Something my wife pointed out last night when we watched the BR extended The Cage: Spock's limp. It is plainly noticed after they first beam down to the planet surface and walk toward and touch the musical plants. What's the cause for the limp? I assume it was acquired after visiting and fighting on Rigel 7.
Spock's limp??
- Thread starter billsantos
- Start date
Plenty of the heroes displayed open signs of injury, including bandages and grimaces. Spock's limp no doubt fits in that category as well. Cleaer reference to Rigel VII, and to Pike's desire to get his crew to that hospital planet ASAP.
Although there's also an urban legend of Nimoy getting boots a size too small for the scenes...
Timo Saloniemi
Although there's also an urban legend of Nimoy getting boots a size too small for the scenes...
Timo Saloniemi
It might have been his pon farr kicking in !!! LOL
Last edited:
The November 20th, 1964 Final Draft script for "The Cage" (from back in that very narrow window of time when the Captain wasn't called "April" anymore and he wasn't yet called "Pike"--he was "James Winter") has some script direction that clarifies what's going on:
From Scene 4:
Ship's Science Officer, MISTER SPOCK, nursing a foot injury, limps onto scene to stand beside Winter, watching the viewing
screen, too. We notice Winter has thrown a concerned look
toward the injured foot, the Science Officer in turn
minimizing the limp as if trying to show there is no reason
for concern.
From Scene 5:
At the navigation position is JOSE TYLER. He's managing his
controls and instruments fairly well despite a left forearm
bandaged down to his palm....
Winter seems almost more concerned with the young
Navigator's injury, watching as Jose turns back to his
hooded screen, forcing his injured arm to do its full share
of work at the complex controls....
From Scene 6:
Spock whirls, limps hurriedly for his Science Officer's
Station, the huge central computer, begins to request
for information on the signal being received.
From Scene 16:
WINTER
Equip a landing party of six.
Ship's Doctor, geologist, Chief
Garison...
Mister Spock, Jose, and Number One wait expectantly as Winter looks in their direction....
WINTER
All right. Mister Spock, Mister
Tyler. See there's a fresh
dressing on your wounds.
In addition to Mister Spock walking with a limp:
...the two other injuries we see from the recent fight on Rigel VII are Jose Tyler (who has a bandaged right hand), and the unnamed (Fisher?) geologist who has a bandage on the left side of his neck. You can see them as they beam down to Talos IV:
So, we see that Spock's and Tyler's injuries were required by the script. The geologist's neck injury wasn't scripted, but they bandaged him anyway. Also, they bandaged Tyler's right hand instead of his left hand as scripted, presumably because as he sits at Navigation, his right hand is downstage and is better seen by the camera. Lastly, of course, Winter's/Pike's "put on a fresh dressing" line was simply changed to "do you feel up to it?"
But who can explain why he was hobbling in Reunification?
I asked the same thing before, but in a general round up of cast injuries and illnesses (Nimoy sounds very nasally in one episode IIRC).
Pay very close attention to Leonard Nimoy as he walks. He himself has a distinct, though small, limp. I've seen it in everything he's done, including when he played a Martian invader in a 1940's/'50's serial which I forget the title of.
That's it. Nimoy limps in that, and it was years before TOS. Years before the Cage, even.
Oh yeah, I've noticed the sinus infections more than the limp. That poor guy! Seems he always had a cold and unfortunately couldn't take the day off to get rid of it.
There's a few episodes where he sounds so congested that even my nasal passages begin to ache!
According to Nimoy the limp in the Cage was in fact put on. See http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/24195.html
That sure doesn't explain his hobbling through his later (and earlier?) appearances.
That sure doesn't explain his hobbling through his later (and earlier?) appearances.
For some reason, this always looks like Shatner to me.
Both Nimoy and Shatner picked up tinnitus on the show, Shatner's being the worst, I just took a look, Nimoy limped in some Mission Impossible episodes, but not others. Maybe it was something that came and went.
Combine the injuries with Pike's statement that the crew was 203 people. And that (in Kirk's time) the full crew was 430 people. Maybe the reason Pike was so despondent was that half his crew was killed.
Combine the injuries with Pike's statement that the crew was 203 people. And that (in Kirk's time) the full crew was 430 people. Maybe the reason Pike was so despondent was that half his crew was killed.
Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley all picked up tinnitus, from an effects technician not propping open the door when a flash-bang stage explosion was set off. Shatner and Nimoy talk about it onstage in the video of one of their con appearances.
Spock's limp? Oh, that's so sad! Isn't there some kind of Vulcan Viagra he can take? 
Oh, boo!
Spock's limp? Oh, that's so sad! Isn't there some kind of Vulcan Viagra he can take?
Try Cialis, its ready when you are. Even if you have to wait seven years.
