Leonard Nimoy Turns 80 165
ZosX writes "Leonard Nimoy, whom we all fondly remember as Spock, has turned 80 today. StarTrek.com has posted a three-part interview with Nimoy. He talks about shooting the original series ('it was explained to me that they were concerned that the character looked devilish'), moving to the silver screen ('The feeling was, after that first movie, there was something to be done with Star Trek, that the first movie hadn't done what was available to be done'), and passing the torch to the new rebooted cast ('I think the alternate universe was necessary.') Thanks for the memories, Mr. Nimoy! May you live long and prosper!"
First Shatner, now this?? (Score:5, Funny)
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seems weird that William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are nearly exactly the same age
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he will just be a head in a jar then! (Score:1)
he will just be a head in a jar then!
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In 4 more years it'll be happy pon farr day. Kirk doesn't get one of those.
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What is it with the cast of Star Trek all celebrating birthdays? It's like it's an annual occurrence or something!
Yeah, both the 80th' birthdays happen every year. Stupid brainless Pakled.
Leonard who? (Score:1)
Was he the guy who invented the spork?
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I fail to see your logic.
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No, but I think he's the guy who wrote, "The Hobbit"
Re:Leonard who? (Score:4, Informative)
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you're thinking of the foroon, and that was invented by someone completely different.
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Yes. [amazonaws.com]
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No, dumbass, he was the Captain in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Thanks Leo (Score:5, Insightful)
William Bell on Fringe (Score:2)
I decided to "skip a year" of Fringe with an eye towards one day buying the DVD. At the time he seemed interested in playing William Bell for a few episodes, but apparently things didn't work out.
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I decided to "skip a year" of Fringe with an eye towards one day buying the DVD. At the time he seemed interested in playing William Bell for a few episodes, but apparently things didn't work out.
Well, what's amusing is that in the most recent (?) episode, his character sort of makes a "comeback", although not with Nimoy. Yet I must say that the person who is "doing" the Bell character definitely seems to be attempting to also emulate Nimoy's speech and mannerisms. Details left slim to avoid spoilers...
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And she's not doing a half-bad job of it either.
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He was only cast to do 3 episodes. He was open to doing more, but it would depend on a lot of external factors and his schedule. From what I have read, it was pretty much just a favor to JJ Abrams. http://insidetv.ew.com/2009/05/01/leonard-nimoy-o/
He's a photographer now....I'm even more of a fan (Score:5, Informative)
As a semi-professional photographer I find it interesting that nimoy took up photography and directing. You guys should really google for some of his work. Its pretty interesting to say the least. He does have an online gallery:
http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/Leonard-Nimoy-Gallery.html [rmichelson.com]
Oh and thanks soulskill for filling out the summary a bit.
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OH....NSFW BTW!
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OH....NSFW BTW!
I think his photos demonstrate that the difference between art and porn is lighting.
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So you are saying that I am just a hack? I only say semi because its not something I do full time. I think you need to get over yourself and take off the mask of the AC when you are speaking your mind. We can be adults and talk like normal human beings. I agree it sounds kind of lame. Hey. I'm lame. Did you even actually ever look at any of my photography? If not, maybe you should, and you can decide what kind of photographer I am.
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As a semi-professional photographer I find it interesting that nimoy took up photography and directing.
As a professional photographer, I find the "semi-professional" title offensive. It's like all the "engineering technicians" who claim to be engineers, college "professors" that don't have their PhDs, and garbagemen claiming to be "sanitation engineers". Actually, it's worse. It's like the kids who have changed a battery in their iphone and now claim to be computer repair specialists.
Honestly. I *hate* how society has come to a point where everyone believes themselves to be super-special.
In other words, you're an arrogant elitist.
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;)
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As a semi-professional photographer I find it interesting that nimoy took up photography and directing.
