You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them, and why we suspend

our disbelief. I'm Eric Molinsky.

Back in 2021, I was pretty riveted by this story.

Science fiction became science fact for actor William Schattener today. At 90 years old,

Star Trek's Captain Kirk became the oldest person to travel to space.

Okay, he was actually admiral Kirk by the end, but anyway, putting that aside,

this really was an amazing moment. Science fiction becoming science fact.

It was a feel-good story, as they say in the media, but when he came back to Earth,

I was surprised by how emotionally shaken he was.

I mean, I didn't expect him to be the swashbuckling galaxy hopping James T. Kirk,

but this was his reaction to seeing outer space with his own eyes.

That other voice is Jeff Bezos. Schattener went to space on his rocket, Blue Origin.

When Schattener is talking about seeing death in space, Bezos is nodding and smiling sometimes,

and at one point he interrupts Schattener to grab a bottle of champagne.

As Bezos and the rest of his team are celebrating, Schattener looks away.

This video went viral.

The headlines used words like cringe and awkward.

And I wondered in that moment if Bezos could see the difference between Schattener,

the person in front of him, and Schattener, the cultural icon.

Because Jeff Bezos is a huge Star Trek fan.

In fact, he begged Paramount to put him in the franchise,

and he got a one-second cameo as an alien under heavy makeup,

...