Who wouldn’t be jealous of William Shatner?
The actor spent decades portraying the best Starfleet captain — no hate mail please, Picard fans — and inspired countless young Americans to pursue careers in science and aerospace industries by bringing the wonder of things beyond our world to home television sets.
This week, Shatner gave us Earth-bound humans another reason to envy him as he became one of the few people to ever escape our atmosphere and travel to space.
After flight training, Shatner and an accompanying crew blasted off Wednesday on Blue Origin’s New Shephard spacecraft.
Well, the crew of #ns18 — the “snake bites” have graduated from @blueorigin training! @WilliamShatner @DrChrispyMusic @AudreyKPowers pic.twitter.com/khn4iiED2d
— Glen de Vries (@CaptainClinical) October 12, 2021
Enter George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in “Star Trek,” a subordinate officer to Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk.
“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before,” Takei told Page Six.
“He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old, and it’s important to find out what happens,” the 84-year-old continued. “So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study.”
Not done with insulting his former costar, Takei went for one more jab.
“Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit.”
Of course, every good captain knows that responding to an attack with force isn’t always the best solution.
“Don’t hate George. The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me,” Shatner tweeted Saturday.
“He claims 50+ years ago I took away a camera angle that denied him 30 more seconds of prime time TV. I’m giving it back to him now by letting him spew his hatred for the world to see!”
Don’t hate George. The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me. He claims 50+ years ago I took away a camera angle that denied him 30 more seconds of prime time TV. 🤷🏼♂️ I’m giving it back to him now by letting him spew his hatred for the world to see!🤣 Bill the 🐷
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 16, 2021
Class like this is what earns you command of a Starfleet starship.
Takei’s spiteful attitude, however, pretty much guarantees he’ll be stuck on Earth for the rest of his days — nobody wants that kind of negativity in space.