Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk face off in crazy 'Star Trek' deepfake

Unsettling in so many ways.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk face off in crazy 'Star Trek' deepfake

The Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk rivalry is moving ahead at warp speed thanks to a new Star Trek deepfake.

The video, created by TheFakening, casts Bezos as a member of the alien Talosians, while Musk becomes Enterprise captain Christopher Pike. (The clip comes from the original Star Trek pilot, titled "The Cage," which never aired. Parts of it were repurposed for a later episode of the show titled "The Menagerie.")

In the episode, the Talosians (who use those big brains to project illusions) capture Pike and try to trick him into falling in love with a woman so that he can help breed a new race that will help the Talosians rebuild their destroyed civilization. Given that context, it's pretty clear where TheFakening's preferences lie between Bezos and Musk.


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As The Verge notes, the clip has been further edited from its original format, removing dialog from other characters. Without better understanding of the full episode, it's probably confusing to most viewers. But the quality of the deepfake won't be lost on anyone.

It's also not the first time that Bezos has been portrayed as a member of the Talosians. South Park featured the villainous, large-skulled Bezos in the December 2018 episode "Unfulfilled."

There's a strong chance TheFakening's video is an homage of sorts to the South Park episode but, either way, Bezos as a Talosian can not be unseen.

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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