What's New November 2010
Interviews
In 2009 SciFi Wire talked with Leonard Nimoy about the finale of the first season of Fringe and the possibility of him voicing a character in Transformers 2:
Leonard Nimoy reveals Fringe finale secrets, talks Transfomers
J.J. Abrams, who directed you in Star Trek, phoned and extended the invitation to guest-star on Fringe. Give us the setup of "There's More Than One of Everything."
Nimoy: It's one scene. It's the final scene of the episode, in which I appear with Olivia, with Anna Torv's character. It's very brief, but I think interesting, entertaining and there's enough given in the scene to whet your appetite, that you'll want to see more of this relationship and what it's all about. You'll want to know what it is he has in mind with Olivia, what he wants or needs her for, why he wants to see her, what their past history is about and where they're going together. What are they planning to do? What are his intentions? All of that is yet to come, and I think there's going to be some very interesting storytelling.
So whatever dealings he's had or is going to have with Walter will be a story for another day, for next season?
Nimoy: I'm sure we will learn more about that partnership and what it was all about, what they were trying to accomplish and how they happened to go their separate ways. We know a lot about what happened to Walter, but we don't know very much about William Bell at all. That's yet to be discovered.
You're going to be back for at least two episodes next year. Will they be episodes one and two or spread apart?
Nimoy: I don't know that they'll be chronological, sequential. I really don't know. It will really depend on what the writers have in mind and my availability. And then, if there's more to be done and we're having a good time, we'll do more.
More here.
The Full Body Project
Newsagency AFP posted a piece about Mr. Nimoy's Berlin exhibition today on YouTube. Nackte Haut und üppige Kurven auf Fotos von "Mr. Spock".
On November 15th Mr. Nimoy had us guessing what this cryptic message might mean.
On November 19th he uploaded a scan of his poem to twitpic and the riddle was solved, and the poem identified as being from Warmed by Love.
(Thank you so much, Grace, for the info. If poetry would vanish from the face of the Earth the next day, I wouldn't have noticed a decade later without anyone telling me...)
Julie Nimoy
It looks like Mr. Nimoy's daughter has found her calling being a chef. She runs her own catering business now.
Thank you, Jackie, for the news.
Interviews
Reform Judaism
By Sonia Levitin
1998
A Conversation with Leonard Nimoy
The Vulcan is a Real Jew
So you create your own service -- and do you lead the service?
We split up the service, having different people participate. I lead the service, and so does Melvin -- he's the patriarch of the family.
People at your seder, then, are active participants.
Yes. It's very important to spread the idea that coming out of Egypt, out of bondage, was a liberation process. We need to emphasize that every person is somehow in bondage, so we ask everyone at the seder table to think about what they have liberated themselves from in this past year. What growth, what discoveries have they had? What liberation from previous burdens or commitments or binding concepts that have held them back?
Is there something in your life that was a burden, from which you've been liberated?
Yes, I feel particularly in the past 10 to 15 years I've come out of a cocoon in which I was bound up by obsessive career goals at the expense of personal life. I've lately given myself the license to be much more engaged with my family and our personal activities, and let the career be equal or at best hold second place.
What are some of those activities that you enjoy now?
Taking family vacation and family gatherings, communicating more, being aware of each other more. For years I was so obsessed with work and traveling so much that I missed many aspects of my children's growth. Now each year I try to unbind a little more, spending less time working and more time living a personal life. Fortunately, I am able to do this, economically. Some people can't. But at least they should be aware that there are great family and life experiences going on that you cannot recapture. You cannot recapture the years, but you can repair and rebuild the quality, and that's what I'm trying to do.
More here. Thank you, Jackie for finding this.
Interviews
Stage
Sherlock Holmes (1976) The play was concieved in the 1890s by William Gillette (1853 - 1937), an American actor and playwright. While Sherlock Holmes successfully catered to the tasts of its time, it had become an anachronism by 1976 when Leonard Nimoy took up the part. (more)
Upcoming Interview
PBS announces a special on Pioneers of Television, "a four-part series looking at genres of early television and the actors that populated them." The episode about science fiction airs on Jan. 18, 2011 and contains interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols. More here.
The Science of Star Trek (1995)
YouTube description: "This episode of the PBS series 'The New Explorers', hosted by Bill Kurtis, aired on January 18, 1995. The show takes a look at the science portrayed in Star Trek and how some of it has translated into reality."
Leonard Nimoy is interviewed in part 1 (at 04:46 min), the beginning of part 6 and in part 8.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
Interviews
Summary for Fringe Over There Part II
Walter and William need to talk, Olivia tells them to work it out another time and Peter realizes he's a pawn in his father's evil plans. more
I overdosed a bit on screencaps. Anyone interested, go here.
