Leonard Nimoy Retires From Star Trek 224
DesScorp writes "Leonard Nimoy is hanging up his Vulcan ears for good and retiring from the role of Spock in the Star Trek franchise, reports the Daily Mail. Nimoy apparently wants to pass the torch: 'Nimoy, one of the most recognizable and best loved characters from the sci-fi series that began in 1966, announced that he wanted to "get off the stage" and give young actor Zachary Quinto a clear run at the role he took over for last year's Star Trek movie.' Nimoy, at age 79, appears to be retiring from acting, period. He has, in recent years, undertaken another career in photography, as well as other pursuits, but seems to be preparing to retire from the public eye altogether."
Again? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
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As my customary farewell would seem oddly self serving, I will simply say... good luck.
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Considering his age - and the cause that he will in all our minds be "The Spock" he will have a hard time to drop it completely.
He is also the most important figure that have appeared in Star Trek, which says a lot. Many other persons could have been replaced easily.
But he also need to have quality time and not be Spock all the time. And we will have to accept that even our favorite actors seems to grow old and pass away sooner or later even though some seems to hang around in the fringe for a long time aft
True Story (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, CRAP! Here's the deal.
He's going to be in Calgary, Alberta, (Canada) this weekend for our Comics & Entertainment Expo. There is a small town (maybe population 300) about half an hour outside of town called "Vulcan" - so of course he swung through there and all the daily papers made the pun about how Spock was in Vulcan. Anyways, back to the issue.
I told my girlfriend I'd take her to the mountains tomorrow. And I told my room mate we'd go snowboarding on Sunday, before the season ends, and seeing h
Re:True Story (Score:5, Funny)
Re:True Story (Score:5, Funny)
If Three's Company has taught me anything, this should work at least until the second commercial break.
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Cool story bro
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French comic Pierre Desproges had a very un-comical set, starting with "I got a story to tell you. An authentic story. I insist that it is authentic, because it is more or less its only interest". It was something about buying batteries, but not by lot of 4... Would you be related, perchance ?
Re:True Story (Score:5, Informative)
Saturday:
1. Get up early and be at the head of the Mr.Nimoy line. Bring a bucket. Get autograph, perform vulcan salute, high-five, hurl in bucket (if applicable) and then bolt.
2. Swing by nearest liquor store, purchase bottle of champagne and bag of ice. Rinse out bucket, put ice and champagne in bucket, throw in trunk of car.
3. Pick up girlfriend, drive to Banff (or wherever you're headed). Rent cosy little faux-log-cabin hotel room. Put ice-bucket in room.
4. Have dinner with girlfriend. Return to hotel room, break out champagne.
5. ???
6. Profit?
Sunday:
7. Wake up early, leave cash and note on nightstand that girlfriend is to spend day shopping.
8. Locate friend, hit slopes.
9. Have dinner with friend and girlfriend (if possible)
10. Return home autographed, sucked off and covered in white powder. These three things will now constitute "the best weekend of my life".
You can thank me later.
Re:True Story (Score:5, Funny)
If I had money I'd hire you as my personal advisor and assistant. The Alfred to my Batman.
(yeah if I had money I'd also be a superhero.)
Re:True Story (Score:5, Funny)
Heh. I just presented your dilemma to my girlfriend. She said "Well, I'd leave you for a chance to meet Leonard Nimoy."
Your mileage may vary, of course...
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I think I have a worthy submission for Ask Slashdot.
Actually, I think it's more a case of "ask your girlfriend". She might be more annoyed that your decision-making process involved consulting thousands of anonymous geeks on a website than the actual decision made.
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Number of potential girlfriends.... almost limitless
Likelihood of this particular girlfriend making over 7 years anyway... slightly over 50%.
Number of potential chances to see nimoy before he dies.. about 1.
Likelihood of nimoy making it another 7 years.. probably slightly under 50% (but he looks in good shape).
Tho I do like the snow-boarding, stomach distress plan above too.
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Re:Again? (Score:5, Funny)
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Not just Mr. Spock... (Score:5, Informative)
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It's really strange to think that he went directly from playing Spock to playing a magician named Paris on another show the next season. And Shatner went directly into unemployment for several years, I think.
