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Spock Gives Up the Con 183

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the retire-long-and-prosper dept.
tverbeek writes "Leonard Nimoy announced at the Creation Con in Chicago, celebrating the 45th anniversary of Star Trek, that this would be his last appearance at a Trek convention. He spoke for an hour, which at least suggests that he's making this move by choice and not out of necessity. He's 80 years old. 'Live long and prosper,' he told the crowd."
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Spock Gives Up the Con More

Spock Gives Up the Con

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  • I think it's commendable (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cyberfin ( 1454265 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:11PM (#37602710)
    that he did so many cons so far in time. He deserves to live long and prosper himself, devoting his last years uninterrupted to what he feels he has the will and time to do.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 )

      that he did so many cons so far in time. He deserves to live long and prosper himself, devoting his last years uninterrupted to what he feels he has the will and time to do.

      So true, so true. An elder statesman of an actor and an example (largely ignored) to the actors of today. Remarkable professionalism and a great sense of humour.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msobkow ( 48369 )

      Absolutely true. He really did not have to give so much attention to the fans, and could have retired completely years ago. He certainly didn't need to keep working.

      I hope he enjoys his remaining years thoroughly.

  • Babylon 5 quote (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:12PM (#37602748)
    It is as if millions of nerds cried out at once, and were suddenly silenced.

    -Guinan (played by Oprah Winfrey)

  • Not surprised (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bieeanda ( 961632 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:14PM (#37602760)
    He's pretty much retired from showbiz as well. Over the last few years he's played an important, though rarely seen, character on Fringe... but in two cases they resorted to CG animations (one of which was turned into an amusing, most-of-episode gimmick) and in one case another actor channeled him in a much more literal way than the Hollywood norm.

    Godspeed to him, I say. He's had a hell of a career, and if he wants to finally retire and relax then good on him. He wouldn't be the first high-grossing actor to retire before other obligations and interests drew him away from the soundstage.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tsingi ( 870990 )

      Godspeed to him, I say. He's had a hell of a career, and if he wants to finally retire and relax then good on him.

      I totally agree. We should all bid him a fond adieu.

      I still watch STTOS occasionally, but I've never been to a conference. Never been much for religion. Do people still go to those things?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 )

      What I read indicates he's retired from physical acting but not voice acting... Which is consistent with him having a major role in a summer blockbuster movie this year, however in voice-only form. (Sentinel Prime in Transformers 3.)

      I found it amusing how they worked a Spock quote into Nimoy's lines in Transformers 3.

    • Giving it up for Photography (Score:5, Informative)

      by fallen1 ( 230220 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:41PM (#37603174) Homepage

      According to Shatner, during a panel at this year's Dragon*Con, Nimoy was giving up the con circuit to pursue photography full time. He is rather accomplished at it - http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/Leonard-Nimoy-Gallery.html [rmichelson.com] and it has been a lifelong passion.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by gknoy ( 899301 )

        If I recall right, some of those may be NSFW, as he has some nudes (tasteful) in the gallery.

      • I'd give up my job too if my hobby involved women coming over, getting undressed, and letting me take pictures of them.

        I'll give the man credit, though he's no Bob Crane he takes nice pictures.

      • I recall seeing Nimoy's photography endeavors being discussed in an Onion article a couple years back, one of those AV Club ones where the content is real

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

      Nimoy is still a youngster compared to Kirk Douglas [imdb.com].

      And I think that he's very much part of what made the TOS a great success. (How many other TV series from that time period can you name? I can only think of The Addams Family [imdb.com])

      In great success - count the influence it has had as well as number of viewers over time for the show.

      • How many other TV series from that time period can you name?

        You're not serious? Gilligan's Island, Hogan's Heroes, My Three Sons, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Beverly Hillbillies, Doctor Who, Gunsmoke, Bonanza.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

          Call me a victim of living in a semi-socialist country.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vlm ( 69642 )

        How many other TV series from that time period can you name?