Primortals
# 5 Scorched Earth Part III - Prophesy's End. The refugees become restless. Three ships already tried to land on Earth without permission. Force was applied to hinder them, resulting in a handful of satellites blown to pieces, disrupting communications in North America. Mutations continue to proliferate as the virus changes constantly, with sometimes deadly results.
Summary for the remaining issues and final review. More here.
Interviews
"Spock Smoked"
When you're a 10 year old and find out that your idol is fallible, that hurts, as Fowler Jones attests in his blog.
Interviews
The Huffington Post
November 19, 2009
By Jenna Busch
Leonard Nimoy on Star Trek and "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"
On Monday night, I was invited to participate in the red carpet event celebrating Tuesday's release of the Star Trek DVD/Blu-ray. Not only was it at the Griffith Observatory, somewhere I've always wanted to go, but the legendary Leonard Nimoy stopped to chat with me. I couldn't help myself. I had to ask about a little video he did years back called, “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”. It's gotten over a million hits on YouTube. I'm sure you've seen it. If you haven't, check it out here.
Nimoy couldn't have been sweeter about it. He laughed when I told him I had just put the video up on my blog that day. He said, “Ha! Now that comes under the heading of 'be careful what you do because it lasts a long time'! It's a great kids song. It's a charming kids song. I'm amazed to see...it's got over a million hits on the internet. It's great!” He also gave me a few thoughts on Star Trek's lasting appeal.
Twilight Zone
Season three is coming out on Blue-ray on February 15th and Leonard Nimoy is one of the many people advertised as providing an audio commentary. Quality of Mercy is the episode he's in. More here.
Interviews
jweekly
October 25, 2002
Joe Berkofsky
Art or desecration? Nimoy’s nude photos stir passions among Jews
NEW YORK -- Leonard Nimoy insists he isn't morphing into the Jewish world's Robert Mapplethorpe.
Yet Nimoy, who won fame as the ultra-rational Mr. Spock in the 1960s TV series "Star Trek," is stirring Jewish passions with his new book, "Shekhina," a kabbalistic term for the feminine aspect of the Divine spirit.
The book is a collection of Nimoy's black-and-white photographs of women, many naked but for prayer shawls and tefillin.
"I don't think I'm quite in the Mapplethorpe territory," Nimoy said, referring to the late photographer of nude figures and graphic homosexual sex.
"I wasn't thinking about profanity when I was doing this" book. "I was thinking beautiful and spiritual."
Yet with "Shekhina," Nimoy, 71, is igniting an artistic debate in the Jewish community over art and censorship that echoes the battles that swirled around Mapplethorpe, and artists like Andres Serrano and Chris Ofili, who created controversial religious imagery.
Popjournalism
August 2003
David Silverberg
Meet Leonard Nimoy, controversial photographer
The Star Trek star talks about his photography series "Shekhina" and responds to the stir that followed
Leonard Nimoy is best known for playing the monotone Vulcan named Spock in the Star Trek series, but he's quite talkative when I speak to him. He plugs his first photo book with the zest of a marketing professional.
The 71-year-old actor-photographer's "Shekhina" courts controversy by mixing overt sexuality with religion. One of the featured 55 photos shows nudes clutching Jewish symbols traditionally belonging to male ceremony. Predictably, some American rabbis blasted Nimoy for muddying the waters of decency by sullying Judaism with breast-baring pictures.
"I'm surprised by the reaction," says Nimoy from his Beverly Hills home. "Some people think simple entertainment is safer than illumination."
A reprint of an article about the exhibition of Mr. Nimoy's Shekhina photographs from 2004 at the R. Michelson Galleries (Leonard Nimoy envisions God's female counterpart in gallery exhibit) can be found here.
Interviews
A transcript of Leonard Nimoy's appearance at the Joy Behar Show (Another Side Of Spock) on August 5, 2010 can be found here at CNN.
Summary for Fringe Over There Part I
Walter is evil, Olivia finds her counterpart has a life, Peter tries to settle in and William Bell sneaks around in the dark. more.
Interviews
Host
YouTube description: Photographer Philippe Halsman talks with Leonard Nimoy on A.M. New York. Aired November 12, 1973. Produced by Don Segall. Mr. Halsman photographed over 100 LIFE Magazine covers. Many of his photos are themselves iconic images.
Update: As of November 5, 2010 I get the message that the video is no longer available in my region. US citizens should still be able to view it.
