William Shatner Wakes Up Crew for Final Discovery Mission 185
The Space Shuttle Discovery left the International Space Station this morning for the last time. To commemorate the ship's accomplishments over 27 years of service, the crew was greeted to a morning wake-up message from Capt. Kirk. "Space, the final frontier," Shatner said in a prerecorded message. "These have been the voyages of the space shuttle Discovery. Her 30-year mission: to seek out new science, to build new outposts, to bring nations together on the final frontier, to boldly go and do what no spacecraft has done before."
WoW (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:WoW (Score:5, Insightful)
Was played on my drive in (Score:4, Interesting)
and it was simply awesome. Obviously anyone listening to most news radio shows on their drive will have heard it. I wonder how much the current generation connects to those words? I know that some will equate it with Star Trek but I wonder how many have seen it. I was further amazed at how much his voice did not seem to have changed.
Re:Was played on my drive in (Score:5, Funny)
if I got a wakeup call and wasn't quite firing on all cylinders just yet I'd be hard pressed to figure out if I was hearing Kirk or someone trying to book me a flight with pricewatch
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Re:WoW (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:WoW (Score:5, Funny)
"Shatner said in a prerecorded message." Historic event, he almost considered waking up for it.
They tried doing a live version, but gave up and simply cut out all the pauses between the words. They were also afraid that Ricardo Montalban would show up in the middle of the introduction. Instead of a wakeup call with some memorable words, there'd be a scream so powerful that it would be capable of making sound in a vacuum. "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!". I mean, imagine waking up to that.
So NASA kinda looked at all the pros and cons, and decided that the best option was simply not to invite Shatner personally. He's been known to be a bit of a prick at times too, so that's why people don't invite him to the cool parties anymore either. That, and that horrible toupee. Does he still wear the toupee?
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If Ricardo Montalban showed up, I'd think they would be more worried about the zombiepocalypse.
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"Shatner said in a prerecorded message." Historic event, he almost considered waking up for it.
Well, what do you expect. He's an old man now! It should be !@#$ my GRANDad says.
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Yes, we were promised jetpacks back in the 70s, but this is nearly as good, and frankly, has a whole lot more charm. I love this stuff.
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Reading the article, that's all I could think of. Bravo!
Re:WoW (Score:5, Insightful)
But, it's so appropriate. Ask a lot of the Astronauts and Engineers at NASA what inspired them as children to work for NASA and in space and you will get a pretty good percentage of people citing how they, as kids, sat around a tiny television set in the late 60s or early 70s watching Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock explore the galaxy.
I can't think of a better or more appropriate way to send off the Discovery as it goes home. (There is a little bit of me in the back of my head that wished that the Space Shuttle Enterprise made it to space - then Shatner's sendoff would be even more appropriate.)
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Being geeked by this is an indicator of one's nerdiness. I wonder what the non-American crew thought of it.
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At this point, I'm betting even the non-American crew is aware of Star Trek.
It's been around for almost 45 years at this point.
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So has anime, but if I'm on the ISS and the theme from Astro Boy comes out of the speakers, I'm unlikely to recognize its cultural significance.
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Great, now I've got that song stuck in my head ... "he is brave, and mighty, and wise ...".
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To make up for it I shall hum the theme from underdog while I walk to the bathroom.
Re:WoW (Score:4, Insightful)
So has anime, but if I'm on the ISS and the theme from Astro Boy comes out of the speakers, I'm unlikely to recognize its cultural significance.
That's because is has no cultural significance beyond a few nerdy fanboys. Star Trek is a massive, multinational, franchise. The last film brought in $125 million internationally, and indeed it was shown on the space station when it came out. Kirk and Spock are internationally known by anyone with the slightest interest in space.
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Too much World of Warcraft (WoW) for you. :)
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No, what's nerdy is you wrote it as "WoW" not "Wow" or "WOW" but "WoW" which sadly in my eyes reads as World of Warcraft (and I don't even play the damned game)
That's nerdy.
Damnit Jim (Score:5, Funny)
You should have just grabbed the microphone and yelled...
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!
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Hello Discovery, it's ... ... timetogetup.
Final frontier (Score:2, Funny)
He is dead Jim.
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"I'm dead, Jim."
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"Good... you get his tricorder, I'll get his wallet!"
Pretty Ironic.... (Score:2)
Considering politicians are trying to kill the space program.
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Good.
When everyone in the US has a roof over his head, then the space programme can be restarted.
Roofs are being outsourced to countries that can afford them... The war on terror is costing a little more than we thought. Everyone's gotta cut back for the greater good you know?
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a little ? how 'bout $1000000000000 or about $300000 per American since 2001.
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correction : $3000 per American
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Eh. What's an order of magnitude or two between friends.
$3,000 for ten years, huh? Hell, most people pay more than that for basic cable. You're just complaining 'cos you don't like the show.
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a little ? how 'bout $1000000000000 or about $300000 per American since 2001.
You make it sound way worse than it really is. The credit card bill isn't due until 2012.
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As argument go, "RoI" is about as meaningful and logical as "grace of God". Reagan has managed to herald a world in which technocrats are more religious than theocrats.
