Leonard Nimoy talking about his movie Never Forget 1991, at a Fairfax County public school in Virginia. I actually grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia, but I was much too young to go see him. I was only 5 at the time.😁🖖

Rest in peace Leonard Nimoy 🖖 9 years later and we haven’t forgotten all the good you’ve done for the world; We’ll never forget. You were the best Spock we could ever ask for.

You wanna know what kinda shit I'm on? I'm on 15 parts Vicodin, 5 parts agent orange, 2 parts Krispy Kreme donuts ground up in a blender. 50 gallon batch size. I down that shit after every rep. I will fuck you up. I will fuck you down. I will fuck you north, south, east, west, and every other inconceivable secret cardinal direction. I will fuck you into Mordor. I will fuck you into MOUNT DOOM. I AM MOUNT DOOM. Ops call me MOUNT DOOM, because I'm MOTHERFUCKING MOUNT DOOM. The Aztecs built Tenochtitlan when they saw me on a cactus holding your bitch in my beak. I dap up Jesus on the daily. I've fucked Vishnu's butthole. Zeus is a real one. Allah is my op. The state of Utah could never be as huge as me. My circle is fifteen carbon copies of Judas smoking dried out rolled up algae from Leonard Nimoy's pool filtration system. Leonard Nimoy is my op. I would never smoke his algae but my real ones know I'm him. Week-long bender in New Jersey got me looking like Thom Yorke on a normal day. Sloppy toppy afterward, call that the Radio Head. The I-95 was not ready for my grind. That highway got adopted like a fish gets sucked up an intake valve. I'm smoking gnomes. Cheefing fuckin forest creatures like the fire that killed Bambi's mom. I can walk on water. I can swim in the ground. I know the Statue of Liberty very intimately. I have done unfathomable things to the Eifel Tower. I drink Gatorade and I don't even know what the fuck is in that shit. Author of the Kama Sutra self-defenestrated after he heard what I did to his mom. I'm a sex demon from sexy hell. Invented cunnilingus. Gunnifringus too, but it was so fire that the ops had to take me down. Hat man tryna get me off bennys because he knows he can't even fuck with me. I down 1200 mg, he's gotta take twice as much just to get away from me. Sleep paralysis demons couldn't even after they heard my flow. Worst mistake they ever made was forgetting to freeze my jaw. Second worst mistake they ever made was forgetting to freeze my dick. They never made a third mistake. THAT'S the type a shit I'm on

The more I think about it, the more of a problem I have with Spock eating bacon in S2E5 of SNW... This is kind of long and maybe I'm thinking too much about it but it's been bothering me and I needed to put it into words.

Look, I enjoyed the episode but it feels really fucking wrong that taking away Spock's 'Vulcan DNA' would suddenly make him ignore or forget the cultural importance of being vegetarian. It ends up implying that culture is directly tied to genetics, which has a long, terrible and fucked up history. In Australia, we have this saying that "it doesn't how much milk you add, it's still coffee" to acknowledge that connection to community, culture and land isn't tied directly to your skin colour or family tree. To imply the opposite makes my skin crawl because it's a rhetoric that was has been used to jusitfy a lot of racism and violence. (I'm not First Nations, so if this is off base let me know)

I can understand him struggling to manage his emotions without his Vulcan control or not knowing how to imitate his usual flat tone when he's suddenly so expressive. But him eating meat is completely different... There's no physical reason that Vulcans can't eat meat; they are vegetarians for cultural and philosophical reasons. Even if he had never smelt bacon before and it was super enticing, he would still have a very good reason to not eat it (and they could have done something interesting there with him being tempted for the first time ever, finally understanding why it appeals to humans and still not eating it!!). But it just felt so wrong, especially with all of the elements of the Jewish faith and tradition that Leonard Nimoy incorporated into the character. It could have been literally any other food that smells good: caramelising onions, freshly baked cake, mulled wine!! There were so many good options.

Spock has always been a character who is relatable to marginalised folk for a variety of reasons and this whole episode feels like a wacky "what if" that wasn't well thought out.

I'm interested to hear other people's thoughts on this... I'm obviously going to keep watching the show but ooof...

