Leonard Nimoy/Spock

Before I leave the subject of Leonard Nimoy, I would like to add the following.

For me, Nimoy/Spock is the cornerstone of Star Trek. Here are some stats:

• He appeared in all 80 episodes of TOS, which nobody else did.
• He appeared (if that is the right word) in all 22 episodes of "The Animated Series".
• He appeared in 2 episodes of "The Next Generation", which no other TOS actor did.
• He appeared in 8 of the movies, including the two most recent movies.
• He directed 2 of the movies, which no other Star Trek actor did.
• His son, Adam, directed 2 TNG episodes.

The man is a legend.

Here is an interview he gave to Pharrell Williams. Towards the end, he had the following to say:

The Spock character opened up my life,  personally and creatively. It created great opportunities for me to do work that I chose to do, rather than work that I had to do to make a living. I had choices for the first time in many years. And still, to this day, I consider it a great opportunity and a blessing to live a creative life; to live a life that has to do with finding ideas and expressing ideas; and hopefully making a contribution to the human condition.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

I have a huge amount of fondness for ST:TMP. I know lots of people dislike it or dismiss it, but I am not one of them. Obviously I am aware that it was very slow, and perhaps ponderous, but I like it nevertheless.

I think there are a few reasons for this:

1) I was so delighted at the time to see the characters I loved appearing on the big screen.

2) Apart from the pace, I think there was a lot to like. The movie looked great. The visual and sound effects were great. The score was great.The development of the Spock character was great.

3) When I was on my way to an interview for my second job (back in 1981) I stopped off in the Brown Thomas shop (then called Switzer's) and they were playing the movie on a LaserDisc player. I was early for my interview so I stayed for a while and watched some of the movie. When I left and headed off the the interview I was feeling great. No wonder I got that job!

One of the people who doesn't seem to have great things to say about that movie is Leonard Nimoy. Here is what he had to say:

I think he [Robert Wise] and Gene Roddenberry were looking for a [2001: A] Space Odyssey kind of thing, like [Stanley] Kubrick had done. A cold, cool “we’re out here in space and it’s kind of quiet and things move very slowly.” [laughs] There was a lot of that and a lot of cerebral stuff. There wasn’t enough drama. It just wasn’t a Star Trek movie really. It had the Star Trek people, but it didn’t use us as Star Trek characters very well.

And here is the video where he said this (starts at  5:39)

Leonard Nimoy Interviews (1966, 1967)

The following video shows two interview which Leonard Nimoy did during the filming of Season One and just before the start of filming of Season Two.

I had never seen them before and they are quite interesting. He even speaks of his singing career!

Nimoy and Quinto Together (Great Ad)

Here's a fantastic advert featuring Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto.

The punchline (and there is no need for a punch!) is excellent.

New Spock's Tribute to Old (Real) Spock

Zachary Quinto appeared on Conan and had some really nice things to say about Leonard Nimoy.

He spoke very nicely about him.

You can see it here:

Live Long and Prosper, Spock

Star Trek (the original series) was one of my favourite TV shows of all time.

And Mr Spock was my favourite TV character of all time.

The first episode of Start Trek was "The Man Trap" and was broadcast in October 1969. I remember watching it on Irish television. I'm not sure if it was broadcast in October or if there was a delay. If there wasn't, then I was 7.5 years old. I remember seeing ads for it in advance and looking forward to it. And I remember that episode scared the heck out of me (but didn't stop me from watching subsequent episodes!)

As I watched the show, I wanted to BE Mr Spock.

As I look back on it now, it is clear that he was like a superhero for that time: he was stronger and smarter than the humans around him. And he had the Vulcan nerve pinch, and the Vulcan mind meld".

But the thing which impressed me most was his ability to control his mind, and to control his emotions. How I wanted to be able to do that!

I was particularly impressed by an episode called "Operation: Annihilate!" where Spock was able to resist the control of a parasite which was causing him extreme pain to force him to do what it wanted. And then (to cap it all) Spock was blinded and then had his sight restored because he had a special Vulcan extra eyelid.

So the coolest thing for me would have been to have been able to exert that kind of self control. I didn't manage to achieve that, of course, although I did manage to master the Vulcan salute and the single raised eyebrow!

Here are some photos of Mr Spock and Mr Nimoy, mostly from the original series. Inevitably Captain Kirk appears in a few of them as well. Interestingly, the one with him holding the model of the Enterprise seems to be related to the picture I included in my posting on ASCII Art some time ago.