That needs to be remixed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or mashed up with a Shatner piece..
OH, I KNOW, Shatner needs to do a spoken word version of Lenard Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins".
Re:That needs to be remixed. (Score:5, Funny)
I hate you.
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Hey everyone, my ex-wife posts on /.~
Wait, were you referring to my post?
Whimper... (Score:5, Funny)
Shatner needs to do a spoken word version of Lenard Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins".
The mind boggles. The stomach retches. The spirit withers.
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I want to hear that now. Someone needs to inform Mr. Shatner of the gaping hole that is in all of our lives.
Re:That needs to be remixed. (Score:5, Funny)
Shatner + gaping holes = DO NOT WANT
Re:Again? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't need a background in something to know what I *like*.
Subjective things are subjective.
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True, but you do need one to determine is someone is talented.
You can argue over weather on not you like a stake, but if it's burnt, then you can't argue over weather or no it was prepared properly.
His photography is pretty snappy.
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You really made my head hurt with that sentence.
Re:Again? (Score:5, Informative)
Subjective things are subjective.
Yeah, well - that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Re:Again? (Score:4, Informative)
Well there is some difference.
Trek 2 and 6 were kinda meant to stop the series.
Star Trek 2 Was design to redeem itself from Star Trek the Motion Picture. But trek was on its path of loosing popularity... Unfortunately the made the movie too good and people wanted more.
Star Trek 6 Was because the Cast was getting too old, They were acting Old in Star Trek 2 but by Star Trek 6 they were really showing their age. (Star Trek 7 the search for Kirks Teeth) As well many of the characters were kinda dying.
Star Trek Reboot, Really kept it going they just made it a way to have a new younger cast to continue on, So it would be safe to say Spock is retiring...
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They're all dead, Dave.
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Sadface (Score:5, Funny)
And here I was hoping I would hear him sing Bilbo Baggins one more time.
79? (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyway who can blame him? Spock was the ultimate typecasting.
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I laughed out loud when he was Mustafa Mond in the Brave New World movie. That was some typecasting.
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I laughed out loud when he was Mustafa Mond in the Brave New World movie.
Actually, I thought he did it fairly well. Klaus Kinski might have been better, if he had not been dead already. Nimoy was a good choice.
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I wasn't complaining about his performance, just the typecasting.
Let me just say ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Live Long and Prosper.
Hope for one last appearance: Civ5 (Score:5, Insightful)
I can only hope he has already done the voice acting/narration of technologies for Civ5, as in Civ4. His reading of the little quotes with each technological advance were spot-on almost every time. The deadpan delivery of Space Flight/Sputnik's "Beep. Beep. Beep." is probably the best, but Bureaucracy isn't far behind.
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By Grabthar's hammer... (Score:5, Funny)
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I'm just replying for the love of this post. One of my favourite movies of all time. Well done :D
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Retiring?!? (Score:3, Funny)
Class (Score:5, Insightful)
That man has quite a bit of class, and as one actress (Kim Cattrall?) noted, he is indeed a renaissance man. I wish him well. He has earned both deep respect and a well-deserved retirement.
Re:Class (Score:5, Insightful)
He's earned his place as a cultural icon, and spent a lot of years in the public eye. He's almost 80, and it seems like a good time to bid adieu. Better, I think, than the way Jimmy Doohan spent his finally years, his battle with Alzheimer's at least semi-public, and certainly a lot better than the never-ending George Takei-William Shatner hatefest (we get it, you guys are both preening egomaniacs). Do what Katherine Hepburn did, retire to your own little corner and enjoy your last years without having to put up with us pathetic Trekkies.
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Photography (Score:5, Interesting)
a class act who shall be missed (Score:5, Funny)
Let's hope Shatner follows his lead. I'd really like to miss him.
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Kirk is just about the weakest major character in all Star Trek (with the *possible* exception of Uhura, and even that is a near thing). He's flat, static, *and* shallow, which is a pretty rare combination in a protagonist. Several TOS villians are better characters than Kirk.
