As Shatner heads toward the stars, visions of space collide

Washington, October 12 (US): James T. Kirk once: “Risk is our business.” “That’s what this spacecraft is about. That’s why we’re on board.”

More than half a century later, the performer who breathed life into the legendary Captain of the Enterprise, at the age of 90, has made this kind of risk-taking out of his own business and is heading for the stars under dramatically different circumstances than his fictional counterpart. And in doing so, William Shatner causes worlds to collide, or at least allow parallel universes to coexist – the quintessential vision of space for “Star Trek” and the increasingly sophisticated and commercial space that “space” holds in the American psyche.

As Shatner boarded the NS-18 of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in Texas around dawn Wednesday, his small step into the craft creates one of the definitive cross-stories of our time, AP reports.

It’s about space and exploration, sure, and definitely about capitalism, billionaires, and questions of economic justice. But it’s also about pop culture, marketing, entertainment, nostalgia, hope, manifesto and, and…well, you get the idea.

It would be a complex mixture of human dreams superimposed on technology and hope, bragging and criticism, and the idea that space travel lifts us up — all orchestrated by a company that is being criticized for what some call the imperfect and technological ways in which it operates.

Star Trek world

Since the premiere of “Trek” in 1966 with one of the most diverse actors ever, “Trek” has grown from Gene Roddenberry’s feverish dream of a “wagon train ‘to the stars'” into a complex transmedia world full of subtleties, traditions, and rules.

Among them: humans avoid killing each other. Money is generally outdated, as are hunger and poverty. Greed is a delusion. Non-interference with other cultures is the most sacred principle of all. And within the United Federation of Planets, the United Nations space-faring “Star Trek,” exploration, not domination, is the world’s currency. In short, unlike a lot of humans now.

That original series from 1966-1969 used an allegory to evade network censorship and tell stories about racism, xenophobia and even the Vietnam War. How can they get away with it all? Because the adventures of Kirk’s Enterprise take place against the backdrop of space travel in the 23rd century – something that is directly relevant to the world as well, given that humans first set foot on the moon 47 days after the last episode of the original series.

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Over the next half century, backed by a sonic fan base, “Star Trek” came back for more, and in the process, led the way in establishing space travel as the perfect canvas for relevant storytelling.

Even as NASA’s Apollo-era space shuttle program (the first vehicle was named “Enterprise”) ebbed and flowed into uncertainty, the Trek remained one of the culture’s central vehicles for the future of spaceflight.

Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the show, was a particularly tireless advocate, working with NASA to recruit Americans of color and women and making sure they could take center stage on these ambitions as missions progressed.

In the ’80s, films about the original crew dealt with old age and regret. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” offered a more rational but still idealistic view. Another secondary show, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” set in an outpost that maintains a subtle détente, has a darker look — but still greed is anomalous and deserving of scorn. And Enterprise, the 2001-2005 prequel, featured a season-long arc on the effects of a 9/11-style extraterrestrial attack on Earth.

Two of the newer iterations of the myth, “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard” are immersed in more darkness than their predecessors and toyed with the idea that not all humans want to be completely utopian.

Yet in all of those diverse stories, one remained constant: the idea that human space travel would become a vector of morality and goodness that uplifted the galaxy rather than plundered it.

profitable front

Which brings us to companies like Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic — endeavors that build their brands not on countries but on companies.

They offer culture a late-stage capitalist variety on the subject – a narrative that space travel is not just for scientists and diplomats but for you and me as well. So, that is, you and I have a few hundred thousand dollars or more of money on hand.

Ravi S. says: Rajan, president of the California Institute of the Arts and a Trek fan since childhood: “The United States has always had ordinary people working for public purposes.” “But how much is done privately and how much is done publicly, that changes.”

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Many have challenged the actions of billionaire space tycoons, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Blue Origin’s corporate culture problems have been well documented recently.

But the motives of the Amazon founder himself remain unclear. It is clear, however, that the popular culture of space travel has influenced him deeply.

Bezos, who tells the story of space exploration to help ensure Earth continues to thrive, is a longtime Trek fan. He made a cameo as a Starfleet space official in the 2016 movie “Star Trek Beyond.” According to biographer Brad Stone, Bezos was quick to consider naming Amazon “Makeitso.com,” after Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s favorite command in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

“The whole ethos of Star Trek has shown different-looking people, with different skills, working together. We are in the opening moments for something like this,” says Richard B. Cooper, vice president of the Space Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the global space industry. People can look at this environment and say, ‘Hey – I belong there too.’

Regardless of the exorbitant costs (and that’s a big aspect), Cooper has a point. Although the likes of Shatner may not be “normal people,” the shift from test pilot and world dominance traces with populism in our time, where—it must be said—the accuracy of science is questioned. not before. As Cooper points out, “It gives people hope. And if there is one thing the world is lacking, it is that basic cargo.”

This kind of story – hope, heroism, competitive dominance, and an unerring sense of competence that can sometimes interfere with testosterone – can be one of the main reasons for the boom in commercial spacewear. At a time when NASA and nation-focused space travel lack a compelling Hollywood narrative, entrepreneurs and marketers step in.

“American dominance in space, nobody cares about it. “We can’t continue to live like this,” says Bezos. “We have to save the planet,” says Mary Jane Rubinstein, professor of religion and science in society at Wesleyan University. It is a “kinder and gentler colonization” that takes humans into orbit under assumptions that seem justifiable but require closer scrutiny.

“It’s the billionaires with the perfect visions,” says Rubinstein, author of the forthcoming book Astrotopia: The Dangerous Debt of the Institutional Space Race.

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“States cannot mobilize them,” she says. “They don’t have a story.”

We live in an age where there is a complex relationship between the imaginary and the real, and at times it is difficult to separate the two. Something like this, the collision of dreams and realistic ambition and achievement, couldn’t have made a more effective ambassador than the huge character that is William Shatner.

“I was there last week training, whatever they call it,” Shatner told Anderson Cooper.

“I think training is what they call it,” Cooper said, to which Shatner replied, “I think it’s training.”

And there it is again – the story, as compelling as ever, stealing oxygen from other important quests. Should we even colonize space? Don’t we have enough here at home to worry about? Are there not people with more pressing problems than those who can use cash?

And what if we encounter a life that is not life as we know it, and hurt it out of forgetfulness or greed? It’s not as if this hasn’t happened countless times here on Earth, in the land that put a man on the moon but still wrestles with a history full of horrors from slave markets to smallpox blankets. These are just some of the questions that will be up and down with Shatner on Wednesday.

Is it a trick? certainly. Is it a genius marketing ploy? Absolutely. Is he cynical, arrogant and just bent on making more money and getting more attention to the world’s richest man? You will have to decide for yourself.

In the meantime, consider the autobiographical song “Real” that Shatner recorded in 2004 with country singer Brad Paisley.

“I want to help the world and all its problems. But I am an artist, and that’s it,” he says. “So the next time there’s an asteroid or a natural disaster, I’m flattered that you thought of me — but I’m not the one to call.”

It turns out – this time. But next time? In the future of the final frontier and the culture around which it has grown – in this unusual world where risk is business – this must finally be addressed.

RAE

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