Beyond Spock

Through a business associate/friend of Mr. Nimoy's that I met in Boston last November, I found out more about Mr. Nimoy's photography exhibition to open in July at MASS Moca - the largest contemporary arts center in the U.S. I was determined to go and Gary (the friend) encouraged me and said he would help if he could.

I developed a pleasant correspondence with Rebecca Wehry, the Special Events Coordinator at MASS MoCA, who was wonderful in giving me details of the event, which included opportunities to assist in sponsoring "Secret Selves." My friend, Susan Fox and I decided to contribute in this capacity. When I later found out that Mr. Nimoy would personally photograph anyone as their "secret self" at another level of sponsorship, I decided to move up to become a "supporting sponsor." The opportunity to watch Mr. Nimoy work as a photographer was a thrilling prospect! To my delight, Ms. Wehry called me a few weeks later and asked if I would like to attend a private dinner the Friday before the opening that included museum trustees/sponsors and the Nimoys! Of course, I accepted. Read more here.

After the finished the series, he had something of an identity crisis, especially in playing dictators on Mission: Impossible.

Talked about being on Fringe and how he did it because of the great job everyone did on the new Trek movie, but was ultimately dissatisfied with his first 3 episode arc. Because of that, Nimoy refused to come back until JJ Abrams ultimately called and asked. He ended up happy with his arc and felt it ended much like Wrath of Kahn.

After Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, he didn’t feel closure with the character. He didn’t really feel that until he teared up in a pitch meeting the writers of the new film had with him.

Next year is the 60th anniversary of his acting career and he talked a bit about how that started, some of his early movies, and how his role in Kid Monk Baroni garnered good enough reviews to give him confidence to struggle for 10 years doing odd jobs before landing Trek.

Leonard Nimoy, whose immensely popular portrayal of "Star Trek's" Mr. Spock can be considered an archetype in its own right, will be participating in a discussion with analyst Beverly Zabriskie to speak both about "The Red Book" and a recent body of portraits he has created of volunteers costumed as their "secret selves."

Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy talks "pointy ears" and computer gaming with the BBC's Daniel Emery.

The actor, who played Spock, is at the E3 conference in Los Angeles to promote the game Yoostar 2.

It’s official — Spock is coming home

"It can be confirmed," said Dayna Dickens, tourism co-ordinator on Friday. "Leonard Nimoy is definitely coming to Vulcan."

The actor who played Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek series is scheduled to attend the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo in April, but he will first make an appearance in Vulcan on April 23, she said.

"We don't know any details of what he'll be doing when he gets here," Dickens added. "That's still being negotiated."

(...)

However, Nimoy's visit is not a Vulcan Tourism event — it's a Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo event hosted in Vulcan, she said.

January 2010. The Vulcan Advocate.

Nimoy’s scheduled visit to Vulcan finalized

Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the Star Trek series, will arrive in Vulcan at 2:30 p.m. on April 23, said Trish Standing, chamber president.

Local officials, including Tom Grant, the mayor of Vulcan, will get a chance to meet with Nimoy.

Shortly after, starting at around 3 p.m., Nimoy will be part of the parade, which will start at the Tourism and Trek Station and run down to the intersection on Centre Street and Third Avenue.

"We're thrilled and honoured that he'll be coming," said Dayna Dickens, Vulcan's tourism co-ordinator.

The community as a whole has been coming together to work towards getting ready for the visit, said Dickens.

"That's wonderful to see," she added.

After the parade, at around 3:30 p.m., the action will move on to the stage down town, where a few speeches are planned, followed by the unveiling of the Spock bust and Vulcan salute hand print.

Nimoy's scheduled departure is set for 4:15 p.m. His visit was made possible through coordination with the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

March 2010. The Vulcan Advocate

In honour of @TheRealNimoy, and all things Vulcan

I also had the privilege of working with Vulcan Tourism a few years ago when Leonard Nimoy came home to Vulcan (he also attended a little show called The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo) and I was asked to design a poster and shirt celebrating his arrival.

The first one I did was a play off of the Obama Hope poster (I know, everyone did that poster) which I was quite proud of, everybody loved it (@therealnimoy even tweeted about it which I am still geeking out about - and it's been two years) but we couldn't use it for whatever reason and I came back with an Andy Warhol-esque image that met approvals.

Just so you know, I have always been a Leonard Nimoy/Spock fan (I can remember drawing pictures of him when I was a kid using my "Leonard Nimoy presents: Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space" and "Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy" albums for reference- of course I had them) so to be given this opportunity makes me happy all over.

To borrow a classic line, Live Long and Prosper

Source: Dean Reeves. Read his account of the actual event here Vulcan, Leonard Nimoy and R2-D2.

Spock will finally beam home to Vulcan
Actor Nimoy to visit town he championed
Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, January 23, 2010

Mr. Spock is finally coming home.

Actor Leonard Nimoy, who played the half-human, half-Vulcan first officer of the Starship Enterprise on the original series, will be visiting the southern Alberta town of Vulcan on April 23, prior to his appearance at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo on April 24 and 25.