What matters is: which option reduces suffering?
The second isn't an option. Maybe if the majority of the country did something that we currently are not doing, then it may become one, but our current priorities are as follows:
2/3 of the government spending are in social security and military spending. Failure to increase spending is seen as a cut, and cuts are entirely unacceptable.
Re:Pretty Ironic.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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But it is in their best interest. The people are government. If you have a lot of people without roofs you have a lot of angry people not doing their part to move the country forward. Eventually they come and burn down your roof to make the point sink home.
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The people are government.
These times are gone for many decades now.
Re:Pretty Ironic.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell that to the people in Egypt.
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It was gone for many decades there. Any bets on how long it will take them to get a government that does not act in the best interest of all people there, if they ever get one? Hint: even in the so-called democratic countries, a government making politics for the people, and not for themselves and their surrounding lobbyists, is a rare thing.
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True that. It's a balance. We can't bankrupt ourselves to keep everyone living well. That's where the tough part of the job comes in. I pity those SOBs in Washington DC. No matter what they do someone somewhere hates them for it.
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That is interesting.
What else is its job then?
The chinese define the job of the government as follows:
a) make sure everyone has enough to eat
b) make sure everyone has enough to be clothed
c) make sure everyone has access to health care
d) make sure everyone has a roof over his head
e) and most of all: make sure everyone has access to education
This are the five main principles a ruler or a government should follow.
angel'o'sphere
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No way, a constitutional republic built upon ideas of individualism and democracy* operating under a vaguely capitalist economic structure has a different idea of what government should be to that of a totalitarian government operating under a vaguely communist economic structure. Who would have thunk it?
* ideas of, not actual mob rule.
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> When everyone in the US has a roof over his head, then the space programme can be restarted.
We have enough roofs for everyone, we just value our personal space a lot. How many people could live in the houses of slashdotters alone without straining the physical location's ability to support them?
Re:Pretty Ironic.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Exploring space is worth FAR more then wasting money on people who should either do for themsleves or die out. Exploring space > wasting money on a worthless human that cant even take care of itself. We have BILLIONS of humans and we recklessesly encourage EVERY human to make more.
Consider space exploration the mother of all insurance policies. It is absolutely imperative that we learn how to live off this rock for the survival of the species. There is no debate on this. At SOME point we HAVE to get off this rock. Armageddon literally could be tomorrow or several billion years from now.
Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
That would have been a pretty emotional moment I would think.
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That would have been a pretty emotional moment I would think.
I wonder if they all screamed KIIIIIIIRK! for waking them up
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It's hard to get emotional in zero-g. The tears just sort of sit there...
Have you noticed... (Score:5, Insightful)
That William Shatner has, for more than the last decade, made an entire career out of being a parody of himself?
I think it started with those Priceline commercials where he was singing "I've got two tickets to paradise..", and since then, all he's done is essentially do an SNL skit where William Shatner plays William Shatner hamming it up.
And only he could get away with it.
Re:Have you noticed... (Score:5, Funny)
I love Shatner in Boston Legal, hate him in Shit my dad says, that last show sucks gallons of ass :(
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Somehow I always thought ass was measured by weight, not by volume. I learned something new today!
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For those europeans too lazy to do the math, that's between 2.5 and 4 litres of bum.
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He has taste, and a good one. BL is made by David E. Kelly, who also created "Picket Fences" and "Ally McBeal", IIRC. They all are society satires disguised as dramas.
Because I can hardly stand TOS and James T. Kirk anymore, I was very suspicious when a friend advertised BL to me. But I had to admit that Shatner is brilliant in the Danny Crane role!
Boston Legal (Score:3, Interesting)
Have you seen Boston Legal?
He was anything BUT Captain Kirk and I have to say, some of his finest work on TV or movies.
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Bad example. His clamshell cell phone made the communicator chirp when he opens it, and in a later episode he tells people he used to captain a spaceship:
Denny Crane: [walking through a crowd of reporters] dennycranelaw.com. Pictures, bios, hobbies. I once captained my own spaceship. Muli-talented.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402711/quotes?qt0401847 [imdb.com]
I also seem to remember a few quips about his 'other' job, hinting at his work for Priceline. I always got the impression that he was spoofing himself as a runni
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And only he could get away with it.
Well, to be fair there's also Hasselhoff.
Oh wait, parody is not the same as mockery.
Re:Have you noticed... (Score:5, Insightful)
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The last decade? Let's go with "more than quarter-century". He was in on the joke, seemingly, before anyone else was: Shatner does Rocket-Man, spoken-word [youtube.com].
My favorite part about that is how the audience doesn't quite seem to get it.
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That William Shatner has, for more than the last decade, made an entire career out of being a parody of himself?
I think it started with those Priceline commercials where he was singing "I've got two tickets to paradise..", and since then, all he's done is essentially do an SNL skit where William Shatner plays William Shatner hamming it up.
And only he could get away with it.
Yeah, I was just thinking about that. Except when it came across my mind, it was Adam West. As in the term, "Adam Westing", as it's come to be known in some circles. And how he was doing it while Shatner was still acting like an ass to his former castmates.