As a professional photographer, I find the "semi-professional" title offensive. It's like all the "engineering technicians" who claim to be engineers, college "professors" that don't have their PhDs, and garbagemen claiming to be "sanitation engineers". Actually, it's worse. It's like the kids who have changed a battery in their iphone and now claim to be computer repair specialists. Honestly. I *hate* how society has come to a point where everyone believes themselves to be super-special.
Oh, aren't you the special one?
Semi-pro is a legit label. And because of the ubiquitous availability of smart cameras, the ranks of the semi-pros has grown to the point where they make the "professional photographer" feel threatened.
Within 20 years, there'll be no such thing as a "professional photographer."
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No kidding. I mean, he's comparing "professional photography" to engineering.
It's fucking photography, not landing spaceships on Mars or building mile-long suspension bridges.
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No kidding. I mean, he's comparing "professional photography" to engineering.
It's fucking photography, not landing spaceships on Mars or building mile-long suspension bridges.
The difference between a photographer and an engineer is that nobody dies when a photographer skips classes.
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As a professional photographer, I find the "semi-professional" title offensive.
...
Honestly. I *hate* how society has come to a point where everyone believes themselves to be super-special.
*smirk*
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As a semi-professional photographer I find it interesting that nimoy took up photography and directing.
As a professional photographer, I find the "semi-professional" title offensive. It's like all the "engineering technicians" who claim to be engineers, college "professors" that don't have their PhDs, and garbagemen claiming to be "sanitation engineers". Actually, it's worse. It's like the kids who have changed a battery in their iphone and now claim to be computer repair specialists.
Honestly. I *hate* how society has come to a point where everyone believes themselves to be super-special.
Well all I can say is Albert Einstein was a professional patent clerk.
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First of all nude photography is considered fine art. Secondly, even if you don't like his subject matter he is still an excellent photographer, who shows mastery in lighting, exposure and composition. He does more than just nudes and it seems like its all in stark black and white. Don't call something trash because it offends your own prudish viewpoint.
Heineken Ad (Score:3)
http://www.coolscifi.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=872&c=34 [coolscifi.com]
Don't forget his other 70's TV series (Score:5, Interesting)
He wrote and hosted the series "In Search Of..." from 1976-1982
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074007/ [imdb.com]
" Lost civilizations, extraterrestrials, myths and monsters, missing persons, magic and witchcraft, unexplained phenomena. "In Search Of..." cameras are traveling the world, seeking out these great mysteries. This program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers and a group of highly-skilled technicians."
Many of these episodes were pure awesome for us kids that grew up just missing the first run of OST, but still getting to hear him wax poetic about alien visitors and way off the beaten path "science".
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Another series he did, besides "In Search Of..." (which was a cool show) from the early 80s that for some reason doesn't show up on his IMDB page [imdb.com]was on Nickelodeon called
Standby... Lights Camera Action! [wikipedia.org]
It was broken into segments where they showed "behind the scenes" making-of videos of movies including "Gandhi", "The Meaning of Life", and "Return of the Jedi" (examples here [youtube.com])
W
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That show was one of the scariest things I encountered during my childhood. All of it. The creepy synth music, the topics, the writing, and most of all, Nimoy's narrating. Terrifying stuff for an 8 year old. Of course I ate it up.
Nimoy's okay, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Nimoy's okay, but I miss James "Scotty" Doohan. I saw Nimoy in person back in 1988 when he did a talk in Alabama. It was an interesting talk, but he didn't do autographs or anything, which was a bit disappointing. I saw Jimmy Doohan a few years later, and not only did he have an autograph session, but he actually scheduled a second impromptu one for people who couldn't make the first one, and was telling us stories the whole time. It was awesome. One of my prize possessions is an autographed copy of Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise. Not so much because the signature, but because of the memories that go along with what was happening at the time I got it.
Jimmy Doohan also happens to be a genuine war hero. He took part in the Normandy invasion at Juno Beach. He took out two snipers. He also took six bullets from friendly fire, including one in the chest and one that blew off a finger.