The 78-year-old actor helped put the farming town of less than 2,000 residents on the map when he got behind the community's spirited campaign to host last year's world premiere of the blockbuster Star Trek reboot.

After reading about their plight in a Calgary Herald story online, he called the town's tourism office and the press to lend his support, deeming Paramount Pictures' reluctance "sad." Vulcan, which doesn't have a movie theatre, didn't get the premiere but Nimoy's cheerleading made headlines around the world.

He also told the Herald that he would happily visit the town, but had never been invited. Now he has.

"I would love to just roll out the green carpet," says tourism co-ordinator Dayna Dickens, an appropriately Trekkie reference to Mr. Spock's famous green blood. "We want to really thank him for what he's done for us and show him what we're all about and how we're hoping to grow and evolve it over time. And really just put a face to the community that he's made just a big difference for." Nimoy is expected to spend a few hours in Vulcan to help usher in its new status as the official Star Trek capital of Canada, which was recently bestowed on the town through a licensing deal with CBS Broadcasting. The actor will unveil a life-size bronze bust of Mr. Spock and provide a hand print for a plaque that will greet visitors with the Vulcan blessing "Live long and prosper."

Source: Calgary Herald

Vulcan throws stellar homecoming party
Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald; Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, April 24 2010

Despite a spell of unwelcoming hail, rain and snow, Mr. Spock finally arrived in the small Alberta town of Vulcan on Friday, ending what some say has been a 10-year quest to bring the half-human, half-Vulcan home.

(...) "Wait until Bill Shatner hears about this," said Nimoy. "I have been a Vulcan for 44 years. It's about time I came home."

In town for only a couple of hours, the actor is scheduled to be a guest at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo this weekend. Vulcan is about 100 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

Nimoy's appearance caps off a decade-plus campaign to use Gene Roddenberry's popular Star Trek phenomenon to boost tourism for the town, which was actually named after the Roman god of fire.

"I think this is going to go down as one of the biggest days in Vulcan history," says Dayna Dickens, the town's tourism co-ordinator. "You know, certainly there's be some controversy with the town having its traditional Prairie roots. But I think the town has come together to welcome Mr. Nimoy here."

A pharmacy, an insurance office, the local tavern and even one abandoned building had been turned into makeshift shrines to Spock. New T-shirts had been designed, and a limited edition poster was produced that pictured an Andy Warhol-like portrait of the pointy-eared first officer of the Enterprise with the caption "Welcome Home."

(...) Nimoy, who recently announced his retirement from acting, was clearly touched by the attention.

"I've never had an experience quite as touching as I'm having here today and I appreciate it," he said. "I'm just sorry it took me so long to get here."

Last year, Nimoy famously got behind the town's failed bid to hold the premiere of J.J. Abrams's 2009 Star Trek film series reboot.

Vulcan has already felt the benefits of Nimoy's plug. In 2009, it had 23,400 visitors. That's up from 16,800 in 2008. Now endorsed by CBS Television, which owns the licensing rights to Star Trek memorabilia, the town has been able to offer a new line of items at its tourism centre.

Source: Edmonton Journal

Friday, April 23, 2010, was a big day in Vulcan: Spock was finally coming home.

In truth, it was Leonard Nimoy’s first visit to this Star Trek-crazed town in rural Alberta, Canada. The man best known as “Spock” was greeted by thousands of adoring fans, many of them wearing Vulcan-style pointy ears and Star Trek uniforms. After serving as honorary parade marshal on a starship float, Nimoy unveiled a bust of Spock at the space-themed Vulcan Tourism & Trek Station. “I’ve been a Vulcan for 44 years,” Nimoy told the cheering crowd as he flashed his trademark “Live Long and Prosper” Vulcan salute. “It’s about time I came home.”

“Leonard has great affection for Vulcan,” says Pat Wisener, owner of the Vulcan Funeral Home and a longstanding member of V.A.S.T. (the Vulcan Association of Science & Trek, which has spearheaded the town’s promotional efforts). “He told me that his childhood home and many around it had been bulldozed in Boston, so he felt orphaned. So once he heard about Vulcan and our ‘Spock Days,’ he had a new hometown—and that coming here in April was like coming home for real.”

Nimoy’s visit is just the latest achievement in a rather strange tale of whimsy, marketing savvy, and attraction management success. The reason: The town that is now known as the “Official Star Trek Capital of Canada” only gained this moneymaking status by out-of-the box thinking, dogged determination, and a sense of humor that won the heart of Nimoy and Star Trek fans from across the globe.

How Vulcan Became Spock’s Hometown
The town of Vulcan, Alberta (population 1,940, up 10 percent from 2001), sits on the flat Canadian Prairie about an hour’s drive from Calgary. It was founded in 1915 and named Vulcan in honor of the Roman god of fire. “At one time, a million bushels of wheat flowed into Vulcan’s towering grain elevators from neighboring farms, and onto passing trains,” Wisener says. But those days are long gone. Only one of the so-called “Prairie Skyscrapers” remains in town, and the town’s business base has been in decline for decades.

