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bigtree

(85,915 posts)
Thu Jan 3, 2013, 10:20 PM Jan 2013

"Standard Orbit, Captain"

Last edited Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:31 AM - Edit history (1)

________________

from the Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-day-william-shatner-tweeted-at-an-astronaut-and-the-astronaut-replied/266824/


The Day William Shatner Tweeted at an Astronaut (and the Astronaut Replied)

That day, my friends, is today.


William Shatner @WilliamShatner

@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB
___________________

Chris Hadfield @Cmdr_Hadfield

@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life on the surface.


So this just happened:

William Shatner, he of Priceline and also of spoken-word poetry but mostly of Star Trek, is also William Shatner of Twitter. And this afternoon, the actor took to the service to ask a question of the Canadian Space Agency's Chris Hadfield, who is currently serving as the International Space Station's Flight Engineer for Expedition 34 -- and who has indeed been tweeting from space.

Hadfield's glorious reply to this glorious question is above. And there really is not much more to be said about the matter. Except that, basically, a fake starship captain just sent a tweet to a real-life space station engineer, who replied using the language of the fake starship captain ... and all of us got to see it. And then retweet it. And then make lame-but-awesome Star Trek-related jokes about it. MBB: What a world.


read: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-day-william-shatner-tweeted-at-an-astronaut-and-the-astronaut-replied/266824/


39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
"Standard Orbit, Captain" (Original Post) bigtree Jan 2013 OP
Scanning for life forms ThoughtCriminal Jan 2013 #1
Data is my absolute favorite ST character. postulater Jan 2013 #8
Spot? Is he Spock's dog? Hekate Jan 2013 #10
Spot was Data's cat. Such a COOL little subplot. calimary Jan 2013 #14
I never knew! Hekate Jan 2013 #16
Data was just a FREAKIN' WUNNNNNNNDERFUL character!!! calimary Jan 2013 #23
Thanks for the reminder. postulater Jan 2013 #32
Oh MAN, I loved that one, too! calimary Jan 2013 #35
I thought the standard reply was... freshwest Jan 2013 #2
"Beam me up, Scotty" was never said in any series or movie Recursion Jan 2013 #36
I love that site. But fiction on top of fiction on top of.. freshwest Jan 2013 #37
Awesome Canuckistanian Jan 2013 #3
That was fucking awesome. SunSeeker Jan 2013 #4
Life Imitating Art Imitating Life Imitating . . . cer7711 Jan 2013 #5
Cool! A Little Weird Jan 2013 #6
Welcome to DU, A Little Weird! calimary Jan 2013 #15
Thanks for the welcome! A Little Weird Jan 2013 #33
Shatner is Canadian. :D My friend was on the board to build a mcauliffe roguevalley Jan 2013 #7
Make it so! Hekate Jan 2013 #9
I remember a number of years ago, pangaia Jan 2013 #11
"No blah blah blah!!!!" edbermac Jan 2013 #12
. bigtree Jan 2013 #13
Oh rip that shirt. Show that glimpse of skin. calimary Jan 2013 #17
How great is THAT? MrMickeysMom Jan 2013 #19
So that's how Obama dealt with Boehner and McConnell garthranzz Jan 2013 #22
HAAAAAAA! BlancheSplanchnik Jan 2013 #24
No outtake, Shatner in all his glory edbermac Jan 2013 #25
ohhhhhhhh yeah...I do remember that now! BlancheSplanchnik Jan 2013 #26
It is better out of context N/T Throckmorton Jan 2013 #29
blah blah blah ... sounds like obstructionist Rethugs in Congress napkinz Jan 2013 #30
The signs of life were pictures of cities. He got a good shot of my office. TrogL Jan 2013 #18
Nerds of the world, this is a very big day. WhoIsNumberNone Jan 2013 #20
Who or what is MBB? xtraxritical Jan 2013 #21
"My Best, Bill." William Shatner's signature progressoid Jan 2013 #28
thanks for confirming bigtree Jan 2013 #31
SQUEE! Spock_is_Skeptical Jan 2013 #27
I'm an engineer, not a miracle worker! pinboy3niner Jan 2013 #34
blah blah blah . . . ! bigtree Jan 2013 #38
Capt. Kirk explains the Constitution to a Tea Partier. One of the 99 Jan 2013 #39

calimary

(80,693 posts)
14. Spot was Data's cat. Such a COOL little subplot.
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:04 AM
Jan 2013

Data had a cat! To which he fed multiple numbered varieties of feline supplement that he created fresh from the replicator every day.

calimary

(80,693 posts)
23. Data was just a FREAKIN' WUNNNNNNNDERFUL character!!!
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:30 AM
Jan 2013

One of my all-time favorite Next-Gen episodes was "Data's Day," which followed Data around from his getting off the overnight shift in command on the Enterprise bridge and then going about the rest of the regular day (Data didn't need to sleep. His quarters did not have a bed). So we followed him around the ship as he considered a wedding gift for Chief O'Brien and his fiancee Keiko, and tried to advise Lt. Worf on one, as he fed and petted Spot, tried to learn to dance for the wedding from Dr. Crusher ("NOBODY better find out I used to be known as the 'dancing doctor'!&quot , and she thought he meant tap-dancing. And it went on.

