280 | Alexandre O. Philippe (William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill)

My Summer Lair Chapter #280: Is Death The Final Frontier?

William Shatner attempting to explain seeing Earth from space…trying to convey how big and how fragile this planet (our planet!) truly is…is known as The Overview Effect.

“The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from outer space.”

The Overview Effect is heartbreaking because you see this big blue ball we call home and you realize there’s so much needless suffering due to environmental degradation and social inequality. It’s not a local perspective. You see…humanity and suffering.

Perspective changes everything.

Star Trek is closing in on 60 years and we’ve never truly recovered from meeting Captain Kirk and his weird crew in 1966. A five year mission has turned into decades of mapping the stars and seeking delight in this strange and vast universe.

“In the 58 years since, the Star Trek galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date.”

Shatner appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone: Nick of Time (1960) and Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963).

Nightmare is one of my all time favourite episodes.

William Shatner has been with us, forever.

He’s like the Sun and the moon there’s never been a time where he wasn’t there. He’s always there. T. J. Hooker. Boston Legal. TV commercials. He’s always been around.

But not for much longer…he is 93.

This Legion M documentary William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill isn’t a documentary it’s a memorial. It gives you the opportunity to say thank you for all the adventures. To toast the fun. And remember the laughs. Airplane II: The Sequel is magic.

You Can Call Me Bill is directed by Alexandre Philippe who has directed nerdy docs on the Xenomorph…Memory: The Origins of Alien and 78/52 on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho shower scene. (Yes, just the shower scene. Not the entire movie.)

Alex sat down with William Shatner to talk about life and love…and being curious. You Can Call Me Bill isn’t a Star Trek documentary.

You Can Call Me Bill is about hope and delight…being creative. And doing good work. You Can Call Me Bill is the true story about a kid who grew up in Montreal and ended up in space. 

Perspective changes everything.

You Can Call Me Bill @ W • T • F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Monday March 18, 2024 at 11:00 am EST

Stress free pop culture tastefully harvested for your divine delight. Once a week a carefully curated edition of My Pal Sammy goes directly to your inbox. Sign up for my newsletter so we can have some fun…partying like it’s 1982!