Spocks United: Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto meld a friendship for the ages

As Hollywood relationships go, the bond between Nimoy and Quinto is an anomaly. Not only does it bridge a vast generation gap (Nimoy is 82, Quinto is 35), it defies the Hollywood undertows of rivalry and status anxiety, which have made actors in similar situation behave like Betta fish when paired up.

”We spend a lot of time together, we keep in touch,” Quinto said in February just a few days after he filmed the Audi ad. “He’s a great friend. I value his presence in my life far beyond the experience we had making the first Star Trek movie and I’m grateful that it brought us together but now the friendship is a thing — it’s own thing. I love Leonard a lot.”

That affection comes across in a special video made by Quinto and J.J. Abrams to introduce Nimoy when he appeared last week on the closing night of the Entertainment Weekly CapeTown Film Festival, a week-long celebration of sci-fi, horror, animation and superhero cinema.

(..) The commonalities go beyond the saturnine eyes. Both are the sons of barbers and grew up in working-man neighborhoods, Quinto in Pittsburgh and Nimoy in Boston. Neither has been content to stay in front of a camera. Nimoy became a director (his Three Men and a Baby the No. 1 film of 1987 in domestic box office) and Quinto was a producer of Margin Call, which picked up an Oscar nomination for its screenplay.

Both of them began as child actors on stage and the shared passion for the boards remains.

(...) Quinto’s not only got glowing reviews (a “benchmark performance” was the New York Times appraisal), he will be making his Broadway debut in September when The Glass Menagerie starts 17-week engagement. And, yes, his Starfleet mentor also gave the show a thumbs up.

“I told him he was terrific, absolutely terrfic,” Nimoy said last week. “And he was wonderful. But that’s no surprise. He’s a very talented actor and he works hard and he is going to have success after success for years and years.”

Nimoy made his own Broadway debut in 1973 in Full Circle (which costarred Peter Weller, who plays a strident Starfleet admiral in Star Trek Into Darkness) and he returned with Equus in the summer of 1977.  That season was a momentous one for the future of Starfleet. Star Wars hit theaters with a mega-success that inspired Paramount Pictures to launch the Trek brand as film franchise in 1979. Also that summer: the Quinto family brought home a baby boy named Zachary.

Source: EW.com

Leonard Nimoy: Secret Selves

Both fans of Fine Art Photography and fans of Star Trek will be thrilled to see this acclaimed exhibit of Leonard Nimoy’s photography, Secret Selves. Due to his fame as Spock on Star Trek, Nimoy, an accomplished photographer who became an expert in dealing with another identity in his life, decided to investigate hidden identities—secret selves. He called for volunteers to participate in a session in which they revealed their secret selves, whether by costume, pose, or attitude. The resulting portraits are the Secret Selves exhibit.

Source: The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art

Lyceum Theatre
First Preview:
March 29, 1996
Opening Date:
April 14, 1996
Closing Date:
April 14, 1996
Previews:
19
Performances:
1

Playwright: Trish Vradenburg

Source: Playbill Vault

On the Aisle with Harry Haun -- June 1996

FALLING APPLES AND RISING RENT: The Apple Doesn't Fall . . . , an antic about Alzheimer's fell--au contraire--fast on Broadway, lasting all of one performance at the Lyceum--but its opening (and closing) night party at Sardi's was hardly a wake. Marking (ever so brief) his bow as a Broadway director was Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy, and at his side bearing witness to that fact was faithful friend Gene Wilder.

Source: Playbill

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

With the threat of the evil Xehanort's return, King Mickey and Yen Sid have begun preparations to combat him. Their first step is to turn Keyblade wielders Sora and Riku into Keyblade Masters. Sora and Riku are given the task of completing the Mark of Mastery exam which when completed will help them obtain a great power to aid in the fight against Xehanort. This test will not be so easy as the two must venture together into seven Sleeping Worlds and find the the Keyholes of Sleep to awaken them. Along the way they meet new friends and face new enemies in worlds completely new to them. These challenges will forever test their abilities and lead to an ultimate test to prevent the darkness from overtaken their light.

Source: mobygames.com

Xehanort

In the English version of the series, Master Xehanort is voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who was chosen specifically by Tetsuya Nomura because of his role as Mr. Spock from Star Trek and because Nomura himself is a huge fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars, two franchises he intended to pit against each other by additionally casting Mark Hamill as Master Eraqus, Xehanort's enemy. Of note, Birth by Sleep was originally intended to be Nimoy's final performance before his retirement in 2010, but he has since come out of retirement and briefly reprised the role in Dream Drop Distance. It is currently unknown if Nimoy will return for Kingdom Hearts III, which is intended to end Xehanort's story in the series.

