Friday 27 February 2015

Pop Culture News

Star Trek legend Leanard Nimoy dies aged 83


It is a sad day when one of your heroes dies. That unfortunately is the case as actor Leanard Nimoy AKA Star Trek's Spock died in Los Angeles this morning.

Leanard Nimoy, popularly known as the half human half vulcan in Star Trek was an extraordinary man who,along with his Star Trek cohorts put Sci-fi on the map. Before Star Trek if you wanted anything remotely serious or thought provoking it would be a trip to the local library. Something which didn't do the geeks and the nerds any favours back in the day. However Leanard Nimoy's portrayal of spock really brought Sci-fi to the attention of million's. I remember as a child watching the then brand new Star Trek: The Next Generation T.V series and wondering why Spock was a robot and why Kirk was bald. Hey, I was young.

The legend unfortunately revealed he had contracted chronic lung disease last year and earlier this morning, after being in hospital for a week lost the battle. Whilst in hospital he left his final tweet, which was of course as poetic and deep as he was. It read "A life is a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.  LLAP". The final letters refering to his legendary Spock quote "Live long and prosper".

A little known fact is Spock's hand gesture (The index and middle finger speading out to make a V sign) was heavily influenced by a Jewish parade he witnessed as a child. He was told by his father to put his hands over his face as he was walking through a crowd of Jewish men performing a ritual. Young Leanard of course took a peek from behind his hands and witnessed the men performing the hand gesture we know and love. It's actually a religious shape,representing the letter "shin".
   Needless to say the memory stuck with Leanard Nimoy and before performing a scene in Star Trek where the viewers would first see Vulcan, Leanard suggested the gesture as a "hand shake" the Vulcans would do to greet each other. Hence a legend was born and almost fifty years later people still enjoy the Sci-Fi show. Few would argue this has alot to do with Leanard Nimoy and his iconic role

The man certainly did live long and prospered and this particular fan has a heavy heart due to the death of such a marvelous and iconic man.

No comments:

Post a Comment