George Takei Drags ‘Star Trek’ Co-Star William Shatner After Trip Into Space

George Takei is dragging his Star Trek co-star William Shatner, after the Captain Kirk actor took a brief trip into space. Takei famously played helmsman Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series and films, opposite 90-year-old Shatner. Page Six reports that the beloved actor offered his thoughts on Shatner’s recent Blue Origin flight, while speaking to the audience at his new play, titled Thoughts of a Colored Man.

“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before. He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old, and it’s important to find out what happens,” Takei said. “So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study. Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!” It’s been noted that Takei’s tone could be taken as playful banter, though Cinema Blend points out that the two have seemed to maintain a feud over the years.

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On Wednesday, Shatner made his voyage on a shuttle from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company. The craft took off sometime after 10:30 a.m. ET for a short flight before coming safely back done to Earth. In addition to Shatner, microbiologist Glen de Vries and Chris Boshuizen – founder of Earth-observation company Planet Labs – are also on the 10-minute flight.

On the eve of the big flight, Blue Origin released a video of Shatner addressing the big event and, in the clip, he spoke about how monumental this moment is. “We’re just at the beginning, but how miraculous that beginning is. How extraordinary it is to be part of that beginning,” He added, “It looks like there’s a great deal of curiosity about this fictional character, Captain Kirk, going into space. So let’s go along with it and enjoy the ride.”

Shatner also sat down with Gayle King on CBS Mornings before launch, telling the host, “I want to see space, I want to see the Earth, I want to see what we need to do to save Earth.” He continued, “I want to have a perspective that hasn’t been shown to me before. That’s what I’m interested in seeing.”

“I’m very excited,” Shatner went on to say while speaking to King. “I’ve waited my entire life to do this. I think it’s pretty amazing that 2021 is the year that really the human race is finally starting to go to space at scale.” He added, “I think we’ll look back at this date 50 years from now and go, wow, this really was a special time in history, just like the Wright brothers, when people started flying passenger planes. It’s really exciting to be part of history and I can’t wait to fly.”