Not that I'm complaining; Shatner really needed to get over himself and stop taking himself so seriously, of course.
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Well, Shatner knows he's poking fun at himself.
I don't get the impression that Charlie Sheen is actually dialed into the fact that he is, or definitely appears to be, somewhat unhinged of late.
He really seems to have some mental health issues going on at the moment. Or, he's got a remarkably strange strategy to get himself his next gig.
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The difference being that Charlie Sheen is actually crazy. Like Tom Cruise, except without the Messiah complex.
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I'm a bit confused. Is it Charlie Sheen or Tom Cruise that doesn't have a messiah complex?
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That reminds me of the SNL skit where Eddie Murphy teaches Stevie Wonder to do a Stevie Wonder impression... Can't get to the YouTube link from here, but here's an excerpt from the skit transcript [jt.org]:
How he said it ... (Score:4, Funny)
Oblg. ;-)
"These have been ... the voyages ... of the space shuttle ... Discovery. ... to seek out .. new science, ... to build new ... outposts, ... to bring nations together ... on the final frontier, ... to boldly go ... and do what ... no spacecraft ... has done before."
Her 30-year mission:
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What's sad is how NASA bureaucrats butchered up such a classic into. It's unlike the never ending speech they give when the Shuttle launches...
Liftoff of mission ## with the the first gay, transgendered Muslims proving NASA Administrators are really cool guys and will now maybe get an invite to the Hollywood parties where scantily clad girls will rub up against them, which is the closet most of them get to a female in years, flight!
So nerdy it is awesome (Score:5, Interesting)
"Work, the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of , to boldy go where no computer programmer has gone before. To seek out new code that would shatter new civilizations."
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It would be cool on Monday. By Wednesday, I'd be reaching for my phaser.
What a pity it wasn't Enterprise (Score:5, Insightful)
Then he could have woken them up with "Kirk to Enterprise".
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Then he could have woken them up with "Kirk to Enterprise".
...get your clothes back on.
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...beam down Yeoman Rand and a six-pack.
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The Enterprise never flew in space. I think it was just a test mock up for gliding.
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The Enterprise was *meant* to be refitted for spaceflight after atmospheric and landing trials; unfortunately some specs changed while building Columbia, and overhauling Enterprise would've meant a very expensive tear-down and rebuild, so they built Challenger around a test bed frame instead.
He also asked the crew of the Discovery... (Score:2)
Have you ever kissed a girl?
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Yeah, astronauts are notorious for having a hard time finding dates.
Actually, at least 5 of the 6 crew are married.
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Wasn't marriage almost a pre-requisite for being an astronaut on the Mercury program?
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I'm waiting with baited something.
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Oh wait, this is slashdot... never mind.
wrong sci-fi quote (Score:3)
Shatner should've woken them up by yelling "There's a man on the wing of this space craft!"
Or how about HAL "If you'd like to hear it.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me.
HAL: It's called "Daisy."
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you......"
Hope the lady astronauts are wary (Score:2)
Being in orbit makes you alien enough to get nailed by the Kirkster.
Video/Audio recording clip? (Score:2)
No audio/video recording clip of this? I'd love to see/hear it. :)
The Cosmic Perspective (Score:2)
It's worth noting that a massive letter writing campaign organized by Star Trek fans in 1979 convinced NASA to rename the first Space Shuttle, originally the USS Constitution, "USS Enterprise" and the first black female, Dr. Mae Jemison, was inspired to pursue her career after seeing Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on the original series.
The influence of Star Trek can be seen everywhere, but polls of NASA engineers have revealed that a good portion of them were motivated toward aerospace careers because
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... should read "first black female astronaut" in the first paragraph.
Are We Sure? (Score:2)
HAL! (Score:2)
I take it nobody asked Douglas Rain to do the job?
retake (Score:2)
I think he should have been more like, "Hail fellows, well met!"
Re:We Need Audio! (Score:4, Informative)
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If you wish to reach the infinitive, you must first reach halfway to it.
Splitting the infinitive is fine... (Score:3)
The rule about splitting infinitives is a prescriptivist grammarian trope. In other words, it's fine as a recommendation, but it isn't really a rule: a bunch of people invented it as a heuristic a hundred years ago and since then grammar nazis have used it. "To boldly go" actually sounds slightly better to my ear because it is two iambs in a row.
If it's clear from the sentence that it is an infinitive, it doesn't sound awkward, and it is clear that the modifiers modify what you intend them to, it doesn't
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The rule about splitting infinitives is a prescriptivist grammarian trope
Quite so. The original argument against split infinitives was that it made sentences difficult to translate into Latin. There may be some argument that this has limited relevance today.
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well, technically Doohan is a has-been considering he's dead. That shouldn't take anything away from the quality of work he did when he was alive or the impact it had on anyone's life.
On topic though, I don't get why it would be a problem that a person who played an iconic character in popular culture that relates to space exploration did this. It would certainly make less sense for someone who is currently popular but has no relationship to the subject matter to have been selected.
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And by the way, have we peaked ? (Score:2)
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