Leonard Nimoy - Fascinating.....

I’ve never been a true sci-fi geek. I’m not actually antipathetic; I’ve enjoyed many TV series set in the future, encounters with weird and wonderful Doctor Who monsters and went through a science fiction book phase in my teens, lapping up books by the likes of Asimov, Wyndham, Anderson and Dick. However, I’m not a fully-fledged student of the genre. It might sound sacrilegious but the Star Wars canon leaves me cold.  

But one TV favourite which undoubtedly gripped and entertained me was Star Trek.

I first watched it by accident. One Saturday teatime in July 1969, immediately following Grandstand, this American interloper appeared unbidden in the Doctor Who slot. At first I was horrified that Patrick Troughton’s archaic Tardis had been usurped by some swanky spaceship. However it quickly won me over.

Even in musty monochrome, Star Trek delivered a splash of colour to the genre, with more action in a single episode than an entire run of Doctor Who. It could also be genuinely frightening to a reserved eight year-old. I can still recall the fear I felt while watching the two-parter The Menagerie, which went way beyond sofa-hiding to avoid a few shiny Cybermen. The series also introduced me to teleportation, warp factor speeds, split infinitives, the intriguingly-shaped USS Enterprise and above all the even more intriguingly-shaped ears of the ship’s science officer Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy.

William Shatner may have been the de facto star on account of his character Captain Kirk being the head honcho aboard the Enterprise but for me and most of my friends it was Nimoy’s Spock who was the most popular. He even made science nerds cool. Kirk was the action man who got the girls but, no matter how much Shatner resorted to sub-Shakespearean over-acting, making every speech resemble Olivier’s Henry V, Nimoy simply blew him off the screen with a single lift of an eyebrow.

Star Trek complemented the real-life space race mania rocking the world at the time. The Apollo missions to the moon may have been forged in the Cold War political furnace but, by 1969, the whole world seemed to be rooting for the US astronauts. Series creator Gene Roddenberry’s vision was an admirable one, featuring lead characters representing the whole planet in Sulu, Chekhov and engineer Scottie. He even defied the ingrained Republican racism of the era by making Lt. Uhura an African American, even if she spent most scenes with what looked like a plug in her ear. And yet Spock went one step further by being half-alien, explaining his resolute adherence to logic and emotionless expression – and of course those pointy ears.

Apparently it was Nimoy who came up with the split-finger greeting - which we youngsters always tried so hard to emulate (I was rubbish) - and also the Vulcan death grip. Both singled out Spock as a calm man of science in contrast to Kirk’s penchant for phaser and fists. Nevertheless his persona did occasionally undergo shocking changes. One or two episodes were more memorable because Spock was afflicted by some weird gas or brain imbalance which allowed Nimoy to release his inner Shatner. I even remember his actually smiling and shouting in a few scenes. Shock, horror!

But we weren’t really content unless Spock was in normal mode, injecting some welcome humour into proceedings. The best dialogue invariably involved Spock and Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy. Both men of science, they offered great contrasts in emotional intelligence, setting up some brilliant exchanges. For all the memorable images of the boy Spock owning a teddy bear, nothing could really surpass Nimoy’s quizzical eyebrow and the singular word summing up his character’s opinion of human behaviour: “Fascinating”

I did get to see Star Trek in all its colourful glory when constantly repeated throughout the Seventies and beyond. Yet I never really bought into the movie franchise, nor the interminable TV prequels, sequels and assorted spin-offs. Unknown to me at the time the original series was first shown by the BBC, it had already been dropped in the States. Leonard Nimoy was already appearing in another Beeb import which I enjoyed watching in the early ‘70s, Mission: Impossible.

Along with Phelps, Barnie and self-destructing cassettes, I most vividly recall the actor Martin Landau, but he was replaced in the series by Leonard Nimoy as Paris. As with Star Trek, I think the BBC screened episodes, and probably whole series, out of chronological order but whenever I watched a programme featuring Paris, it seemed somehow wrong. Why is Spock laughing? Why the baffling attempts to speak with a Latin American or Japanese accent? And what’s happened to his ears?

For all his numerous TV and film credits, as actor, writer and director, Leonard Nimoy will forever be remembered as Spock. That voice was so rich it was gold dust to any advertising director seeking a voiceover. Sadly he resorted to recording several albums as singer, a few performing as Spock but three delivering excruciating covers of popular songs. At least they weren’t as unintentionally hilarious as Shatner’s efforts! No, we must remember Nimoy for creating the greatest sci-fi character of them all. Even after death, may he live long and prosper….