Culture

Leonard Nimoy beams up

Colin Slark
Team Member

t the age of 83, Leonard Nimoy has

passed away from Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD). A photographer,
singer, poet, director, and actor, Nimoy will
best be remembered for things like his guest
appearance in the Simpsons episode “Marge
vs. The Monorail”, his Tolkien inspired
song “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”, voice
acting the encyclopedia in the video game
Civilization IV, his advertisements for laserdisc
players, and his role on sci-fi TV show Fringe
as mysterious scientist William Bell. Oh, and
that whole Star Trek thing too.

Nimoy played the Enterprise’s first officer
Mr. Spock starting in 1966 and appeared

in 103 TV episodes (including Star Trek:

The Animated Series) over three different
series, voiced Spock in two video games,
and portrayed the character in 8 Star Trek
movies, even as recently as the 2013 film
Star Trek Into Darkness. Nimoy even directed
two Star Trek films, The Search For Spock and
The Voyage Home. While William Shatner’s
Captain Kirk was supposed to be the

lead, it was Spock that captured people’s
imaginations. Star Trek portrayed a utopic
future in which humanity had shed most of
their flaws to create a peaceful intergalactic
society. As the one outsider character on the
show, being half-alien, the audience could
absorb Star Trek’s lessons through Spock.

As Spock learned about what it meant to be
human, so did we. As well, the fact that an
alien was welcomed onto the Enterprise was
a powerful message about co-existence and
xenophobia during the Cold War. Despite
frequent in-show references to his being
cold and logical (especially Dr. McCoy calling
Spock a “green blooded hobgoblin”), Spock
was the wise heart of the show. All this was
possible because of Nimoy’s performances.

It would almost seem inappropriate to
remember a man that did so many things

for only a single aspect of his life. Except,
that one thing was so important for so

many people. NASA tweeted that Nimoy
inspired many of their employees. A fictional
astronaut inspired real ones. President
Barack Obama said that he “loved” Spock

in a press statement. Spock was a scientist,
an outsider, and yet was still cool.

According to fellow Trek cast member
Walter Koenig, Nimoy once found out
that Nichelle Nichols was getting paid less
than her male colleagues and fought to
have her pay raised. Clearly, his wisdom
was not just an act for the cameras.

As a nerdy kid who grew up watching

Star Trek, it feels like one of The Beatles
just died. I watched the movies with the
original cast countless times. When I stayed
home sick from school, there was usually
some channel playing some episode of Star
Trek. One of the first video games I ever
owned was a Star Trek adventure game

with voice acting by the original cast.

Spock was always around, and no matter how
silly things got, or how awful the writing
was, Nimoy always gave 100 percent. People
were saddened when Robin Williams died
because this figure that was omnipresent

in the media they consumed and loved

as a child was gone forever. That is how I

feel about Leonard Nimoy. He was a man

that leaves a long-lasting legacy, having
entertained and inspired people for decades.

I was going to end this article by writing how
Nimoy lived long and prospered, but I think
the last tweet he posted before he died is
more fitting. “A life is like a garden. Perfect
moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. Live long and prosper.”