Slashdot Mirror


Shatner Aims for Real 'Star Trek'

swight1701 writes "William Shatner wants to boldly go where he's only pretended to go so far. The 'Star Trek' star is among more than 7,000 people who have told Richard Branson they would gladly pay him $210,000 (£115,000) for a trip aboard his planned spacecraft. In all, more than $1.45 billion (£800 million) has been pledged -- years before the Virgin Galactic spaceship is even built, Branson said. I wonder did Shatner sign up because the first ship will be the VSS Enterprise?"

9 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. Shatner in outer space? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Shatner's been considered by EVERYONE to be in "outer space" after he released that wacky album back in the 60's of him alledgely "singing". Here's a modern example of his work:
    http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore. woa/wa/ viewAlbum?playlistId=24088166&selectedItemId=24141 082
    You tell me if he "NEEDS" to go into outer space. :)

  2. Re:Pounds and not Euros? by spungo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Virgin be a limey org... we don't need no stinkin' Euro!

  3. Re:A 'record label' is behind this? by superrcat · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Virgin Group is not a record company, they are a venture capitalist organization that uses their name for many different markets, Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Mobile, etc.

  4. Re:A 'record label' is behind this? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 5, Informative
    Uhm, virgin is a LOT more than a record label. Its a corporate group, more than a company. You have:
    • Virgin Mobile (cell phones)
    • Virgin Atlantic (Airline)
    • Virgin Megastores (highstreet sales)
    • Virgin Trains (take a wild guess)
    • Virgin Active (gyms and fitness centers)
    • Virgin Money
    • Virgin Holidays (probably in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic)
    • Virgin Limobike (taxi service)
    • Virgin Brides (bridal services, not mail order women)
    THats just a small selection, go here for the full list of companies within the Virgin group.

    Best of all, Richard Branson knows how to have fun with the money hes amassed. He bought an Island specifically for staff holidays (source).
  5. Why is this iin the SF section by 1u3hr · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's about a real person, Willaim Shatner, not James T Kirk, and a real spaceship. Some science, no fiction.

  6. Re:Shatner would have to pay double... by nofx_3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I got a better idea. Why don't people not get so fat that they can't fit in a single seat? I was 6'1" 240 at one point in my life and I could still fit in airplane seats fine, and trust me that is as fat as you ever want to be, my health was already going down the tubes. Not only do these people require extra seats on planes, slow down the lines for roller coasters, and other idiotic things, they also cost this country millions in health care costs that could have been avioded if the ate a bit less and actually got up from in front of the tv once in a while.

    -kaplanfx

    P.S. I'm down to 205 and I'm still fat so you can only imagine...

    --
    Visualize Whirled Peas
  7. Re:Shatner would have to pay double... by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well aside from nagging people about using more weight-loss discipline, there are other problems not related to weight, such as leg room. Tall people don't fit very well, period. If they made different sized seats or seat-spacing, then the same number of people would still fit in the plane.

    For example, suppose seat spacing 30 inches in current planes. Make 1/3 of the seats be 20 inches, 1/3 be 30 inches, and 1/3 be 40 inches. The total space remains the same, yet people fit better.

    The real problem is one-size-fits-all mentality, not overweight people. If you solve the problem for tallies, then it will be solved for fatties also using the same technique.

  8. not really true by Trepidity · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not possible to make seats much smaller than they already are and still get customers. Very few people will pay money to get a seat with 20 inches of legroom. Most people already think 30 inches is too little. Therefore, that option isn't feasible. The other option is to keep 30 inches as the minimum and add seats with more legroom as an optional purchase. This already exists: there is first class on most airlines, and a number of airlines are starting to offer an "economy plus" with more legroom and sometimes wider seats (but without the first-class service and food).

    Basically, we're already packing people as tightly as they're willing to go. You can't pack the skinny people more tightly to get more room for the overweight people, because the skinny people won't fly your airline if you do.

  9. Re:Past predicting the future by freeweed · · Score: 2, Informative

    You DO know we also had a NASA-built shuttle named Enterprise, right? :)

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.