Me and John went to Chicago to see him, and he didn't appear for health reasons, but we still got this. Very FEW celebrities effect your life, but I felt he did, I wish we had met him.
It takes a special kind of talent, not to mention dedication and professionalism, to take a character whose whole personality was conceived around not showing emotion, and yet convey their unspoken emotions and make the audience feel for them anyway. Nimoy did it better than anyone.
And for someone who became famous for portraying a character who hid his emotions, he has certainly pulled many emotions from countless people all over the world today.
One of the first shows I really fell in love with was Star Trek. A lot of that was due to Spock of course. Of course there were many other roles Mr. Nemoy played, and he was Iconic. However the one thing i hope I never forget him for was today. I was around a few different places I go, and I noticed something quite awesome. There were people who normally fought with each other over different ideologies or personal matters that all seemed to agree on their fandom for this man. Look around here and tell me the last time you saw such unity in some of the people who post around here. yes, I am aware of the nature of this board, and that you are going to have sci fi fans who are probably going to care about such an iconic figure, but the agreement of people who normally are opposed to each other here is something I have seen in multiple places today regarding Mr. Nemoy. My life was made better by his presence in the world, and it seems he also made the world a better place to be for many. Here is to you Mr. Nemoy. We were blessed to have had you here.
He was part of the condescending, paternalistic Vulcan occupation of the Earth who rejected his humanity at every opportunity, eventually giving up his military commission to serve a foreign government. His utterl failure to promptly deploy red matter to protect a neighboring and hostile empire nearly got our planet completely destroyed by an insane Romulan, something for which he never even apologized. He stood by watching countless human redshirts die, feeling nothing for their loss. Worse, when the Earth was being conquered by Pod People he did nothing to warn more than a handful of random friends of the threat, despite being a paid government employee charged with protecting the public, as if he was in cahoots with the alien invaders, hoping they'd eat him last. Happy now?
Unless you are one of his relatives or people who knew him, you can always go back and see him in the media which is where you knew him from. For those of us who knew and experience Mr. nemoy through his work we will always be able to hold him with us as he has been in our lives until now. So remember his presence will always be there for you, it is just that we will get no more contributions from him. Turning a page seems to mean an end to our enjoyment, but I know we can enjoy him in our lives as we watch his works in the future and be grateful we were able to experience them. I feel sad for those people who knew him who will now suffer the loss of someone in their lives who I would imagine was probably a happy part of it. However, I am glad for what he contributed. I am not terribly sad that he died. He was not taken from this world early, and certainly had time and resources to bring forth what he wanted to. I would not deny him more time, of course, but his life was significant and we are all limited in our time here. There will be an end to it.
No, it actually didn't. You were writing from the heart, and did so quite eloquently. When you, or anyone, steps away from the rage or anger or upset running through your head due to whatever is going on at the present, and sit down in a moment of peace and write about loss, mourning someone who has passed, we all come together because we all feel the same. It's our shared humanity. Sadly, the half-human who left Starfleet to work for an alien government didn't share that with us, but screw him and his Vulcan masters. Yeah. I totally went there. Hope it cheered you up.
What a loss. To me he was trek. I am thankful that I got to see him in 2004 in Orlando. Met Frontline and some others there too.
I could see an Emmy for playing Spock being kind of problematic. How do we know he was anywhere close to how Vulcans really act, move, and talk? For all we know, he should have been using a thick Cockney accent and moving like a robot. Thus, science fiction usually gets snubbed at the Emmys.
Science Fiction (and fantasy) get snubbed because the elites still view it as trash for children and teen boys. The can't see that a lot of it has grown up and much of it is quite "adult" now. ie...that's just that junk geeks and nerds watch, so I don't want to associate myself with that...I'm cool.
William Shatner is stuck in Florida for a Red Cross event tonight and won't be able to make it back in time to attend Nimoy's funeral.
That's an attitude that's pervasive in the book business as well. I hate to say it, but "good." One less opportunity to turn it into another episode of The Bill Shatner Show.
You don't get it! Nobody is going there to see Leonard Nimoy. With Shatner out, who speaks? What if the cast of Fringe all show up but hardly any cast members from Star Trek do? What if, God forbid, the Rabbi turns the microphone over to Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill who talk about what a quirky little fan base Nimoy had? There's no recovery from that. We might as well start hanging up pictures of George Lucas and working on our storm trooper suits. The one day when we really need Captain Kirk to show up and save the Federation from getting pwned by hostile alien forces, he fucking blows it because he's stuck attending a ball in his fancy dress uniform.
^This. Reminds me of some advice John Gielgud once gave Lesley-Anne Down backstage. I’m paraphrasing, but essentially he said “My dear, if you cry the audience won’t.” The other thing about Nimoy was that he was that rarity in Hollywood – a scandal-free celebrity. The tabloids tried to make a big deal out of his split with his first wife (after 35 years), but couldn’t make it stick. His kids grew up without the stereotypical drugs, alcohol, and rehab trifecta, which says a lot about the kind of parent he was. AFAIK, there are no fannish horror stories (“Like, OMG, he was rude to me in the elevator at Creation in Vegas!111!”). The word “gracious” comes to mind.
Yep, never heard anything negative about Nimoy. By all reports he was a pretty humble, easy-going man.
And that can't have been easy to maintain, given the personality types I'm sure he routinely ran into at conventions over the years. Garamet is right, you never heard a negative word, ever, about the man. Unfortunately, many are using this opportunity to bash Shatner. The obit at AICN goes out of it's way to share an anonymous anectode about how both Shatner and Nimoy negotiated with JJ Abrams to be in nu-Trek. Supposedly, Shatner would agree to be in it only if Spock was excluded. Nimoy, OTOH, agreed but also tried to negotiate a part for his "friend" Shatner. I have no idea is this story is true, but the timing of sharing it was in bad taste. Shatner may or may not deserve the scorn of fans for his reputation for narcissistic and douchebag behavior, but now is not the right time to vent that exhaust port. Like him or not, Shatner created a heroic character as iconic as any in either classic or modern literature. Is he warm & fuzzy in real life? If not, I don't think that makes him unique amongst the ranks of Hollywood.
Of course, I said all that, and now I read that Shatner won't attend Nimoy's funeral. He claims schedule conflict with a Red Cross charity event in Florida. Come on Shatner. Just....come on.
Yeah, I don't buy Shatner doing that at all. At most, he was told "We have X dollars in the budget for cameos, we can't afford the both of you" and responded "Well, that's a shame, I'd still love to be in the movie even if that means Leonard isn't."
