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"William Shatner" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

William Shatner's trip to space wasn't what he expected.

Statistically speaking, the number of humans who have traveled into space is insignificant. But the experience of leaving our home planet and venturing into the great beyond is incredibly significant for the individuals who have actually done it. One of those fortunate humans is actor William Shatner, who spent three years pretending to hurtle through space in his iconic role as Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek series. As captain of the USS Enterprise, Captain Kirk was dedicated to exploring "strange new worlds," seeking out "new life and new civilizations," and boldly going "where no man has gone before."

Naturally, Shatner has spent a lot of time pondering what it would be like to actually experience leaving Earth, and when he took the opportunity to join Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin trip to space in October 2021 at age 90, he was able to compare how his expectations met up with reality. Shatner shared an excerpt from his new book with Variety, and it reveals that his initial reaction to being in space was surprisingly dark.


jeff bezos, blur origin, 2019, william shatner, space, astronauts, amazonJeff Bezos unveils Blue Origin's prototype lunar lander in 2019.via Daniel Oberhaus/Wikimedia Commons

"I love the mystery of the universe," Shatner wrote. "I love all the questions that have come to us over thousands of years of exploration and hypotheses. Stars exploding years ago, their light traveling to us years later; black holes absorbing energy; satellites showing us entire galaxies in areas thought to be devoid of matter entirely… all of that has thrilled me for years…"

However, as he looked out the window of the spacecraft—a real one, not a screen on a film set—and looked in the direction opposite Earth, "there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold," he wrote. "All I saw was death. I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing."

As he turned back toward "the light of home," he saw the opposite. "I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her."

Then he had a stunning revelation: "Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong."



Again, this is a man who has spent much of his life thinking about space—not as an astronaut or astronomer or astrophysicist, but as a human being stuck on the Earth's surface, struck with wonder about what's out there. He explained what he had been wrong about:

"I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film 'Contact,' when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, 'They should’ve sent a poet.' I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.

"It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral."

Shatner explained how this "sense of the planet’s fragility takes hold in an ineffable, instinctive manner" for many astronauts when they view Earth from orbit. It's part of the "overview effect"—the profound shift in perspective that comes with seeing our collective home from a distance. With no visible borders between nations or peoples, it becomes clear that our divisions are all manmade, which can change the way we view humanity as a whole.


The experience left Shatner with renewed conviction to focus on what we share in common.

"It reinforced tenfold my own view on the power of our beautiful, mysterious collective human entanglement," he wrote, "and eventually, it returned a feeling of hope to my heart. In this insignificance we share, we have one gift that other species perhaps do not: we are aware—not only of our insignificance, but the grandeur around us that makes us insignificant. That allows us perhaps a chance to rededicate ourselves to our planet, to each other, to life and love all around us. If we seize that chance."

Upon returning to Earth, Bezos offered Shatner champagne, but he turned down the offer because he needed a moment to collect his thoughts on what he had just experienced. He told Jimmy Fallon onThe Tonight Show that the trip gave him a moment to reflect on his life. "What's equally important is caring, loving, the planet is going to be inundated, unless we do something about it," he told Fallon. "All the deep things that we should be thinking about, every so often, we need to be reminded. And that moonshot, that did it to me."

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Just beautiful. Since most of us will never leave Earth, we can take inspiration from those who have, acknowledge our essential oneness and do everything in our power to protect our beautiful, life-giving home.

Shatner shares more of his reflections on life on this planet and beyond in his most recent book, "Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder."

This article originally appeared two years ago.

Joy

Beautiful 'Star Trek' short film gives fans the Kirk and Spock farewell they truly deserve

Unification takes William Shatner’s Kirk on a journey through the afterlife to see Spock one last time.

OTOY/Youtube

Kirk and Spock, together again.

Even if you’re not into Star Trek, you’re probably aware of the legendary friendship (or more, depending on who you ask) shared between Captain James T. Kirk and Spock. It’s part of what made their separate deaths—Kirk’s being in the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations and Spock’s only being a thing mentioned in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond—so bittersweet for many fans.

But now, grieving trekkies can finally get some closure, thanks to a fan film that’s not only an epic, Easter egg-filled crossover spanning the vast canon of Star Trek, but a tearjerking love letter to the two characters who first made the show so special in the first place.

In 765874 – Unification, created by the VFX studio OTOY (Westworld, American Gods), we first see a well known Kirk quote written on the screen:

“How we deal with death is as least as important as how we deal with life”

Then Kirk (William Shatner’s face, but body doubled by actor Sam Witwer) appears, and travels through the afterlife running into a TON familiar faces (including Saavik, Sorak and Yor, to name a few) all leading to Spock (Leonard Nimoy, Lawerence Selleck) on his deathbed. Thirty years later, these two friends finally get the goodbye they deserved before departing the mortal plane forever.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Unification not only achieved amazing technical feats, blending CGI, AI, and practical effects, but also had William Shatner and Susan Bay Nimoy (Nimoy’s widow) serve as executive producers to help ensure accuracy. According to Screenrant, both Witwer and Selleck studied and mimicked Shatner/Nimoy's exact movements for Kirk/Spock, a physical performance enhance by a combination of physical and digital prosthetics.

The result? A ton of happy tears from fans.

“71 years old, I'm sitting watching with tears streaming down my face. Thank you.”

