Leonard Nimoy passes away at 83
He's not really dead. As long as we remember him.
Leonard Nimoy, best known for playing Mr. Spock on Star Trek, has passed away at 83.
Outside of his work as Spock, Nimoy had an impact on video games where he voiced the narrator in the horrifying virtual pet/fishman caregiving simulator Seaman. He also played Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, as well as the narrator in Civilization 4 and the Atlantean King in Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Whether on TV, in film, or games, Nimoy was known for making conventionally nerdy things seem hip with his deep, distinctive vocal stylings and confident manner. Nimoy was always the coolest guy in the room without even trying. And that's saying something given that he was often in the same room as George Takei.
One amusing anecdote about Nimoy is that he came up with both the Vulcan nerve pinch and Vulcan salute. As reported in Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise (via Cracked), Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's original script had Spock subduing his enemies by simply punching them in the face. But Nimoy didn't feel like this was Vulcany enough and that a more civilised, less emotional species would have a different way of handling such situations. So he came up with the idea of having them emit small bursts of electricity that could be applied to one's nerves for an instant knock out. Classy!
Nimoy once told the LA Times that he came up with the Vulcan Salute based on a hand gesture for the Hebrew letter Shin, which is the first letter in Shaddai, another word for God. The original Vulcan greeting was going to be a shoulder rub. Clearly Nimoy's intellect in understanding the character was reflected in Spock.
Leonard Nimoy remained a class act right up until the end. His final tweet on Sunday read, "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP."
It's a sad day indeed for planet earth, but let's not despair. As USS Enterprise chief medical officer Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy once said at the end of Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, "He's not really dead. As long as we remember him."
