Why does Nimoy look YOUNGER in this movie?

[M'Sharak]

I don't know.
When I first saw it, I thought,"Wow, he's getting old." And I thought his enunciation seemed just a bit slurred.
But after reading that he was aged for the part, I felt a lot better.

He's always had sort of a speech impediment in which hard sounds come out a little soft for him. For example, he tends to pronounce his hard Ts as a sort of soft Th sound. Similarly, in "Live long and prosper" the "prosper" would be a little softer sounding than it might be for some people.

I think that the impediment has become more pronounced in later years, though. It's a lot more noticeable to me in some of the narrations and radio-show stuff that he's done more recently. I suspect it also has something to do with dental work he had done after the Original Series ended; that sort of sibilance is not uncommon in the speech of denture-wearers.

 

[cooleddie74]

Nimoy definitely doesn't look 77. Whereas Shatner managed to stay spry(if increasingly doughy)over time but his age is starting to show in spades. He's sagging more and his face and neck are slowly beginning to show his real age.

 

[Eric Cheung]

I don't know.
When I first saw it, I thought,"Wow, he's getting old." And I thought his enunciation seemed just a bit slurred.
But after reading that he was aged for the part, I felt a lot better.

He's always had sort of a speech impediment in which hard sounds come out a little soft for him. For example, he tends to pronounce his hard Ts as a sort of soft Th sound. Similarly, in "Live long and prosper" the "prosper" would be a little softer sounding than it might be for some people.

I think that the impediment has become more pronounced in later years, though. It's a lot more noticeable to me in some of the narrations and radio-show stuff that he's done more recently. I suspect it also has something to do with dental work he had done after the Original Series ended; that sort of sibilance is not uncommon in the speech of denture-wearers.

The impediment was there before the end of TOS. It was always pretty subtle, though most obvious when he says "captain" (1:35). I think it definitely did get more pronounced as he got older though, true. Its subtlety is probably why people never replicate it when doing an impression of him.

 

[cooleddie74]

Any aging issues with Spock the character can be explained at least in part by his half-human DNA and lineage. Chronologically, Spock was only 62 or 63 years old in THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY but looked a bit older and much more haggard...especially when you consider that Tuvok on VOYAGER was 109 years old at the time of the 24th century events in "Flashback" but looked closer to thirty or forty. Tuvok was a full-blooded Vulcan(so far as anyone ever knew) while Spock wasn't. Hence he aged more like a Terran than most Vulcans.

Except that the rate of aging was inconsistent, and seemed to parallel Sarek's aging process. Both of them seemed to age 20 human years between TOS and the later movies, then they didn't age at all until TNG. In the years since TNG Spock appears to have aged at a much quicker rate again. I guess Sarek had some genetic abnormalities. I can only guess that with Sarek it's better explained that he's just a generation older than Spock so his aging isn't quite as pronounced, though I'd think his disease would have aged him quite a bit. Also, I think that for Spock diplomacy must have seemed far less stressful than his career in Starfleet or his attempts at unification on Romulus.

And a generation on Vulcan can be as much as 60 or 65 years based on Sarek's ages when both Sybok and Spock are born...and the fact that T'Pol on ENTERPRISE remained so youthful looking even in her 60s serving on Archer's ship. And you make a good point about Spock's stress levels. He aged much more slowly after leaving Starfleet and pursuing Romulan reunification than he did serving under Kirk on the first two Enterprises.

 

[M'Sharak]

He's always had sort of a speech impediment in which hard sounds come out a little soft for him. For example, he tends to pronounce his hard Ts as a sort of soft Th sound. Similarly, in "Live long and prosper" the "prosper" would be a little softer sounding than it might be for some people.

I think that the impediment has become more pronounced in later years, though. It's a lot more noticeable to me in some of the narrations and radio-show stuff that he's done more recently. I suspect it also has something to do with dental work he had done after the Original Series ended; that sort of sibilance is not uncommon in the speech of denture-wearers.

The impediment was there before the end of TOS. It was always pretty subtle, though most obvious when he says "captain" (1:35). I think it definitely did get more pronounced as he got older though, true. Its subtlety is probably why people never replicate it when doing an impression of him.

I hadn't really picked up on it before in TOS, but you're right -- it is there, but very slight. Much later, in the radio work I mentioned, mainly in the series he hosted several years ago (American Jewish Music from the Milken Archive with Leonard Nimoy) it's easily as noticeable as it is in the bit from the updated trailer.

