Nimoy & "The Common Cold"

Hey guys,

I've often thought about this when watching said two episodes, but does it sound like Nimoy has a bit of a cold in Is There In Truth No Beauty? and perhaps moreso in The Empath?

Never really noticed this sort of thing with anyone else in any other episode.

 

Yes.

https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/interview-with-leonard-nimoy

 

Yes. Sadly his health wasn't really all that great, despite being in very good shape.

 

Chain-smoking and excessive drinking will do that to you, and Nimoy admitted to both over the years.

 

Shatner has a very noticeable cold in one episode. I can't remember which one right now, but you can't miss it in his voice.

 

Leonard Nimoy was a "marathon smoker" from his late-teens to mid-50s. He might've smoked four packs a day? It's actually pretty amazing he made it to 83.

 

Obsession? He sounds a bit growly in his quarters when McCoy confronts him. "It can't have just vanished". The last bridge scene, amongst others.

 

I think that was it. You can't disguise a cold when it strips away the epithelium lining of the naso-pharynx. It changes the resonance of your voice, gives it a flatter, duller tone.

There's an anecdote in Star Trek Lives! (1976) to the effect that Shatner had the flu during "Turnabout Intruder," and a fever was melting the makeup off his face. Joan Winston reported on it, chronicling her once in a lifetime set visit.

 

Yes, Shatner sounds very stuffed up in Obsession.

Nimoy's rasp is also evident in Tomorrow is Yesterday.

Takei sounded congested all the time. But that's just his voice.

 

The health issue that always struck me was Nimoy's zit in the first few episodes of Trek. I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about!

 

Wow, it's pretty obvious from that article that Ebert wasn't too much of a Trek fan. All of the terminology is just a little off:

It's the bridge and sickbay, Roger!

 

No. Clue.

 

It erupts in Corbomite Maneuver, is really noticeable in Mudd's Women, is fading by Enemy Within, and is gone by Naked Time.

 

Is a zit a"health issue"? LOL

 

Clearasil manufacturers would like us to think so.

 

Actually, I thought he was a fan and very familiar with the series, unless I'm confusing him with Siskel.

Anyway, he could also have just tailored his writing for the masses who don't know the difference between the show about the guy with pointed ears and the movies with the two robots.

 

Exactly. Ebert figured he was writing for a much broader audience than ST fans, and he wanted to use the broadest possible terminology, even getting it wrong on purpose, to avoid sounding like a Trekkie and possibly putting off certain readers.

 

Maybe: Siskel was geeky enough to be into comics, at least as a kid (his favourite super hero was Aquaman because Siskel couldn't swim).

 

Quite. Ebert was a fan before he was a journalist. His name is all over the early 60s fanzines.

 

I never knew that! That's interesting.

I know Gene Siskel said he hated the TV series, but he raved about The Wrath of Khan.