William Shatner is due to appear Sunday at GalaxyCon Raleigh. The event runs from Thursday through Sunday at the Raleigh Convention Center.
Hey, it’s Mark Bergen from WRA L. This weekend at the Raleigh Convention Center. Galaxy Con is back. There are a ton of guests including Star Trek’s very own William Shatner. He played Captain Kirk Back in the Star Trek Original series in the 1960s. I had the chance to catch up with Shatner About his activities this weekend. He will be at the Raleigh Convention Center on Sunday. Here’s what our conversation sounded like I wanted to ask you, I know you’ve been asked a lot about this in interviews. What’s the best way for me to ask you about your trip to space in 2021 with blue origin? What’s the in latin? I understand latin very well ask me in latin. Um this trip to space that I took opened. I’ve been an Ecologist for a long time and concerned about the deteriorating earth and you know, where my kids fit into this, my grandkids, but being up there and seeing the insignificance of the earth and and and therefore our insignificance uh on this little tiny rock uh dramatized very clearly what we all need to be not only concerned, but obsessed with the deteriorating condition of the earth. And you know, I don’t know what we can do at this point, but a Manhattan project to save the planet is required. Very good um with your role, Captain Kirk Star Trek. The original series all the way back in the 19 sixties, you’ll be in Raleigh this upcoming weekend at Galaxy Con. I will and I’ll be looking forward to it. I hope your audience will look forward to. I’ll be there all day sunday. very good. Did you ever think you’d still be going to conventions? You know 50 plus years later from when you were originally recording the series back in the 1960s? Uh No of course not any more than you know that you are going to be ahead of the uh the news department next year. And how have these conventions changed over the years from when you first started? Well when I first started the first convention I went to had 15,000 people in it. Uh So Mhm. In a way there won’t be that many people at rally. On the other hand, the san Diego Comic Con had 100 has today had 100 and 50,000 people so you can see how the numbers vary and and it has become an important position if you will for movies starting out and people wanting to make sure the audience knew what they were doing. Do you see some of the same people I would imagine from year to year when you go to these different conventions throughout the country. I imagine, imagine if you ask somebody else they would say yeah we’re always seeing Shatner there. But I go to several because I’m doing a lot of stuff. Books and albums and NFTS And and even a watch. Uh So I’m busy uh as part of my job doing it as well as making sure people know about it Want to keep things in the 1960s personally, I’m a huge fan of the twilight zone. You were in two episodes of the twilight zone. What’s the best story you can share from your experience on that legendary series? I suppose my meeting the guy on the wing who turns out to be uh a Czechoslovakian acrobat, I was gonna say apricot because costume it was fuzzy, It was an antithetical to anything streamlined. So him on the Wing of a 707 uh seems comical at the time and continues to seem comical except that in storytelling, if you’ve got a good story, anything is possible. . . . And that’s one of the most legendary episodes too. I know Rod Serling was behind that, the co creator, but Nightmare from 20,000 ft is for any of the listeners and our viewers who haven’t seen that go check that out. It’s one of the most famous episodes of the Twilight Zone. And that was you know, when you were first starting out in the industry to yeah. Um you’ve acted for seven decades. Now. What motivates you to keep going? Well, I’ve heard Chief among them was Marlon Brando saying that it’s child’s play acting is child’s play. I see it as an exploration of psychology. I think that you know you as an interviewer uh listening to what the people say and the way they say it. The nuances of hello tells you a great deal about how they are and what they’re doing. Uh And so that nuance is what I try to invest. The people I play uh and continuous exploration. I find it fascinating. I find acting and and everything fascinating. . . . So what’s next for you? Because literally I know last year you were in outer space I was going through your IMDB You’ve been on movies tv shows. What’s next for William Shatner? Well I got a book coming out called Boldly Go in october. I’ve gotta watch that I’ve designed with the webb telescope and Nasa coming out. I’ve got uh the unexplained which is a big hit on on the channel on A. And E. And and uh and actually it’s trended third on netflix. So it’s become very popular. The unexplained. Um I’m gonna do a really weird NFT Which will involve a doll of me and a design of electronic design that when you bought the figure you buy the NFT And the whole thing is you have something practical and something electronic. I’ve never heard of that before. And I’m very excited about it. Um Orange comet dot com. Be interesting to see when you got presented with that idea. Did you know what an NFT Was walk me through that process. Well I will uh it starts with Blockchain and it starts with the whole electronic thing. In fact I’m a member of a company that was using solar power to power a building that housed the Blockchain group because the complaint was, and this building is in coal country. The complaint was it uses a lot of electricity which is burning coal which is. So this was using solar power to to to power. So I was involved fairly early in the whole Blockchain idea and I even went to Mexico with a friend who really knows what he’s talking about to look at all that. So I dimly understand it. But the NFT Is almost inexplicable. It’s an electronic image which is unique to you. It has uh that uniqueness. It’ll only be 2500 of the ones I’m doing. And after that there’s no more you will have in your phone wallet uh an image that is entirely yours and an object of mind that is unique to you. And it’s just aa unique gift that you paid for from me to you. Very cool. So I guess is it raising money? Like II personally forgive my ignorance. I don’t exactly know how an FTS work. You raise money and you auction these off. How does that work? Well this isn’t going to be an auction. Yes, there are auctions and people bid on them. I guess electronically this is a set price. Uh and which you will buy the doll. And alongside this unique 25, of them will be if I could use the word unique to itself, there’ll only be that number And along with that will be this electronic image that will be accompanying this figure. The concept a little bit difficult to take right away, but it is a unique element that has um my imprimatur on it. I don’t want to take up too much more of your time. Mr Shatner, I do have one final question talking to you and and making sure your audience will come on sunday to visit with me. Absolutely, absolutely, I do want to ask you this too. So at the end of the boston legal, at the end of each episode, famously you would sit on the balcony with James Spader be drinking whiskey. I want to know, I’m just curious were you actually drinking whiskey, actual whiskey while you’re acting out those scenes at the end of boston legal? If you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to, why don’t you go where fashion sits putting on the ritz. Now, II had to learn to do that. Okay, if I had a drink, I wouldn’t be able to say that if you’re blue and you don’t know what, Okay, that requires such precision. That being befuddled in anyway by drink. Now, if you’re on the balcony for a full day of shooting and you’re drinking a single malt all that time. You’d be on the floor. So it was cold tea and I hope that doesn’t come as a cold shock to you. William Shatner will be at Galaxy Con this weekend in Raleigh and thank you so much for your time this afternoon and taking time for us. And I know our listeners and viewers are gonna be really excited to see you at the convention center. I’m excited to see them and hopefully you as well. Bye bye.
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