By 1990, things were getting desperate in Vulcan. Businesses were going broke, local schools were closing, and the population was trickling away. In response, the local Chamber of Commerce got together to brainstorm ideas to revive the town’s fortunes. “Some people suggested that we build a heritage museum to attract tourists, but then it was pointed out that every small town seems to have a heritage museum,” says Greg Dietz, owner of Invisible Fence of Western Canada and a founding member of V.A.S.T. “Then someone mentioned how Trekkies liked to have their picture taken by the town’s cement sign that said, ‘Welcome to Vulcan,’” Wisener adds. “That got me to thinking: Maybe there’s a way to work with Vulcan’s link to Star Trek and get people to stop by for Star Trek-themed events here.”

The Vulcan Chamber of Commerce members agreed; perhaps “to boldly go where no Canadian Prairie town had ever gone before” could help generate some tourist dollars. So V.A.S.T. was born, and the quest to turn a dying farm town into Canada’s Star Trek capital began.

“It seemed a natural,” Dietz says. “After all, people who called me from out of town were always saying, ‘You live in Vulcan, eh? So do you have pointy ears?’ And I’d reply, ‘Yeah, so what’s it to ya?’”

(...)

Stellar Milestones
In 1993 Vulcan hosted its first Star Trek convention. Branded as Star Trek VulCON, the event attracted Trekkies from all over Alberta. The Star Trek fans wore their uniforms in town, which the locals supported by wearing their uniforms, as well.

Two years later, V.A.S.T. and the town paid a local welder to build a large, accurate replica of the Star Trek Enterprise 1701-A space ship (original movie version). Located at the entrance to town, the FX6-1995-A (FX6 being Vulcan’s airport designation; 1995 being the year the model was built) became a focal point where Star Trek fans could have their pictures taken. “It was something to get people to stop by and perhaps buy some gas or get something to eat,” Wisener says. “And it worked: People came to Vulcan to see the FX6-1995-A, and once they came they did stop in for a while.”

Now that people were stopping, the town needed something to make them stay longer. The answer was the Vulcan Tourism & Trek Station, a building designed to look like a spaceship that has just landed. Here visitors could look at Star Trek displays drawn from local collections, buy Star Trek merchandise from uniformed staff, and be directed to other local highlights such as Vulcan Lions Park (featuring a space-themed waterpark), the 18-hole Vulcan Golf & Country Club, and the Star Trek Walking Tour of Vulcan. This last attraction includes the murals, Vulcan Post Office with a Trek Station postmark, and the Vulcan Cemetary “where, beneath a handsome and unique gravestone carved in the shape of the Starfleet insignia, a Trekker has gone on to explore the next Frontier,” says the tour brochure. (To see the brochure and other Vulcan Star Trek attractions online, warp to www.vulcantourism.com.

As Vulcan increased its Star Trek attractions, it garnered more media attention and more visits by Star Trek fans, including its first Klingon wedding in 2004. Three years later, the town and province of Alberta hired GestureTek Technology to build “The Vulcan Space Adventure,” a dark ride inspired by “Mission: Space” at Walt Disney World’s Epcot. According to www.vulcantourism.com, “Players are cadets at Starflight Academy, where they are tutored by a character who bears a funny resemblance to one of the original Captains of the Starship Enterprise. Starflight Cadets pass through a set of ‘swooshing’ doors, and start the game off in training mode when all of a sudden a RRRRrrrrrred Alert!!!! is called, the Admiral Namuras of the Argon Invasion Fleet attacks, and the fun begins!”

The hook to the game is GestureTek’s control technology: Players can aim and fire torpedoes within a “control frame,” similar to the hand gestures and swoops Tom Cruise employed in the 2002 film “Minority Report.” Since they get to do this within a wraparound spaceship bridge, the “Vulcan Space Adventure” is a big draw for Trekkers. The game has since been reinvented to provide a completely different experience for future guests..

In 2008, Vulcan scored another first: It unveiled a plaque mounted in a red stone to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry during VulCON: Spock Days/Galaxyfest weekend, with the honors being done by Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, Gene’s son and an active force in today’s global Star Trek community. “I very much appreciate this tribute to my father, who would be humbled by the continued popularity of Star Trek in big cities and small towns around the world,” Rod Roddenberry said at the time. The unveiling was a big draw.

In 2009, Vulcan did not succeed in convincing Paramount Pictures to hold the world premiere of J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” film in town, despite Leonard Nimoy’s active lobbying. “We just didn’t have the theater facilities they needed,” says Wisener. “But Paramount was kind enough to host 300 of our residents—chosen by lottery—at a preview screening in Calgary two days before the world launch. And we got a lot of press as a result of this story, which is always good for tourism.”

This brings the story back to Nimoy’s visit to Vulcan in 2010. “Leonard was speaking at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo that weekend, and when he heard that he was within an hour’s drive of Vulcan, he insisted on coming,” Wisener says. “He’s been great to Vulcan. He even lent us his own personal pointy ears to put on display for a year.”

As for Nimoy himself? He was genuinely delighted by Vulcan’s enthusiasm and dedication to Spock, which included the bust unveiling, and then receiving the key to the city—and Vulcan’s transporter coordinates. “Wait ’til Bill Shatner hears about this!” he exclaimed.

Source: IAAPA