Photography schmotography. Know what Jimmy Doohan was doing when he was 80 years old? Having a baby girl (Sarah Doohan), that's what. If Leonard Nimoy could duplicate that feat, his family would have a boy with a great great aunt that's younger than he is.
Re:Nimoy's okay, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but it's a true story.
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I know people are *not* going to like this... I worked at the Seattle Sheraton back in 1998 - 1999, and Doohan came in to eat at our lower end restaurant, at that time called Pike Place Cafe. I was the Pastry Chef at the time. As a manager, on occasion I had to go out and deal with customer "issues". Doohan was drunk off his ass and one of the rudest customers I've ever had to deal with. Very abrasive with the wait staff, and if it where not for the fact that he got up and left on his own, I would have had to call Security to escort him out. I think he was staying in the hotel, but I'm not sure, just that he was highly inebriated and rude and abusive to our staff.
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but it's a true story.
But you left out that he had an Andromedan with him - it was all in the line of duty!
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Fits the profile actually.
Doohan being more open to fans, telling stories, trying to connect and earn respect, but at the same time having to deal with the pressure of being a known person... and having a baby girl with 80 means having a young woman...
Nimoy being more interested in seeking respect through self expression...
Seems like being under the pressure of being a known figure just does not solve your life issues and you still stay human.
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OMG, a Scotsman drunk and rude in public!!!!@!#$! Call the cops! Well my word, this has NEVER BEFORE HAPPENED IN HUMAN HISTORY!!!
Seriously, get a grip, you middle American fuckwad. It happens. You, as a member of the servile class, are going to see this on occasion. Get used to it. Oh, and by the way, [citation needed]. Unless it was reported by a credible journalist, it didn't happen.
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>if it where not for the fact that he got up and left on his
>own, I would have had to call Security to escort him out
ooh, security, we're scared!
let's see, Scotty on the one hand, and a couple of red-shirts on the other . . . yeah, they could take care of it--right until they got transported somewhere interesting.
I don't recall for sure, but isn't he the only one ever to still be both wearing a read shirt *and* breathing at the end of a Star Trek episode?
hawk
I saw this movie once... (Score:3)
... It was directed by J.J. Abrams and it was called "Lens Flare"
It had Leonard Nimoy in it if I recall correctly.
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BMO
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This is late but...
I never even notice shaky-cam anymore because it's so overused. The first time I saw it on NYPD Blue, I couldn't watch the TV series at all.
It was there in the film to simulate cinéma vérité as was the lens flare stuff.
But if the point was to simulate cinéma vérité then JJ Abrams failed, because there is also no sound in space.
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BMO
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Well, fuck, that's supposed to say cinema verite with accents but thanks to Slashdork and its complete lack of unicode, it got butchered.
So much for a geek site. Taco should eat his geek card dry with nothing to wash it down.
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BMO
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I would really like to see that movie again without the lens flare. Hopefully one day there will be a special edition or something. I thought it might have been okay but the lighting was just so distracting that it was hard to really concentrate.
Star Trek IV (Score:3)
Okay, so the interviewer lauds Star Trek IV as "the most successful of the TOS features on several levels." I don't get it, and I never have. Maybe someone else can explain it to me?
Sure, it was amusing, with the colorful metaphors and the nuclear wessels and the nerve pinch on the bus and "hello computer" and all that. But it didn't seem like a strong story to me: the premise of aliens killing us because we let the whales die was one of the worst gratuitous insertions of present-day political issues into any Star Trek medium (second, perhaps, only to Riker getting busy with that androgynous alien that one time); the whole redemption of Kirk for his court-martial offense under the sham pretense of demoting him to the job he really wanted seemed like a Voyager-worthy push of the magic reset button solving everyone's problems during the last five minutes of the episode; and without an Enterprise, it didn't feel much like Star Trek.
So what was it that validated this movie for some folks? Maybe I just need a new perspective.