Source: http://www.khwiki.com/Xehanort

Leonard Nimoy Beams Down

Upon entering the room where the conference with Leonard Nimoy was to be held, the first question which sprang into the mind of the knowledgeable was "Is this a press conference or Drama 101?" as Arnold Wengrow and his retinue of drama students had decended in force upon the room and were situated at strategic vantage points around the table, eyes all glued upon the spot where Mr. Nimoy was to sit. This spot was readily identifiable due to the water glass set to its immediate right, per Mr. Wengrow's instructions. Also occupying spaces around the table were reporters, professional and otherwise, cameras, photographers, and various Unidentified fawning Objects, all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mr. Nimoy.

While the assembled multitudes discussed various subjects related to their respective fields of interest and occupation, the camera crews from WFBC (Channel Four) and WLOS (Channel 13) set up their equipment to the accompaniment of a snide exchange of verbal cuts. As the time passed, and all of those assembled were exchanging off-the-cuff superior comments regarding each other, Star Trek and Mr. Nimoy, Mr. Nimoy entered quietly and quickly and was at his seat before anyone really was aware of his arrival.

Dressed in denim, with tinted glassed shielding his vision from the stares of the starry-eyed, Mr. Nimoy entertained questions and answered them with wit and poise in a low pitched, deliberate voice. Many of the questions asked were concerned with science fiction and prediction of the future. Mr. Nimoy's replies to these all took the point of view that various alternate answers for mankind had been predicted by the good science fiction writers, but that it was up to mankind to determine which of these alternatives would be turned into reality. When questioned about his identification with the character of Mr. Spock, Mr. Nimoy replied that he had identity crises between Spock and himself all of the time, but identification with Spock was a part of life and it would not matter whether or not he grew tired of it as it is a definite reality

A flurry of questions were directed towards Nimoy concerning his qualifications to speak on the scientific aspects of Star Trek. Handling these pointed queries coolly, he replied with logic that Spock would have been proud of that the responsibility for the scientific theory behind the shows was not his. "All I do," he stated with a slight smile on his lips and a hint pf professional pride in his voice, "is to make people believe what I'm saying." And if one can arrive at any sort of conclusions from the turnout for his presentation and the banners and posters which proclaimed "WELCOME MR.: SPOCK!" they would certainly be to the effect that Leonard Nimoy has indeed achieved his purpose and people do indeed believe what he is saying.

 

@TheRealNimoy visited #uncavl 40 years ago to talk about science truths and how science fiction relates. #tbt pic.twitter.com/zUxBKkLuYp

— UNC Asheville Alumni (@uncaalumni) 25. Juli 2014

Sequel to Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Star Trek: Judgment Rites brings back the entire Enterprise crew in eight new episodes. Strange things are happening in distant space, such as dead planets spawning life and WW1 planes in outer space. You need to survive these situations.

You must navigate your way through space, and send away teams onto planets to investigate situations, communicate with other characters and solve puzzles. Unlike the previous game, action sequences are optional.

Source: Moby Games

A series of missions of the Enterprise, under the command of James T. Kirk: a rematch with Ies Breddell, who has a powerful new weapon capable of destroying the Federation; evidence of advanced technology on a stone-age planet; a reunion with the powerful Trelane, this time obsessed with World War I; a distress call from a barren world; Spock's abduction by mysterious forces as the Enterprise explores a dangerous rift in space; and terrorists seizing control of a museum with Kirk, Scotty and Checkov trapped inside. Through it all, a reclusive but advanced alien race is watching and testing the Enterprise, wondering if they should break their long silence and make contact with the Federation. (IMDB)

Star Trek: Judgment Rites is a computer game first produced by Interplay in 1993, featuring the original cast of the classic Star Trek in a series of new adventures, including one featuring Trelane, the omnipotent child from the original episode "The Squire of Gothos". Judgment Rites uses the same DOS gaming engine as the earlier Star Trek: 25th Anniversary; however, it had sharper graphics and sound, particularly with the CD-ROM edition.

