For the Love of Spock Page #10

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to make another one."

And I said, "You know, this one that

I just finished, 'Star Trek lll',"

I said, "They had a pretty

tight choke chain on me,

"controlling what I was doing,

"and making me answer

for everything,

and explain everything that I was

doing, and justify everything."

And he said- I'll never forget.

He was wonderful.

He said,

"The training Wheels are off.

We want you to make

your 'Star Trek' movie."

[Gillian Taylor] Well, if it

isn't Robin Hood and Friar Tuck.

Where are you fellas heading?

Back to San Francisco.

Came all of the way down here just to

jump in and swim with the kiddies, huh?

Very little point

in my trying to explain.

Well, yeah, I'll buy that.

What about him?

Him? He's harmless.

Back in the '60s, he was part of the

free speech movement at Berkeley.

I think he did

a little too much IDS.

- IDS?

- Mm-hmm.

Come on. Why don't you

let me give you a lift?

We had our first read-through

at your house on Kashmir.

And there was- He had the

whales' song playing for us.

And I knew then how much

this project meant to him

on a personal level.

He was trying

to get us to get it,

which to me, transcends doing

another "Star Trek" film.

Although, in fact, it actually is what

"Star Trek" has always been about,

which is meaningful issues

about how to live.

[punk rock music playing]

I Just where is our future?

The things we've done and said I

I Let's just push the button

We'd be better off dead I

I 'Cause I hate you I

Excuse me.

I And I berate you I

Excuse me.

Would you mind

stopping that noise?

[music playing louder]

I The only choice we're given

is how many megatons I

Excuse me.

Would you mind stopping

that damn noise?

I And I say screw you .P

I And I hope you're blue too .P

-[music stops]

-[applauding]

"Star Trek lV" was one of the

highlights of Dad's career,

really part of the

pinnacle of his career,

because immediately after that

came "Three Men and a Baby."

[Leonard Nimoy] The making

of "Three Men and a Baby"

was a magical time where everything

came together beautifully.

I felt enormously fortunate

to be involved with the project.

Nice job, Pete.

You know, the "LA Times"

came outwith an article

when that movie came out,

and it was a hit

the winter season,

the holiday season of '87.

"LA Times" talked about the fact that

the hit from the previous holiday season

was a feature film entitled

"Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home,"

and that both of those films happened

to be directed by the same guy.

Then came "The Good Mother",

and my relationship with my

father hit an all-time low.

And you've left her

alone with him?

Well, of course I have. She likes him.

They have fun together, Brian.

Well, ask him about

the fun, Anna.

Well, what are you suggesting, Brian,

that he did something wrong with Molly?

- He did, Anna.

- Well, he didn't.

She told me.

She's told the shrink.

- He did it, Anna!

- No, Brian, he didn't do it!

You ask him!

And you let him!

[Leonard Nimoy] By the time filming

of "The Good Mother" wrapped,

I felt the same way I had at the end

of shooting "Three Men and a Baby."

I thought, "Boy, this could be even more

of a rocket ride than 'Three Men."'

And it was a rocket ride,

all right... straight down.

Box office was disappointing,

and the film soon disappeared

from the theaters.

I started drinking

regularly, ritually,

during probably the second year

or third year of our series.

The ritual became so ingrained

and so important to me,

because I looked forward to that release

at the end of the pressure of the day

with the dialogue, and the pace, and

get 15 pages or 12 pages done today,

and all of that sort of thing.

And the minute we finished the

last shot, I would have a drink.

And then it became

a series of drinks.

And little by little, before I knew

it, I was drinking more and more

because my addictive

personality was taking over.

It was the martinis, you know,

getting a drink when he'd come home,

having a couple drinks.

And, uh... you know, while

it made him more relaxed,

he also shut down.

The habit grew to the power

that it did in my later years

because I didn't have that thought, "I'm

young. I still have a distance to go."

Which is a devilish part

of the disease.

The 1980's were a very

difficult time for my dad.

His parents had recently died,

my grandparents,

within six months of each other.

My dad was going through

a very complicated

and difficult divorce

from my mother.

They had been married

for 32 years.

It was also about this time

that there was a lot of

head-banging between the two of us.

There were a lot of old issues

that were coming up,

and there were a number

of fights between us.

He was also drinking. A lot of

this was fueled by alcohol.

And quite frankly, I was still

getting high at the time,

and that was certainly not

helping matters between us.

[Adam Nimoy] "There's one major

area that I should touch on

"before coming to a conclusion,

"competition with my father.

"This was easy for me

in strangely painful way.

"My father never earned

more than a $150 a week.

"I realize that competition

with me is very tough.

"I am very loud and verbal.

"Also I have been very lucky,

made good money, and I'm famous.

"That's a lot tougher

to deal with

"than me competing against

150-dollar a week barber."

A lot of the problems that I had

with my dad were not that dissimilar

from problems that other

fathers and sons experience.

The difference is that

my dad was adored

by millions of fans

all over the world.

And oftentimes, I felt like I was competing

with them for his love and attention.

And sometimes, I honestly felt

like I was losing the battle.

After we would have one of these

incredible knock-down, drag-out fights,

I would go out into the world and be

confronted by images of Spock everywhere.

["What's On Your Mind" playing]

I I want to know

what you're feeling I

I Tell me what's on your mind .P

Pure energy.

Pure energy.

In 1989, Dad and

Susan got married,

and his domestic life

started to get much better.

She was a real

stabilizing force for him.

And he was very happy with her, and

they were very devoted to each other.

It was at this period of time,

he told me later on,

that he was really

happy with his life,

and yet didn't really understand

why he was still drinking.

And it was at that point that he

started to really, seriously look

at what was happening

with his life.

And he made his decision

to go into his own recovery.

My first images were

photographed with this camera

and enlarged with this camera

and with about 2O cents

worth of Kodak supplies.

And I just became fascinated

with the ability

to create an image,

something that you could hold,

an object you could hold in

your hand, and there it is.

Something I shot this morning,

and tonight, I have

the picture in my hand.

I could hang it on my wall, or

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