Spocktober by J.J. Lendl

On social media, #Inktober is when an artist creates and posts a new sketch each for the month of October. Over the past few years, #Spocktober has become a popular offshoot of this. This year, one artist's work in particular caught my eye. You might know J.J. Lendl from The X-Files Poster Project but his Spocktober work is truly excellent as well. Here, with permission from Lendl, I have collected all of his Spocktober 2017 pieces for your enjoyment.

I think this work is a wonderful tribute to Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Please visit jjlendl.com and follow him on Twitter.

Trek Core's Rare Photos May & June 2017

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the amazing site www.trekcore.com.  The folks at Trek Core work diligently to provide high quality screen caps from all the Star Trek series and films. They also collect behind the scenes images, publicity photos, video and audio clips and report on the latest Trek news. If you don't follow them I recommend you bookmark them immediately!

Occasionally, Trek Core puts together a new album of rare Trek photos.  Their latest has two images that will be of interest to Vulcanologists.  First up is a great shot of Leonard Nimoy as Spock with his Vulcan Lyre.

Next is a publicity shot of Kirstie Alley as Saavik from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  I've previously posted some other publicity shots of Alley as Saavik.  I find this shot really interesting. The playful pose is either pure Kirstie Alley or it's showing the emotional Roman half of Saavik.

Thanks to Trek Core for all their work in uncovering images like this and archiving Star Trek's history.

Roddenberry Vault: TOS Part Two "Amok Time"

In this second installment of the Roddenberry Vault review, we examine images and negatives from the quintessential Vulcan episode of TOS, "Amok Time". Here's a negative with Celia Lovsky as T'Pau.

Here's a negative featuring Leonard Nimoy as Spock, deep in the plak tow, as T'Pau looks on.

This next selection is a contact sheet of rare publicity photos featuring Celia Lovsky and William Shatner.  The bottom right shot of Kirk wielding the Lirpa is amazing!

This next series of contact sheets are all images from the infamous fight scene. There are some great shots of Arlene Martel as T'Pring, watching stoically.

Here's a final contact sheet featuring publicity shots of Arlene Martel as T'Pring.

I think this Roddenberry Vault social media project was a wonderful way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.  The images and documents are great companions to the Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray collection.

Next Up: Star Trek: The Animated Series!

Roddenberry Vault: TOS Part One

Throughout 2016, Roddenberry Productions shared some rare images and artifacts on their social media channels to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek.  Many will be of interest to Vulcanologists.

This memo about the character of Spock is revealing.  It was written as the show headed into its second season and one can see the influence it had on some stories that year.  One can also get a sense of the growing difficulties between stars Shatner and Nimoy as they competed for screen time.

Here's a publicity shot of Leonard Nimoy as Spock in the first pilot, "The Cage" and a famous shot of Leonard Nimoy with his 1963 Buick Riviera on the Desilu lot.

Here's a great negative from "The Devil in the Dark" featuring Spock attempting to mind meld with the Horta and two others of Spock with some Treknology.

Here's a contact sheet with images of Mark Lenard as Sarek in "Journey to Babel".

In the lower left is an unused promotional shot of Leonard Nimoy with Jane Wyatt as Amanda in "Journey to Babel".

Here's a famous print featuring Spock by the late science fiction artist Kelly Freas.

This last one is pretty special. This is the only known photo of Gene Roddenberry in a Star Trek costume.  This is one of the Romulan uniforms.

The next installment will feature images from "Amok Time".