Just some interesting details about The Devil In The Dark episode: While it was being filmed, William Shatner's father died. He had to wait a day to fly out to Miami, where the funeral would be held, and production was going to shut down for the day after morning rehearsals. However, Bill insisted they keep shooting because he would rather be occupied while he waited, saying to the 1st AD, "Please don’t do that, my plane doesn’t leave until six, and I don’t know what I’ll do with myself for these remaining hours if I’m not here. Please, let’s continue to shoot."

In his memoirs, he goes on to say:

"An hour later, after we'd broken for lunch and after the tears and the anguish, we started shooting what we'd been rehearsing all morning. And all through the scene, I kept having trouble with a particular line. My emotion was getting in the way, making me forget. And even though I really can't remember the day's details anymore, the one thing I recall perfectly and that I'll never forget is the closeness that my friend Leonard (Nimoy) had toward me. Not just emotionally but physically as well. I mean I've seen films of elephants that support the sick and dying with their bodies, and Leonard somehow always seemed physically close to me."

...

Anyway I need go lie down for a few weeks, no reason.

the way snw presents it, it seems that christine is spock's soulmate, really.

spock has loved and cared about many in his canon lifetime but i don't think any other canon installment made him love someone this much.

i know some shippers of other ships may be pissed at this, but we can look at the different star trek series as the different universes.

Hey Anon!

I believe all Star Trek series create their own version while trying to be loyal to the essense of makes the franchise unique and great. Not all of them are successful but that's not our focus here.

IMO being a canon purist is very limiting. As Leonard Nimoy once said:

"Canon is only important to certain people because they have to cling to their knowledge of the minutiae. Open your mind! Be a ‘Star Trek’ fan and open your mind and say, ‘Where does Star Trek want to take me now’.”

So I'm all for SNW to take me on new adventures and open the door to new possibilities. And one of them is Spock and Chapel's story.

I don't watch the show, with TOS constantly at the back of my mind. I don't care if everything fits with 60-year-old canon or not. I'm simply enjoying the ride. I'm enjoying this great new Star Trek series that has the soul of the classic Trek but offers a modern look and perspective. And as a bonus, it has an amazing cast where every character has great chemistry with each other. It's perfect!

SNW has created a new iteration of Spock&Chapel (aka Spapel.) And for me, it's working like magic!

spock has loved and cared about many in his canon lifetime but i don't think any other canon installment made him love someone this much.

I agree with you... SNW writers have created an amazing backstory for Spock and Chapel. It's layered, complicated and truly beautiful. I believe Chapel is Spock's first real love. And you know what they say about first loves? You never forget your first love. It always stays with you. So maybe there's no happy ending for them but we will always have SNW. And it's canon, not an interpretation. I'm excited to see where they will take Spock&Chapel next. I'm all in!

“Mr. and Mrs. Rick Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Mansfield and Mrs. and Mrs. George Harrison [as seen in this photo] shared champagne at the Mansfield wedding at their Pacific Palisades ranch. Mansfield, formerly president of Barnaby Records, now operates Hometown Productions. The new Mrs. Mansfield is actress Tere Livrano, who appeared in ‘The Godfather.’ Other guests included Mr. and Mrs. Rob Reiner, Mr. and Mrs. Waylon Jennings, The Hagers, Claudine Longet, Bobby Hart, Karen Valentine, Leonard Nimoy and Rick Cunha.” - Record World, July 14, 1973

During that same Spring 1973 trip to California…

“[George] was cutting up veggies and cooking lunch […]. I’ll never forget the atmosphere of graciousness that surrounded us in the kitchen that day. George had a way of making a setting very serene when he wanted to talk about personal things. It was his unique way of keeping everything in a gentle and kind perspective.” - Ken Mansfield, The White Book (2007)

“My fave @/thebeatles story - how my friend Tracy Nelson (Ricky's daughter) spent some quality time with [George Harrison] under her parents grand piano. Nothing dirty, don't worry. She said he was a gentle soul.” - Richard Stellar, Twitter, September 24, 2018 (x)

im quite calculated about the things i say NOW because of how much shit ive gotten for simply talking about how i view the show and how it affects me as a fan of color in a historically and still majorly white space. the amount of anon hate i used to get in the past was genuinely wild and yall wouldnt know bc i deleted it most of the time

like it takes energy to be an asshole to a stranger on the internet. and you will NEVER catch me in somebodys inbox anonymously disagreeing with a statement they made in their personal safe space. i say the things others are too scared to say BECAUSE of the hate that would be received for saying it and for fans that cant figure out quite how to put things into words.

