I watched "Journey to Babel" the day Mr. Nimoy died, because it's my second-favorite Spock episode after "Amok Time," but on the day of his death, I didn't want to see Kirk and McCoy talking about how Spock might die if they don't get him to Vulcan in time.
I wanted an episode where Spock is fully himself -- not romantic on spores, not crying because of a virus, not in plak tow or taken over by Henoch or any of those other things. So "Journey to Babel" gave me a Spock who was fully himself but who was also amazing and noble and all that good Spock stuff. :-)
And god, Mr. Nimoy was so good in that scene in his quarters with Amanda. He doesn't get wildly emotional; he's still understated, as befits Spock. And yet he shows us just how hard all of this is for Spock, and he's perfect.
I also love him in "The Enterprise Incident" -- the way he dances around the truth with the Romulan Commander, the way they stroke fingers (hotter to my mind than all the lip-mashing Kirk ever did), and his courage when he's found out.
When she slaps him and asks him who he is that he could do this to her, and he replies, "First officer of the Enterprise," and makes it clear that his loyalty -- to Starfleet, to the Federation, and to Kirk -- never wavered for a second, I just love that moment. And then when he goes on to ask, "What is your present form of execution" -- holy shit, his courage is just so amazing.
I guess that makes it sound as if I like it when women slap Spock, but that's not it. :-D It's just that both of those scenes are ones where there's a lot of emotion flying around, and Nimoy is stellar in them. Dorothy Fontana wrote us some great Spock moments.