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I think to true trekkies (or trekkers) Star Trek II will still be the best TOS movie. But I'ld be the first to admit, watching ST II and ST III is a bit depressing. ST IV was definitely a much needed turn toward light-heartedness without being too silly (like some of the later TNG movies)
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Re:Star Trek IV (Score:5, Insightful)
It was just fun.
I think the idea that there are good people in the world, who care, who would risk their lives, and have fun is a great idea to muse upon. Lots of things are not fun right now, and there are a lot of not so good people, who don't care, risking our lives instead of theirs, and that sucks.
On some low fantasy level, I think it would be just fine to have a Kirk and crew, or even SG-1 and crew, swoop in and solve some problems.
Other things were the characters in that movie. They lit up. I enjoyed that, because I think they enjoyed doing it. That does not always come through on film, and on that movie, it did.
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I don't think we were supposed to take the plot seriously. I viewed it as an intentionally thin excuse to get the crew of the Enterprise to 1980's San Francisco where they could interact with each other and their strange environment in amusing and unique ways without spending much time on the plot. It was able to focus on very strong Kirk-Spock interactions immediately following Spock's resurrection and also develop several subplots for other characters who normally don't get much screen time without spendi
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More than any other first generation story, IV is character driven.
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It's entertaining, but it's also very dated now (especially all that "Save the Whales" crap), and doesn't hold up nearly as well as the best of the TOS movies (Star Trek 2).
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May I be the first to say... (Score:2, Redundant)
May the force be with you!
I'm a secret agent, Jim, not an escalator! (Score:3)
Leonard Nimoy did an excellent role of "Paris" in the original "Mission: Impossible" series, from, um, way back when. Most of Slashdotters were probably swimming around in their dad's balls at that time . . . whatever . . . For any folks who only know Leonard Nimoy as "Mr. Spock", it's worth a look to see that old series.
I remember him for Sega's Seaman (Score:3)
I never really liked the original Star Trek series. But I remember Leonard Nimoy fondly as the voice of Seaman.
It was a really fun game, and his voice acting was pretty good and believable, even creepy at times. Too bad the sequel was never released in English.
Baffled! (Score:3)
"whom we all fondly remember as Spock" (Score:2)
It's a weird day when Leonard Nimoy has to be explained on slashdot.
Re:Live Long (Score:5, Insightful)
"...character way too seriously!"
Responses:
1. So did we, that's why he's where he is.
1. And we put him there. So what does that make us?
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It's an elf thing. (Note Spock's dry, pointed sense of humor... he at least has one)
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I think that's been empirically disproven [google.com].
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Yeah, that's exactly why his first autobiography was entitled I Am Not Spock [wikipedia.org].
Leonard Nimoy has always been very very clear that he has a life outside of his career, and a career outside of Mr Spock. So while he created a highly beloved character, it's not like he's actually a Vulcan.
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I think he's actually Romulan. They look alike, ya know. Part of a plot. The only way to kill the old Kirk was to completely change the universe. So, the fight between him and Nero was staged.
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Only in the way that everybody in Arkansas is related to each other...and why they aren't allowed by law to marry people from Alabama, even though they have to cross through another state to get there...
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Re:Live Long (Score:4, Funny)
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Parent should be modded funny not insightful!
I just spent the last 10minutes trying to buy a copy of "I Am Also Scotty",
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You are conveniently leaving out his other autobiography - I Am Spock [wikipedia.org].
That is... Contradictory... It is not... Logical... Mister Spock... Explain...
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Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell BAD. Are you sure your circuits are functioning correctly? Your ears are green.
Schroedinger? (Score:2)
He is simultaneously Spock and not Spock, but you won't know until you open the box.
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Spock did have a cat.
you mean the Mysteries of the Bible guy? (Score:4, Funny)
i didnt realize he had done other work. this 'star trek' certainly sounds a little outside my normal fare, but i am willing to do a trial run.