“The long overdue farewell we have waited far too long for. It's so nice to see that there are still people out there who understand Star Trek and are keeping it alive.”

“Who knew 9 minutes of Star Trek with no dialogue would be some of the most powerful!!”

Aside from the fan service of it all, people found the short film to be very a cathartic mediation on death.

“My mother died just after this past New Year’s Eve, and the last thing she said to me was , “Oh , hello “! This is so special to me thank you so much!”

“I am 71 and terminal. I pray that when my time comes, I can have my world's version of this experience. THANK YOU!!!!!”

“My father passed away a few weeks ago and I've been struggling to let my emotions out. This well and truly did it. Been sobbing away.”

Truly, there’s something here for hardcore fans and newbie trekkies alike. Kudos to all the makers of Unification, who boldly helped the legacy of Stark Trek live on in the coolest way possible.

Pop Culture

James Doohan, the original 'Star Trek' Scotty, once saved a suicidal fan's life

The actor called it “the best thing I have ever done in my life.”

Actor James Doohan shares how a fan reached out for help.

When people become famous, they know fans are going to want things from them all the time—autographs, selfies, shoutouts, handshakes and hugs. But what about when a fan reaches out in distress?

Canadian actor James Doohan, who played the lovably surly ship mechanic Scotty on the original "Star Trek" television show and films, received a harrowing note from a fan once. It's hard to know when to take a letter from a stranger seriously, especially when you're a famous actor, but he did.

"I got a fan letter from a young lady—it was a suicide note," he shared in an interview. "So I called her. I said, 'Hey, this is Jimmy Doohan—Scotty from Star Trek,' I said, 'I'm doing a convention in Indianapolis. I want to see you there.'"


The woman came to the convention, and Doohan said he couldn't believe what he saw. "Definitely suicidal," he said. "Somebody had to help her somehow, you know. Obviously, she wasn't going to the right people."

Doohan told the young woman that he was going to be at another convention in two weeks, and then another two weeks after that, and that he wanted to see her at each one of them. And sure enough, she showed up at all of them, despite them being held all over the country.

"That went on for two or three years, maybe 18 times. And all I did was talk positive things to her," he said. "And then all of a sudden, nothing. I didn't hear anything. I had no idea what was happening because I really never saved her address, right?"

Miraculously, eight years later, Doohan got a letter from the woman.

"I do want to thank you so much for what you did for me," it read, "because I just got my master's degree in electronic engineering."

Doohan said the story brought tears to his eyes every time he talked about it. "You know, to me, it's the best thing I've ever done in my life," he said.

Though Doohan passed away in 2005, his legacy as the OG Scotty—and as a caring public figure who went the extra mile for a struggling stranger—lives on.

Watch him tell the story:

For months, the biggest news surrounding "Star Trek" was whether Quentin Tarantino would write and direct the next installment. Instead, "Star Trek" is getting its first female director. And it's about time.

Though details are still emerging, it appears that Clarkson, a veteran director of episodes of acclaimed shows like "Jessica Jones" and "Orange Is the New Black," will direct the fourth installment in the J.J. Abrams-led film reboot of the long-standing science fiction series.

Abrams is also reportedly co-producing the film with a woman, bringing back Hollywood veteran Lindsey Weber, who co-produced the last Trek film in 2016.


[rebelmouse-image 19476687 dam="1" original_size="500x327" caption="GIF from "Star Trek."" expand=1]GIF from "Star Trek."

"Star Trek" has a long history of inclusion.

50 years ago, the original "Star Trek" made history with the first interracial kiss on TV. Gene Roddenberry's future was one where humanity had moved beyond divisions of race and gender. It's easy to forget now, but one of the show's main heroes was of Russian origin, during the height of the Cold War. And George Takei's "Sulu" is considered one of the first positive on-screen portrayals of an Asian-American.

[rebelmouse-image 19476688 dam="1" original_size="500x288" caption="GIF from "Star Trek."" expand=1]GIF from "Star Trek."

That theme has been continued throughout Trek's various iterations. When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" premiered, the series' famous prologue "Where no man has gone before" was replaced with the gender neutral "Where no one has gone before."

GIF from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

The newest show in the series canon "Star Trek: Discovery," has pushed inclusion even further, featuring a black woman as the series lead, a more racially and culturally diverse cast, prominent LGBTQ characters, and more diverse talent behind the scenes as well.

"Star Trek has always been pictorial of diversity and inclusion and universality," star Sonequa Martin-Green said before Discovery's premiere.

[rebelmouse-image 19476689 dam="1" original_size="500x250" caption="GIF from "Star Trek: Discovery."" expand=1]GIF from "Star Trek: Discovery."

Greater inclusion in Hollywood is the right thing to do and it leads to better entertainment for all of us.

The question foremost on most fans' minds is whether the movie or TV show they're watching is going to be any good. All the inclusion and diversity in the world won't amount to much if no one pays attention.

That's why it's all the more encouraging to see films like "Black Panther," "Wonder Woman," and "Get Out" find groundbreaking success both commercially and critically.

[rebelmouse-image 19476690 dam="1" original_size="366x272" caption="GIF from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."" expand=1]GIF from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

People want to see more diverse stories told from a broader range of people and places. It also just happens to be the right thing to do. And that should give Star Trek fans, and people who care about greater inclusion in Hollywood, a lot to be excited about.