Leonard Nimoyâs Mr. Spock became an enduring TV character
Spock is dead.
This is not the first time. In the 1982 movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, fans reacted with genuine outrage and sadness when the Vulcan died of radiation poisoning.
He was subsequently resurrected in later iterations of the enduring science fiction franchise.
The practice run did not make it easier. This time it is for real. And it seemed fitting that actor Leonard Nimoy’s last tweet on Monday ended with the acronym LLAP.
“Live long and prosper” (or Dif-tor heh smusma in Vulcan) was the salutation that his formidable alter ego, also known as Mr. Spock, made famous on the television show Star Trek.
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It also makes for a poignant epitaph. Nimoy died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Friday in his Los Angeles home. He was 83.
To say that just a year short of half a century, Star Trek remains a cultural phenomenon is something of an understatement.
Much of that popularity was due to a grim-faced, ruthlessly logical and emotionally unavailable alien on a starship whose five-year mission was to seek new worlds. He also made bowl cuts impossibly cool.
The influence of the show, which premiered in 1966, remains supremely significant. It is the codex of the Big Bang Theory generation and is referenced in the comic book and sci-fi-laden TV schedules of today. It also had meaning in the hallways of NASA, academia and beyond.
Nimoy’s resonant voice and regal bearing made the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock a truly noble creation. The character’s strict adherence to logic helped to create a foil where philosophy intersected with science and the show was able to examine contemporary social issues that still resonate. That included race, slavery and euthanasia.
Nimoy received three Emmy Award nominations for his portrayal and TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters of all time.
Nimoy’s final tweet was poetic, yet, like his counterpart, entirely logical in his stoic acceptance of the inevitable.
“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved. Except in memory. LLAP.”
He had already announced on Twitter last year that he had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused by smoking. He encouraged fans to quit.
Despite its outsized impact, the original Star Trek had a remarkably brief run, ending in 1969 after dwindling ratings. It would only start to gain popularity in syndication. Ardent fans calling themselves Trekkers (or sometimes the less preferred Trekkies) would blossom into a full-fledged movement, spawning the dawn of the convention era where fans dressed in costume (cosplay) are now a ubiquitous part of the cultural landscape.
Nimoy proved to be the perfect foil to Captain James T. Kirk, played by Canadian William Shatner.
“I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humour, his talent, and his capacity to love,” Shatner tweeted on Friday.
Nimoy’s science officer character was sidekick to the swashbuckling Kirk. Spock was the more enigmatic character.
While Shatner’s enthusiastic acting bordered on the excruciatingly cheesy, Nimoy’s cerebral minimalism was a study in grace. With the arch of an eyebrow, Mr. Spock made us understand that playing dress-up with spandex and being surrounded by coloured styrofoam rocks could be grand entertainment as well as cultural statement.
After the TV show ended, Nimoy would play Spock in eight Star Trek feature films as well as an animated series. He also directed two of the movies, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
But Nimoy had a somewhat ambivalent relationship to his character. He wrote two books, I Am Not Spock (1975) and, two decades later, I Am Spock, discussing his complex relationship with the character.
Nimoy struggled not to be defined by Spock as much as he came to accept and be grateful for the chance to play someone so seminal in contemporary culture.
After the cancellation of Star Trek, he starred in other TV shows such as Mission: Impossible. He also appeared in the theatre, wrote poetry and was an avid photographer and musician.
Nimoy was born in March 26, 1931 in Boston, Mass., to Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. His father was a barber, his mother a homemaker.
Before Star Trek, he had minor TV roles in Bonanza, Rawhide and Perry Mason. In his 20s, he was also teaching method acting when Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry came calling.
Nimoy wasn’t sure if the pointy ears were for him at first, he would later say in an interview. He wanted to be a serious actor. But it turns out he was an inspired choice: as the son of immigrant outsiders, he already understood what it was to be like to be an alien.
The famous Vulcan salute was something that he originated in the premiere of the second season. In his autobiography, Nimoy said he based that on a priestly blessing that he remembered when his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue when he was a child.
Thanks to Nimoy, Spock will live on in the collective consciousness, far beyond the fictional United Federation of Planets.
“My heart is broken,” said Zachary Quinto, who plays a young Spock in the rebooted Star Trek film series. “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”
Jonathan Frakes, who starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation, said simply “RIP to the Best First Officer.”
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted: “Leonard, you lived long and prospered and were an inspiration to me and to millions. Rest in peace.”
