Leonard Nimoy , RIP.*

One Spock Star Trek quote has saved me a lot of money on this forum and elsewhere.
"You may find that having is not nearly as pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical, but it is true. "
R.I.P Leonard.

 

Here is the correct link for the statement made by President Obama.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/27/statement-president-passing-leonard-nimoy

 

I've had this LP for many years and had no idea of its value.

 

One thing that always struck me about Nimoy is that he got along with Shatner, where other cast members such as Takei and Doohan couldn't stand him.

 

I saw my first Star Trek episode in 1971, two years after it had finished its network run on NBC and after it started running in syndication.

From the start, I was hooked.

I was a huge fan of aviation, the US Space Program, and Science Fiction at the time, and this show really resonated with me as I could see that even with its occasional flaws, it was truly an earnest attempt to present serious Sci-Fi concepts on Television, which up until then, had been pretty much seen by serious Sci-Fi fans as a bug eyed monster medium with the possible exceptions of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone.

Leonard Nimoy had a lot to do with Star Trek: TOS becoming a success, perhaps even more so than William Shatner as the iconic James T Kirk. In the hands of a lessor actor, Spock may have become nothing more than a mere mascot to Kirk, a gimmick with silly ears to be exploited by the Network suits to garner ratings, or worse, cosmic comedic relief.

But Nimoy took hold of the character from the start and masterfully portrayed Spock as a man truly without a country, neither truly Vulcan nor truly human, and that sense of intense isolation and alienation was always there, just below the surface, even when Spock was at his most scientifically brilliant and eminently logical. Spock encapsulated subtly but tangibly that intense sense of loneliness that we all have felt as human beings when we have been excluded, marginalized, ridiculed, or ignored.

Ironically, this alien being was forced to conceal some of the most powerful negative human emotions that we are able to experience as well as some of the most positive. His level of respect and love that he obviously felt for Kirk and McCoy could never be fully expressed as long as he maintained his identification as a Vulcan. It was a constant inner battle that you could feel in Spock whenever he was on screen.

And that is the best testament that I can give to Leonard Nimoy's superlative acting ability. In our eyes, Spock the character truly became Spock the man. And as such, we empathized with his constant inner struggle, and we truly cared about him. And we wanted nothing more than for him to someday find that same level of happiness that we spend most of our lives trying to find for ourselves.

I only hope that Mr. Nimoy fully understood, among his many other accomplishments, just what an incredible accomplishment his interpretation of Spock truly was, and just how important and endearing the character of Spock has become to so many people around the World.

RIP Leonard Nimoy

RIP Spock

May you both find happiness and peace

 

Not true. His gifts to us live on. The John Lennon of the Star Trek cast, and as much of an icon to my generation as Bob Hope was to my parents' generation. May we all live long and prosper. Thank you, Mr. Nimoy.

 

Watched that episode last night! Good one.

 

My exact thought yesterday, "he was the John Lennon of Star Trek".

 

I missed seeing the first season of Star Trek (TOS) in its initial run, but caught it in reruns. In the fall of 1966 we were living in northern Canada, and the TV station carried a smattering of American programs (Ed Sullivan, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, to name 3) but mostly Canadian programming, being a CBC station. We returned to the United States in November, and I started watching an Irwin Allen show called The Time Tunnel, which was on ABC opposite Star Trek. One night we were in Sears, and I was in the TV department and they had the sets on NBC and I remember thinking that I had been missing a hugely superior show. I started watching Star Trek from then on. Spock was my favorite character in the show; I loved his logic, and his loyalty to Captain Kirk and the rest of the crew. Leonard Nimoy's acting was superlative; he drew you into the story with his performance. As a 12 year-old, I wanted to be like Spock, and it gave me a love for the sciences (even though I'm not a scientist) that has lasted all my life. Thank you, Mr. Nimoy for sharing your talent with the world. We are richer because you were in it.

 

We should be grateful that he played in Star Trek instead of Star Wars.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/02/27/wolf-bpr-nimoy-dies-george-takei.cnn

 

Paul was part Kirk, part Scotty. Ringo was was Chekov.

And Pete Best was definitely one of those redshirt guys who gets killed 5 minutes after landing on an uncharted planet.

 

He starred in my favorite episode of Columbo.
RIP Mr Nimoy.

 

Jeffrey Hunter would be Decca records.

 

Here is the statement made by President Obama.

Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy. Leonard was a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his talent and his time. And of course, Leonard was Spock. Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future.

I loved Spock.

In 2007, I had the chance to meet Leonard in person. It was only logical to greet him with the Vulcan salute, the universal sign for “Live long and prosper.” And after 83 years on this planet – and on his visits to many others – it’s clear Leonard Nimoy did just that. Michelle and I join his family, friends, and countless fans who miss him so dearly today.

 

From News Reports:

Sadly, when Nimoy is laid to rest, his “Star Trek” captain will be absent.
William Shatner took to Twitter to express regret that he will have to miss his co-star and longtime friend’s service, which is scheduled for Sunday in a private ceremony.

“I am currently in FL as I agreed to appear at the Red Cross Ball tonight. Leonard’s funeral is tomorrow. I can’t make it back in time,” he wrote Saturday afternoon. “I feel really awful. Here I am doing charity work and one of my dearest friends is being buried,” Shatner said.

Shatner, who played Capt. Kirk in the TV series and movies, wrote his more than 2 million followers that he was “humbled by the worldwide outpouring of love that has been displayed; words cannot express my feelings.”
After being honored at Red Cross’ Palm Beach event, Shatner hopes to have a memorial for his friend in Florida. “So maybe tomorrow we come together here and celebrate his life,” he wrote.

-------------------------------------------------

I guess I just don't understand, why, someone with Bill Shatner's "connections", couldn't find a way to be flown back to LA tonight.

But, having a memorial for his friend, is probably best, in the end...

 

When you get to be these guys' age of 80-something, the workout of flying across country and hopping into various modes of transportation and checking into hotels is just stressful and exhausting. I don't really blame him.

 

They were pretty good friends, but Jewish funeral practices make it difficult to get to the services, since the body is typically buried within 24 hours of death (no embalming). And Shatner has always been hyper-professional. His father died while they were shooting the Trek episode "Devil In The Dark" and he absolutely refused to leave the set. He shot a bunch of scenes that day, and you'd never know it from his performance in them. If memory serves he leaned on Nimoy a bit that day and the two became a bit closer as a result.

I know Nimoy would want him to stay and do the charity fundraiser. Plenty of time to sit shiva later...

 

Shatner is almost exactly the same age as Nimoy - 83, about to turn 84. So yeah, a rushed cross-country flight is probably not a great idea.

 

Okay, I see it now.

 

People forget that Mr. Nimoy's character Mr. Spock has been a global cultural icon for nearly half a century, as "Star Trek" will be commemorating the Original Series' 50th ANNIVERSARY next year...the passage of time spares no one and now only Mr. Shatner is left from the series' original Big 3, the other 2 being Mr. Nimoy and DeForest Kelley(Dr. McCoy)...everyone on the show is either getting on in years or dead and this past week's loss is a POWERFUL reminder of that to ALL of us...

 

Very sad news. RIP.

 

When someone gets to that age, you never quite know about their ability to do things. My great-aunt once visited us when she was 80. It quite literally took her six hours to drive 60 miles. Shatner is in Florida to raise money for charity, not sitting in a Beverly Hills mansion watching "T J Hooker" episodes. I've seen posts on the web criticizing him for this and I think it's wrong.