Sad to hear
Leonard Nimoy passed away today.
I was just old
enough to watch the original Star Trek series when it first came out and it had
a big effect on me. I remember how slick and exciting it was compared to any
other TV programme of the time and I think it sparked in me a love of sci-fi
that has been with me ever since.
Captain Kirk was
the swashbuckling hero that we kids all wanted to be (and very good at it he
was too) but it was Spock who made the series exotic and special and memorable.
With his pointed ears and overbearing logic, Spock was a complex, flawed but
very alien character. And one that no one who watched Star Trek could ever
forget.
I can even trace a few Star Trek inspirations in my own writing. Those who've
read the Convergent Space series might have detected some similarities
between Spock's mysticism and that of the Phlegar race regarding their
relationship with the space-faring Nimits. And in the Shadow Ship (the second
book in the series) the planet of Kraskos was partly inspired by the
over-populated world of Gideon in the series 3 episode 'The Mark of Gideon',
which I'd always found quite creepy.
I think I'd
forgotten how important the original Star Trek series was to my childhood and
my imagination. Now I've realised, it makes Leonard Nimoy's passing even
sadder.
It's the end of an era.
#LLAP
