STAR TREK: COMMANDER SPOCK
While not what you would call a Trekkie, I have been a big Star Trek fan since I was a little boy. I have watched the series and franchise grow into one huge monstrosity over the last 30 years and with the current direction the films are taking, I think it will last a lot longer. This is a series dedicated to the lovable space pioneers and the movies for which they starred. A lot of these caches are on a fairly busy road. I tried to place them where parking was good. Please watch children along this stretch and use good judgement. I hope you enjoy my latest entries.
Spock, commonly Mister Spock, is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, eight of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek books, comics, and video games. In the 2009 film Star Trek and its 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, Nimoy reprised his role alongside Zachary Quinto, who played a younger, alternate-universe version of the character, and Jacob Kogan playing Spock as a child.
Spock serves aboard the starship Enterprise, as science officer and first officer, and later as commanding officer of two iterations of the vessel. Spock's mixed human-Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series and its films. After retiring from Starfleet, Spock serves as a Federation ambassador, contributing toward the détente between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. In his later years, he serves as Federation ambassador to the Romulan Empire and becomes involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus from a supernova.
The character was initially depicted as the USS Enterprise's science officer for the original pilot, "The Cage" (1964). Although "The Cage" did not air, Spock's eleven years of service under the command of Captain Christopher Pike are referred to and depicted in "The Menagerie" (1966) and other episodes. The character's first broadcast appearance is in "The Man Trap" (1966), which introduces him as the ship's science officer and first officer under Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Star Trek depicts a "troika" of Spock, Kirk, and Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley); while McCoy often acts as Kirk's conscience, Spock offers the captain an emotionally detached, logical perspective. The character also offers an "outsider's" perspective on "the human condition".
Star Trek also presents elements of Spock's upbringing and family. "Journey to Babel" (1967) depicts his parents: Sarek (Mark Lenard), the Vulcan ambassador to the Federation, and Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt), a human. Spock's decision to join Starfleet, rather than attend the Vulcan Science Academy, ran contrary to his father's wishes. The relationship between Spock and Sarek is strained and often turbulent, although rooted in an underlying respect and carefully restrained love for each other. The 1973 animated series episode "Yesteryear" shows seven-year-old Spock choosing to pursue a Vulcan lifestyle devoted to logic and suppressing emotion.
At the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Spock is no longer in Starfleet, having resigned and returned home to pursue the Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr. Spock is unable to complete the Kolinahr ritual after he senses the coming of V'ger, and rejoins Starfleet to aid the Enterprise crew in their mission. Spock, promoted to captain, is commanding officer of the Enterprise at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). At the film's end, he transfers his "katra" – the sum of his memories and experience – to McCoy, and then sacrifices himself to save the ship and its crew from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). The sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), focuses on his crewmates' quest to recover Spock's body, resurrected by the Genesis matrix in the previous film. At the film's conclusion, Spock's revived body is reunited with his katra. Spock is next seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), which depicts his recovery from the after-effects of his resurrection. In the film's final scene, he joins the crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A under Kirk's command. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Spock and the Enterprise crew confront the renegade Sybok, Spock's half-brother. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) reunites the Enterprise crew on a mission to prevent war from erupting between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Spock serves as a special envoy to broker peace with the Klingons after a natural disaster devastates their homeworld.