedia experience featured on the site will be a weekly interactive murder mystery called "Ruby," in which fans can interact with the adventures of a young woman with burgeoning psychic powers. As fans interact in real time, they affect the future storyline development of the episodic series, and their responses help solve the mysteries. According to Lisabeth, who writes the serial, the character of Ruby "works in a collectible store, and one of the items for sale is a computer, but she's using it to communicate with her friends, and to write a journal." The story is mostly related through text in the form of the character's journal and her e-mails. "You can read the e-mail strings that the friends do back and forth. [There will also be] some still photos, and about once or twice a week there'll be about two to three minutes of streaming video."

She said the presentation of the serial may evolve as Web technology evolves. "It is an ongoing thing — if we think of something that might work better, we'll change it," Ms. Shatner remarked. "I think what's really important is, it is interactive, and we are really listening to what the fans are saying and thinking and suggesting," which is the point of the whole site, she added. "We want to take advantage of the online venue."

Assisting the Shatners in the production of "Ruby" and other interactive content on the site will be Creative Light Entertainment's Scott Zakarin and Rich Tackenberg, creators of the Internet's first episodic Web series, "The Spot." "Lisabeth and Bill Shatner are courageously willing to walk the tight-rope of real time entertainment to deliver original interactive entertainment to their fans, and we are excited to use our experience to help them accomplish it," Zakarin said, adding, "Bill is opening up his life, with a willingness to interact with his fans that few other celebrities have been brave enough to attempt."

The Web site relaunch is just one of many projects Shatner is talking about during a series of appearance this week that included The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn Monday night, and upcoming appearances on Larry King Live Thursday on CNN (9:00 p.m. EST, 6:00 p.m. PST), and at Creation Entertainment's "Star Trek: Grand Slam on Tour" convention this Saturday in Seattle, Washington. Among those projects are the movies "Shoot or Be Shot," "Showtime," "Groom Lake" and the animated "Little Pimp," a TV show called Fright Night, a book called "I'm Working on That," and the DVD release of "Mind Meld," his candid conversation with Leonard Nimoy. He will also be featured in a humorous new advertising campaign for Priceline.com starting this month with radio spots and TV commercials. "An unholy relationship with the supercomputer that gives you your ticket, is the basis of the campaign," Shatner revealed. More information about all these projects is available on — take a wild guess — williamshatner.com.

The new content, news and interactivity of the site has been divided into seven main areas, according to a press release, as follows:

BILL'S SPACE
"Bill's Space" will serve as the anchor for the new site, as an area for Shatner to interact with fans on a weekly basis, where he will post messages and correspondence as well as open discussions on a wide range of personal and professional issues. By sharing personal musings and showcasing exclusive home movies and photos in a variety of formats, Mr. Shatner will create a virtual online diary for fans.

LISABETH'S SPACE
Producer/director/artist Lisabeth Shatner will creatively collaborate with her father on the original content for the site, and share her insights about the personal world of her father and his career. In her own area of the site, this former Miss Golden Globe will share personal essays and memories about growing up as the daughter of "the" William Shatner, as well as personal recollections and photographs. Lisabeth Shatner will also open her area of the site to include an "Art Exchange" section, which will feature some of Lisabeth's accomplished art works, and allow other art fans to post images of their own creations and conduct discussions on the world of art.

RUBY
As described earlier, "Lisabeth's Space" will serve as host to the site's most ambitious project, a weekly interactive murder mystery called "Ruby."

FAN CLUB
The "Fan Club" area of the site includes fan club information and news with online sign-up capability, an open discussion bulletin board, newsletter archives, previous chat transcripts and information on upcoming online chats.

NEWS & EVENTS
Through the "News and Events" area of the site, fans can keep up with Shatner's personal, convention and publicity appearances via his personal calendar, and obtain information on upcoming projects.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
"Sights & Sounds" will host all the archived video and audio clips from Shatner's career and upcoming projects, as well as personal movies and photographs.

INTERACT
Shatner will utilize the "Interact" area of the site to host regular online chats with his fans, interact and correspond via bulletin boards, and post links to dozens of other sites of interest. Shatner also plans to recruit Star Trek experts for frequent in-depth conversations about Star Trek lore with fans and other friends from throughout his career, utilizing his site to serve as a destination for discussion and interacting with friends and fans with similar interests.

ONLINE MARKETPLACE
Finally, www.williamshatner.com will feature an extensive collection of William Shatner-related products and memorabilia from his distinguished career in television, film and literary publishing, as well as newly created products for his fans. A percentage of proceeds from all merchandising sales will go to benefit The Hollywood Charity Horse Show, a charity close to Shatner's heart. The HCHS will then distribute contributions to other Shatner charities, including The Nerine Shatner Friendly House. In addition, Shatner plans to frequently auction personal memorabilia, collected throughout the years, to raise money to benefit these and other charities.