Beam Me Up, Scotty - One Last Time

Tonight's episode of TV's Fringe will mark the last time that Leonard Nimoy will be seen as an actor. The 79 year old TV legend is retiring from his TV and movie career. Although an accomplished writer, director and photographer, Nimoy will be known forever as the emotionless Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek series, repeating the role in many movies including the 2009 version.

In 1997, thinking he would be type-cast as Spock forever, he wrote a book entitled "I Am Not Spock". Rethinking his position and acknowledging the role that made him famous, in 1995, he penned a sequel entitled "I Am Spock" (which was a line he used in the latest movie).

Even though he will not be acting, I hope he will remain in the public eye and still make appearances at events like ComicCon where he is a big draw. After many years of lobbying, he recently visited a town near Calgary, Alberta called Vulcan which has been marketing itself as Spock's earthly home town. It was a great and fun event for the town. Before the latest Star Trek movie debuted, Nimoy suggested that it should be premiered in Vulcan. Although that did not happen, the producers of the movie bussed many Vulcan residents to Calgary for its initial showing.

Two bits of Star Trek trivia to end this post. The Vulcan greeting was suggested to the writers of Star Trek by Nimoy. As a child, he witnessed a secret ceremony in a synagogue where the rabbi blessed the congregation with the rabbi's fingers positioned in a spread position. Two hands placed together form the Hebrew word for God.

Name of God in Judaism

The second bit of Star Trek trivia is that the line "Beam me up, Scotty" was never used in the original series!!

Happy retirement, Mr. Nimoy!