The Paris-based Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival is rolling into town this week, and bringing with it some spectacular events involving some spectacular Star Trek celebrities.

Patrick Stewart is the "President of the Jury" and will make presentations at two formal ceremonies during the festival, taking place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Malcolm McDowell ("Dr. Soran") is the host of both those events.

Thursday evening, Dec. 6, at the Opening Night Gala, Buzz Aldrin, the second human to step foot on the Moon, will join Stewart and McDowell in presiding over the ceremonies. Those being honored that night for their philanthropic and environmental efforts include actress Tippi Hedren, billionaire Ted Turner, filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of Jacques Cousteau) and actor Tony Curtis. Update: Ed Begley Jr. ("Henry Starling") will also attend Thursday evening.

After opening ceremonies Thursday evening at the Shrine, the festivities continue with a VIP party at The Edison lounge, a historical landmark in downtown L.A. There, Stewart and McDowell will bestow further honors upon science fiction master Ray Bradbury.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, the festival proceeds with a selection of films picked for their environmental and adventure themes — many of them documentaries such as "In the Shadow of the Moon" featuring Aldrin and other astronauts, and "The 11th Hour" hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio. There will be fiction films screened as well, including the premiere of "The Water Horse, Legend of the Deep."

Then Sunday afternoon and evening, Dec. 9, Star Trek rules the day. At the Shrine Expo Hall, four episodes of the Remastered Original Series will be projected on the big screen. The first, starting at 1:00, will be "And the Children Shall Lead," and that screening will serve as a backdrop for a reunion after 40 years of the child stars from that episode, including Craig Hundley ("Tommy Starnes").

The subsequent Remastered episodes scheduled to run are "Tomorrow is Yesterday," "Space Seed" and "Operation: Annihilate!"

And then that evening in the Shrine Auditorium, starting at 5:00 (with "green carpet" arrivals commencing at 4:00), the festival's gala Awards Night will bring William Shatner on stage with his "Star Trek Generations" co-stars Stewart and McDowell to receive the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award.

Update: Shatner comments on the Jules Verne award and his relationship with Stewart in a recent video at ShatnerVision.

Other honors presented by Stewart and McDowell that evening include a special award for NASA, and a special celebration of the 25th anniversary "Final Cut" of "Blade Runner," with director Ridley Scott and star Harrison Ford in attendance.

Jules Verne officials have promised other "surprise" guests at the Sunday night ceremony. Last year when the festival held its inaugural U.S. event at the Shrine, a whole slew of Star Trek stars showed up who were not previously announced (related story) to support the environmentally conscious affair, so there's no telling whom you'll see this year.

The Sunday ceremony closes the Shrine portion of the festival. The celebrations continue the following Saturday, Dec. 15, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre downtown with more movie screenings, including the premiere of John Woo's production of "Appleseed: Ex-Machina." The evening festivities include a special tribute to Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, and a special Heroes presentation with the producers and several cast members in attendance. (Currently Zachary Quinto is not scheduled to be there, but as mentioned above, there tend to be surprises at these events.)

Visit JVAFF.org for complete details on all the festival activities.

STARTREK.COM will be there on the green carpet and at the special ceremonies, and we will bring you a full report. However, there is no substitute for being there in person, and in fact the festival organizers want to see as many Star Trek fans there as possible. So they have arranged a special offer for STARTREK.COM readers where you can attend the Shatner ceremony and other events at a 2-for-1 discount. Click through to Page 2 for details on how to take advantage of that offer.

We'll see you at the Shrine!