nimsy whimsy

leonard nimoy
1931-2015
Once, a child grew up in the 70s. His introverted eyes looked around at this competitive, greedy, violent, racist, sexist society, and he knew it had nothing to do with him. He was accepting and secure though, so he never rebelled (at least not on the outside). The first time in his life he experienced a moment of pure identification was when he heard the song "Being Green". Until then, he'd been content knowing he was alone in the world.
The second time he felt that feeling of identification, was watching a television show called STAR TREK.
And a character named spock.
Not being inclined to idolatry, his recognition with this half-alien character didn't change him greatly. He didn't ape spock's expressions or neck-pinch strangers, he just smiled at the wonder of it all. As with spock, the people around him seemed overemotional and lacking in critical thought. One day, he noticed that he also had two different ears...the right one normally-rounded, and the left one uncurled at the top. Kind of pointed. He noticed that he never seemed to get hurt on his left side, as though it were stronger (a few years later, he laughed at the illogic in that observation - being right-handed, of course he would have more right side injuries). While he never imagined himself to be literally non-human (or half-vulcan), he smiled at the thought. Though he sported no spock haircut or perpetual vulcan salute, an observer could have seen signs of his affection. A poster of kirk and spock adorned his wall for a few years. He had a couple of the 8-inch action figures, plus a communicator, phaser, and tricorder assembled from a model kit. The show fed his sense of play, as surely as it fed the spirit of the pacifistic, agnostic, vegan, feminist, non-racist, non-materialist adult he was to become.
That grown-up child now offers his thanks to an actor he never met.
Your contributions to the STAR TREK universe, leonard, and to one character in particular, went far beyond what's generally offered up in your profession. Your input to vulcan lore, and struggles to defend spock's integrity, are at the heart of TREK mythology.
We live in a world where viewers develop intense feelings for television characters. It's partially a survival mechanism - in our culture of crippling alienation, TV "friends" give us a sense of comfort and acceptance that's impossible to duplicate in real life. Science has come to understand that subconsciously, our brains often don't know the difference between fantasy and reality. In that light, TV characters can be as "real" to us as any living person. Out of sad necessity, some take these relationships too far. TV characters never disappoint. They never betray. But it's illogical to stop trying to love, and be loved, by real people.
It's tempting. Perhaps even sensible...but illogical.
If my brain is studied post-mortem, scientists may learn that some of my closest friends were named hawkeye, seaborn, and spock. That's not a bad thing. At its best, TV can show humanity where we're going.
By that measure (and most others), STAR TREK was television's greatest show ever.
Thank you, leonard.
Eighty classic episodes. Twenty-two animated. One NEXT GEN. Six movies (of which he also directed two, including THE VOYAGE HOME, plus story credits for 4 and 6, and a one-film tenure as franchise executive producer). One TWILIGHT ZONE, three OUTER LIMITS, forty-nine MISSION: IMPOSSIBLEs, one-hundred forty-six IN SEARCH OFs..., INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, one COLUMBO, two T.J. HOOKERs, THREE MEN AND A BABY, THE PAGEMASTER, two SIMPSONS, one DUCKMAN, a BECKER, eleven FRINGEs, and the son of sarek swan song - one brilliant BIG BANG THEORY.
Director. Writer. Photographer.
Do we forgive his dalliances in the abrams re-boots? Of course. You were in your eighth decade, leonard - you can be forgiven for losing artistic focus, or even just grabbing a paycheck (we trust you spent it wisely). We accept your refusal to be a part of GENERATIONS, and we're ready to embrace the thought that that was the right choice for the franchise, and possibly the movie too (even if those weren't your primary motivations).
You lived long, leonard.
And we prospered.
ULTIMATE SPOCK-A-THON
-The Galileo Seven
-Amok Time

-The Enterprise Incident
-Journey to Babel
-This Side of Paradise
-All Our Yesterdays
-the death scene from THE WRATH OF KHAN
-the sarek scene from THE VOYAGE HOME
-Unification TNG

harve bennett
1930-2015
In the 1982 TV movie A WOMAN CALLED GOLDA, ingrid bergman played her final role - and leonard played her husband. This biopic about israeli prime minister golda meir was produced by harve bennett. Later that year, he would produce STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, and take over as franchise executive producer. His seven-year tenure coincided with nimoy's most prolific contributions. After bob justman, harve is probably the most unappreciated contributor to STAR TREK's history. He was a producer/writer (THE MOD SQUAD, THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, THE BIONIC WOMAN, TIME TRAX) who replaced roddenberry when the studio lost faith in gene after STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Had KHAN not been big, the franchise might have folded. Aside from producing TREKs 2-5, he created the stories for 2, 4, and 5, and wrote both 3 and 4. To equate him with roddenberry is misleading, inasmuch as gene himself was never solely responsible for the show; from the beginning, TREK was a collective. Was bennett's take on the TREK vision flawed? Yes - he saw humanity's future as one where our nature remains constant, as opposed to the roddenberry vision wherein humanity has evolved. But harve was clearly the right person at the right time, and on TREK's Rushmore, is well-deserving of a spot alongside roddenberry, coon, justman, nimoy, meyer, berman, and frakes (shatner, stewart, and dorn, you're under consideration).