William Shatner: ‘The Earth will become intolerable to a lot of life.’
metroweekly.comStar Trek, and later his Emmy-winning turn as Denny Crane in Boston Legal.“Can you imagine? If you fall you’re going to die because millions of pounds of water will dump over you.
They talk about what happens underneath, and how you have to hold your breath, and all that. You’re going to die — and you’re going to die tumbling, and ‘Oh, oh, I can’t catch my breath.’ And then, finally, you’re swallowing water and you die slowly.
You’re going to die, but you’re on a 100-foot wave.”When it’s pointed out that Shatner, who is 91, is unlikely going to die while appearing with the NSO, he laughs.
He’s making a point about his need to push himself, to challenge himself, to put himself in situations where, for him, the results are akin to life or death.Much like when, in October 2021, he became the oldest living person to rocket into orbit on Blue Origin, the nascent space shuttle company owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.Perhaps Shatner’s link to space is why Ben Folds, artistic director of the Kennedy Center’s “Declassified” series chose his longtime friend as the special guest artist for the evening, which, in addition to six of Shatner’s original songs, include Claude Debussy’s “Clair de lune” and Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”We spoke with the legend, who provided the world one of its most iconic science fiction figures, about the concert, his trip into orbit, and what he thinks the future holds for, as he sees as our fragile, blue planet.METRO WEEKLY: Over the past few years, you’ve released several albums, often featuring duets with extraordinary talents in the music community.
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