The game is a change from the previous game in the series, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, in that at least half the missions are part of an ongoing story arc, and one is a direct sequel to the final mission of the previous game. The space battle sequences are now completely optional, with adjustable difficulty. It was designed by Bruce Schlickbernd and Jayesh J. Patel, with scenarios by Michael A. Stackpole, Scott Bennie, Mark O'Green, and Liz Danforth. This is the last time DeForest Kelley played the role of Leonard McCoy.

Plot

Throughout the story arc, the Enterprise crew attempts to go on shore leave, but are often waylaid by the many missions of the scenarios, as if they were part of a "to be continued" story not often featured in Star Trek, due to the greater story arc. They are not seemingly random missions.
Federation - The Enterprise is confused by a rift in space-time that deposits a heavily damaged Federation starship before it. The ship, the USS Alexander, reports that it has returned from 8 days in the future, where the Federation has been destroyed, just before the ship explodes. The crew of the Enterprise must discover the cause of the destruction and prevent it from happening.
Sentinel - A Federation science ship, observing a primitive race on an alien world, is suddenly scanned from the planet. The Enterprise is called in to investigate.
No Man's Land - The Enterprise is dispatched to search an area where several Federation starships have disappeared without explanation. When they arrive, Kirk and crew are confronted by Trelane (from original series episode "The Squire of Gothos"), the self-styled "Baron of Gothos" who now believes himself to be a WW1 German Fokker pilot. After a battle with the triplane, Kirk must stop Trelane, find the missing ships and discourage Trelane's interest in war once and for all.
Light and Darkness - The Enterprise is sent to answer a distress call on a barren planet, home to only two life forms, the genetic remains of two rival life forms, who killed each other in a devastating genocidal war. Kirk is confronted by pre-recorded holographic emissaries, of an angelic, esthetically pleasing, civilized species, and a loathsome, ugly "demon" race. Kirk must convince these emissaries to release the last remains of their genetic material to store for 50,000 years.
Voids - The Enterprise is assigned to chart the Antares Rift, a particularly dangerous region of space where the normal laws of Space-Time are shifting and chaotic. When the ship is crippled and Spock is kidnapped by a Vurian, an ancient and extinct race that died out during the time Zefram Cochrane completed test trials of the first Warp Drive, Kirk must go where no man has gone before to save his ship and his friend.
Museum Piece - The Enterprise and its crew have finally been granted shore leave and are headed to Nova Atar to spend it. As they approach, a Starfleet admiral asks Kirk to preside over a diplomatic function at the Smithsonian Annex while he's there. Kirk agrees, but things turn out to be more exciting than they expected when the Museum is attacked by terrorists with unknown motives. With only their wits and the machines on display, they must resolve the situation before the terrorists escape.
Though this be Madness.... - The Enterprise is summoned to the Klingon Neutral Zone when a massive alien ship arrives and announces its intent to land on top of a major population center. Complicating things, A Klingon Battlecruiser has arrived as well, and its captain insists on boarding the ship. Kirk must stop the ship from landing, as well as avoid provoking the Klingon, who will be watching his every move.
...Yet there is Method in it. - The ship has been prevented from landing, but a new mystery awaits. The builders of the ship want to make contact with the Federation, but only if Kirk can pass a series of philosophical tests to prove his worth.

Source: Wikipedia

A MORNING WITH LEONARD NIMOY

A few times a year, WBTV (the CBS affiliate in Charlotte) in cooperation with the schools of this county, sponsors appearances by noteworthy people who give speeches, attended by interested high school students. Such luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke and Werner Von Braun have appeared in the past, and on March 29 of this year, Leonard Nimoy spoke at Ovens Auditorium.

At approximately 10,30 a.m., Mr. Nimoy came out onto the stage, and was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation. Perhaps the most enthusiastic members of the audience were a group of young men wearing hardhats with models of the Enterprise and the Klingon battle cruiser glued on top. After the uproar had faded, the first officer of the Enterprise (incorrectly identified as the second officer by the introducer casually remarked, "I suggest you earth people learn to control your emotions" which naturally touched off another spontaneous outburst from the audience.

Finally, Nimoy started his speech off by discussing how the writers for Star Trek got their ideas--by reading news magazines. He cited an example from an article about how a scientist developed a pill to control aggressive tendencies, and Nimoy suggested that a writer could use this idea to construct a story. His story idea was perhaps all world leaders in the Federation could be taking this pill to maintain peace, but that the Klingons might substitute a sugar pill or something for the pills of a world. leader. He might then become irritable, start a war, and the Enterprise would be called in to straighten things out.