But the real problem is Shatner's acting, which would be right at home in a lame B-grade horror flick directed by Ed Wood. The only other bridge-officer Star Trek character to even begin to approac
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Having recently rewatched Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock, and I think you're completely wrong. Shatner's acting in the series has become cliched, to be sure, and there were times when he did ham it up a bit, but Kirk in Star Trek II was pretty damned good, and the scene in Star Trek III where he's told his son dies is probably the best acting Shatner ever did, and certainly indicates some talent.
None of the TOS actors were at the level of, say, Patrick Stewart, but in part that's because they come from
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Have you seen "Shatner's Raw Nerve."?
It's is excellent. I'm glad to start seeing interview shows popping up that actually talks to the person, instead of a 7 minute set of sound bites.
And yes, your joke was excellent.
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Let's hope. Shatner follows. His lead. I'd really like. To miss him.
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What about Fringe? (Score:3, Insightful)
He still got some 'splainin to do on that show!
Happy retirement (Score:5, Funny)
And may the Force be with you..
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So long, and thanks for the fish (Score:2)
Or something like that :) ( yes i know its a different franchise, don't flame me )
Seriously tho, its a loss for scifi fans, but i know personally i wish him well in retirement.
Nimoy Retire? (Score:3, Funny)
That is illogical!
Shatner for Governor General (Score:3, Interesting)
Just as Nimoy's in the news, so is Shatner. Right now people are pushing for William Shatner to be named the next Governor General of Canada (an appointed position), and there's a large Facebook group based on it. Even Leonard Nimoy wants him to get the job [thestar.com]:
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Mostly symbolic, but the end of an era.
Make it so.
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Mostly symbolic
Is that the case in Canada? In Australia the GG has a much power as the Queen and occasionally none of the restraint [wikipedia.org]. You don't want an idiot [wikipedia.org] in that role.
High School Book Report (Score:2)
amen! (Score:2)
I never quite got used to all the wrinkles
Of course he did. (Score:3, Insightful)
This last movie broke so many things, they can avoid the 'original' Spock (depending on which timeline you subscribe to) and plow new ground:
- Vulcan is destroyed. They have to fix it, obviously. Time travel to the rescue.
- Kirk knows Spock from the future. He'll be looking for a way to restore Vulcan now.
- Spock (new) obviously will figure out he's in two places at the same time.
They need at least two more movies to fix everything. One to get Kirk and Young Spock in a position where they know both how and why they must restore Vulcan. I don't yet know why, but I'm not the screenwriter either. And one to actually do it. After that, then movies keep coming to let villains and victims try to take revenge, Cmdr. Pike's story, and some excuse to see more slave girls.
Pretty much as pathetique as Star Wars. Why can't we have a Blade Runner sequel, eh? Nobody has any Vaseline for the lenses? Do it in digital, ok? A set of Red cams isn't that damned expensive.
Re:Of course he did. (Score:5, Insightful)
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What might be even more interesting is that old Spock should know about all of those things already, which means that they could be dealt with in the new Universe in an entirely different manner. I'd really like to know more about who built the Doomsday machine, where the whale probe came from, and what Voyager (V'ger) ran into myself.
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The point of the new movie was to completely break away from the old "Trek universe" - This isn't the universe of TOS, TNG, DS9 etc, it's an alternate reality created by the time travel. The old universe is still there.
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Agh! Just an excuse to re-do the sets, and make us buy more tickets... I'm ruined, ruined!
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Why can't we have a Blade Runner sequel
Be careful what you ask for. There are plenty of good SF stories out there waiting to be filmed. Not all of them were written by Philip K Dick.
But if a sequel is made I think it should be done at a remove from the original. I don't have a problem with 2010, for example, because Peter Hyams made no attempt to be Stanley Kubrick.
The thing is: Quinto as Spock looks like Nimoy (Score:4, Funny)
One can see the resemblance between Spock and Nimoy. However, Quinto needs a lot more makeup to play the role... because he has to look like the "original" Spock, who looked, pretty much, like Nimoy.
