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In Spock’s Shadow

Adam Nimoy explores his father’s life and legacy

In another life, Adam Nimoy might have been a big Star Trek fan. As a child, he loved The Outer Limits and Lost in Space; later, he’d get into the classics, like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick. But in this timeline, things are different: As the son of Spock, Adam was quite literally born into the Star Trek family. And while that may be some Trekkies’ dream, for Leonard Nimoy’s son, it was complicated. So complicated that he and his father went years at a time without speaking. Now an entertainment lawyer, filmmaker, and father himself, Adam reconciled with his father a few years before the latter’s death in 2015.

As Adam and his sister Julie explain in Adam’s new documentary, For the Love of Spock — which hit theaters last Friday and chronicles the life and impact both of Leonard and the iconic Vulcan he portrayed for nearly 50 years — growing up in the shadows of one of the most recognizable and beloved figures in the science-fiction world wasn’t easy, but it was certainly special.