In William Shatner‘s new memoir, “William Shatner … and You,” the “Star Trek” actor, 95, reflects on his seven-decade career by focusing on his fans, with anecdotes from former co-stars, collaborators and celebrities like Ben Stiller, Josh Groban, “Weird” Al Yankovic, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Marina Sirtis, Seth MacFarlane, Hank Azaria, Nick Carter, Jason Alexander and Tom Bergeron, explaining how his work impacted them. In this exclusive excerpt, Shatner interviews Amazon founder Jeff Bezos about how the science fiction he loved as a kid — namely, “Star Trek” — ultimately inspired him to launch his Blue Origin aerospace company, which, in 2021, launched Shatner into space at 90 years old. An Unexpected Trekker who literally took me from pretend space-adventurer to real one is, of course, Jeff Bezos.
I will forever be grateful for the opportunity he gave me on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket in 2021. I documented that incredible, emotionally devastating experience in my previous book, “Boldly Go.” I expected the excitement of adventure, but instead, looking down on our small, fragile planet, I was overcome by the realization that all life was down there — contained in that thin blue layer beneath me — while outside was a vast and indifferent blackness, where I saw only death and nothingness. Upon my return, I was unable to speak without crying, and I spent two weeks in unexplained sorrow as I grieved for our planet, and the damage human activity continues to wreak upon it.
I also detailed in “Boldly Go” Jeff’s grand plan for one day launching Earth’s polluting industries into outer space to try to allow us to repair the environmental damage we’ve done and continue to do, and I hope for the sake of Earth and everyone living here now and into the future that his mission is achievable. What I did not know until I spoke to Jeff for this book was how he wound up in the space business in the first place, and how Star Trek kick-started his very real journey to the stars. To say he is a Trekker would be underselling Jeff’s love of “Star Trek.” He named his dog Kamala after the Famke Janssen character in the “TNG” episode “The Perfect Mate.” He has the studio model of the movie-era USS Enterprise in the lobby of Blue Origin’s headquarters in Seattle.
He named his management company Zephram LLC after Zephram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive. In this arena, his bona fides cannot be disputed. Jeff discovered “Star Trek” in 1974.
He was in the fourth grade, around ten years old, and living in a suburb of Houston. His best friends were Dean and Kyle, and every day after school, they would race home to watch the show in reruns. Jeff and his friends were so enamored by “Star Trek” that they role-played it in their backyard, grabbing lawn chairs and setting them up like the bridge of the Enterprise, then acting out whatever adventures their minds could conjure.
I often played Kirk, and I often played Spock. From there, we’d work our way down. Someone would even play the computer!” The idea of having a conversation with a computer enthralled Jeff, and years later, he set about creating one: Amazon’s Alexa and Echo devices are patterned on that very same “Star Trek” computer he grew up watching.
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