It's a case of the actor not so much portraying the character, but rather his predecessor's portrayal of the character.
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One can see the resemblance between Spock and Nimoy.
The mind boggles.
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You miss my point, methinks.
Makeup can make a character appear VERY DIFFERENT from the actor or actress that portrays him or her.
This is not the case with Nimoy and Spock (ears notwithstanding), but IS the case with Quinto and Spock, because Quinto "has to" look like Nimoy's portrayal of Spock.
Conversely, Pine looks very little like Shatner's portrayal of Kirk (at least to me): he does not look like Shatner very much at all.
Of course, both Quinto and Pine do an excellent job of capturing their respective ch
Re:The thing is: Quinto as Spock looks like Nimoy (Score:5, Informative)
Quinto and Pine were OK, but Karl Urban totally NAILED the McCoy character.
Regarding the song about Hobbits. (Score:2)
In Mr. Nimoy's defense, I'm sure his response would be identical to the farmer who purposefully threw himself into a thorn bush, to wit, "It seemed the thing to do at the time."
Twitter? (Score:3, Informative)
He's been pretty active on Twitter lately. Doesn't seem like the thing one would do if they're "dropping out of public life". http://twitter.com/therealNimoy [twitter.com]
If he wants to retire... (Score:2)
He's just refocussing on his music career instead (Score:2)
Great now he has time for that Bilbo Baggins concept album :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Bilbo_Baggins [wikipedia.org]
awesome (Score:4, Insightful)
Thank you! (Score:2, Informative)
What a slacker! (Score:5, Insightful)
79 is nothing for a Vulcan! He's still a kid!
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I blame his pesky human side.
Speaking as someone who hates Star Trek... (Score:3)
...live long and prosper, Lenny. I might not like the show you're famous for, but you've always seemed like a great guy who was happy to indulge all of us geeks, and that's something I can respect.
In Search Of... (Score:3, Interesting)
When I was a kid (like not even 10) "In Search of..." used to come on in the evening. All Nimoy had to do was start narrating and I would be creeped out immediately. Didn't matter if he was talking about Bigfoot or aliens or The Bermuda Triangle, he scared the crap out of me. I'd probably laugh if I watched that show now, but back then when I was little, it was practically traumatizing. Am I the only one that crawled down a little deeper under the covers at night after watching that show?
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Dude, that is so spot on. There was just something about how they stylized that show, the score and sound effects, and his voice that used to keep me both riveted and flippin petrified at the same time. Like the one about the Eater Island heads, he just made them feel so...I dunno, up-close and present that you could feel how old those things were and get a sense of the passage of time from then to now, how small we are in time compared to these behemoths that endure.
I've watched some of those old episode
Bendii Syndrome (Score:2, Funny)
Thank you so much (Score:2)
Live long(er) and prosper, Leonard.
Re:That sucks! (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually thought Zachary Quinto did probably the best job of anyone in the reboot. I'm not sure I buy the whole Spock-Ururah thing, but all in all Quinto did a damned good Spock, and I think Nimoy's actually pretty lucky that he has someone he can leave his signature character in the hands of.
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I actually thought Zachary Quinto did probably the best job of anyone in the reboot.
Maybe, but he didn't get the best line.
"As you were."
Re:That sucks! (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought Urban's McCoy was pretty darned good too.
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I'll agree. I knew right away who he was supposed to be, so that's pretty good. I thought the new portrayal of Scotty sucked big time.
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I liked all the new characters, but I thought Urban was the best. Quinto was really good too, but man... I just loved Urban's take on Bones.
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Indeed. In fact, if you close your eyes and listen to him, you would swear he's channeling De Kelley. It's uncanny.
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Spock must live on!
That seems to be the point of Nimoy retiring, and this is partly his way of saying Spock > Nimoy. He has certainly earned the right to a private retirement. I will miss him on future Futurama episodes, however.
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Fringe doesn't count; it's a documentary.
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Since it's Fringe it's probably something along the lines of Nimoy's appearance actually being a disguise to hide from the easter bunny's army of zombie cows.
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Oh no you di'int!
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