Paris, 2021-12-13 14:51:34. Shatner marvels at the madness of Blue Origin’s voyage, ‘limited’ land
LOS ANGELES – William Shatner’s enduring role as an avatar for the promise of space sparked a frenzy of interest when fantasy became reality with his rocket flight.
The Star Trek representative says he was as surprised by him as he was satisfied by the short, 10-minute sub-orbital flight that billionaire Jeff Bezos made possible. The experience is the subject of “Shatner in Space,” an hour-long Wednesday special on Amazon Prime Video.
It’s the details of last October’s flight that made Shatner, 90, the oldest person to reach space and explore what the streaming service called the “growing friendship” between Shatner and Bezos. The founder of the Amazon empire credits “Star Trek” with igniting his interest in space travel.
Shatner, whose decades-long career has included “The Defenders,” “TJ Hooker” and “Boston Legal” along with the original “Star Trek” series and movies, wanted to be a part of Bezos’ Blue Origin launch last July. , which is the first with passengers. Shatner saw joining Flight 2 akin to being named vice president when the Oval Office was the dream.
He discussed his change of opinion and the effect of the flight in an interview with the Associated Press, in which he switched between the philosopher and outspoken storyteller who, at one point, invoked the 1937 explosion of the Hindenburg airship. Notes have been edited for length and clarity.
AP: The enthusiasm for adventure can wane over the years, but it’s not with you. How do you explain that?
Shatner: Well, I’ve been doing a lot of foolish things, according to my wife, in the past several years. I’m probably an adrenaline junkie. Two years ago, I was riding a motorbike across the country, and I recently went 60 feet underwater and visited with four tiger sharks. I’m no stranger to thinking, “Oh, geez, I could die here.” But I didn’t feel the need to go into space. Why would I want to put myself in this position? It is uncomfortable. I have, my wife calls them “velvet sheets,” that I can just snuggle up in. And then I thought a little bit about it, the idea of weightlessness and going into space and just feeling, and (I decided) to “do it.” When it captured people’s imagination, I was completely shocked. I was as shocked by it as I was by the trip itself.
AP: But you are Captain Kirk.
Shatner: I know. But that was 55 years ago. There have been other things since then. Gaining knowledge was shocking, and his popularity was shocking. Everything about him was extraordinary.
AP: Before the trip, I gave interviews in which I worried about the risks of the trip. Was that a joke or tension?
Shatner: Weren’t you raised on burning the Hindenburg? It burns hydrogen. This is what they put in the tank (the missile).
AP: I had an emotional conversation with Jeff Bezos right after the flight. What affected you deeply?
Shatner: I have immersed myself in the past 50 years in the connection of the Earth and how everything is connected. Everything is beautiful on Earth, and we have destroyed millions of (living) things. Then I saw the earth give life and felt very sad. I saw how limited the land is. And you and I are small dots, not as big as ants. We are insignificant on this frivolous planet. Yet we are aware that we are observers of this insignificance. This is important.
AP: “Star Trek” depicted advanced human behavior that we haven’t yet achieved. How do you see the world politically and environmentally?
Shatner: Humans resist change, perhaps part of our original makeup. But change is happening very quickly, and more quickly than we ever imagined. The turning points in these changes have occurred in the last 50 years, and it has taken more than 50 years, I think, for humanity to say, “Oh my God, the poles are melting.”
AP: Are you optimistic about the future?
Shatner: I interviewed Bezos several times while filming this documentary, and I hope some of that is there. The last line he said to me, which reverberates in my head, is, “You have to hope. Without hope, what’s there?” So he’s busy trying to take the industry out into space, into geocentric orbit, which is what we have the technology to do.
AP: It’s been many decades since Star Trek, but people still see Captain Kirk as part of who you are. Is this something you wish or not?
Shatner: Someone once said, “You’ve got the career you deserve.” And to change these words, you get the life you deserve. You made a decision based on what you knew at the time. You loved the man, and you did not like the man; You want to live in the city. Whatever situations you have turned left instead of right. You can’t regret making a decision because it was based on your need, whatever it may be.
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