The Bundy Museum in Binghamton, NY has a permanent display to local and national legend Rod Serling. Now as many of you know, Serling created, wrote for, and produced the marvelous Twilight Zone. The reason Bundy has this exhibit is because Serling, although born in Ithaca NY, grew up in Binghamton from the age of two. Life in Binghamton inspired many of the Twilight Zone‘s stories (Walking Distance in particular) and he’s long been our local hero.
Well here’s some exciting news — as Trekkies know, Leonard Nimoy appeared in the classic TZ episode A Quality of Mercy. Leonard’s face is the first thing you see in the episode, as his character is sending field reports on his walkie-talkie during a Pacific WWII battle. Imagine my surprise when I read this article in our local paper the other day — Leonard’s helmet has now become part of the permanent Serling display at The Bundy! I want to thank the 8 Serling fans who pooled their resources to buy the helmet, I can’t wait to see it!
Binghamton is just a stone’s throw away from me, so it’s nice to know that a little bit of Leonard’s legacy is now practically in my backyard! I’ll post again as soon as I see it!
Since Halloween is this Thursday, I wanted to give all my Scrappers a treat! It’s always so nice to see Spock out of uniform, :-P, so I thought it would be fun to recall all the times Mr. Spock had to conceal his…non-conformity. Nimoy must have been the costumer William Ware Theiss’ dream, with a tall slender but muscled physique that made him the perfect clothes horse! Of course, if Spock came trick or treating, I’d give him the whole bowl of candy…then lock him inside for the night! Happy Halloween, Everyone!
Here’s my 10 favorite Spock Costumes. (All collages by me, click on the thumbnails for more detail).
10) I Wanna be a Cowboy–Not a full costume, but man, he’s totally working the gun-belt! (From Spectre of the Gun)
9)Off-Duty — We never see when or where Spock changed into this green utilitarian jumpsuit (and lace-up army boots) but I have no doubt that Leila gave him a good excuse to tear out of his duty blues!
8)The Slave – A simple look from Bread and Circuses. Spock wears grey trousers and nicely fills out the chain link sweatshirt of the other ‘Sun Worshipers’ of the 20th century Romans, but conceals his points under a sleek knit cap. Extra points for bare biceps.
7)Depression Laborer – Another knit cap, and they were sure lucky to find perfectly fitting ‘Mom’ jeans and shirts in Edith Keeler’s world! Extra points for the green pea coat. There’s got to be a gif of Spock tucking in his shirt somewhere! (The City On the Edge of Forever)
6) Just another Archon – (Return of the Archons) Spock always cut a dashing figure in a cape, and this is my favorite! The draped cowl perfectly frames his angular features. The sleekness continues with the sharp cut of his trouser and vest combo.
5) A Dealer of Kevas and Trillium: (Errand of Mercy) Another cape, but none of the natives had any problem with his ears here (perhaps because they were really just blobs of energy to begin with!) Bonus points for the lovely dark blue velvet, long skinny legs in tights, and for being a precursor to the 1980’s in furry dancer leggings!
4)A Platonian Serenader — (Plato’s Stepchildren) Could you imagine how Spock would have reacted as he was forced to wear this green toga? (Most illogical!) Spock’s gown was a lot more dignified than Kirks, and the lovely deep green set off his dark hair.
3)Nazi His Style — Spock got to wear two different Nazi uniforms in Patterns of Force, and although it’s true that the Nazi’s (here as Ekosians) were pure evil, they did have very sharp, beautifully tailored uniforms. (aside from Hitler’s name on the armband) Of course, Spock fans prefer when Spock isn’t wearing the top of uniform at all!–a whole 20 minutes of the episode.
2) A Pirate’s Life for Him— Now granted, this is the Spock from the alternate Universe,(Mirror,Mirror) but damn! Alternate Spock’s uniform was given even more elegant detail than Kirk’s golden vest; The tunic was a shiny blue single-breasted jacket, piped in gold with gold sash, and the cravat at the neck accented his magnificent goatee (Swoon!), giving the look an almost gi quality. Wish we could have seen a sequel episode with this Spock. Note the boots also are practically thigh-high, making the look even more sinister.
1) A Piece of That Action – Spock goes gangster, and the crowd raves — fortunately Kirk and Spock yet again are able to steal perfectly fitting suits (and shoes) from the natives on Sigma Iotia II! His pointy ears aren’t well disguised, but who cares? He’s dressed to kill! (Gotta say, Bill and Leonard look so beautiful in this episode, I could die!–I’d go crazy if these suits were still around and went up for auction!) (A Piece of the Action)
I had a fun time at our local “RoberCon” convention in Binghamton NY yesterday — the first sci-fi convention of its kind at the Roberson Mansion and Planetarium. It was attended by 1000+ fans and it was especially a pleasure for me to see the universe spanning array of costumes people came in. It was like a grand ball for Geekdom, and I’m delighted to say that I pulled off finishing my T’Pau costume in time for the event!
