Friday, February 27, 2015

The Legend Lives On

The original plan had been to do my final Epic of Gilgamesh post today.  However, the passing of a legend has made me postpone that post for Monday.  Instead, I want to talk about Leonard Nimoy.

I figure, if this blog talks about mythology, fairy tales, and folktales, it should talk about legends as well.

Many of us are probably most familiar with Mr. Nimoy for his role as Spock in the original Star Trek, the movies that followed, and the reboot of the movies.  The show (and his role in it) pioneered science fiction, boldly going where no man had gone before.  Countless science fiction writers and directors have credited Star Trek as being their inspiration in their work.

Leonard Nimoy was so much more than his character on Star Trek.  Besides his roles on television and the big screen, he was also a voice actor, and sometimes worked as a narrator on documentaries.  He served in the military in the 1950's.  He was an author, having two autobiographies and several collections of poetry.  Mr. Nimoy was also a musician - for the past several weeks I have had the song The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins stuck in my head.

The world is now without Leonard Nimoy, but we will never be without his influence.  It can be seen in the movies and shows we watch that he inspired.  It can be seen in the tributes of his friends and family - and those of his fans.  My mom was reading a book in the Dresden Files yesterday, and had to laugh and show me a line: Dresden "spocked an eyebrow".  I logged on to Facebook today and found posts from Christian Kane, Mass Effect, and World of Warcraft (amongst many others) - a diverse mix of interests, to be sure, but each of them were paying their respects to an incredible man who had in some way, at some point, inspired them.
These things will remain with us - and, because of them, so will Leonard Nimoy, the legend.

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