Leonard Nimoy is gone. The Enterprise science officer’s position stands empty, but to quote the lyrics of the lyrics of the Star Trek theme, “Beyond the rim of starlight, my love is in wandering star flight.” So now NCC-1301 has lost her second in command. And I have said goodbye to a man and his character who influenced me so much as a teenager. Leonard Nimoy, best known as U.S.S. Enterprise’s half-Vulcan first officer passed away yesterday after a long struggle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
I still remember the first time I saw Star Trek and was entranced. I didn’t know it at the time, but watching that first episode of Star Trek was a life-changing event. Star Trek teased my already space-centric imagination.I wanted to write science fiction. A year later I penned (and I mean with a fountain pen and notebook paper) my first novel, a Star Trek story (with me as the hero who died but saved the Enterprise.)
I was especially drawn to Mr. Spock and his challenging friendship with Dr. McCoy. I had a lot in common with Spock. He was the first cool nerd. (I was a nerd, but in no way cool.) His parents drove him crazy. Mr. Spock taught me it was okay to be different, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Spock may have been a fictional character, but Nimoy gave him a soul. I felt like he was my friend. All too soon, after only three years the show was cancelled–cancelled but not dead. But like Mr. Spock, dead was only temporary. Ten years later Star Trek, would be revived, again and again. Spock would die, then resurrect.
Star Trek gave me the drive to write, it gave me friends, it gave me the desire to use my imagination to visit the stars.
I met Leonard Nimoy in the early 1980s in University of Texas at Arlington’s Texas Hall at a press conference. A Dallas Times Herald news photographer immortalized the moment in his article about Nimoy’s visit. (For the record, I was dressed in a Wrath of Khan-era Starfleet science uniform meticulously crafted by Peggy Dee.) That was a day to remember. I only wish I could find that newspaper clipping.
Not long after, my friends Bjo and John Trimble arranged for me to meet Gene Roddenberry and tour the set of the Wrath of Khan set. I sat on Kirk’s bridge chair. (Actually the chair had been partially disassembled. I sat on a big square battery instead of the cushion. Gene’s assistant Susan Sackett also took me to the engine room where the faint green blood smudge still remained on the plexiglas wall. The smudge Spock left behind when he told Kirk, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few…Live long and prosper.” That was the most powerful moment in the history of Star Trek. The sacrifice, the love of friends. I stood there and looked at the set. It was like I relived Spock’s death again and again. At the time I didn’t know that Spock would return.
One by one, the crew of the Enterprise are leaving us. First Gene, then Dee, Jimmy, Majel and now Leonard. Thank you for all the life lessons I learned. Leonard, you will be missed. The Enterprise will never be the same. Leonard Nimoy left behind a generation of scientists and who wanted to reach the stars because of him.
Live long and prosper, Leonard Nimoy. Or should I say, “Until we meet again.”
14 Things Leonard Nimoy Taught Me
- It’s okay to be different, but it’s not always easy.
- Cats are beautiful creatures
- Real friends are for life, even if you don’t always get along
- No matter your age or rank, your parents can still embarrass you
- Look at situations logically
- Emotions can get us in trouble
- Always spay your tribble (and your cats)
- Stand up for what your believe
- Every now and then you need a good cry
- Sometimes you meet yourself coming and going
- Science is cool
- Knowing what other people think isn’t always a good thing
- Feel free to sing, even if you can’t carry a tune.
- You have to be double jointed to give a Vulcan salute.
