Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. Portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series (1966–69), alongside Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley). On that series, Spock served as first officer and science officer of the starship Enterprise. Spock's mixed human–Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. As one of the most popular Star Trek characters, Spock has made return appearances in many later installments of the franchise.
Spock was played by Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, eight of the Star Trek feature films, and a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Multiple actors have played the character since Nimoy; the most recent portrayal is Ethan Peck, who since 2019 has portrayed Spock at an earlier period of his career than the original series, appearing in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery, in Star Trek: Short Treks, and as a main character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Additionally, Zachary Quinto played an alternate-reality version of Spock in the feature films Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). Although the three films are set in the aforementioned alternate reality, Nimoy appears in the first two as the original timeline's Spock.
Aside from the series and films in the Star Trek franchise, Spock has also appeared in numerous novels, comics, and video games. Nimoy's portrayal of Spock made a significant cultural impact and earned him three Emmy Award nominations. His public profile as Spock was so strong that both his autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1975) and I Am Spock (1995), were written from the viewpoint of coexistence with the character.Nimoy (1975), pp. 1–6Nimoy (1995), pp. 2–17
Appearances
Back story Born in the 23rd century (human time) of Sarek (vulcan) and Amanda Grayson (human), his mixed heritage was cause of a troubled childhood. Pure-blooded Vulcan children repeatedly bullied him on their home world (Vulcan) to incite his human emotions. For a time, he grew up alongside his older half-brother Sybok, until Sybok was cast out from Vulcan for rejecting logic. Spock has a human adoptive sister, Michael Burnham . Spock was betrothed to T'Pring during his childhood.
Sarek supported Spock's scientific learning and application to the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock rejects his acceptance into the Vulcan Science Academy on the basis that they would never fully accept someone who was only half-Vulcan. Because Spock did not enter the VSA and sought to join Starfleet instead, he did not speak to his father for the following 18 years.
"The Cage" and the first season Spock appeared as the science officer on the USS Enterprise in the unaired first pilot for the series, "The Cage". The events of the episode were formally canonized and shown in the two-part episode "The Menagerie" of the first season, and Spock's previous 11 years of service on the Enterprise were described. Spock also appeared in the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which was broadcast initially as the third episode. During the events of that pilot, Spock became concerned at the risk to the ship posed by Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and suggested possible solutions to Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).
The earliest appearance of Spock in the series as broadcast was in "The Man Trap". When he needs to knock out an evil version of Kirk in "The Enemy Within", he uses a Vulcan nerve pinch, marking the first appearance of that iconic move. Spock and Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan) work together to rejoin the good and evil versions of the Captain, which had been split following a transporter accident. During "Miri", he finds himself to be the only member of the landing party to be immune to the physical effects of the disease affecting human adults on the planet. However, he realizes that he is probably a carrier and could infect the Enterprise if he were to return. Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) manages to devise a cure, allowing the team to return to the ship.
When Simon van Gelder enters the bridge armed with a phaser in "Dagger of the Mind", Spock subdues him with a nerve pinch. He later conducts a mind meld with van Gelder as part of the investigation into the activities of the nearby colony. After power to the colony is shut down, and a protective force field drops, Spock leads an away team to rescue Kirk. Spock is reunited with Christopher Pike (Sean Kenney) in "The Menagerie". Pike had been promoted to Fleet Captain but suffered an accident, resulting in severe burns and confining him to a wheelchair and restricting his communication to yes/no answers via a device connected to his brainwaves. Spock commits mutiny and directs the ship to travel to Talos IV, a banned planet. He recounts the events of "The Cage" under a tribunal to Kirk, Pike and Commodore Jose I. Mendez (Malachi Throne). As the Enterprise arrives at the planet, Mendez is revealed to be a Talosian illusion. At the same time, the real Mendez communicates from Starfleet, giving permission for Pike to be transported to the planet, and all charges against Spock are dropped.
While the Enterprise is under threat in "Balance of Terror", Spock is accused by Lieutenant Stiles (Paul Comi) of knowing more about the Romulans than he admits when the alien's similar physical appearance is revealed. Spock hypothesizes that they are an offshoot of the Vulcan race. He saves the Enterprise, manning the phaser station and saves the life of Stiles in the process. In "The Galileo Seven", Spock leads a landing party on the shuttlecraft Galileo, which is damaged and pulled off its course before landing on the planet Taurus II. Lieutenant Boma (Don Marshall) criticizes Spock's fascination with the weaponry of the natives after the death of Lieutenant Latimer (Rees Vaughn) at their hands. After Scotty uses the power packs of the party's phasers to supply enough energy to get the damaged shuttle back into orbit, Spock decides to dump and ignite the remaining fuel to attract the attention of the Enterprise. The procedure is successful and the crew on the shuttle are rescued.
