In May or June 1976, a few weeks after coming to the US, I turned on the TV in the house where my family was staying, and froze in place.
On the screen, a unicorn dog snarled out out of a box while people in colorful uniforms discussed it. I understood none of them, speech parsing being still beyond me though I had taken English in school, until this pointy-eared character opened up, and miraculously, what he said made sense!
Yes, Leonard Nimoy's perfect diction and deliberate delivery made Spock the first TV character I could actually understand, and one of the very few people I could understand in English without them making an effort to slow down. So I became a Star Trek fan, never missing a 6 PM rerun on New York Channel 11, first on a B&W set picked up from someone's discard pile on Ocean Parkway, then a color TV given by someone who upgraded to a better model, and as the summer went on, more and more made sense, first what others said to Spock, then the rest of the story, then commercials and other shows, and by the time I went to high school in September I could actually hold a conversation in English.
Allegedly, I speak it reasonably well now. If so, I owe it to Spock. Leonard Nimoy _is_ Spock, he said so himself. Ergo, I owe Leonard Nimoy.
I always said I'd thank him, some day. Graduating Brooklyn Tech didn't seem enough of an occasion. Neither did finishing Princeton, UConn medical school, getting my medical license, getting my kids hooked on Star Trek, getting published. Always behind it was the arrogant hope that some day I'd shake his hand as an equal. Legend to legend.
Ain't gonna happen.
I'm thanking you now, Mr Nimoy. I'm thanking Nichelle Nichols and George Takei and Walter Koenig for showing me that space is big enough for everyone. I owe David Gerrold and D. C. Fontana and Harlan Ellison and all the others who taught me how to tell a story people could care about. I'm thanking Brian Todd for the loan of David Gerrold's book 38 years ago, that I never returned, and must have read 20 times before I understood all of it. STAR TREK didn't change my life; it rebooted it.
I still hope to shake your hand some day, Mr Nimoy. If only to say I meant every word of this.
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