During the first few minutes of the speech, a team from a local tv station was filming Nimoy and the audience, using a bright light to illuminate what they wanted to film. Finally, they turned it off, which brought applause from the audience. Nimoy, unaware of what had happened, asked what was going on, and when told replied, "Oh, I thought there was a streaker in the house" which--you guessed it--caused the audience to cheer lustily.

Nimoy talked about a number of other things--the concept of a universal consciousness, talking to plants, esp, and Carlos Castenada's Conversations with Don Juan. He commented on the subject of whether mankind's morals would keep pace with its scientific achievements. Speaking about the development of the Spock character, he told how the Vulcan "nerve pinch" originated on "The Enemy Within" when Nimoy balked at slugging the bogus Kirk with his phaser, and how the Vulcan salute was first used on "Amok Time" although its roots went back to an old Jewish ceremony.

After he concluded his speech, there was a question-and-answer session involving six students. The final question was "What are the chances of reviving Star Trek?" Nimoy replied that at one time last year, he thought that the show might be going back into production, but that Paramount was making a bundle off the reruns, and wasn't interested. in the idea. He expressed the hope, however, that there was still a chance and he urged everyone to write to Paramount if they wanted to see the show again. He went on to comment on the animated version of the show, saying that he thought it was good considering its limitations, and that compared to the rest of the Saturday morning fare, it was like "a Rolls-Royce among garbage." After he finished, a bunch of people climbed up on stage to get his autograph, yours truly among them. It didn't bother me that I couldn't get through the mob surrounding him, but I felt sorry for a little old lady who was clutching a copy of the Leonard Nimoy Association of Fans fanzine, and who desperately but unsuccessfully tried to get to him.

All in all, the speech was very enjoyable. On occasion, Nimoy tended to run his words together, but generally, he presented his thoughts and ideas well, and I heard nothing but praise for him afterwards from people in the audience. -GP

Saturday Crapshoot: Star Trek: Judgment Rites

Finally, things changed. In 1991, Star Trek: The Next Generation had finally escaped its desperately awful early seasons and started being good, and the franchise as a whole was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Interplay's contribution was the imaginatively named Star Trek: 25th Anniversary... which actually missed it, and came out in 1992 on PC, but never mind. For the first time, Star Trek had a PC game it could be proud of. Voices from all the original cast. A mix of shooter and adventure perfectly in the spirit of the original. Redshirts to take into dangerous situations to be shot first. Kirk even sat in his chair correctly. As an adventure, it definitely has its issues - but as a Star Trek game, it got it.

Judgment Rites came out the next year, and refined the format a little. Both are structured like the TV show, split into multiple episodes with their own settings and characters. In 25th Anniversary, they're all completely independent. Judgment Rites adds a bit of an arc, with the idea that the crew (and other players in the galaxy, sadly not including the Pakled) are being tested by a group of aliens called the Brassicans - a strong contender for the most insufferable space elves in recorded history.

The big downsides of both games are that they involve a lot of pixel-hunting, and the puzzles often aren't particularly intuitive - a problem shared by lots of sci-fi games that fill their worlds with Arglebargletrons and whatever. They're very much in the spirit of original series episodes though, with lots of chatter between the characters and endearingly silly premises.

Source: PC Gamer

[T]he player's main objective is to construct a civilization from limited initial resources. Most standard full-length games start the player with the a settler unit and/or a city unit in the year 4000 BC. As with other games in the series, there are by default five objectives the player can pursue in order to finish the game: conquering other civilizations, controlling a supermajority of the game world's land and population, building and sending the first sleeper ship to the Alpha Centauri star system, increasing the "Culture ratings" of at least three different cities to "legendary" levels, or winning a "World Leader" popularity contest by the United Nations. However, if the time limit for the game is reached and none of the previous goals has been fulfilled by any players including game AI players, the civilization with the highest total game score is declared winner. A large departure from earlier Civilization games is a new graphics engine created from scratch, based on the Gamebryo engine by Numerical Design Limited (NDL).

The game has generally received nearly universal acclaim and was hailed as an example product of one of the leading video game producers in the turn-based strategy genre. Civilization IV has sold 3 million copies and won multiple awards, including several Game of the Year awards. In addition to this, Firaxis Games has also released two other major expansions, Civilization IV: Warlords and Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, plus the standalone game Civilization IV: Colonization, which were all combined in 2007 into one release edition titled Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition.