The the hardest part of building my costume was the T’Pau’s complicated hairdo! Seriously, it’s not a hairdo, it’s an Engineering Thesis! The styling took me @ 90 minutes early yesterday morning, as I assembled six different hair pieces into my own for the multi-braid effect. Adding the ears was a little nerve-wracking too, but although it wasn’t too difficult to attach them, I felt sympathy for Mr. Nimoy and anyone who’s had to don those points. Actually, I hardly felt them at all once they were in place,and they worked quite nicely. My favorite part of the costume was the great walking stick, which I made from an $8 wooden chair from the Salvation Army. I reassembled the legs and a spindle from it, and spray painted it black. The filial on top was a door pull from Home Depot, and the big ‘bead’ was a piece of florist foam, carved and painted to look ornamental.
In addition to the costume contest, there were panels discussing costume construction, and a panel that was supposed to discuss Star Trek, but it became more centered The Twilight Zone. There might have been another Trek panel, but I missed it (for the contest) There was also a guest appearance by Annie Serling (Rod’s Daughter), but I didn’t stay that long (my two teen sons were getting hungry and we had been there for nearly 4 hours).
Here’s a gallery of characters from the con. Some of the costumes were really masterful – especially Godzilla! Now don’t be fooled, this may look like a factory manufactured rubber suit, but it was actually was hand crafted and tooled by its wearer! I could see elements of foam rubber and styrofoam in it, and the gentleman who wore it said it took over a year to create in his garage! Wow. Amazingly, he didn’t win 1st place that went to the two young girls who hand crafted their dazzlingly frightening costumes of Weeping Angels (including the masks) from Dr. Who. Other winners were The Iron Patriot, (which was also amazing), Wonder Woman, and a delightfully loony Freakazoid. There were Lots of comic book, and gaming characters represented there too, as well as Steam punk creations and many Dr. Who’s (two wearing a fez).
There were many fan groups as well, with Star Wars well represented. There was only one Star Trek group, U.S.S. Serling, whose ‘Captain’ and ‘First Officer’ I posed with (Lisa Stucky, Doc David Rasey) They liked my costume, and for me personally, it was nice to have someone there recognize my 44-year-old TV character! I admit, I got a lot of odd looks from people, with hardly anyone recognizing me as a Star Trek character. It definitely made me feel old, as a few people thought I was from Lord of the Rings, and no one said “It’s T’Pau!” To be fair, if this was a Star Trek Convention I’d be more recognized, but despite my crafted look, I did feel a bit dated here. At least I passed out a few trekkerscrapbook calling cards to anyone who had an inkling as to what the Original Series was! Maybe we’ll get a few more watchers here. Glad I went.
Scrapbook is back! Sorry I haven’t posted much of this lately, but I’ve been busy with family, holidays, and launchingmy home business.
Here’s today’s flashback: First, from January 1978, an article about real space explorers–This was a big improvement in NASA operations, this was the first class of astronaut candidates who weren’t exclusively white males–(Nichelle Nichols’ work as a NASA promoter really worked!) You see a photo of candidate Anna Fisher and her husband William. Among the candidates, 6 women, three African-Americans, and one Asian, including future first woman in space Sally Ride, and sadly, three of the future doomed shuttle Challenger, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judith Resnik. To see the enthusiasm and joy these candidates felt at the time is now bittersweet, but we will never forget their drive and determination, not to mention being pioneers of NASA integration.
The other exciting post here is a hot, actual photo of Leonard Nimoy taken by fan Joanne Brooks of Indiana, whom I had met a the Star Trek Convention in ’76. (scroll down for bigger copy). As I recall, Joanne was a pretty, tall, blond 30-something mother wearing a perfect home-custom designed blue Trek uniform-she looked great! Spock was her favorite (hence the blue). I wish I had a picture of her, but OF COURSE my pocket camera wasn’t working well! I envied her not just for her great costume, but because she met Nimoy at a play that same year! She had sent me this sweet letter with the picture right after the convention. I wrote back with great delight, sheepishly asking if she could possibly make me a costume too, but eventually I made my own uniform.Hey Joanne, if you’re still out there, drop us a line! And thanks for the wonderful memory!
Here’s a close up photo-shopped version of the candid. Nimoy is still very much in his ascot phase here (which suited him fine) – always happy to pose for a fan!
Halloween is almost upon us, so since everyone’s in costume, this week I look at Nimoy who, like his idol, Lon Chaney, was as a man of many faces, especially in his early years when he had a lot of ‘heavy’ roles, and in the Seventies when he did a wide range of characters in theater roles. Theater was his first love, and I bet he loved getting back on a real stage! A classmate of mine got to see him as King Arthur in Camelot one summer (1973) I was so jealous! Let’s just call this ‘Nimoy at the costume shop’. What should he be for Halloween?
A Doctor? (The scheming Dr. Barry Mayfield in Columbo)
A Confederate Soldier? (as Kreton from Visit To a Small Planet)
