That's How I Roll

I was pretty good at math in high school, and I always liked outer space stuff. But for some reason, my life did not follow any sort of path that would have led me to lock synapses with the likes of Hawking, Chandrasekhar, or Brian May. I did once meet Major Astro, and I did once videotape a lecture that featured Mike Massimino (who has appeared on "The Big Bang Theory"), but I never actually used any of my brain cells to develop cosmological equations of any kind. Sigh.

[NOTE: Yes, the guitarist for Queen does indeed a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. I thought everyone knew that. Geez.]

Yet the fact that some of our puzzle's featured celebrities do have outer-space connections has nothing to do with the answer I was looking for. I was going after a progression that the experienced in common. Did you figure out what it was?



Yep, that's right: They all ended up in wheelchairs.



On the left is Stephen Hawking, who is an actual scientist and wheelchair inhabitant in real life. The rest of the fellows are actors who took on the wheels in portraying fictional characters.

Panel 2 is Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter in the yellow shirt, and by Sean Kenney in the body box. (FYI: Sean Kenney also played Star Fleet employee DePaul in a couple of other episodes. I wonder if they had to pay him union scale for a speaking role for beeping as Pike?) On a related topic, one of my greatest disappointments in my life was when my son rejected my idea for calling his band "Pike's Wheelchair." It's a great idea; let me know if you'd like to purchase the rights to use it for your band, OK?

Panel 3 is Chief Robert Ironside (aka Perry Mason), and next to him is Locutus of Borg, who eventually took on the role of chair-bound mutant Professor Xavier for the X-Men franchise. And the last guy might've been difficult for our younger readers to recognize. He is Lionel Barrymore, best known today for being the great-uncle of Drew Barrymore. But in his time, he was as famous as Matthew McConaughey or Seth Rogan. His wheelchair role was as the crusty skinflint Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life."

So, in summary...today's lesson is that each person matters, even if they only work for a struggling Building and Loan, or are stuck in a menagerie on Talos IV.

If you're interested in other examples of outstanding individuals who perform well in wheelchairs, check out this and this. For astrophysicist guitar riffs, click here.

That's all for today. Enjoy the next snowstorm, and have a great day!