For the Love of Spock Page #11

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give it to my family, or whatever.

That was the beginning.

[Adam Nimoy] Although Dad started

taking pictures at an early age,

he continued this hobby

throughout his life.

He would often take portraits

of me and Julie,

and some of those ended up in

the poetry books he published.

[grunting]

[screaming]

James T. Kirk.

[Leonard Nimoy]

Along came J.J. Abrams

who found a way

to crack it open

to an entirely new

and different audience.

Who the hell am I to tell Leonard

Nimoy what Spock should do?

But it's my job,

so I'm doing the best I can.

But I was amazed

at how open he was.

Leonard was okay with the idea of

this new incarnation of "Star Trek."

it set a tone on the set even beyond

the days that Leonard was working.

[Leonard Nimoy] You didn't have

to know all about "Star Trek."

You could come

and enjoy this movie

as a person who had never seen

anything of "Star Trek" before.

- Fascinating.

- What?

Okay, I'm sure

you're just doing your job,

but could you not come

a wee bit sooner?

Six months I've been here living

off Star Fleet protein nibs

and the promise of a good meal.

Myself, Leonard, and Chris

shared a trailer

when we were shooting the stuff when

they discover Sootty on the planet.

And it was quite far from the

circus, from the unit base,

so we had a trailer that

we just sat in, and we shared.

And we were shooting

really late at night.

It was, like, you know, 2:00

or 3:
00 in the morning.

And Chris, Leonard, and I

were just sat in this--

And Leonard was in his

full Spock regalia, ears.

We had the big sort of like

winter coat on and stuff,

and he sat upright,

and he went to sleep.

And he, uh, was just sat there

just quietly snoring.

And Chris and I were just

looking at each other like,

[whispering]

"That's Spock, and he snores."

[laughing]

We were shooting a scene,

and Leonard was walking,

and he fell... and he landed,

and he cut and broke his nose.

Um...

So the feeling that,

you know, you have

when someone that you care about as

much as I did, of course, gets hurt,

it's a horrible feeling.

When you've wounded Spock, uh...

you just wanna...

you know, kill yourself.

It's just... It Was...

It was horrible.

And we're trying to figure out what

we're gonna do for the rest of the day,

and I hear, like, "Oh, no, no, no,

no, we're going to keep going."

And it was Leonard

who was like,

"We're just gonna

keep shooting."

And I'm thinking, "Is he out of his

f***ing mind? He just broke his nose."

And Leonard was like,

"Let's keep going."

And we finished, and no one

ever heard this story publicly

until you and I had

this conversation.

Speak your mind, Spock.

That would be unwise.

Mine is a very different

Spock than your dad's.

I was really fortunate to be able

to explore even more than your dad,

because as entertainment

evolved,

as narration evolved,

as story-telling evolved

over the intervening decades

between when he created the

role and when I assumed it,

I think that it opened up

a little bit more space

for us to get in

and play with that.

Mr. Spock.

Sharing that with him, and

discussing it, and exploring it

through the context

of our personal relationship,

that was probably one of the most

creatively satisfying aspects

of assuming a role that had already

been established so firmly

and created so boldly.

No pun intended.

Should I choose to complete the

Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr

and purge all emotion...

I trust you will not feel

it reflects judgment upon you.

Oh, Spock...

as always, whatever

you choose to be...

you will have a proud mother.

Every time he goes

into a negative place,

he starts being a little

bit of a pessimist,

um, he allows Uhura and Kirk

to snap him out of it.

And I really like that.

He's just... He's a man to me.

Like, Spock is really a man.

Eventhough

he's half alien, it's like...

He could have been...

I don't know, half anything,

but he's still

very much... natural.

What do you need? Tell me.

Tell me.

I thought that was

a perfect example

of the evolution

of the character,

of painting him

in a different light

and seeing that there is

this capacity for feeling,

for emotion, for

intimacy, forconnecfion.

It's still regulated.

It's still within the

boundaries or the parameters

of what it means to be Vulcan.

Father.

I am not our father.

There are so few Vulcans left,

we cannot afford

to ignore each other.

Spock, in this case,

do yourself a favor.

Put aside logic.

Do what feels right.

Since my customary farewell

would appear oddly self-serving,

I shall simply say... good luck.

[Adam Nimoy]

Dad was really happy

to be in the new incarnation

of "Star Trek."

It was a high point for him.

But much like Spock's

problems with his father,

my relationship with my father

was still very troubled.

My first officer,

Commander Spock.

Vulcan honors us

with your presence.

We come to serve.

Your service honors us,

Captain.

Thank you.

Around 2006, we were just about

completely estranged from one another.

Old issues were flaring up.

And, um, I was at a

low point in my life.

I had just ended

an 18-year marriage,

and I had decided to go

into my own 12-step recovery.

And it was a real difficult

time for the two of us.

And basically,

for three or four years,

we had very, very

little communication.

By around 2008, we started to

talk again, and reconnect again,

and really came back together in

our relationship with each other.

I had met Martha in a doctor's

office, and she was...

Uh, she was my age,

and she was very sweet,

fun, attractive woman,

and I started dating

her regularly.

And I mean, I was

so much happier having Martha

that I married her.

Four and a half months

after we were married,

Martha was diagnosed

with terminal cancer.

The weird thing was for me,

and I was really kind of conscious

of it now in retrospect,

was that in 2004,

when I left my 18-year marriage,

and moved out of my house, and

left my kids behind for one.

I mean, it was

a real low point in my life.

I didn't even call my dad. He wasn't even

on the list, because of our period of,

you know, beginning of

the estrangement period.

But when I was able to

pull myself back together,

after I got that phone call

from the doctor,

the first phone call I made...

Was to your dad.

I just... It still.

It just overwhelms me now

that we could get to that point

where he could be my go-to guy.

Yeah.

And in the next 18 months

of my life with Martha,

which were, you know, probably the most

challenging possibly in my entire life,

my dad and Susan were there

every step of the way

to support me

and keep me going.

And after that, my dad and I

never again... looked back

at the wreckage

from our past, ever.

"So here we are.

You're a man, an individual,

"very bright, talented,

goal-oriented, sensitive,

"and a lot of other good things.

"Above all, I want you to know

that you are priceless to me.

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