 

[DWF]

He's always had sort of a speech impediment in which hard sounds come out a little soft for him. For example, he tends to pronounce his hard Ts as a sort of soft Th sound. Similarly, in "Live long and prosper" the "prosper" would be a little softer sounding than it might be for some people.

I think that the impediment has become more pronounced in later years, though. It's a lot more noticeable to me in some of the narrations and radio-show stuff that he's done more recently. I suspect it also has something to do with dental work he had done after the Original Series ended; that sort of sibilance is not uncommon in the speech of denture-wearers.

The impediment was there before the end of TOS. It was always pretty subtle, though most obvious when he says "captain" (1:35). I think it definitely did get more pronounced as he got older though, true. Its subtlety is probably why people never replicate it when doing an impression of him.

I don't think it a speech impediment at all, he's from Boston and he's been trying most of his life to rid himself of that accent, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

 

[Eric Cheung]

I'm from Western Mass, but I went to college in Boston, and have family from in between, most of whom have rural Massachusetts accents. I don't recall that specific trait to be an idiocyncrisy of the Boston accent, which is why I don't attribute it to an accent. But then when I try to do a Boston accent I suck at it.

 

[Tom]

I'm from Western Mass, but I went to college in Boston, and have family from in between, most of whom have rural Massachusetts accents. I don't recall that specific trait to be an idiocyncrisy of the Boston accent, which is why I don't attribute it to an accent. But then when I try to do a Boston accent I suck at it.

I agree. I'm from the central/metrowest area of MA.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Why does Nimoy look YOUNGER in this movie?

He looks way frakking older.

Is this a trick question?

 

[Dayton Ward]

Just for goofs, I put together a comparison shot of Spock from STVI, "Unification," and the trailer:

The 3 Spocks

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Just for goofs, I put together a comparison shot of Spock from STVI, "Unification," and the trailer:

The 3 Spocks

Admittedly, we have a small sample size of photos of the aged Spock in the new film to draw upon, but based on that I wonder if it's not decades since we last saw Spock in "Unification." Perhaps Spock is now well into his third century.

I'm okay with that.

 

[Dayton Ward]

True enough. They say part of the movie is set in the post-Nemesis timeframe....they just haven't said *how* post

 

[Eric Cheung]

It might be cumbersome to include Picard, and some Soong android that may or may not be Data, in the story looking circa Nemesis if the comic books span that much time. The fact that Picard's on the cover suggests that TNG-movie era Picard plays a pretty big role. Yes it's possible for it to take place in the 25th century, but it's unlikely. Picard himself would be pushing 100.

 

[Kelso]

Why does Nimoy look YOUNGER in this movie?

He looks way frakking older.

Is this a trick question?

I had the same thought.

 

[DWF]

I'm from Western Mass, but I went to college in Boston, and have family from in between, most of whom have rural Massachusetts accents. I don't recall that specific trait to be an idiocyncrisy of the Boston accent, which is why I don't attribute it to an accent. But then when I try to do a Boston accent I suck at it.

I agree. I'm from the central/metrowest area of MA.

Now try losing that accent, that's the point.

 

[Eric Cheung]

I understand, but I don't really hear much of a regional accent from him though. I suppose I wouldn't really know about losing an accent though since I grew up on the Connecticut border and was always told I sounded like a broadcaster.

 

[DWF]

I understand, but I don't really hear much of a regional accent from him though. I suppose I wouldn't really know about losing an accent though since I grew up on the Connecticut border and was always told I sounded like a broadcaster.

But that's my point in trying to get rid of the accent he's picked up other speech "problems", Maria Menounos and Alex Rocco are also from Mass. but you'd never know it from their voices either, although I have heard Maria Menounos slide and in an out of the accent during an interview once, since the person she was interviewing was going to play a Bostonian.

 

[Eric Cheung]

Fair enough. Maria Menounos is also an Emerson grad, though she graduated when I was a freshman. I had no idea who she was until there was like a story about her in the Improper Bostonian or something.

 

[ALF]

Just for goofs, I put together a comparison shot of Spock from STVI, "Unification," and the trailer:

The 3 Spocks

Thanks, Dayton Ward. You know there is something damn odd going on with his eyes.

 

[Timby]

Just for goofs, I put together a comparison shot of Spock from STVI, "Unification," and the trailer:

The 3 Spocks

Thanks, Dayton Ward. You know there is something damn odd going on with his eyes.

It's a combination of the dark lighting and his pupils being extremely dilated.