yall act like fans of color dont exist in your spaces but we do! we notice the way you talk about us and characters like us and it doesnt feel good!! yall go on and on and on about ending racism but shits never gonna change until YALL fucking accept the fact that its in the very way you think and that you HAVE TO actively work to unlearn that shit!!!

nobody is fucking perfect and neither am i and EYE am trying my fucking best to create a space for myself amd fans of color FIRST and then anyone else that loves being here and coming along with my personal journey about a FUCKING SHOW

stop letting your personal attachment to something thats objectively okay at best cloud your judgement about other people.

also like did yall forget about the fact that star trek has always made political statements and consistently (while not executed in the best way) pushed diversity and acceptance?

yall b so fucking weird about the way you treat anybody with a difference of opinion. leonard nimoy would not be proud of you

Director Nicholas Meyer and Leonard Nimoy talk on the set of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. 

In an interview with Stephen Payne and Nicholas Briggs that was printed in Starburst #162 (February 1992), Meyer was characteristically upfront about his role in writing the movie that many have credited with saving the Star Trek franchise:

“Yeah, I wrote it. My name isn’t on it. What happened with that film is curious. They said ‘We’re waiting for draft number five to come in, and then we’ll send you the draft’...and then I never got it. Ten days went by and I called up Harve Bennett, and I said, ‘What happened to you guys?’ and he said, ‘Well, the draft came in and we don’t like it.’ I said ‘Well, send it to me.’ He said ‘No, no, no you don’t understand. It’s 160 pages of nothing.’ So I said, ‘What about draft four, send me draft four.’ He said, ‘You don’t understand. All five drafts are merely five different attempts to get a different Star Trek movie, they are unrelated to one another.’ I said, ‘Oh, well, send them all up.’

“So I sat and read these things, and then I called Harve Bennett and Robert Sallin who was his partner on the project. And I pulled out a yellow legal pad and said, ‘Here’s my idea. Let’s sit down and make a list of everything we like in these five drafts. It could be a character, could be a plot point, could be a story...let’s make a whole list. And then I’ll write a new screenplay that accommodates all the things we like.’

“I’d never done it before, but this is a whole story about being young and foolish — that’s the point of this story! So they said, ‘Well, that’s an interesting idea, the only problem is that if we don’t have a screenplay in 12 days, Industrial Light And Magic, which is supposed to be doing the effects for this picture, will not guarantee delivery of the shots in time to be in theaters in June ‘81.’ I said, ‘If we can do this now I think in 12 days we can have a screenplay. Certainly good enough for ILM to know what they’re going to be doing.’ And they said, ‘We couldn’t even make your contract in 12 days.’ I said, ‘Forget about contracts, forget about all of that, because there’s not going to be any movie if we don’t shut up and start working. I will not be on it as the writer of record, because we don’t have time for any of that. These guys have written it. These guys have been paid. Let me go to work on the things that we like.’

“When my agent heard this, I thought he was going to kill me. He got very angry. But that’s how it came to be written, and I forget whose name is on the finished screenplay. But in 12 days, we had taken the things we liked: Kirk finds his son, the Genesis plan, Khan comes back — there was a scene aboard a simulator, which was on page 50 of one screenplay, I moved it to the first scene in the movie...and then with a real piece of inspiration, we put Spock in the simulator and killed him off in the first scene of the movie! 

“So, we took story elements and ideas from five screenplays and then I wrote my own story. So I wrote and directed too. I think I’m entitled to claim that.”

Photo scanned by Movienutt and downloaded from moviestillsdb.com

Barry Roskin Blake's 1991 interview with the late Leonard Nimoy. They both discuss the Jewish Holocaust TV movie "Never Forget" and of course, 'Start Trek".

at his side

Never Forget

9/11/01

RIP Leonard Nimoy

Some thoughts about Spock and McCoy and why I don’t think the doctor is xenophobic and/or antisemitic...

