Found out about the death of Leonard Nimoy after a long and exhausting teaching day. Rather felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me. Spock was an early fierce crush, and I've been a Vulcan Wannabe all my life, of course. Weirdly, I found the President's comments especially moving:
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.
I suspect that the first time I ever saw Leonard Nimoy
ReplyDeleteon television must have been in a second-season
episode of the original _The Outer Limits_
in the fall of 1964 (I was in 7th grade). Nimoy played
a reporter covering the murder trial of a sentient robot
accused of killing its creator (ah, the Age of the Fedora):
"I, Robot" 1964
http://www.homevideos.com/freezes-outerlimits/OL-I-Robot37.jpeg
The actress standing next to Nimoy in that shot (playing
"Nina Link", the robot's creator's niece and heir) is
Marianna Hill, who also guest-starred in a first-season
_Star Trek_ episode, "Dagger of the Mind" as "Dr. Helen Noel"
["Don't you remember? The science lab Christmas party?"
Kirk (whispering): "Yes, yes, I remember!" Spock: "Problem,
Captain?"]
http://hdwallpapers.cat/wallpaper/helen_noel_trek_star_marianna_hill_dagger_hd-wallpaper-1193199.jpg
I certainly didn't remember Nimoy from that _Outer Limits_
episode when _Star Trek_ premiered a couple of years later,
and wouldn't make the connection until more than
20 years later when David Schow's original _The Outer Limits
Companion_ was published in '86.
(Nimoy also appeared in the "new" _Outer Limits_ remake of
the episode, this time as the robot's defense attorney:
"I, Robot" 1995
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ksZfl2CTtCE/T3hKzFJLG6I/AAAAAAAAFoU/sLCMhyXUAl0/s1600/img231.jpg )
I didn't particularly like that second-season original _Outer Limits_
episode (or any of the second-season shows, for that matter, except
maybe for Harlan Ellison's "Demon with a Glass Hand"), but I did
get hooked on the Binders' "Adam Link" robot stories via a comic-book
adaptation of them that first appeared in the April 1965 issue
(No. 2) of _Creepy_ magazine, which a neighborhood friend introduced me to.
_Creepy_ wasn't my usual fare -- I liked science fiction, but
I was always scared of horror stuff (vampires and ghouls and ghosts,
coffins and graveyards) and graphic depictions of horror all the more so.
Very shortly afterward I acquired the paperback story collection
_Adam Link, Robot_ (Paperback Library, 1965; I seem to remember this
as a mail-order purchase).
http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/cremins1.jpeg
You had a crush on Mr. Spock. I actually had a bit of a crush,
I think, on Adam Link. ;->
> "I Grieve With Thee" -- T'pau
ReplyDeleteYou know, one bitter irony in the death of a human actor
in his early 80s who was known for playing a member of
a long-lived alien race is that in the show that demonstrated
the mere-human vulnerability to aging, Spock was the one
who was almost unaffected (except for a slight dusting of
grey) -- "The Deadly Years". And, of course, in subsequent
shows it was established that 100 (earth) years is "middle-aged"
for a Vulcan ("Journey to Babel").
I gather that "canon" is that the Vulcan life span was
supposed to be about 250 earth-years.
T'Pau was presumably quite ancient in "Amok Time".
Of course, though Vulcans are "space Elves" according to
TV Tropes, this doesn't compare with the longevity of
Tolkien's "immortals" (though only immortal, as he would
be quick to point out, within the life of Arda).
"For the Elves die not til the world dies, unless they
are slain or waste in grief (and to both these seeming
deaths they are subject); neither does age subdue their
strength, unless one grow weary of ten thousand centuries;
and dying they are gathered to the halls of Mandos in Valinor,
whence they may in time return. But the sons of Men die indeed,
and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests,
or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar,
which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy."
And of course Tuvok's longevity enables enjoyable shenanigans between the film franchise and Voyager. Interesting that Nimoy's turn in another canon-worthy sf-series, as William Bell, allowed him to play Spock's obverse, an immoderate human, all too human, techno-transcendentalist willing to destroy life to live his way. I must say I personally think of Vulcans less as space-elves, than of elves as curiously Earth-fixated Vulcans who are more than a little crazy.
ReplyDelete