It was just the sweetest, most fun, most engrossing, most enjoyable little slice-of-life episode. No phasers. No photon torpedoes. No chase scenes at Warp 8.5. No fist-fights with aliens. No explosions or time warps or quantum singularities or any such thing. Just a day-in-the-life. And it was JUST WUNNNNNDERFUL!!!

postulater

(5,075 posts)
32. Thanks for the reminder.
Sat Jan 5, 2013, 12:18 AM
Jan 2013

BBC had a Trekathon over the holidays. So I recorded a couple dozen episodes of SNG. Data's Day in one of them, so I'll watch it now.

One of my favorite Picard episodes is Darmok, where an alien dies in an attempt to learn how to communicate with humans. War is averted by the willingness to understand the other race's view.

I kid my daughters that their first words were "Space the final frontier". It's nearly true. And they thank me for it. It was the best tv ever.

calimary

(80,693 posts)
35. Oh MAN, I loved that one, too!
Sat Jan 5, 2013, 02:47 AM
Jan 2013

Paul Winfield played that alien - did a very good job making him an adversary who becomes a very sympathetic character.

Also liked "Haven," in which Data had a line that my husband and I continue to use - to this very day! "Please continue the petty bickering. I find it most intriguing!" One of my favorite "Star Trek" lines of all time, up there along with "he's dead, Jim"!!! Another one of those moments when Data is observing Deanna Troy's mother and would-be mother-in-law in a awkwardly-contained cat fight. Hilarious!!!!

One other episode I really love is "Family," when Picard goes home to France after this two-parter where he's captured and assimilated by the Borg. WUNNNNNderful writing and performances - conflict and sibling rivalry and a whole lot of wonderfulness, especially where Picard and his brother Robert get drunk together after rolling around in a fistfight in the mud.

Just all these little moments that I really, really appreciate. Around here, when there have been some conflicts within the band, I've tried to point out that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." "Star Trek" is a cultural GIFT!

SunSeeker

(51,367 posts)
4. That was fucking awesome.
Thu Jan 3, 2013, 11:29 PM
Jan 2013

Star Trek was my dear departed mom's favorite show. She would have loved that.

cer7711

(502 posts)
5. Life Imitating Art Imitating Life Imitating . . .
Thu Jan 3, 2013, 11:41 PM
Jan 2013

. . . I'm dizzy now.

(Shatner Voice): "Must . . . refocus; bring rush of blood back to the brain . . . try . . . and hold on don't reel and pitch and flail TRY . . . to remember . . . where . . . and what . . . Iwasdoing before . . . humanity . . . IS! . . .

KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

calimary

(80,693 posts)
15. Welcome to DU, A Little Weird!
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:10 AM
Jan 2013

What a great thread! Glad you're here to enjoy it - and more - with us. I LOVE all things "Star Trek"! Always have, since the original series. And I was hot for Spock. I still remember the TV Guide issue whose cover story featured Mr. Spock and the question - "is it sexy to be smart?" That's because Spock had every bit as big a following as he-man sex symbol male-lead Captain Kirk, and many many women were (surprisingly to some) utterly mad for him.

I've always liked the smart ones.

A Little Weird

(1,754 posts)
33. Thanks for the welcome!
Sat Jan 5, 2013, 01:12 AM
Jan 2013

I lurked for a long time before joining. I like it not only for the politics, but also because you can come across fun threads like this one. And I absolutely agree that smart is sexy!

roguevalley

(40,656 posts)
7. Shatner is Canadian. :D My friend was on the board to build a mcauliffe
Thu Jan 3, 2013, 11:43 PM
Jan 2013

center here in the boondocks of Alaska. She got some kids stuff on board a shuttle and when it was in space orbiting, got a download to our school so we could sit in the library and ask questions of a lady astronaut. She was floating in the ship. It was awesome.

This OP is awesome.

pangaia

(24,324 posts)
11. I remember a number of years ago,
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 12:47 AM
Jan 2013

not many. a couple guys who were on the space shuttle, I think it was, called Click and Clack. The actually called them. And Tom and Ray and I, and I assume many others, were totally fooled for a few minutes. I seem to remember they said something about having a problem with sudden acceleration, and some other issues.. it was quite hilarious when Tom and Ray- and I- finally realized who they were.

Here, I found it. :&gt

http://www.cartalk.com/content/flashback-car-talk-outer-space

calimary

(80,693 posts)
17. Oh rip that shirt. Show that glimpse of skin.
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:11 AM
Jan 2013

Loved it! We rewatch all those "Star Trek" series quite frequently on DVD.

garthranzz

(1,330 posts)
22. So that's how Obama dealt with Boehner and McConnell
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 01:23 AM
Jan 2013

Note: You have to be a pretty good actor to pull that off. I can just imagine what the gag reel looked like that day.

Now I'll have to re-watch that episode.

napkinz

(17,199 posts)
30. blah blah blah ... sounds like obstructionist Rethugs in Congress
Fri Jan 4, 2013, 08:21 AM
Jan 2013

And Obama as Kirk trying to break through to them.








pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
34. I'm an engineer, not a miracle worker!
Sat Jan 5, 2013, 01:16 AM
Jan 2013

(Adapting one of McCoy's famous lines.)

But Scotty did share the secret of how he maintained his reputation...





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