Spock encounters old acquaintance Leila Kalomi (Jill Ireland) in "This Side of Paradise" after joining an away team to the planet Omicron Ceti III. After being affected by mind-altering spores, Spock begins acting out of character and with overt emotion, engaging in a romantic liaison with Kalomi, whom Spock had previously rejected when she made advances toward him. The impact of the spores on him is cured after Kirk goads him into anger, and once freed of the effects, Spock is able to initiate a solution which cures the rest of the crew. Spock attempts to mind meld with the non-humanoid Horta in "The Devil in the Dark". Following the mind meld, Spock relays the history of the Horta and is able to create peace between the aliens and a nearby colony. Both Spock and Kirk undertake guerrilla warfare against the occupying Klingon forces on the planet Organia, prior to the establishment of the Organian Peace Treaty in "Errand of Mercy". To restore the timeline, he travels with Kirk back to 1930's New York City in "The City on the Edge of Forever". He uses technology of that period to interface with his tricorder over the course of the weeks they spend in the period before witnessing Edith Keeler's (Joan Collins) death.
Season two and three
During the premiere episode of the second season, "Amok Time", Spock begins to undergo pon farr, the Vulcan blood fever, and must mate in the next eight days or die. Kirk disobeys Starfleet orders and takes the Enterprise to the planet Vulcan so that Spock can undergo the mating ritual. When they arrive, he is reunited with T'Pring (Arlene Martel), his wife, who wishes to instead be with Stonn (Lawrence Montaigne), a full-blooded Vulcan. She demands the ritual kal-if-fee fight and selects Kirk as her champion. Kirk accepts without knowing this is a fight to the death. McCoy persuades T'Pau (Celia Lovsky) to let him hypospray Kirk to alleviate the issues with Vulcan's thinner atmosphere and make the fight fair. Spock seemingly kills Kirk in the fight. McCoy orders Kirk transported to sickbay, while Spock is told by T'Pring that it was all a game of logic which would let her be with Stonn no matter the outcome. No longer feeling the effects of the pon farr, Spock returns to the Enterprise where he discovers that McCoy had injected Kirk with a paralyzing agent which merely simulated death and that the Captain was still alive.During an encounter with the Nomad space probe in "The Changeling", Spock undertakes a mind meld with the machine. Kirk stops the meld when he realizes that Spock's personality starts to be changed by the contact. Following a transporter accident which transports Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and Scotty to a Mirror Universe and swaps them with their counterparts in the episode "Mirror, Mirror", they encounter a different version of Spock. Sporting a beard, he grows suspicious of the activities of the suddenly changed personnel and under Starfleet orders, attempts to kill Kirk. Mirror-Spock is knocked unconscious, and is treated by McCoy while the others head to the transporter to attempt to return to their universe. Spock awakes and mind melds with McCoy to discover why Kirk did not have him killed. Discovering what took place, he agrees to help them return and as he mans the transporter controls, Kirk implores him to take control and save not only the ship but his Terran Empire from implosion at the hands of tyrants. The switch is once again successful, and the crew members return to their relevant universes.
The Motion Picture and the film series At the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Spock is no longer serving in Starfleet, having resigned and returned home to pursue the Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr. Unable to complete the Kolinahr ritual after he senses the coming of V'ger, he rejoins Starfleet to aid the Enterprise crew in their mission. Spock is later promoted to captain, and is commanding officer of the Enterprise at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). At the film's end, he transfers his "katra" – the sum of his memories and experience – to McCoy, and then sacrifices himself to save the ship and its crew from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). The sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), focuses on his crewmates' quest to recover Spock's body, learning upon arrival that he has been resurrected by the Genesis matrix after landing on the planet at the end of the previous film. At the film's conclusion, Spock's revived body is reunited with his katra. Spock is next seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), which depicts his recovery from the after-effects of his resurrection. After saving planet Earth with his comrades, Spock reconciles with his father who has reconsidered his opinion regarding Spock's life choices. In the film's final scene, he joins the crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A under Kirk's command. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Spock and the Enterprise crew confront the renegade Vulcan Sybok, Spock's half-brother. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) reunites the Enterprise crew on a mission to prevent war from erupting between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Spock serves as a special envoy to broker peace with the Klingons after a natural disaster devastates their homeworld.
Star Trek: The Next Generation