By Tim Lammers

Like millions of others, I was saddened to learn Friday that “Star Trek” star Leonard Nimoy died at 83. Nimoy, who of course, embodied Mr. Spock in the “Star Trek” TV series and many of the subsequent “Star Trek” movies, truly deserved his label as an icon, given the amount of impact he had on popular culture here and the world over for nearly five decades.

I had the opportunity to interview Nimoy one time over the years, and it couldn’t have been for a better project: J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the “Star Trek” movie franchise. A fascinating and charming gentleman, Nimoy shared with me in an interview for Internet Broadcasting his thoughts on passing Spock’s torch to Zachary Quinto, and how he played the future Spock (aka, Spock Prime) in the film felt in a way like a bookend to the role.

“I think that Spock and I have really merged. I’m totally comfortable with where I am and so is Spock,” Nimoy said. “Zachary is playing a character that still has to find himself, and he comes to a point at the end of this movie, which I think is just wonderful, where he takes the final step to becoming the Spock I played in the original series.”

Nimoy also shared with me his hopes of his longtime friend and co-star, William Shatner, somehow returning to the franchise.

“Bill Shatner and I are very close friends and we see each other quite regularly, and we get together with our wives have dinner quite frequently,” said Nimoy, who was 78 at the time of the interview. “I’m sorry he’s not in this film. I hope that it’s pretty clear that it would have been difficult to include him because of the backstory on Kirk. They did offer him a role in this movie, but I guess he didn’t believe it was appropriate for him to be doing what they offered … I had no idea what the role was. Bill and I have not talked about it. It’s just understood that this is a movie that he’s not in.”

Read the entire interview HERE.

Live long and prosper, Mr. Nimoy. The universe with be a lot less interesting without you in it.