The world of entertainment has lost one of its most distinguished performers, with British acting legend Patrick Stewart dying at 86. Best remembered for commanding the USS Enterprise as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and portraying Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, Stewart passed away at his Los Angeles residence on Wednesday evening. His death followed what was described as a “brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.”
His portrayal of Picard made him one of the most recognisable faces in science fiction, but the character also found an unlikely admirer in one of the world’s most successful businessmen. Jeff Bezos was so fascinated by Stewart’s commanding Starfleet captain that he once considered naming the company that would eventually become Amazon after Picard’s famous three-word instruction. The story of Bezos’ admiration for the character stretches back to the very beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, long before Amazon became the retail and technology giant it is today.
Before settling on Amazon, Bezos came remarkably close to giving his business a name that would have delighted Star Trek fans. While preparing to leave his finance job at investment firm D. E. Shaw and establish his own online business in 1994, he discussed potential names with his colleague Jeff Holden over drinks at Virgil’s, a barbecue restaurant on Forty-Fourth Street in New York. Bezos was initially considering Cadabra, but Holden filled both sides of a sheet of notebook paper with alternative suggestions. Brad Stone’s book The Everything Store recollects that the name Bezos liked best on that list was MakeItSo.com, borrowed directly from Captain Picard’s familiar instruction to his crew, as reported by The New York Times.
The Star Trek captain who nearly gave Amazon its name
The phrase “Make it so” became one of Picard’s most recognisable expressions during Patrick Stewart’s seven-season run as the commander of the USS Enterprise-D. Unlike the more impulsive Captain James T. Kirk, Picard was known for his measured leadership, intellectual curiosity and ability to make difficult decisions without losing his composure. Bezos’ admiration for the character was not simply a passing interest in a popular television series. According to Inc. Magazine, Bezos hosted a party at his Upper West Side apartment on May 23, 1994, to watch the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The two-hour finale aired as Bezos was preparing to leave Wall Street and begin building what would become one of the world’s biggest companies.
The episode ended with Picard finally joining his senior officers for their regular poker game, something he had avoided throughout much of the series. His closing words were, “So, five-card stud, nothing wild… and the sky’s the limit.” Bezos might have made the line as a personal motto, considering what followed in his own career. The company eventually took the name Amazon, inspired by the enormous South American river, while MakeItSo.com remained an interesting footnote in its history.
Bezos eventually found his way into a Star Trek movie
His affection for the franchise did not end with the company’s naming discussions or that farewell party in 1994. More than two decades later, Bezos fulfilled another personal ambition by securing a cameo in Justin Lin’s 2016 film Star Trek Beyond. The appearance was entirely his idea, following years of attempts to convince Paramount to let him feature in a Star Trek movie. Bezos wanted a speaking role in a scene important enough to survive the final edit, even offering to wear extensive makeup and facial prosthetics so that audiences would not recognise him.
He eventually appeared as an alien Starfleet official preparing a rescued spacefarer, played by Lydia Wilson, for an auto-translated interview with Captain Kirk and another Starfleet officer. His character delivers the brief instruction “Speak normally” before walking out of the frame, with the entire appearance lasting approximately eight seconds. Director Justin Lin later praised Bezos’ enthusiasm and said he delivered his scenes successfully despite having to wait around for much of the filming day. Bezos subsequently described the cameo as a childhood dream come true and a bucket-list experience.
When Captain Picard finally met his biggest admirer
Perhaps the most amusing chapter came in November 2019, when Patrick Stewart himself visited Amazon’s Seattle headquarters alongside Alex Kurtzman, the producer of the upcoming Star Trek: Picard series. The visit followed an agreement announced earlier that year between CBS and Amazon, under which Prime Video would distribute the series in more than 200 countries and territories outside the United States and Canada, with episodes becoming available within 24 hours of their American premiere. Bezos took Stewart to meet the writers responsible for Alexa’s jokes and demonstrated the assistant’s ability to answer one of the franchise’s most enduring questions: Was Picard or Kirk the better captain? Bezos had already publicly chosen Picard in an Oscar-themed tweet in 2018, and Alexa unsurprisingly agreed with its creator when Stewart asked the question himself.
Bezos also demonstrated Alexa’s Shakespeare-themed humour, including a joke about Macbeth crossing the road to get to the regicide, an amusing choice given Stewart’s celebrated theatrical career. The meeting produced some delightful photographs and videos, including one shared by Bezos on Instagram showing the two men laughing together. There was something rather fitting about the encounter, considering that Bezos had once considered naming his company after Stewart’s most famous television character. Picard never became part of Amazon’s corporate identity, but his influence on its founder remains a fascinating piece of the company’s history. And for a businessman who eventually turned his attention from online retail to building rockets, the captain’s final words about the sky being the limit seem like a rather appropriate way to remember the connection.