1- Spock as a vulcan was never meant to be a depiction of Jewish people and he isn't. Yes! The vulcan salute has jewish origins, I'm not trying to take that away, but that was because Leonard Nimoy was jewish and he wanted to incorporate part of his own culture into vulcans. That is it. There are no real parallels between the jewish people's history, culture and religion on any other aspects of the vulcans (talking TOS here... don’t remember everything). Even more... they didn't need nor should create another race to represent Jews, Kirk and his story on Tarsus IV comes to mind. So... Spock is not jewish (Okay he might be on his mother's side but let's not forget that he follows his father's culture) 2- McCoy actually respects vulcans and their ways just fine, "Amok Time" is a clear example of that, the only moment he speaks up or acts against their culture is to save life, and even more... Kirk (the life he saves) is not a vulcan and he wasn't given full disclosure of what he was agreeing to do. "Journey to Babel" also shows his respect for Sarek, his curiosity over him and his career move, his clear interest in their culture (knowing about vulcans childhood rigorous training, trying to learn the salute... trying again even when his fingers don't collaborate), and of course... their biology. 3- Spock could be considered a minority only based on the fact that he is of mixed species. But the Vulcan side of him, the one he has adopted, is not a minority at all, vulcans are well respected and quite important in the grand scale of things, they are seen as better than humans, sometimes even by other humans (Amanda says something like that in "Journey to Babel"). Even more, Spock passes as vulcan. So basically Spock could be seen as a passing white man, with a POC mother, that thinks his father's side of the equation is the better side of himself. He is serving in a ship full of POC characters (from his point of view) that mostly let him be with his superiority complex (that is actually probably an inferiority complex), finding it funny as hell when it fails him because they all know that he is ALSO (even if a little bit) one of them, no matter how much he denies it. McCoy is the character that doesn't let it slide, notice how he never tries for Spock to be all human, the doctor defends the vulcan side of Spock when it is at risk, but he also wouldn't let the vulcan side of Spock overtakes all his humanity. McCoy defends humanity and humans emotions, emotions that Spock does feel, to someone that clearly doesn’t see much value on them. Hell! watch "Journey to Babel" again and notice how similar McCoy and Amanda are acting. Watch the movies too... McCoy and Spock are a lot more sated, their fights are a lot less personal, and the only difference is the fact that Spock finally comes to accept all of himself. I personally believe that that end is also the most logical, and by reaching that self acceptance Spock is at last fully following the vulcan way.

Captain Georgiou January - February Day 3′s scheduled creation is by Al @dykekeit​. Thank you to Al for sharing this essay!

Here’s the thing: this story isn’t about me. I’m white and Jewish―not exactly lacking for representation in Star Trek, even if I am a lesbian―not with the ta’al itself coming from the Kol Nidre service, not with Benjamin Sisko’s character more closely resembling Moses than any other religious figure. How many times have I seen myself, loved myself, in Trek? I’ve taken heart in Leonard Nimoy’s Yiddish, in Jim Kirk’s Tarsus IV backstory, in Benjamin Sisko the reluctant prophet and in Kira Nerys, fighting for her traditions amidst pressure to assimilate or die.

And yet, the first time I saw the trailer for Discovery, I almost burst out crying hearing Michelle Yeoh’s voice—her accent, the way she pronounced Shenzhou, seeing her in the captain’s chair—because it felt so much like home.

Like I said, this story isn’t about me. This is a story about my sensei.

I still don’t know what name she was born with, growing up just outside of Hong Kong. When she arrived in the United States, there was no large Chinese community on the east coast in those days; she didn’t speak English, and no one around her spoke Cantonese. She was alone, totally alone. I still can’t fathom the sheer amount of chutzpah it took for her to stand her ground and carve out her place the way she did, but I know what it took: a skill for organization, a love of scheduling, a gift for disdainful silences, and an intense, rigid sense of etiquette. When you stand barely five feet tall, it’s all necessary.

Sensei loves gardening and darjeeling tea, and hates anything sweet to the point that I have gone out of my way to buy her chocolate above 70% grade dark. Oh, and did I mention? She loves Star Trek.

