Spock has always been my favorite fictional character. Sure, when I was 12, Frodo came along and whisked me away with his incredible determination and bravery, and 12 years later I became starry-eyed in the wake of Steven Moffat’s prodigiously intelligent and deeply flawed Sherlock Holmes. Even still, I have never had the urge to rave about another character to the same extent as I have about Spock. When he comes up in conversation I instantly develop hypersensitive hearing, and as soon as I run into someone cosplaying as Spock at a convention I go complete bananas (one thing I will miss about not living in the US anymore).
When my good friend Chris and I graduated from High School and I had moved about an hour away, we met up approximately once a week to watch – you guessed it – all of the Star Trek movies. I will always treasure those days, because I was able to spend time with a dear friend of mine and openly share my love for the franchise and character (although I made sure to swiftly hide all evidence of my immense feels and heartbreak at the end of The Wrath of Khan – not sure if I succeeded – no, probably not).
Ever since my younger days (and even more now that I am older) I have felt that, to a considerable degree, Spock’s personality reflects my own. I was the kid who played with science kits and studied the stars instead of playing with baby dolls and due to all of the moving around we have done over the years I have often felt foreign and alienated, even after years of growing more and more acclimated to the surrounding people and culture. I exhibit a fierce desire to seek out knowledge and understand the world through the means of science, and lastly, I am in the process of learning that keeping our emotions locked in a cage is not always as beneficial and freeing as one would think. Spock may be fictional, but fictional or not, the best characters take the form of mentors who inspire us to be better, or, in this case, they remind us that we are multi-faceted beings and reassure us that it is okay to accept every one of our little quirks.
What made me love Spock even more was the fact that the man behind the character was equally, if not more, incredible. Today we lost a fun-loving, friendly, artistic, intelligent, and hard-working man who touched all of our lives, either on or off screen, or both.
Here is something to brighten your day – New age Spock and Spock Prime… Get yourself some tissues for the happy and sad tears that are sure to ensue:
Live long and prosper in the afterlife, Mr. Nimoy. You will be sorely missed!
Bethany Laurèl 