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Leonard Nimoy died last week, aged 83. While he was an accomplished actor, director, author, and artist, he is, of course, most famous for playing Spock on Star Trek. It is impossible to write about Leonard Nimoy without writing about Spock, so infused was the character with the man. Much of the Vulcan mythos is based on how Nimoy portrayed Spock, and we wouldn’t have the neck pinch, the hand-sign, or “Live long and prosper” without him.

Spock has always been my favorite character in Star Trek. When I started watching The Original Series in earnest during my high school years, Spock was the cool-headed hero and symbol for those of us who never really felt like we exactly fit in (nevermind that my not fitting in was somewhat related to my love of science fiction…). He was half-human, half-Vulcan, and there were always people on both sides who wouldn’t fully accept him because of it. Nevertheless, Spock excelled at being a Science Officer, a Captain, and a friend. Spock was a very large part of my formative years, therefore Leonard Nimoy was, too.

In his last years, he took to Twitter, offering himself “everyone’s honorary grandpa” and telling us things like “Don’t smoke. I did. Wish I never had.” Most tweets ended with his signature “LLAP,” which confused me the first time I saw it, and caused me to smack my forehead for being too dumb not to recognize “Live Long and Prosper” right away.

I never knew him personally, but he had great impact on me and I have been tearing up all weekend at thoughts of his passing. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.

I leave you with two things, both related to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (a movie I’m not going to be able to watch for a long time, I don’t think). The first is a quote from Dr. McCoy in that movie, talking to Captain Kirk after Spock died saving the crew:

“He’s not really dead. As long as we remember him.”

The second is this clip from the first episode of season eight of Seinfeld. George’s fiancée Susan has died, and Jerry is telling George how he quoted Star Trek II while talking to Susan’s parents. The two of them briefly and succinctly react to Spock’s death in that movie:

Tags: Seinfeld, Star Trek

Written by: Mark