This weekend Leonard Nimoy will be appearing at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. The original Spock has done a couple of interviews with the local Seattle media to promote the event, where he talked about handing off his role to Zachary Quinto, why he still goes to cons, and if he thinks Star Trek was ‘robbed’ at the Oscars. Excerpts below.
Nimoy on Cons, Neckpinches, Quinto and Oscar
(excerpts via SeattleTimes)
Nimoy on conventions
Q: What keeps you coming back to these comic conventions?
A: There are stories to tell, questions to be answered.
Q: What is the strangest question from a fan?
A: Would you teach me how to use this neck pinch on this person who is bothering me, so I can knock him unconscious? Spock has this ability to knock people unconscious.
Q: What was your reaction?
A: I’m afraid you might hurt somebody.
Nimoy on handing off the role to Quinto
Q: How do you feel about passing the torch of Spock to Zachary Quinto, who plays a young version of the character in the 2009 remake of "Star Trek"?
A: I enjoyed it thoroughly. It thought that it had a wonderful script, a great cast, wonderful people. Zachary Quinto, I think was a wonderful actor. … I was very flattered with how the character was written, with great dignity and strength and purpose and intelligence. I’m very pleased that the character is in good hands.
Nimoy on the Oscars
Q: Do you think "Star Trek" was robbed at Oscars?
A: It’s sad that "Star Trek" has been so unrecognized over so many years. I was delighted that at least it won a makeup award. … I think that I’m correct in saying that that’s the first Academy Award that "Star Trek" has ever won. … There’ve been some wonderful achievements in technology, in special effects, photography and story, … but "Avatar" was an enormous accomplishment as a motion picture and still it did not win best director or best film.
Mr. Nimoy Also spoke to KIRO radio in Seattle (MyNorthWest), here are some excerpts from that interview
Nimoy on the longevity of Star Trek:
When he joined the cast of Star Trek in the mid 60’s. He says the setting was science-fiction action but it was the great stories that kept the series alive.
"That’s why it’s lasted so long. It’s not just about ships, and chasing, and guns, and explosions. I mean we have our share of that, but there’s also some very interesting ideas behind all of the episodes and they’re good stories.
Leonard on the handover to Quinto
Nimoy now shares the role of Spock with actor Zachary Quinto who plays a younger version of the character in the new Star Trek film series. Nimoy says he’s pleased with the work Quinto did with the famous character.
"It made me very proud that the character was strong enough that it could be passed onto someone else so successfully. I’m very proud of him. I’m very proud of the movie."
Read the rest of the interview at the SeattleTimes and MyNorthWest
Nimoy and Wheaton and more at Emerald City Comic Con
The Emerald City Comic Con is being held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle this weekend. The two Star Trek guests are Wil Wheaton and Leonard Nimoy. Other guests include Aaron Douglas (BSG), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers) and Stan Lee (Marvel Comics). More info at emeraldcitycomicon.com
Gonna be at ECCC, yes!
Nimoy is THE MAN!!
I’m totally gonna be at the convention in Chicago on the weekend of Oct. 22, where Nimoy will be there! I’m so pumped! It’s going to be amazing. It’s sad to say that after being a hardcore Trekkie my entire life that this’ll be my first convention. But I’m totally looking forward to meeting my hero for the first time!!!
#2 I have to agree with you.
#4 I have to agree with you. I love Leonard Nimoy.
#4+5
I would have to agree with both of you!
I think Star Trek finally won a makeup award because “the powers that be” finally saw a Star Trek makeup crew do something other than put ridges on the sides, top, or front of the head on every humanoid that Starfleet encountered.
I know budgets are tight for a TV series, but damn, people! Have some imagination and ingenuity. CGI is getting better and cheaper at the same time. If Star Trek invents another alien and all they have are ridges on his cheekbones, I’m gonna puke.
Romulans have ridges!! Hey, why do I suddenly have a craving for potato chips?
Thanks for the update. It is always nice to catch up with Leonard Nimoy.
I will see Leonard at the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas this August. He is always entertaining.
#3 , So no Sub-Commander Ruffles for you then? lol
#7: “I think Star Trek finally won a makeup award because “the powers that be” finally saw a Star Trek makeup crew do something other than put ridges on the sides, top, or front of the head on every humanoid that Starfleet encountered […] I know budgets are tight for a TV series, but damn, people! ”
I think you’re crossing the streams there, Egon … Those tight-budgeted TV series had already been respectably recognized with Emmy awards and nominations for makeup, many times over … It seems unlikely that the Oscar-winning makeup in ST09 is being recognized just for being different from the Emmy-winning makeup in the TV shows.
The Academy will always be anti sci fi and anti star trek, sci fi movies start off with negative 100 votes.
How can a movie that revolutionized the box office and special effects not win movie of the year.
Perhaps let professional movie critics vote instead of the Academy.
