I didn't know that Vulcans lived that long, but considering his lifespan, he really went to hell in the last 40 years!
Why would Nimoy not appear in Generations, but was in Nu-Trek?
- Thread starter Infern0
- Start date
Not really. Sure, the scene was structured so that Spock Prime's information helped Young Spock make his decision. But if Nimoy hadn't agreed to the cameo, it would've been simple enough to rewrite the script so that Young Spock came to that decision on his own.
As for why Nimoy agreed to this cameo but not the one in GEN, it could be largely because Nimoy's evidently developed a good working relationship with Abrams. Abrams has managed to coax him out of retirement a couple of times, first on ST'09, then on Fringe. So clearly he likes working with the guy. And that would've made it easier for Abrams to convince him to do a quick scene for STID.
Also, since his scene was just on the viewscreen, he didn't have to go to the trouble of coming to the set and waiting around for hours for various shots to be set up and multiple takes shot and so on. He just had to come in, put on the makeup and wardrobe, sit in front of a backdrop and read a few lines, then go home. It was much less of a commitment of his time and effort.
Yeah, Spock Prime's "essential" role came down to telling nuSpock, "He's a bad guy, don't trust him." Mmmm...duh.
It was certianly better in every way than watching Spock using Google to find out about Khan.
Indeed. Generations is the only prime universe Trek movie that I cannot stand.
At the time they were casting GEN, Nimoy was not ~80 years old. Maybe he saw ST09 as the last chance he would ever have to wear the ears.
Years can make a huge difference in your perspective, as evidenced by Nimoy's own change of heart about playing the character.
(Tweens, teens, and 20-somethings, in general, despise hearing about how age changes one's views, but I always like to throw it in the mix just to piss them off.
)
Years can make a huge difference in your perspective, as evidenced by Nimoy's own change of heart about playing the character.
(Tweens, teens, and 20-somethings, in general, despise hearing about how age changes one's views, but I always like to throw it in the mix just to piss them off.
)
Even in the years immediately following GEN's release, Nimoy still expressed interest in returning to the role of Spock in a future movie -- in numerous interviews, he reiterated, "All they [Paramount] have to do is pick up the phone."
Had he gotten sent a script that he liked even many years prior to ST09, he would've undoubtedly played the role again; it wouldn't necessarily have required someone like Abrams to approach him regarding it.
Had he gotten sent a script that he liked even many years prior to ST09, he would've undoubtedly played the role again; it wouldn't necessarily have required someone like Abrams to approach him regarding it.
I don't think Nimoy refused GEN because it was too much trouble to appear on set every day.
I like to think that Nimoy has some integrity over the Spock role and maybe he turned down the role in GEN for artistic reasons. Not saying whether he's right or wrong there. It could have been a dispute about money also or a dislike of Star Trek management at that time. From what Nimoy says now and said along the way I think it was mainly an artistic problem but who really knows.
He refused because the part he was offered to play wasn't substantial or meaningful enough to be worth the effort. So the question is why his insubstantial and somewhat gratuitous cameo in STID was worth the effort, and maybe part of the answer (though certainly not the whole answer, of course) is that it didn't take much effort. He could've gotten it over and done in a single day.
Besides, at the time of GEN, he was only 63 years old and in reasonably good health. Now he's past 80 and much more frail. He's nominally retired, and thus one has to consider what it would take to get him to make the effort to play a role. His cameo in Into Darkness reminds me of William Hartnell's appearance in "The Three Doctors" on Doctor Who -- he was ill at the time and thus only appeared on viewscreens in pre-recorded material that he performed by reading cue cards.
I remember when I could count on hearing Nimoy narrating the nature program of the week on PBS. He had many projects on his plate at the time of Generations. Yes, his availability is better, albeit he is in poorer health.
Maybe Nimoy perferred the role of nuSpock in STID as passing on important information, offering guidance to a nuSpock promoted before his time.
His role in GEN was essentially to stand around and look stupid not even to repeat the role of the awesome Spock Kirk duo (even somewhat lessened by being in their golden years).
Perhaps it was not the screen time Nimoy was worrying about but the actual role.
And if Nimoy had had an extended role in STID, Abrams secret surprise would have been spoiled and we probably all would have known that PrimeSpock was going to be in STID before the opening day.
His role in GEN was essentially to stand around and look stupid not even to repeat the role of the awesome Spock Kirk duo (even somewhat lessened by being in their golden years).
Perhaps it was not the screen time Nimoy was worrying about but the actual role.
And if Nimoy had had an extended role in STID, Abrams secret surprise would have been spoiled and we probably all would have known that PrimeSpock was going to be in STID before the opening day.
I think it's simply that Nimoy got along so well with Abrams, Quinto, etc. on making the previous film. I gather he and Quinto are still good friends. So he was willing to do the cameo as a favor to his friends. If not for that relationship, he probably would've declined.
At the time they were casting GEN, Nimoy was not ~80 years old. Maybe he saw ST09 as the last chance he would ever have to wear the ears.
Years can make a huge difference in your perspective, as evidenced by Nimoy's own change of heart about playing the character.
(Tweens, teens, and 20-somethings, in general, despise hearing about how age changes one's views, but I always like to throw it in the mix just to piss them off.
True. I now understand two sayings that I heard a lot. "If I knew then what I know now" and "Youth is wasted on the young"
Yes, I do realise he had many projects on his plate at the time of Generations. What I was trying to say is that now that he is older maybe his attitude toward only taking a role that is essential to the plot has mellowed.
Or maybe it's no longer a consideration at all anymore. After all, Nimoy is technically retired. In the past dozen years, he hasn't done any on-camera acting except in Bad Robot productions, and in that car commercial he did with Quinto. So he's not making choices based on what suits his career, because he's no longer pursuing a career. He's retired, and that means he does things because he thinks they'll be fun, because he gets to spend time with people he likes.
^ Exactly. There's no reason he has to be consistent about this. Generations was filmed twenty years ago. He's at a different place in his life now and has different priorities.
Or, to put it another way, he didn't feel like doing a glorified cameo twenty years ago, but feels differently nowadays. It happens.
Human beings are not always as logical as Vulcans.
Or, to put it another way, he didn't feel like doing a glorified cameo twenty years ago, but feels differently nowadays. It happens.
Human beings are not always as logical as Vulcans.
To be sure, the day it was revealed that Nimoy had "visited" the STID set, most people were at least 75% certain he'd likely be in the movie itself...and then a couple of days later, he appears live on-camera at a NASA launch, and coyly teases the interviewers with hints that, yup, he'd basically shot some scene(s) for the new film.
Similar threads
