Dame Joan Collins has called William Shatner a ‘fool’ following his recent trip into space.
The 90-year-old Star Trek star became the oldest person in history to travel into space earlier this month, in a rocket built by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin.
During an appearance on this week’s Jonathan Ross Show, Joan, who starred in an episode of Star Trek alongside the Captain Kirk actor, made it clear that she didn’t approve of him leaving the planet.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? What a fool. Who wants to do that? No, absolutely not. Did you see Bill Shatner?’ Joan told Jonathan.
“He was in the air and they were turning him upside down. Let’s take care of this planet first before we start going off.”
When Jonathan asked fellow guest Brian Cox if he would travel to space, the Succession star agreed with Joan.
“No, absolutely not,” he said. “I think it’s ridiculous. I remember watching [Sir Richard] Branson and Bezos going up for their 11 minutes or whatever…
“No, we do not need more spaceships. We’ve got enough crap flying around up there. We do not need any more.”
After his brief trip into space, a deeply emotional Shatner struggled to put into words the significance of his journey.
“I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened,” the screen legend said. “It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope I can maintain what I feel now.”
“It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death and the … oh, my God,” he continued, burying his face in his hands.
“The moment you see the vulnerability of everything. It’s so small. This air which is keeping us alive is thinner than your skin. It’s a sliver, it’s immeasurably small when you think in terms of the universe.”
Prince William also recently spoke out against space tourism, saying the wealthy should be “trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live”.
In response, William defended his trip in an interview with Entertainment Today, saying: “He’s a lovely Englishman. He’s going to be king of England one day. He’s a lovely, gentle, educated man, but he’s got the wrong idea.
“The idea here is not to go, ‘Yeah, look at me. I’m in space’. No, I would tell the prince, and I hope the prince gets this message, this is a baby step of getting industry, all those polluting industries…off of Earth.”
The Jonathan Ross Show airs Saturday at 9.30pm on ITV.