We all know the makeup award was a pity award for not nominating Star Trek in the top 10 movies of the year or winning anything in the past 33 years.
4, 5, & 6. I’ll agree too. And Happy early b-days to the Nimoy and the Shat, both Marchers (if I remember correctly).
As much as I love the new Trek movie
I am amazed how many people seem to think it is the best one ever. Not a hater but I do believe there is better Star Trek out there than this movie.
Its great that it got an Oscar, be happy for it as the better Star Trek films got no wins. I guess I feel bad that classics like TWOK and FC never got an Oscar.
Congrats on the win and Leonard you will always Spock to me.
Looking forward to meeting Leoanrd at the Vegas con this year.
Leonard is cool, and to me he will always be Spock. Quinto was good but he can’t hold a candle to Leonard Nimoy. The origianls are all better.
Guess rapid promotions, a thin and contrvied plot, the destruction of Vulcan are points that prevent me from liking this movie the best as like many summer blockbusters, the more you think about the more illogical it seems.
I love this movie but JJ Abrams made a few choices that as a hard core fan I was not happy with.
I like to think this is understandable
who is STAND LEE?
I know a Stan Lee, quite famous in Marvel circles I believe :)
Stand is his older brother.
#16 Is a promotion from Lieutenant to Captain really all that “rapid”? Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE seems to keep forgetting that Kirk was a Lieutenant his last year at the Academy. As was Uhura. Saavik was also a Lieutenant despite being a Cadet. I’m really tired of hearing “OMG kirk went from cadet to captain, how unrealistic OMG”. Cadet is NOT a rank. At least, it wasn’t until TNG & DS9 came along with Wesley Crusher and Nog. Cadet was used to show that, even if they held the rank of Ensign, Lieutenant, or whatever, they were still in training. Kirk was a Lieutenant who managed to take charge in an extremely difficult series of circumstances, as well as save Earth and quite likely the rest of the Federation. This has happened to Kirk multiple times in the original timeline, if you’ll recall.
“and Stand Lee (Marvel Comics).”
STAND Lee????? lol Poor Stan
Stand Lee is short for Stan Da Man Lee!
Class act!
Unlike most of the other Trek cast members… theirs never anything to hate about Leonard ! He’s just soo cool !
I never much care for Academy Award winning movies anyway. They usually bore me to tears. My favorite movie was always The Motion Picture, as unusual as that sounds. The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home and First Contact were also extremely well done and any of them should have garnered some attention from the snobs at the Academy Awards. So-called movie aficiondos love to look down there nose at Star Trek as some sort of geek fantasy.
Nimoy has always been a class act. I always found it interesting that the co-stars have complained about Shatner, but have always had high praise for Nimoy. He was a great actor too, but unfortunately never got much recognition outside of Star Trek. I was recently watching Baffled! (a campy mystery pilot that never became a TV series, but great 70’s fun) and his acting was very good for someone who is famous for playing a character without emotion.
I’m thinking that the long-faced alien in the bar won the Oscar all by himself.
#13. somethoughts – “…revolutionized the box office…”
Huh? Where did this come from? Saurian brandy or Romulan ale?
Back in time- slingshot around tha’ sun ta’ last Sunday night…
LEONARDO NIMOY: Freeze right there or I will neck-pinch you to death.
PRICE WATERHOUSE SECURITY GUARD: But… we don’t have any money! All we have are these envelopes with the Oscar winners.
LEONARDO NIMOY: Precisely. Now, give me your booty.
PRICE WATERHOUSE SECURITY GUARD: (dropping pants) Well, OK… this is Hollywood… Be gentle with your genitals.
LEONARDO NIMOY: No, no, no! I meant your envelopes. (grabs every Oscar winner envelope and writes either “Star Trek” or “Leo Nimoy” on them.
(hours later)
BEN STILLER: And the winner is… Uhhhhhhhhhh… somehow Leonard Nimoy won for “Best Movement Of A Right Hand During a Third Act Scene.” Well…
ANNOUNCER: This is the 23rd Award this night for Leonard Nimoy who is tying a record with the film “Star Trek: 2009” in receiving 23 Oscars this evening.
BND: (drunk and hallucinating) Awwwwwwwwk! This be tha’ best Oscar Meyer show since Wolverine danced a good deal… Hey! Why ain’t me teevee on? Hello? Hello? Guess I live in a fantasy world where me mustard-coloured shirt and delta insignia gives me tha’ right ta’ drive me Buick at warp 10…
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
If any of you are old enough to remember the Oscars for 1977, you’ll understand my statement.
Avatar was “Annie Hall’d”.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to tell him in person again, but to Leonard: THANK YOU for sharing your acting and narrative talent with us over the decades!
Stand Lee is the creator Spider Mand and The Incredible Hulkd.
Mr. Nimoy is a gracious and honorable man, unlike his former co-star whose name shall not be named.
Looking forward to his upcoming appearances on “FRINGE” this season.