Source: Wikipedia

 

[T]he formation of Earth and the rise of man as told in Sid Meier's Civilization IV, and as narrated by Leonard Nimoy.

 

All of the Civilization IV Tech quotes including those in Beyond the Sword and Warlords expansions.
They are all in alphabetical order, so enjoy!

Go to Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Assets\Sounds\Tech to find the mp3s yourself if you own the game.

"The Wheel" and "Theology" are mixed up, because one alphabetical order ignored "The" and the other didn't.

Edited with: Camtasia Studio 7

Advanced Flight: 0:07
Aesthetics: 0:16
Agriculture: 0:27
Alphabet: 0:34
Animal Husbandry: 0:44
Archery: 0:50
Artillery: 0:57
Assembly Line 1:04
Astronomy: 1:09
Banking: 1:18
Biology: 1:23
Bronze Working: 1:30
Calendar: 1:41
Chemistry: 1:48
Civil Service: 1:56
Code of Laws: 2:03
Combustion: 2:10
Communism: 2:16
Compass: 2:25
Composites: 2:30
Computers: 2:35
Constitution: 2:40
Construction: 2:49
Corporation: 2:59
Currency: 3:09
Democracy: 3:14
Divine Right: 3:23
Drama: 3:26
Ecology: 3:38
Economics: 3:45
Education: 3:51
Electricity: 3:56
Engineering: 4:03
Fascism: 4:12
Feudalism: 4:20
Fiber Optics: 4:28
Fishing: 4:35
Fission: 4:43
Flight: 4:55
Fusion: 5:06
Future Tech: 5:13
Genetics: 5:16
Guilds: 5:24
Gunpowder: 5:35
Horseback Riding: 5:43
Hunting: 5:48
Industrialism: 5:53
Iron Working: 6:05
Laser: 6:10
Liberalism: 6:19
Literature: 6:28
Machinery: 6:36
Masonry: 6:40
Mass Media: 6:47
Mathematics: 6:53
Medicine: 7:04
Meditation: 7:12
Metal Casting: 7:22
Military Science: 7:28
Military Tradition: 7:36
Mining: 7:45
Monarchy: 7:52
Monotheism: 7:59
Music: 8:06
Mysticism: 8:11
Nationalism: 8:18
Optics: 8:28
Paper: 8:33
Philosophy: 8:37
Physics: 8:47
Plastics: 8:53
Polytheism: 8:59
Pottery: 9:07
Priesthood: 9:14
Printing Press: 9:26
Radio: 9:32
Railroad: 9:40
Refrigeration: 9:48
Replaceable Parts: 9:54
Rifling: 9:59
Robotics: 10:04
Rocketry: 10:10
Sailing: 10:17
Satellites: 10:24
Scientific Method: 10:29
Stealth: 10:39
Steam Power: 10:48
Steel: 10:58
Superconductors: 11:04
Theology: 11:12
The Wheel: 11:22
Writing: 11:26

Source: YouTube

In Civilisation IV, the job of narrating your technological advances was handled famously by Leonard Nimoy, who did one of the best game narration jobs in the history of the medium.

Source: A Fan

I mean, perhaps it's the geeky little fanboy within me (the "inner geek" so to speak), but remember how cool it was when you first played Civ IV, researched your first tech, and heard a strangely familiar voice reading to you? Upon reflection, it was a crucial factor in my compulsion to play those first few games, trying to research every and any tech available, just to hear him speak...

Source: A Fan

Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword

Bad news - they didn't bring back Leonard Nimoy. The highlight of Civ IV, was of course, the befuddled-sounding Mr Spock solemnly intoning "BEEP. BEEP. BEEP" upon the discovery of satellites, or confusedly quoting Velvet Underground lyrics when rock'n'roll was created.

While Beyond the Sword is an excellent expansion pack in all other ways, that a few more shillings could not be raised to have the poor soul record new lines deserves a mournful moment of silence. Instead, Sid Meier steps into the breach to dole out the requisite quote whenever a technology not already in the parent game is researched. The man's a legend for sure, but unfortunately he has exactly the voice you'd expect of a middle-aged American game developer. Hint: it's a few octaves higher and a whole lot more whiny than you'd really want of a disembodied voice that announces you've just made one of all history's greatest discoveries. Let's have Spock for God again, please.

Source: eurogamer.net