By the time I publish this, it is pretty much old news. According to Google Trends, it has even peaked and plummeted back to earth:
However, the ‘event’ ( ON the horizon) is so overwhelmingly surreal and wonderful it is hard not to still dwell on it. I am still so in awe of Shatner’s profound reaction, that I felt it needed to be acknowledged on this blog as a matter of principal; celebrating all things Sci-Fi and Culture.
There is absolutely nothing anyone could write that will top his own words so; here is the interview footage from Bill after returning to earth from ‘space’. Or at least the universally agreed aviation bookmark – The Karman Line.
Rest assured, what was likely intended to be a throwaway PR trick for Amazon Boss Bezos’ new company ‘ Blue Origin. It is now looking set to be a cultural ( maybe even sociological) PoMo milestone thanks to Shatner’s comments. A glorious moment now set in stone for immortality . . . (despite Bezos’ cheap attempts to spray champagne like a Grand Prix winner).
His unique poetic observations was reminiscent of ‘greater things dreamt of in Heaven and Earth, than your philosophy’ (Bezos), soaring past any of the Shakespearian influenced cinematic one liners from James Tiberius Kirk over the years.
A glorious moment that can tie humanity together as Shatner insisted that ‘everyone needs to try this’ . . you could almost see the look of pain in Bezos’ face as he imagined his profits margins plummeting to earth too.
Bless Bill’s efforts to put a humanitarian glaze on what is essentially a commercial venture to privatise space travel.
( I wouldn’t normally tag a company link like this but the idea that you can ‘book’ a flight into space is surreal enough to warrant it. I noticed there were no price tags though.)