''I Am Not Spock'' is

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...

's first

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

. Published in 1975, between the end of '' Star Trek: The Animated Series'' and the production of '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', the book was criticized by some fans because of the perception that Nimoy was rejecting the character

Spock Spock is a Character (arts), fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterprise ...

. He maintained he was only clarifying the difference between himself and Spock, whom he always enjoyed playing. However, he later published ''

I Am Spock ''I Am Spock'' is the second volume of actor and director Leonard Nimoy's autobiography. The book was published in 1995, four years after the release of the last '' Star Trek'' motion picture starring the entire original cast, and covers the majo ...

'' in an attempt to address the misconceptions.

Development history

Nimoy stated that the title originated from an incident in an airport where a mother introduced him to her daughter as Spock. The child was not convinced, and "I am not Spock" subsequently became the title for a chapter in the autobiography that discussed how he went about building the character. In the book he compared Spock's life to his own, in order to explain the differences between the personas of the two. He did state that if he were to portray any fictional character, then he would choose Spock. The chapter title became the book title, which Nimoy later called "a big mistake" as he felt that people assumed that it was an attack on the character and ''Star Trek'' in general, but did not read the book to find out what was really meant. During a discussion with the publishers, they decided that the book needed to have Spock in the title, and they felt that ''I Am Not Spock'' would attract attention. Nimoy called the reaction a "firestorm". Nimoy later followed up with a second autobiography in 1995, this time entitled ''

'', although he also considered the title ''Maybe I Am Spock''. He discussed the response to ''I Am Not Spock'' in a feature called "Reflections on Spock", which was included in the ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' season one

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to th ...

set, released in 2007.

Reception

Nimoy recalled that the fan reaction to the memoir was publicized as being negative and created an assumption that he was no longer interested in playing Spock. He responded to this rumor in his second autobiography, ''I Am Spock''. Based on that rumor, when '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' was being made, newspapers reported that Nimoy stated in ''I Am Not Spock'' that he did not want to be involved with ''Star Trek'' any longer. In 2002, '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' actor

Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...

joked that his autobiography would be entitled ''I Am Not Spock, Either''. Prior to playing the role of Spock in the 2009 film ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'',

Zachary Quinto Zachary John Quinto (; born June 2, 1977) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010); Spock in th ...

read ''I Am Not Spock'' for insight about the possibility of being typecast into the role.

References

External links

{{Leonard Nimoy 1975 non-fiction books American autobiographies Show business memoirs Books by Leonard Nimoy Books about Star Trek