Re:you mean the Mysteries of the Bible guy? (Score:4, Informative)
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He is better known for his musical career... [dailymotion.com]
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Not really. As I recall, he despised the character for some time afterward, because that's all anyone cared about. Eventually, like with Patrick Steward, he came to embrace it.
I, for one, am going to be pretty broken up when he passes. I have a list of old dudes that are going to be hard for me to handle the passing of and he's near the top.
Few people get to create the lasting icon that he did.
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To put it in nerd terms, you'd probably be a bit pissed too if you were only remembered for some 8-bit platform jumper when you'd written rocket guidance systems and were still gigging for other serious work. Eventually you might come to embrace your "fame" especially if it made you money but it stil
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Nimoy needs to have a talk with Tom Wilson (Biff from Back to the Future). I went and saw his comedy show Friday night, and a lot of the show was all about how his name is "Tom, not Biff". I totally understand how he might be sick of the type-casting, but as much as we hated Biff, most of us still loved the way he portrayed the character. I think it's a lot the same story for him.
Very funny guy. Got to talk with him for a bit after the show, it seems really odd to be staring "Biff" in the eye and it was a b
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Yeah, Nimoy is a really well rounded guy. I mean, he's a professional photographer and a poet and an actor (dramatic actor, theater actor), writer, singer. It's entirely understandable that he would be unhappy with the one character overshadowing everything else. Especially since it was a three year show that took years to really take off and even longer to truly be a renowned hit.
Also, he likes to take photos of . . . uh . . . rubenesque ladies.
http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/pages/MaxBeaut.ht [rmichelson.com]
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Alright, on my informal scale of body types, there's: anorexic, bony but healthy, athletic, average, chubby, a little too chubby, obese, and "man the harpoons". Personally, I find myself often attracted to women who fall into the 'athletic' through 'chubby' on my scale, and a nice face goes miles on making "a little too chubby" more attractive, which is unfortunate, because many such women tend to be deficient in this area.
These ladies, however? Captain Ahab could turn up at any moment, seeking retribution
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Re:Bizarre Coincidence (Score:5, Funny)
Spooky.
Or... Spocky!
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How's this for weird:
At almost the exact moment that I opened SlashDot, which showed this as the first story, the audio system in my living room (driven by AppleTV) started playing music from the original StarTrek movie.
Spooky.
Yeah, I recommend you set your phasers to stun.
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Nobody said the virgins looked like Allison Stokke. What if the sacrificed virgins were Rosie O'Donnells?
Rosie owns virgins? Who knew?
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Quinto was very good, but Karl Urban as Bones stole most of the scenes he was in. I also thought he had better chemistry with Chris Pine than DeForest Kelley had with Shatner. Their friendship had a plausible basis in the script too; Starfleet is just a place for Bones to go; like Kirk he's not so enamored of it. On the other hand he's older and been through the emotional mill, and so is a kind of mentor to Kirk. That was very well done, I thought.
We're much more used to ensemble casting today, but back
Re:Nimoy made OST (Score:5, Insightful)
Shatner might have received/stolen most of the credit and glory, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes Leonard Nimoy was the true star of the OST franchise. Among everyone trekkie'ish I know, Zachary Quinto's performance as the new Spock is the thing that has attracted the most attention in the rebooted Star Trek. I haven't heard any concern for the new Kirk.
I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, but the problem with what you're saying is that Star Trek didn't have a 'star'. It had Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Remove any of those characters and you don't have a show anymore.
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I see what you did there.
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I'm on the fence about the reboot. We've had a ton of material from the old universe--something like 29 seasons and 10 movies, not to mention a massive number of books. Expanding on the original 5 year mission seems like a pretty good direction. The past didn't work out (Enterprise), the future (post-TNG-era) doesn't seem that interesting because the Federation would probably become overpowered, and the present (TNG-era) has been done, a lot. TOS was cut short and this could be a chance to see what we misse
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But by Vulcan standard he is barely middle-aged ;)