The Fearless Blogger

To Randy -- I don't believe in the no-win scenario -- My best, Bill Shatner

I haven’t seen the new Star Trek movie yet – but hope to remedy that soon!

When I do, I’ll be keeping my eyes open looking for one face in particular.

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor best know for delivering the poignant “Last Lecture“, was a huge Star Trek fan. On his 12/01/2007 blog post, Randy wrote:

This is, by far, the coolest thing (okay, #2 behind the palliative chemo working). JJ Abrams (Hollywood producer/director who did the TV series “Lost,” the movie “Mission Impossible III” and a bunch of other stuff) emailed me, out of the blue:

JJ Abrams wrote:

Dear Randy –

Hi there — I’m JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie.

I read about you and your condition, and ALSO your affinity for things Trek.

So, I just wanted to put the invitation out there — that if you had any desire to be in the film (can’t promise you role as CAPTAIN, but… we could do SOMETHING!), it would be my honor and pleasure.

The last thing I want to do is intrude, so feel free not to reply — but I wanted to make sure you knew that, if you are willing and able, the door is wide open.

I hope that your treatments are going well and that we get to meet one day.

Best,
JJ

Naturally, I presumed this was one of my friends, playing a prank. But after a little sleuthing, it was clear it was for real. Jai & I hopped a plane to LA, where I got a custom-made Star Trek uniform and my own station on the bridge, where I had lots of buttons and controls. I even got a LINE!!!!

In addition to publicly thanking JJ Abrams, I just wanted to say what an incredibly egoless and cool guy he was. . . the “Star Trek” movie will be in theaters December 2008. Don’t blink or you’ll miss me, but at some point a guy walked across the bridge and says “Captain, we have visual!”

(As if JJ Abrams wasn’t already cool enough. On top of being ridiculously talented, the guy’s a total mensch!)

With all the recent publicity and excitement over Star Trek’s release, I’ve been thinking about Randy’s movie debut. A quick Google search returned a piece in the New York Times, ‘Star Trek’s’ Familiar Face‘, which confirms Randy’s face is among those on the bridge.

From what I’ve heard, “Star Trek” will more than meet my expectations. Better yet, the experience will be that much sweeter, silently celebrating Randy’s moment, grateful for another reminder of his message about “following your dreams, dealing with the ones that don’t come true and having fun along the way”!

I’ve posted Randy’s video before - but I think it’s something that’s worth a second post for those of you who may not have seen it. (And those that have will likely agree that it’s worth watching a second time!)

 Link to this page

 Link to this page

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