Editorials

Live long and prosper

Leonard Nimoy is dead at 83. And here we'd thought pointy-eared Vulcans, even one who was half earthling, lived much longer. For he had long been identified with his alter ego--Star Trek's cool, hyper-rational Mr. Spock, perhaps the most fascinating if not the only fascinating character in the colorless crew of the starship Enterprise, a generalization that definitely includes its deadly dull Captain Kirk.

William Shatner/Captain Kirk was born to make TV commercials for banks, credit cards and such, not drama. Mr. Spock was different, a mine of cool observations about the human condition, though there were some aspects of it that remained a mystery to him. ("I've never understood the female capacity to avoid a direct answer to any question.")

Leonard Nimoy was of two minds, at least, about his other self, Mr. Spock, as reflected in the titles of his two autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1975), and I Am Spock (1995). In the end he seemed to reconcile himself to being and not being Mr. Spock.

Not all of us have an easy time accepting our identity, let alone two of them. "To this day," Mr. Nimoy confessed years after the Star Trek series had ended, "I sense Vulcan speech patterns, Vulcan social attitudes and even Vulcan patterns of logic and emotional suppression in my behavior." Still, he added, "Given the choice, if I had to be someone else, I would be Spock."

R.I.P., Leonard Nimoy.

He is survived by, among others, Mr. Spock, who still lives in syndication, the closest television actors may come to eternity.

Editorial on 03/06/2015

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