11) Star Trek (2009)
Rebooting a science fiction property allows a rare opportunity to ring in the new without necessarily throwing out the old. So, when it was announced that J.J. Abrams was going back to the characters from the original Star Trek series, but recasting them with new actors in the parts, bringing in Leonard Nimoy to play “Spock Prime” was both a nice reference to Trek’s past, and a touching seal of approval to the new old adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Appearing in Abrams’ “New” Trek could have been an easy paycheck for Nimoy: he comes in, says “Live long and prosper,” and the crowd goes wild. But no, in his final appearances as Spock (in the 2009 film and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness), Nimoy allowed further growth of the Spock character. Although he’s still the image of cool rationality, he’s grown more accepting of his human half, discussing his feelings of devastation and telling his young self to do what *feels* right.
It’s interesting that Nimoy’s final film appearance is in Into Darkness, a movie that brazenly calls back and reconfigures his heart-wrenching death scene in Wrath of Khan. The cameo proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man that once wrote I Am Not Spock, truly was indelibly, and permanently, attached to the character.
One may think that J.J. Abrams bringing him back again was a cheap ploy to get disappointed fans excited, but perhaps it’s easier to suggest that even when he’s not “Spock,” it’s hard to make it Star Trek without Leonard Nimoy.