How William Shatner Changed the World

How William Shatner Changed the World

Hosted by William Shatner

Premieres on The History Channel on Sunday, March 12 at 8-10pm ET/PT

NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- You've got a cell phone at one ear, an iPod at the other. You know that Blackberry is now a verb and Spam is not only canned meat. But just how did we get here? Blame William Shatner -- yes, that William Shatner. HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD boldly goes where few have gone before to reveal how scientists are surpassing the far-out vision of the future foreshadowed in Star Trek. From cell phones to computers to even leading-edge medical advancements, this two-hour special shot in High Definition (HD) explores how the sci-fi inventions featured in the original Star Trek series have permeated everyday life as we know it. HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD premieres Sunday, March 12 at 8-10pm ET/PT on The History Channel.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051031/HISTORYLOGO )

William Shatner made his mark when Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise catapulted into space -- and living rooms everywhere -- with the debut of the television series in September 1966. But little did he know what effect the series would have on a generation of inventors and scientists, who, inspired by the series, would revolutionize medicine, space exploration and consumer technology. Hosted and narrated by Shatner and based on his book, I'm Working On That, HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD meets the brightest minds of Silicon Valley and their Trek-inspired inventions that have changed the world.

The longstanding affection between NASA and Trekkers is mutual -- NASA's very first Space Shuttle was named Enterprise, and, according to Shatner, this was no coincidence. As a young boy in 1960s suburbia, Mark Rayman was less interested in how far he could hit a baseball than how far it was to the Final Frontier. Captivated by television coverage of the early Mercury flights -- and the television expeditions a channel or two over, Rayman is now Chief Engineer in charge of the Robotic Deep Space Probe project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

While some young Trekkers dreamed of space, others were more interested in the gadgets onboard, and would make it their life's work to bring these toys off the screen and onto the streets. Marty Cooper, a chief engineer at Motorola, understood that people were inherently mobile and would never want to be chained to their desks, tethered to conventional telephones. Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise colleagues were on to something with their cordless "communicator" with voice recognition technology. Inspired by the brick-like device, Cooper and the Motorola team invented the first mobile cellular phone, giving birth to the start of a communications revolution.

For other young minds captivated by the fictional world of the television series, the possibility of communicating with Talarians, Klingons and Gorns would lead to the most basic question: Is something "out there" beyond our own solar system, and if so, how do we find them? Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), which works alongside NASA, credits the television series with synthesizing the physics and astronomy of the search for extra-terrestrial life with the emotional and intellectual drive to know and understand the rest of our universe.

The evolution of the computer, the microchip and software programs is peppered with influences from the television series, from the primitive Altair 8800 (named after a solar system in the shows) and its evolution into the first Apple computer to the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft. And as a result of the series, human operating systems also began to reflect this futuristic vision. The USS Enterprise sickbay, under the medical supervision of Doctor McCoy, specialized in quick diagnosis and scalpel-free -- and painless -- surgery. For Stanford University Hospital brain surgeon Doctor John Adler, this protocol was the only way forward. Today, non-invasive diagnostics, CAT scans and MRIs are a matter of course. Inspired by the technologies presented in the series, Adler has invented the Cyberknife -- a computer-controlled robotic device that employs a laser beam to remove cancers without even the smallest cut.

HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD features interviews with other Star Trek actors George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, and looks at the legacy of subsequent Star Trek franchises and feature films which continue to impact the pace of scientific and technological advancements and inspire a new generation of world-changing scientists and inventors.

Now reaching more than 88 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel(R), "Where History Lives(R)," brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. The History Channel has earned six News and Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History(R)" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at www.History.com. Press Only: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at www.historychannelpress.com.

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Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Kathie Gordon, +1-212-210-1320, or kathie.gordon@aetn.com

Web site: http://www.history.com/
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