Shatner Treks Path of Con

William Shatner's latest enterprise? Pulling a fast one.

The erstwhile Captain James T. Kirk recently paid a visit to the small Iowa town of Riverside to shoot Invasion Iowa, reputedly a sci-fi time-travel movie he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. Shatner and crew took over the town for 10 days, held auditions and even cast locals in the flick.

Psych.

At it turns out, the whole thing was a put-on--a hoax perpetrated by Shatner and Spike TV for a new reality series that will be called, yes, Invasion Iowa.

The 73-year-old thesp revealed as much on Tuesday night, when he stood before a crowd of 800 residents, who thought they were going to see footage of the new movie. Instead, Shatner told them they had been punk'd.

"Everything in front of and behind the cameras was faked," the Star Trek star told them. "The only thing that was real is the love we have for Riverside."

Spike TV issued a statement explaining what the network touted as its "breakthrough concept"--poking fun of all the ridiculous antics that go on when a Hollywood production invades "small-town America."

According to the testosterone-fueled cable net, the goal was to boldly go where no tube series had gone before.

"This is unlike anything that's ever been tried in the history of television. It was a truly breathtaking experience," said executive producer Rhett Reese.

"It's hard to imagine any undertaking more audacious, hair-raising, and ultimately rewarding than what we just finished in Riverside," producer Paul Wernick chimed in.

Shatner and company chose Riverside, an old-fashioned Midwestern farming community with a population of 900, in large part because of its love for all things Trek--the town bills itself as the "future birthplace of Captain Kirk" and hosts an annual festival gathering for Trekkers called Trek Fest.

Cameras captured on- and off-set hijinks of the faux production, with Shatner playing an over-the-top version of his usually hammy self. Locals were told that Invasion Iowa was an indie picture Shatner and Trek costar Leonard Nimoy had been working on for more than 30 years.

Even local media were hosed, printing stories on Shatner finally getting the chance to make "his baby." One newspaper said that Shatner's pals at Priceline.com were even going to do a documentary on the making of Invasion Iowa for the DVD.

Aside from the unsuspecting townsfolk, Shatner was surrounded by an entourage that included stressed-out assistants, his spiritual advisor and a space cadet of a leading lady--all played by improvisational comedy actors.

During Tuesday's "screening," Shatner said that as a thank-you, he and his producers would donate $100,000 for various civic projects, in addition to $12,000 collected by cast and crew for the Riverside Elementary School Book Fund.

During the press conference, he also tried to assuage fears that the show would make fun of the town.

"I fell in love with the people of Riverside," Shatner said, per published reports. "And the hardest part of this whole experience was containing my empathy for the individuals who listened to and identified with the soap opera that we played in front of them."

But some Riverside denizens felt something akin to the wrath of con.

"They don't understand that we opened our hearts to them," Barb Simon, a 59-year-old local who took time off her real job to be a set dresser, told the Iowa City Daily. "Already on the news I hear them laughing. We're the ones that will show up on TV."

Others were more than happy to be a part of Shatner's shenanigans.

"I did have fun," Riverside resident, Leanne Sexton told the paper. "And I thought, 'What has been hurt by this? Nothing."

Sexton, one of seven to appear in the film, was reportedly paid $5,000 for her services and producers promised her more payments later on.

Not everybody was duped, however. The Daily reports that several locals caught on to the prank, forcing producers to cut short filming by one day.

Invasion Iowa caps a career year for Shatner. The former T.J. Hooker just won an Emmy for his guest-starring role as a conniving lawyer on ABC's The Practice and stars in the show's new spinoff, Boston Legal.

Shatner's also gearing up to release a Has Been, a new album featuring guest musicians Ben Folds, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and Joe Jackson , Oct. 5.

As for Invasion Iowa, it's set to air next year on Spike TV.