Creating the Legend of Spock
Creating the Legend of Spock
From early in the conceptual planning of STAR TREK, Gene Roddenberry was clear that he wanted to feature an alien as a senior and central member of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew, and he was equally sure that Leonard Nimoy should play that character. In the end Roddenberry decided to cast Spock as half-human, half-Vulcan. In this respect, as with several aspects of STAR TREK, the allusion to the western genre comes through clearly. In all the best westerns, so called "half-breed" characters prove to be more complex than Native Americans or whites, and the intriguing quality of Spock was the eternal, internal conflict between Vulcan logic and human emotion.
The portrayal of these conflicting emotions presented Nimoy with an acting challenge. He claimed that his portrayal of Spock was influenced by the restrained, minimalist, stage act of singer Harry Bellafonte, whose very occasional movements signified moments of high drama in a performance. Likewise, when the stoney face of Spock raises an eyebrow, you can be sure that something important is happening.
Having lived with the part of Spock for more than twenty-five years, Leonard Nimoy claims that the Vulcan Starfleet officer has affected him personally, providing him with a more objective approach to life. It was Nimoy who decided that the idea of violence was incompatible with Vulcan philosophy and persuaded storyline writers that the Vulcans had studied human anatomy to develop a less violent way of rendering recalcitrant individuals unconscious - hence the Vulcan neck-pinch was born.
Nimoy delved in to his own Jewish upbringing to create the Vulcan hand salute, first used in the episode 'Amok Time'. The salute is derived from that used by the Kohanim (Hebrew priests) when blessing the congregation while forming the letter 'shin' with their hands. The salute, and the associated valediction "live long and proposer" are now used as a greeting by STAR TREK fans everywhere.
 |
 |
 |