        Despite the belief by the youth that Star Trek was a "pre-hippies 60s show", the last episode of TOS was just months before the first All in the Family, a rather iconic 70s show.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 1u3hr ( 530656 )

        How many other TV series from that time period can you name? I can only think of The Addams Family

        Doctor Who; The Prisoner; Steptoe and Son; Softly, Softly; Monty Python; A for Andromeda; The Saint; Danger Man;Thunderbirds; Till Death Us Do Part; Gilligan's Island; Hawaii Five-O, The Man from UNCLE, I Dream of Jeannie; Mission Impossible; Get Smart; The Streets of San Francisco; The Fugitive; The Wild, Wild West; Gunsmoke; Bonanza; The Dick van Dyke Show; ...

    • He also had a significant role in the Star Trek reboot as well - I thought Spock prime would feature in the next movies as an elder advisor character, though that tramples on Sareks turf.

    • I am pretty sure he was the voice of Sentinel on the new Transformers movie.

      Even caught the trek reference quote: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Thought that was a funny bit that likely few people got.

  • Dude is 80 years old (Score:5, Funny)

    by phil_aychio ( 2438214 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:15PM (#37602776)
    ...and he's still the only one that gets laid at those things.

  • It's about Time (Score:2, Insightful)

    by RobinEggs ( 1453925 )
    I very much understand and respect why he might want to be done. I'm not saying that I know his reason, but I know it's frustrating for a lot of actors, musical artists, etc. to be stuck with their most famous roles or a particular genre to the point where former devotees actually turn on them for trying something new or giving up the constant fan service. Their fans can grow up, try new things, experience different phases of life like anyone else, but many of those same fans won't allow their creative idol

    • The problem is Lenord Nemoy and even Williman Shatner were really good actors on what otherwise would be a mediocre show.
      They made the show great and popular. So unfortunately they got stuck with the show and became too iconic.

      • While ST:TOS had its clunky episodes, by and large it was anything but a mediocre show. There's no doubt the actors played a large part in it, but there was some damned good writing going on behind the scenes as well, and what the production team was able to do on often skimpy budgets and the special effects available to them in the mid to late 1960s was technically impressive as well. And let's not forget that the "trinity" of Kirk, Spock and McCoy was as much the product of the unsung hero of Star Trek,

    • The young new actors from the Harry Potter films seem to be doing a good job with avoiding this, taking on a bunch of different roles. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) in a production of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equus_(play) [wikipedia.org] comes to mind as an example.

      By the way, your post reminds me of the Metallica and Green Day fans that have freaked out about those bands' new direction.

  • 80 is not that old for a Vulcan (Score:3)

    by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:16PM (#37602806) Homepage

    Hell, at over 80 T'pol is pretty damned hot right?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F6PSsXljJ4 [youtube.com]

    Does anybody have a link to a video recording of the full speech?

  • Just don't ask him about Star Trek (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Jeng ( 926980 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @02:33PM (#37603044)

    One of my wives cousins interviewed him for NPR a while back and during a recent family reunion he told us a little bit about meeting Leonard Nimoy and one of those things is do not bring up the topic of Star Trek with him, he hates it.

    He has done quite a lot of stuff outside, but I like most people don't really give a shit about it and apparently that pisses him off.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by uncanny ( 954868 )
      Yet he still signed off with "live long and prosper"
      • According to TFS, the conference he said this line at was celebrating Star Trek. So it was appropriate for the setting.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by x6060 ( 672364 )

      Yup, I saw him giving a talk at a convention once and people were told at the door not to bring up star trek. Instead he wanted to talk about his photography and other crap that no one at a Science Fiction Convention wanted to talk about.

      One person dared to defy the warning was thrown out of the session for it.

      I've heard other tales of him being a douche to fans as well.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Machtyn ( 759119 )
        He certainly felt trapped by his role in ST:TOS. So much so, that he wrote a book about it. It wasn't until MANY years later that he started to do conventions and other ST type appearances.

        • Re:Just don't ask him about Star Trek (Score:5, Informative)

          by TrekkieGod ( 627867 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @04:41PM (#37604826) Homepage Journal

          He certainly felt trapped by his role in ST:TOS. So much so, that he wrote a book about it. It wasn't until MANY years later that he started to do conventions and other ST type appearances.