May he ‘Live Long and Prosper’ and be at peace.
16. Captain Neill
I love this movie but JJ Abrams made a few choices that as a hard core fan I was not happy with.
I like to think this is understandable
**********
Completely understandable! I was entertained by this movie (“love” is too strong a word for the way I regard it), but I definitely had more than a few WTF moments.
Its my Birthday!!! That was an awsome birthday treat!! Thanks Leonard for the memories!
@ 30
Are you speaking of Bill ?
If so, then cut him some slack.
is anyone gonna be at the comicon in seattle? i’ll show up. i’d would be cool to meet some of you. and get a chance to bitchslap a few of you as well.
speaking of which, an aside to captain_neil: must you ALWAYS make the same point post after post ad nauseam. we get it. you like the new one, but not as much as a few others, and it confounds you how anyone could not feel the same way. i just did a quick search and found 26 variations on your “feelings” in just a few months.
no offense, but maybe you should move on.
I had the pleasure of meeting Leonard Nimoy in 2008, and I have to say he is the warmest, most genuine, most intelligent and wonderful human being I have ever had the honor to spend time with.
60’s Star Trek is the BEST!
TWOK is the greatest Star Trek movie ever!
Move on, folks, nothin’ to see here!
pock speared
I will be there, wearing my “i’m a pc” shirt from my days at Microsoft.
I should be somewhat easy to spot.
I’m so lucky I live in Seattle! My co worker mentioned Nimoy was @ the Con in town. I wondr how much a gouging..er…ticket prices are for 1 day?
Nimoy will always be spock to my generation, and others before mine. The new generations is Quinto. Not mocking his performance or anything but imho he is not Spock anymore than Pine is Shatner’s Kirk.
Proud to have LN move to elder Treksman, as it were. He’s the best cheerleader Trek has. Shatner should really be doing this, too.
Were we robbed at the Oscars? Who cares????? The movie’s doing great business and the sequel will do even more. Said another way, how many “Passage to India” conventions do you plan to attend this year? How are those “Gandhi” online games coming? Are you confused by the overwhelming number of “Brokeback Mountain” fan fic novels and comics out there?
Trek is alive, baby! Enjoy!
#26
Apologies, I was referring to Avatar.
I’m not sure where people like Captain_Neill and myself have to “move on” to. This is the most current Trek movie(and the *only* one that takes place in this timeline) that we have to comment on. No, we’re not 100% positive, but like me he makes sure to mention the good things to balance out the things that didn’t quite do it for him. It’s not bellyaching or sour grapes. But it is an honest and respectful discussion of one’s reaction to the film. When there’s another one to talk about, we’ll weigh in on that too.
I agree i loved the new film but it was not without its faults but neither was any other previous trek show or movie faultless, no not even wrath of khan.
Some nitpicker someplace will always find something to comment on and that is what makes us fans right?
I hope people do realize star trek is an entertainment property and not a sacred cow or a religion. Even if for decades Paramount banked on the fanaticism of the fans to fill the coffers. Where were they when Nemesis was in theaters or Enterprise was on the air?
#16 sez: “Guess rapid promotions, a thin and contrvied plot, the destruction of Vulcan are points that prevent me from liking this movie the best […]”
But Vulcan was not destroyed. The filmmakers remind us constantly (approximately half the time, depending on whether their goal is to have their cake or eat it at the moment) that their characters are immune to critique by comparison to the real Trek characters because they are alternate-universe new beginnings … stand-ins from a constantly-generated supply of copies generated at every action and choice across all possible timelines. The same, by necessity, extends to Vulcan. It was, as the Python troupe so wisely put it, only a model – even from an in-universe perspective. That “Vulcan” was just a cheap disposable shadow, with an infinite number of equally-meaningless copies (including, presumably an infinite number of destroyed and not-destroyed versions) :)
There’s still just the one that matters, and it (again, in fictional context) is just dandy.
They did destroy Romulus, though :)
Thank God the new movie is an alternate universe and that everything is still ok in the prime universe,
I am trying to balnce out what i loved about the film which was a lot but there were many things in this movie that JJ Abrams got me so angry about.
Just because I am a Star Trek fan and because this one is financially the biggest does that mean I must like this one the best.
Ending up liking the film given the fact I was expecting to despise this film because of the changes is a good accomplishment.
I just cannot like this film as the best ever Trek film. I do like it but I dont feel entirely happy about this mainstream direction that the overrated JJ Abrams is taking my fav show in.
44. S. John Ross – March 12, 2010
We got our cake and ate it.
and I think that’s what upsets some of you so much.
#46: “We got our cake and ate it.”
Yep. Just like the others in your business who repeatedly have, eat, and regurgitate the very same cake. [golf clap] Bravo.
Yea I hated Romulus being destroyed.
48. Others in our business? Not sure what you mean.
Regurgitate the same cake? Uhuh. That’s all we did. We copied every other sequel that’s simultaneously a prequel.