He Am Not Spock

Few artists transcend the niche of their genre and become icons of popular culture.

Famed for his portrayal of Mr Spock in Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy has become not just the face of Paramount’s premier franchise, but the face of science fiction itself.

He might now be dead, but true to his character’s signature sign-off, he’s lived long and prospered, and as my good friend Daniel Tessier counts down his top ten “Am Spock” moments for Immaterial, in this iReckon companion piece I celebrate the man’s prosperous work outside Trek with my top five “Not Spock” Nimoy accomplishments.

5. THE BALLAD OF BILBO BAGGINS

Before Peter Jackson’s live action Lord of the Rings was even a pipe dream, this camp but quaint single from Nimoy’s second album had fans clamouring for a film series with the Enterprise’s then-incumbent first officer swapping phaser for sword to play Aragorn.

4. THE TRANSPORTER MALFUNCTION /
THE SPRINGFIELD FILES

It’s inevitable though that Nimoy’s most noted works after Star Trek were in some way borne of it, and his 2012 cameo in The Big Bang Theory is a brilliant example of this. A hilarious payoff to almost five years of fact-accurate Spock jokes and jibes, Nimoy’s appearance as the voice of Sheldon’s Spock action figure in “The Transporter Malfunction” was a dream come true in every sense. And this wasn’t Nimoy’s first comic cameo; my favourite dates back to the mid-1990s, when he successfully hijacked a supposed X-Files episode of The Simpsons, outshining the then-red hot David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson at every turn.

Quite rightly, his appearance in “The Springfield Files” was recently heralded by The Guardian as “one of the best Simpsons cameos ever”, which is not faint praise given the three star-studded decades that the series has spanned. Indeed, Nimoy’s second appearance in The Simpsons reinforces his rightful place as the face of sci-fi, while at the same time showcasing his penchant for the driest of humour.

3. I AM NOT SPOCK / I AM SPOCK

Not quite the rejection of the part that its title implies, Nimoy’s first autobiography set out to separate the playful poet, passionate photographer and occasional singer / songwriter from his typecast part, unintentionally sparking a maelstrom of controversy that gave the mooted Star Trek II television series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture far more column inches than they would otherwise have had.

Twenty years on from its controversial first instalment, Nimoy then buried his tongue in his cheek to complete his autobiography. Though the follow-up’s title of I Am Spock seems to contradict that of the earlier volume, it’s actually thematically identical, continuing to explore the gulf between actor and character, at times even pitting the two against one another as the Vulcan questions the actor’s illogic. I don’t generally pick up an actor’s biography expecting to find innovative literary devices in use or thought-provoking psychological schisms buried at the book’s heart, but in this outwardly Trek-friendly sequel, Nimoy delivers both.

 

2. THE TRANSFORMERS

Nimoy’s tones of liquid silver lent themselves perfectly to the part of Galvatron - the incoming Decepticon leader in Hasbro’s 1986 toy line, and thus the main antagonist in one of the bloodiest (well, oiliest) and most underrated movies of the 1980s. Alongside screen legends the like of Orson Welles and Eric Idle, this spectacular animated feature saw Nimoy carve himself a place in the next generation’s childhood memories too.

1. RISING ABOVE “SPOCK DEAD: LIVE”

There are reasons I try to avoid the news, and offensive headlines the like of, “How is Stephen Hawkins Still Alive?”, and, of course, The Mirror Online’s “Spock Dead: Live” are just two of them. But, with a dignified and stirring tweet (above) that rose above the insensitive media cash-in, Nimoy left us ruminating on his touching words that, quite fittingly, muddied the waters between the myth and the man for one final time. LLAP...