          A lot of people were offended when Nimoy released his autobiography and called it, "I Am Not Spock," and called him ungrateful to the show that propelled his career and other things. All those people were idiots who never bothered to read the book and assumed it was all about him complaining of the typecasting. These complaints from uninformed people is probably what you remember, and it's what you're referencing now.

          Well, I read, "I Am Not Spock." A good portion of it (maybe the majority) is about some of his very fond memories at the set of Star Trek. How he and Bill Shatner initially didn't get along, partly because of some hilarious pranks Shatner played on him, usually involving the bicycle Nimoy used to ride to the studio, but were seen as annoying at the time. He also mentioned how their animosity was getting to be a problem, but Roddenberry solved it by making Kirk and Spock close friends on script, which ended up translating to Nimoy and Shatner developing a very strong friendship in real life. Interesting stuff, and he never once disparaged Trek, even as the typecasting caused him problems.

          Frankly, I don't know that I buy the whole, "don't talk about Trek" thing, since I've never once seen an interview with Nimoy in which Trek wasn't mentioned. I've seen plenty of convention clips on youtube in which Trek was extensively talked about, and hell, if he wanted to distance himself from it, not being part of the new Trek movie reboot would have been a good idea. I don't doubt that he asks to please talk about things other than Trek, but it doesn't make sense that he "hates" Trek.

          Sometimes people just start rumors that, to the mind of others, makes sense. People think, "yeah, it must be annoying to have a bunch of nerds completely ignore everything else you've ever tried to do" and sometimes he must have felt unappreciated and overshadowed by the Spock character. That said, I've never seen any indication, other than random internet hearsay, that he resents the fans or the show. The book he wrote and the sequel, "I Am Spock," which I've also read, would certainly lead me to believe the opposite.

    • One of my wives cousins interviewed him [...]

      Just out of curiosity, did you mean "one of my by wife's cousins" or "one my wives' cousins"?

    • One of my wives cousins

      The younger wife or the older one?

    • Actually, this interview is worth a listen (5min 38sec, from September 20, 2009): Leonard Nimoy Returns To TV As 'Fringe' Character [npr.org]
      *shrug* It sounds like he has made his peace with his fame and found some life balance.
      It's a short interview but ranges all over the place; the first minute is Fringe, the rest is other work and other contexts.
      Quite interesting, really.
      And Leonard had nice things to say about the startrek reboot; just a classy guy.

      ...one of those things is do not bring up the topic of Star Trek with him, he hates it.

    • This is a little off topic but since you mentioned it...how many wives do you have?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by King_TJ ( 85913 )

      Yeah... Nimoy has had a rather bad attitude about the whole Star Trek thing for MANY years. That's not anything really new. I remember reading how he kept refusing to play roles in the motion pictures because he "hated putting on those damn ears". (Of course, waving enough money at him seemed to rectify that.)

      It's a pretty common theme with major sci-fi productions, IMO. Alec Guinness HATED being remembered for his role as Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Heck, even Joel Hodgson of MST3K fame has been tryi

  • I want him to live forever. And prosper. I guess you can't have everything. /*goes off into corner for a quiet little moan*/

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by blair1q ( 305137 )

      He's on video, so he'll live longer than most of us.

      And with copyright being what it is, and his personal artistic output being worth some cash, he'll be prospering for his family even after he's died.

  • Leonard doesn't feel like doing anything. http://youtu.be/dULOjT9GYdQ [youtu.be]

  • classic (Score:3)

    by pak9rabid ( 1011935 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @03:19PM (#37603656)
    Mayor Quimby: And, uh, may the force be with you.
    Leonard Nimoy: Do you even know who I am?

  • Who cares, what I want to know is...... (Score:3)

    by genner ( 694963 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @03:52PM (#37604082)
    Will Lenard do the voice over for Civilization VI?
    Civ IV was the peak of his career and you all know it!

  • This was known well ahead of time. A few friends of mine paid dearly to attend this con solely because Nimoy had already revealed that this would be his last.

    The "announced at the con" language is not in TFA; just bad reading by the submitter.

  • Khaaaaaaannnnnnnnn! (Score:3)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Tuesday October 04, 2011 @06:43PM (#37606390)
    Ooops...wrong con. Carry on.

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