I Dream of Blooper Reels and Conventions…

Occasionally I have Trek dreams, but  haven’t had one  in a long while,  so the one I awoke from on June 23rd was remarkable!

Apparently it was 1989 and I was at a Star Trek convention in Germany, just as the Berlin Wall was being torn down.  Thousands of people were at the Brandenburg Gate, cheering to be reunited with their relatives, and also, apparently a bunch of Star Trek fans.  On a podium were Shatner, Kelley, Doohan, and Nimoy smiling and waving.

Then suddenly there was a scene from a never-before-seen blooper reel.  There was Nimoy as Spock in a close-up tossing a red apple back and forth to someone off camera.  We see it being tossed at him, and it bonks him in the nose! There is no audio, but we can see him mouthing “OW!  That Hurt, Dammit!” then laughing it off!

Then I was back with the crowd,   Bill, De, and James all looked like themselves but Leonard looked a bit odd.  He was wearing the famous blue patchwork jacket and jeans, but his hair was down to his neck in an odd pageboy cut, kind of making him look like Robert Wagner as Prince Valiant!

Then there was another video, this one of Nimoy walking in a garden setting.  This time he looked as he did on In Search Of…   But it wasn’t so much  where he was, but what he said.  He was talking about making a good life, and he suddenly pointed to a flat stone on the path and said “Someday I will be buried here, but I’ll be alright.” ,then talked about how special every day is, and how not to waste it.  He said he was happy with his life.

Then next I only saw the thousands of people moving forward past the broken Berlin Wall, cheering along with their Trek heroes.

That was it, but it was quite amazing!   It inspired me to make this collage:

My Weekly Spock: I Wonder…

I wonder where Leonard was when this funny one was taken!  No doubt in the  ’70s and a local channel was airing In Search Of… It must be odd to see a huge head of yourself in public, but looks like Leonard enjoyed it!

How many here watched In Search Of… back in the day or since.  Do you think it aged well?  I”m looking forward to the new reboot of the show with (appropriately) Zachary Quinto  as host!   I’m sure Leonard would approve!

The Daily Scrapbook 5/17/13 -Planetariums, Trek, and Vincent.

Here’s today’s flashback:  A planetarium program a relative sent me from Rochester – notable because Leonard Nimoy narrates one of the shows (highlighted).  (With that rich voice and “alien” background, Nimoy did a lot of voice work, usually for something related to space or mystery)   A mention of In Search Of… meeting Vincent Van Gogh, and a snippet mentioning how Star Trek is still popular in it’s common syndicated time-slot of 6-7p.m. (My mom hated me bringing my dinner into the living room to watch Trek (ah, the days before DVRs!)

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The Daily Scrapbook 12/6/12 Guess who’s coming to town?

It ain’t Santa!  But in January of 1978 I got a late Christmas present when it was announced that not one but TWO celebrities connected to Star Trek would be appearing locally!  Gene Roddenberry was coming to our local Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, promoting The World of Star Trek (basically the same show I saw in Rochester that past August), and  LEONARD NIMOY would be coming to nearby Elmira!!! Unfortunately both of these events fell on the same night: February 18th.  But which to go to? Well, if you’re like me, and I know I am, the choice was obvious; Vulcan’s beat Great Birds of the Galaxy every time!   I will post about this unforgettable event next week, so stay tuned!

However, in other news, the long awaited Star Trek II TV series return was permanently canceled by Paramount TV, no new series, no bald lady.  The headline read “Sorry Trekkies”, but I felt a strange sigh of relief.  Looking back now we did tons better with the movie series than we ever could have with a re-booted Trek.  And the movies led to more TV series, so it was a double win for the fans. There’s also a portion of an article here mentioning Nimoy in “In Search  Of.”  The producer, Alan Lansbury, describes Nimoy as “a persuasive identity”  I couldn’t agree more.  By the way, have you noticed how many times in these scrapbook pieces I’d have to fix Spock title from “Dr.” to ‘Mr.”?  Pure carelessness (or ignorance) on the writer’s part)

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The Daily Scrapbook: A massage by Captain Kirk and In Search Of… a lot of episodes

Here’s today’s flashback: From 1977, Bill Shatner gives actress Yvette Mimieux   a nice back massage while taking rehearsing for the then Broadway bound show Tricks of the Trade. (lucky!) Here’s another image. Then many, many TV guide listings of Nimoy’s documentary show In Search Of…, which was syndicated nationwide. Nimoy also narrated a documentary series called The Coral Jungle listed here, and  in other TV work, he co-hosted basically a half-hour commercial for NBC called C’mon Saturday which touted the new and returning Saturday Morning Cartoons that would be airing that fall on NBC (The animated Trek aired two seasons from 73-74, so I don’t know why Nimoy was picked for this unless it was in reruns).  From all this TV work, I am presuming that Nimoy did a lot of extra work in NYC while he was in Equus,   I remember actually watching this (as a 16 year old) and feeling mighty embarrassed for Mr. Nimoy, who played a character caller “Mister Wister” who guided around young Andrea McArdle (of Annie fame) to all the wonders of new Saturday Morning line up.  (For all you out there under the age of 40, it was standard practice for the three major networks to air cartoons and kid shows on Saturday mornings; this is where we discovered The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and H.R. Puffinstuff ) NBC must have paid him well for this, for the most embarrassing part to me was when he had to sing, to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your Boat” in a faux baritone voice “Turn, Turn, Turn your dial, Right to N-B-C!”  Well, he had bills to pay, I’m sure.

The Daily Scrapbook 10/23/12

Here’s today’s flashback:  A 1977 review from Starlog magazine of Nimoy’s new weekly documentary series “In Search Of...”   ( I can still hear the theme song) And more delays on that supposed Star Trek movie.  Roddenberry wanted a script that would please the fans, but Paramount found his original script “too much like a TV series”.  Unfortunately, the final result was too much like a a very slow, very boring documentary, not like the original at all, (and don’t get me started on those hideous footie-pajama uniforms!)  Glad Wrath of Khan came along in ’82 as of much better representation of what Trek should be.                  In Search Of… was an interesting series, although I’m sure much of its info is outdated now. The episode that really bugged me was about a cult around ‘St Germaine’; creepy.  As a youngster, I was willing to believe that there was a Loch Ness Monster, and maybe even that ancient civilizations etched big pictures into the deserts to communicate with aliens, although I mostly watched for the Nimoy segments.   In a later episode, Nimoy ‘searched’ for Vincent Van Gogh, and cleverly plugged his new one-man-show Vincent.