Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe! Oh, that is just perfect! I tell you, the man knows how to milk his own reputation.

Oh, and I finally got a chance to watch this show (i.e., the History Channel special linked above) yesterday. And I have to tell you, it's pretty close to on target. Oh, it stretches the point a bit; but really, Star Trek has been a big influence now on two to three generations of geeks who became engineers, doctors, astronauts, and scientists. It helped ignite and maintain that sense of wonder that makes us believe we can do things if we try hard enough, and we'll do them through our brains and our creativity. Oh, the world will still laugh at us; but they'll do so while paying big bucks for the technologies we produce. And the grim-and-gritty crowd will still complain how technology never really solved anything and only makes things worse; but whereas in the past, they would have scribbled their Luddite fantasies on papyrus with crude ink, today they'll post those fantasies on blog sites — and never once appreciate the irony of that.

Oh, and Mr. Shatner is very amusing throughout the whole special. He has developed ironic self-effacement into a high art.