William Shatner has said that watching Chris Pine play Captain Kirk is like seeing his mortality.

Shatner played Kirk in 79 episodes of Star Trek and seven feature films, but has not been involved in the recent reboot films, despite his former colleague Leonard Nimoy appearing as Spock.

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"I've seen the two films JJ Abrams directed and I enjoyed them very much," Shatner told Metro.

Of seeing Pine playing the role he originated, Shatner said: "It was like seeing your mortality.

"Here comes a young, handsome and talented guy playing what I was playing years ago.

"It makes you realise time is passing - if I needed reminding, which I don't."

Asked if that was an unpleasant experience, the 83-year-old added: "No more than looking in the mirror from day to day and seeing a furrow that wasn't there before."

Of his lack of involvement in the Abrams movies, Shatner said: "Everything that you can think of is possible because it's science fiction.

"How to get me into a film 50 years later is a real jump of imagination that I haven't been able to make."

Asked about rumours of his return for the third film, which he recently dismissed and then seemingly encouraged, Shatner said: "It depends how it would be written and how they'd do it. But I'm open to the idea."

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