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Friday Full-Length: Star Trek: “Journey to Babel”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 27th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Star Trek, s02e10 “Journey to Babel”

Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015

The obvious choice would’ve been the first episode from the second season (going by original airdate), “Amok Time,” which is where Spock enters the pon farr, or the Vulcan mating cycle, and winds up fighting a to-the-death battle with Captain Kirk. That’s a classic, no doubt about it, but later-that-season’s “Journey to Babel” is more interesting in terms of the character, giving the background for who he is and how he got to be that way, living in two words and all that, and Leonard Nimoy‘s performance as Spock is of course stellar.

Today marks the passing of Nimoy, who played Spock for the better part of 50 years — most recently in 2013’s reboot sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness — and in many ways was the face of the Star Trek franchise even more than Kirk, whose portrayal by William Shatner remains a landmark in televised and cinematic science-fiction, but about whom, without Spock and Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) to personify his cerebral and emotional impulses, there wasn’t much to tell. A half-human, half-alien hybrid with pointed ears, a funny hand gesture and deeply-buried emotions, Spock became an archetype that would be imitated ceaselessly both in the Star Trek franchise (see also: Data on The Next GenerationOdo on Deep Space NineSeven of Nine and Tuvok on Voyager and T’Pol on Enterprise) and outside of it, and the character’s devotion to logic and science served as an analogy for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry‘s hope for humanity. Not that we’d necessarily abandon our emotions, but that we could evolve to a point where we might not be completely ruled by them. Hasn’t happened yet, but it’s a nice thought.

Over the years on television and in films, Nimoy and Spock became seemingly inseparable, to the point that Nimoy‘s two autobiographies, I am Not Spock and I am Spock, addressed the issue directly. Nimoy wrote, directed, was a poet and a photographer, released multiple albums over his career and made more television and voice-over appearances than even IMDB can count, but whatever he did, his role as Spock continued to define him, and particularly, the joy he seemed to take from that role especially in his later years. His tweets often ended with “LLAP,” an acronym for Spock‘s famous salute, “Live long and prosper.”

And since it’s as Spock that Nimoy will always be best remembered, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s a human being mourned, not the work he’s done. The work will remain.

Next week, reviews of Brothers of the Sonic ClothRuby the Hatchet and Blackout. Monday a video premiere from Lunar Electric. Have a great and safe weekend, and please check out the forum and radio stream.

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