Sensei gravitates towards characters like Spock, like Data: immigrants, constant strangers among new and adopted cultures alike, repeatedly explaining their differences and saving face and proudly, wholly themselves, no matter if people understand them or not. They are characters who defy expectations and use every difference as a strength, no matter if it’s supposed to be a weakness. I wonder, sometimes, as she’s teaching me about the protective properties of jade bracelets and how the good Jewish delis she knew used to serve thinly sliced beef tongue for sandwiches, but not any more—were the stars visible in Hong Kong, growing up? Did she want to escape to the dark sky, to the other side of the world—anywhere?

How did I meet her? Well, when she was thirty-nine, my sensei took up kendo, the Japanese martial art of fencing, and almost twenty-five years later, she had reached fifth-dan (that’s fifth degree black belt!) Into her dojo I stumbled. Picture this: me, a clumsy, skinny Jewish lesbian, never worked out in my life, thought swords were kind of cool, walking into a dojo and finding a sixty-something Chinese woman who, though she barely came up to my chest, could kick the butts of every single much-younger six-foot-plus male student she had.

I guess it’s not surprising I stayed.

Over the next six years, my sensei taught me everything, and not just about kendo. In between correcting my wrist angles, my posture, my follow-through, my footwork, my uniform, my dojo etiquette, and anything else she could think of, there were moments of life coaching: how to focus, how to be disciplined in everything I do, how to help, how to put other people first. When I burst out crying during practice, she reminds me that the dojo is a safe place for emotions. She introduced me to Hong Kong-style diner food, showed me real dim sum and how to order and eat and share it properly, cultivated a lucky money plant for me to bring home and instructed me where to put it in my house for best feng shui, advised me to begin acupuncture for stress, told me to take more initiative when pouring tea for other visiting sensei. On the worst day of my life, I wanted her advice. Once, I managed to get a signed copy of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club addressed to her personally. When I presented it to her and she learned I hadn’t read it, she turned around and gave it right back to me, insisting with a smile that I read it first so that we could talk about it together.

In the middle of all of it, a new Star Trek show, called Discovery, was announced, and soon, a new trailer dropped. The captain’s name was Philippa Georgiou, and she was played by Michelle Yeoh.

I did nearly burst out crying. It was Michelle Yeoh, but all I could see was Sensei, in command and speaking her accented English, proof of a past beyond a Starfleet that demanded “standard” English for assimilation.

Captain Georgiou was concerned with etiquette, both social and honor-bound: Starfleet doesn’t fire first. In the dojo, I am to bow respectfully, I am to shake hands and thank my opponent after every match, I do not hit just to hit or shy away in fear. The only way a kendo match works is with mutual communication; an opponent is not a faceless thing to be beaten so much as a partner to create opportunities. We may strike first, but we are not aggressors.

Captain Georgiou said: the best way to know yourself is to know others. Take care of those who are in your care. I still remember the time I watched a fellow dojo member rush across the tournament floor because someone had the wrong-colored tasuki to change it without a thought—because he had noticed a problem, therefore he must help. I sat there, frozen. I told Sensei this story later with absolute wonderment and shame and she just smiled, patted my hand, and shared some of her favorite raisin walnut bread with me. She knew the lesson had stuck. Other times, she has snapped at me for forgetting to hold a door open for other people, but—

Captain Georgiou: disciplined, teasing, dedicated, setting stars and valuing candor: your confidence is justified. My shock when Sensei first told a few of the other girls and I some dirty jokes late at night before that same tournament was only matched by how funny it was, and how it was immediately followed with a discussion of our weaknesses in shiai combat, and what our approach both physically and mentally would be for the tournament the following day.

I wonder, through fanfiction and fanart and discussion with others, what Philippa shared of the universe with those around her—with Michael, with Saru, with all those under her care.

I once told Sensei that reading The Joy Luck Club and trying to understand all the Chinese cultural nuances from an outside perspective was like looking through a waterfall, or trying to see through a beaded curtain—seeing outlines, but not being able to grasp details. She smiled, and nodded, and said, “yes.” What she meant was, of course I couldn’t, and no one would be able to explain every detail to me―not if I didn’t live it, but more importantly, not if I didn’t ask questions. When Captain Georgiou brought Michael Burnham to the bridge for the first time, she said, “This can be your new home, if you want it to be.” She asked for little but trust and mutual respect from a certain Vulcan-raised human who needed to re-integrate into an all-too-familiar but still foreign culture. The dojo is foreign, and it is my home, and I must always ask questions.

