Leonard Nimoy’s Finest TOS Performance?

[Spock's Barber]

Recently I started a thread about William Shatner’s Finest TOS Performance. Okay, Leonard, now it’s your turn. It could be a brief scene, a whole act or an entire episode.

And awayyyyyyy we go…

To borrow a word from Spock’s vocabulary, I’ve always been fascinated by the end of Requiem For Methuselah, where Nimoy utters the single word ‘Forget’ as he mind melds with Kirk. It’s a very touching moment and I think he shows true empathy and sympathy for his friend Kirk.

Now what is your choice?

 

[Victoria]

The mind-meld in "Devil in the Dark".

Even now, I can feel how awful I felt for the poor Horta the first time I watched it...over 55 years ago.

 

[Newt]

For me I'm gonna have to go with one of the films. Sorry if I'm breaking a rule if it has to be just TOS

Star Trek III TSFS Final scene.

" Jim, ...your name is Jim."

Maybe for TOS I might go for City on the Edge of Forever when Kirk lets edith keeler die.
"I could have saved her. Do you know what you just did?" says McCoy
"He knows, Doctor. He knows." states Spock.

 

[Farscape One]

It's hard to point to single scenes or episodes because Leonard Nimoy was fantastic all the time. He not only was the blueprint to follow for all actors playing Vulcans after him, but Spock became basically the face of the franchise.

All the ones mentioned so far are great ones and worthy of calling 'finest performance'.


I'd also add...

"AMOK TIME" - throughout the episode.

"MIRROR, MIRROR" - Nimoy fully understood the nature of this concept, because he played Spock as not overtly bad or cruel. Simply logical, but with less restraint. The whole basis of the Mirror Universe is that at the core, they are supposed to essentially be the same people, just with filters off and left unfettered to go with more baser instincts. (It's slso why O'Brien works so well in the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes.)

"BREAD AND CIRCUSES" - the jail scene of McCoy trying to thank Spock.


For the movies... TWOK, his death scene. That was just so very, very well done.

 

[Phaser Two]

Yeah, I mean, the Vulcan Duology episodes come to mind of course, but "Mirror, Mirror" is an excellent choice. I'll throw out another in a less-than-fully-appreciated episode: "Operation: Annihilate!" Nimoy remembers to keep ever-so-subtly flinching in pain throughout the second half of the episode, just enough so the audience remembers the stakes. It's amazing work.

 

[Farscape One]

Yeah, I mean, the Vulcan Duology episodes come to mind of course, but "Mirror, Mirror" is an excellent choice. I'll throw out another in a less-than-fully-appreciated episode: "Operation: Annihilate!" Nimoy remembers to keep ever-so-subtly flinching in pain throughout the second half of the episode, just enough so the audience remembers the stakes. It's amazing work.

Great point about "OPERATION: ANNIHILATE!".

Since scenes are virtually always shot out of order, knowing when to do those subtle flinches just underscores Nimoy's ability to keep it all straight while filming.

 

[Qonundrum]

His controlled rage coming out, in The Naked Time, Amok Time, Plato's Stepchildren, et al, easily make for great candidates.

 

[Commander Troi]

Yeah, he was really good at that.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

I'd throw in "All Our Yesterdays" for that too.

 

[BillJ]

I’m not sure that there is a bad performance by either Nimoy or Shatner in TOS.