William Shatner turned 90 earlier this year. However, he continues to boldly go — whether that means going into space or going to New York’s North Country.
He’s spending the weekend visiting a life-sized replica of the sets on which the “Star Trek” franchise began in the 1960s. Weather issues delayed his flight to Burlington International Airport, but Shatner arrived at the Star Trek Set Tour in Ticonderoga just before 8:00 Friday night.
The actor who brought Captain James T. Kirk to life brought a group of VIPs on a tour through the duplication of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The sets are accurate down to the smallest detail, including medical implements that the character of Dr. McCoy used in sickbay which originally had a very different purpose.
“So, it was either magical properties that the doctor had — or good seasoning on his food! These are Danish salt and pepper shakers,” Shatner said.
The tour lasted for about 90 minutes. Shatner noted how “Star Trek” production staff made 23rd-century technology, such as the Enterprise’s transporter room, appear to ‘beam’ people to almost any location desired.
“So we’re here, here’s an empty screen, then we come in and we go out,” he said. “The screen is there, they dissolve it and they put Alka-Seltzer there!”
However, Friday may have been a somber evening for Shatner. It became public knowledge earlier in the day that Glen de Vries — one of the people with whom he flew into space just last month aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin mission — had died in a Thursday afternoon plane crash in New Jersey.
Shatner had also been awake for the day since about 3:30 in the morning. For those two reasons, he declined a request for an interview — after all, even Starfleet superior officers need their sleep!