In honor of Leonard Nimoy I would like to know what everyone's favorite episode with Spock was. Whether it was one based around him, or even if he was a guest star. Give us your favorites! Mine is hands down City on The Edge of Forever. I have many, many runner ups but I could go on forever naming those.
I've always liked Amok Time. Also, that fight music transcends all fight music. I know Motion Picture doesn't top most people's lists, but I kind of liked how he showed up in that film and was a Vulcan wildcard.
Technically he was never the "guest star", he was the the "co star", even when he didn't have a lot to do. Billing is billing. I think of "Operation: Annihilate" where he plays much of the episode as Spock struggling to suppress incredible pain and function normally. It's a neat balancing act he manages there.
Any Spock loses it episode it usually pretty good. Nimoy really gets what makes Spock tick and knows how to break him down.
I could cheat and say any episode with "Spock" is a good episode, but... Yeah, "City." Spock's delivery of Edith's death sentence and his description of the alternate history are outstanding, I think. It's worth mentioning that the dynamic between Kirk and Spock there is basically the original Kirk/Spock dynamic shown in "Where No Man Has Gone Before": Spock argues coldly and logically in favor of dispensing with Kirk's friend in order to save the ship. "Where No Man" is a runner-up, and I really do dig Shouting Spock. "Mirror, Mirror" also deserves mention, for the subtle changes in Bearded Spock.
While I love TOS episodes with Spock, especially ones with him bantering with McCoy, one of my more memorable moments is him in The Voyage Home. Obviously a film will give him more time to explore facets of the character, but you definitely see a combination of both early Spock (more logical and emotionless) and later Spock (logical but understanding his emotions better). He has a lot of funny moments (nerve pinching the punk), as well as deep friendship moments, showing his respect of his friends' sacrifice and standing with them. Also, Kirk constantly trying to explain Spock's "eccentricities" is fun too
Easily "City on the Edge of Forever," but I have to follow it up with TNG's episode "Unification," in which Nimoy was also sublime as Spock.
It's not exactly an answer to the question, but when Nimoy passed on, I watched Star Trek 3 and Star Trek 4 - with the director's commentary track on... you will hear his passion for the character the franchise, and the stories he was telling in those films!
City on the Edge of Forever is definitely my favorite. Spock's Brain is one of my least favorite episodes, but whenever I do watch it, I'm always amazed by Nimoy's acting. When he's supposedly lost most of his brain, his eyes don't move at all and he makes them look soulless and dead.
My wife and I chose Star Trek IV to watch as well. It seems to be the work most infused with his talents. And Spock is pretty damn funny in it.
City on the Edge of Forever was a great Spock episode. I remember that Maya Angelou stated that it isn't what you say that people will remember about you but how you make them feel. Spock, and for that matter, Leonard Nimoy, had so many defining moments that I would hard-pressed to determine which episode was my favorite. But I know how I felt about them both and I know my heart sunk when I heard that Leonard Nimoy had passed.
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.
I agree; this impresses me, too. Nimoy is genuinely creepy as the brainless Spock. He makes light of it in his autobiography*, but he was really acting there, just as he always was, and he was really good. *He says, "There was little acting challenge in walking around pretending to be brainless; I just let my eyes glaze over, and functioned in automaton style. But frankly, during the entire shooting of that episode, I was embarrassed—a feeling that overcame me many times during that final season." (I Am Spock, p. 115, first hardcover edition)
I find ST VI:TUC the most fitting tribute to Nimoy. Not only did Nimoy write the base story, it is where Spock is most like Nimoy. Consider Nimoy's final tweet--"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory." So much of our ability to accept mortality is written into TUC, our willingness to give up what we have been and accept that some endings are not the end of everything. Of course, those are cute references to the finality of the TOS movies, but it cuts closer to Nimoy's own feelings.
It's refreshing to see how many people have the same favorite episode! I love Nimoy's acting so much and I feel this is a great way to remember him for the amazing man he way!