William Shatner Enters Web3 With ‘Infinite Connections’ NFT Release
AUSTIN, Texas – William Shatner is rushing to Web3 at warp 9.
The original Star Trek captain and longtime Twitter crypto guy officially dropped his NFT release, Infinite Connections, at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2023 conference.
Infinite Connections consists of two collections: Cosmic Explorer, featuring 2,500 NFTs that feature a Shatner 3D avatar alongside artwork that explores scientific themes such as quantum physics and sonic vibrations. Each also includes a physical action figure of Captain James T. Kirk, the role Shatner is best known for, each hand-signed by Shatner with a quote from the character.
The second collection is Timeless Voyager, which includes 1000 NFTs with 2D artwork of future technology and the cosmos. There’s no action figure included, but “select” holders will have access to unspecified IRL capabilities.
“NFTs are slowly becoming more artistic,” Shatner said backstage at the conference. “These, developed by Orange Comet, are among the most artistic I’ve ever seen.”
Orange Comet CEO Dave Broome, who also spoke at the conference, revealed how the deal with Shatner came about, and how Shatner’s intellectual curiosity was a key component. “This is a man at 92 who is still asking, and still has an ability to learn and embrace technology and understand what it can do,” Broome said. “What we’re interested in doing is taking someone like the iconic, legendary William Shatner and all the millions and millions of fans he has and bringing them over to web3.”
The collection features images of Shatner integrated into images that evoke science and technology, such as where the contours of his face are filled in with illuminated strings that curve and overlap, or dust buttons where his head is connected to high-tech machinery that resembles a helmet from Halo.
“What we’re trying to do with these images is show the connection — the mathematical, the romantic, the stars, the quantum physics — the connection between it all, and we think buried in these images are these philosophies,” Shatner said.
Shatner’s release comes at a time of transition for NFTs. Although the days of extreme mainstream hype and multimillion-dollar sales like Beeples are long gone, celebrity drops of NFTs have been surprisingly resilient. Last winter, former President Donald Trump released an NFT collection that sold out within a day. That led to a re-release in April which sold out just as quickly – even though the prices of collectibles from the first release had plummeted.
Shatner, a household name with a large fan base, clearly sees a similar opportunity. If the release is successful, more releases from other crypto-natives and curious celebrities could follow — perhaps even from other Star Trek celebrities.
Shatner’s collection went on sale Thursday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time — timed to coincide with his appearance on stage at Consensus — at WilliamShatnerNFTs.com. Interested buyers can whip up Shatner-themed NFTs with either crypto or traditional credit card payments.
