Help me, Spock!

Only Kirk is left.

Saturday nights I would endure the end of Lawrence Welk to see Star Trek. No internet summaries of episodes existed. No fan fiction was available. I bought photo-novels and recorded episodes on a tape recorder for the times when Star Trek was off the air . . . which oft occurred, though Lawrence Welk endured to irritate me for decades.

I know Leonard Nimoy was not Spock. He wrote a book to tell me so, though later he sort of took it back. They have even let another actor play Spock, but there always has been, is, and will be a unique relationship between being Nimoy and being Spock.

And now Spock has gone to the undiscovered country.

If I cannot avoid every Star Trek meme, I hope fans will forgive me. I went to every Star Trek (original cast) film on opening day and cried when Spock died. My childhood actor-heroes are dying and it is hard to know how best to respond. I did not know Leonard Nimoy, but the character he played made a great impression on me. My guess is that a good bit of unreflective decision making, desires, and dreams are influeneced by Star Trek. 

Undoubtably that is bad, Shakespeare would have been better as a model instead of a show that pirated Shakespeare for titles and lines,but I grew up the way I grew up. I will always think Kodos the Executioner first and not Hamlet when I hear the phrase “conscience of the King.” There is a good side to it as well, though. Nimoy did not share my politics or religious faith (so far as I know) and so I may not have learned the lessons he wished me to learn from Star Trek, but I did learn.

I spent so much time thinking about the relationship of actors, story, and imagination that I wrote a book about it.

Here is what Nimoy playing Spock as written by the Original Series writers taught me:

It can be excellent to be the number-two guy.

Kirk was my first hero, but Spock was his happy second in command. He learned the hard way he was not fit to lead. Most of my career has been being the support to another leader and one reason that has been great is that Spock showed me the way. I know Jesus modeled it earlier and better, but Spock showed me that subordinating my needs for the Captain might not just be acceptable, but even leave me the breakout star.

And a good Captain would be fine with that . . . even if he lost at three dimensional chess!

Blended backgrounds are a strength. 

Spock was “half-Vulcanian and half-human.” I have never understood how this worked in fact, but in fiction it was illuminating. Humans were good and Vulcans were good . . . Spock got the best of both races. He had Vulcanian super strength, intelligence, and human passions. He was better for being a “mongrel.” For an American, this is an encouraging lesson.

We have borrowed the best of many cultures to create something splendid.

Friendship is as excellent as romance.

As a romantic, I thought a girlfriend was the highest hall of human happiness. Spock, McCoy, and Kirk showed me an alternative*. They were friends and their friendship created a family based on the five year mission. My ideal of a workplace remains one where a band of brothers and sisters join to boldly go. There might be a commander (Kirk!) but every person is essential to the team and nobody is dispensable.

It was never right when Kirk became an admiral or when someone else was a science officer. Spock, McCoy, and Kirk belonged together and I have never trusted a “go it alone” captain ever since!

Logic is an essential tool, but is not everything.

Vulcan had a pathway that crushed all emotion. Spock discovered that pathway was not for him. Eventually, he pointed out to a disciple that logic was just the beginning of wisdom for him. Spock encouraged me to take mathematical logic and to endure until I learned it. I knew (at a gut level) that thinking well (even very well) was important. He also showed me that the arts mattered by playing an e-harp . . . though Nimoy should never ever have sung about Bilbo Baggins. (No link out of respect. Google at your own risk.)

Science is glorious, but is not the only way of knowing.

As the science officer, Spock showed the excitement of learning using the scientific methods. He made research and study look essential and the job of exploration heroic. You did not have to be a fighter, you could be a scientist. Vulcans also were mystical and respected ritual . . . dare I say religion? The show had many writers and at least one of them in an episode I treasured, Bread and Circuses, broke with old atheism and showed Christian origins respect.

Star Trek was willing to do that sort of thing even when Gene Roddenberry was not.

I can learn from anybody, even space hippies. 

The third season of Star Trek came about because fans organized the first petition drive in the history of television to save it. That at least is what we told ourselves, though the third season was so mutilated and cheapened that many of us are sad we cared. As the “break-out” character, Spock took over too many episodes and the triumvirate was deemphasized.

And yet I watch them all for the pleasure of their company. There are even a few gems, though the Way to Eden is not one of them. This episode was so wretched and contrived to make a sixties-liberalism point that I long remembered it and finally learned to appreciate it. Spock tried to “reach” everyone and learn from them. He did this even when they turned out to have not-so-much to say.

It is the way of the dialectic and he was right. Yeah, brother!

Nobody beats death, not even Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. 

The last few movies featured actors aging out of the parts they were being given to play. Each of the movies dealt with death, endings, and what it meant to face the final challenge. Shatner’s character was actually killed to transition to the Next Generation cast, ending my interest in the movies. First, McCoy died. Now Spock is dead. Kirk alone remains.

No hero beats death. There are no stunt doubles to fill in when the moment comes. My hope, deep, deep, hope, is that for all of us at that moment clarity comes and confusion is lifted. We can choose life as Moses would have said. I hope at the moment of his death Nimoy saw Life and chose life.

I am thankful for the many lessons he taught me, entertainment provided, and pray that his soul rest in peace.

*I know some fans “shipped” them . . . some fans “ship” everyone . . . but I did not and learned something better as a result.