A human who had seen a life of loss, but still chose hope. A mentor who saw everything as a lesson, full of expectations both written and unwritten. And I, or Michael Burnham, watching her set a star.

Sensei: 谢谢, I love you, and I hope to see you in person soon.

Al

Thank you very much to everyone who voted! Please find the suggested secondary prompts below. Day 1: Wink a) “Lost in your eyes / Drowning in blue / Out of control / What can I do / I'm addicted to you” (Addicted To You by Avicii)

b) "A strong woman looks at a challenge dead in the eyes and gives it a wink"—Gina Carey c) "Looking at the dark I think, I smile, I laugh that light find its way and wink"—Shradha Negi Day 2: Master a) "Because I have known despair, I value hope. Because I have tasted frustration, I value fulfilment. Because I have been lonely, I value love."—Leonard Nimoy b) "You love it how I touch you /My one, when all is said and done / You'll believe God is a woman / And I, I feel it after midnight / A feelin' that you can't fight / My one, it lingers when we're done / You'll believe God is a woman” - Ariana Grande, God is a Woman c) "I’m ready for you now / How many wounds have I endured / Fiercely fighting ourselves / Never been easy / Over time I’ll wake up / The glory of tears, the weight of the crown / I ensure they don’t lose their light." - Super Junior, The Crown. Day 3: Star-crossed lovers a) "I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul" —Charles Dickens b) “Breathe / Keep breathing / Don't loose / Your nerve / Breathe / Keep breathing / I can't do this / Alone” - Radiohead, Exit Music For A Film c) "My dear, don’t forget / My unstoppable love / It’s okay even if it’s a little late / If it’s destiny / We will meet again / Forgetting you / Is such a hard thing / It’s me turning around and crying / My sad dream / Some day / I hope I can love you all I want." - Davichi, Forgetting You Day 4: Winter a) "Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood" — Andy Goldsworthy b) “Winter or spring it don't matter to me / As long as you're here, yeah / I can keep you warm 'till spring comes” - Schld, She Likes Spring, I Prefer Winter c) "Inside that winter / I try to find you / Who I can’t see / I try to hear you / Who I can’t hear." - EXO, Miracles in December Day 5: Poison a) “Sick venom in men and women overcome with pride / A perfect world is never perfect, only filled with lies / Promises are broken and more resentment come alive” - Kendrick Lamar, PRIDE. b) "Love could be labeled poison, and we'd drink it anyways" — Atticus. c) "The poison bleeds from a painful past, far too deep to be cured" — Porcelain River. Day 6: Backseat a) "His bike backseat reserved for me, his car front seat reserved for me, his heart four chambers reserved for me" — Qurat Khan b) "She was his backseat melody. They fit together perfectly in music only they could see" —Nelsen c) "more than anything / i want to save you / from myself” - Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey. Day 7: Witch a) "You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing stars" — Friedrich Nietzsche b) "She is strong, but not in the ways most people think. She loves more than she'll ever get back, and yet she loves anyway." — JmStorm c) “i spent the entire night / casting spells to bring you back” - Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers d) "You're my dream / Mixed into reality / Broken and shattered, fantastic trouble / The catch is that this is closer to my true self / The world is wrenched, you and I in there / Baby, you're my goddess, my life's fire / Forever like this in your embrace / Girl, you're trouble." - EXO, Trouble Bonus: Day 8: Spar a) “I like to see you / But then again / That doesn't mean you mean that much to me / So if I call you / Don't make a fuss / Don't tell your friends about the two of us / I'm not in love...” - Kelsey Lu, I’m Not In Love b) "Try to tell you, "No" / But my body keeps on telling you, "Yes" / Try to tell you, "Stop" / But your lipstick got me so out of breath / I'll be waking up / In the morning probably hating myself / And I'll be waking up / Feeling satisfied, but guilty as hell, yeah." - Maroon 5, One More Night c) "We struggle to fight but we never know that the only side that wins is the one with great love in it." — Morrie Schwartz

Please submit your vote for the secondary prompts here! You may simply specify your choice by stating the alphabet of Day No.#. Voting will close on the 5th of February. Thank you!