I’ve loved Star Trek for as long as I can remember. I watched syndicated episodes when I was young, and went to the films with my family. One of my favorite characters was always Spock, so when I saw a documentary entitled For the Love of Spock, I really wanted to watch it.

Adam Nimoy, Leonard’s son, directs this look at the life of this iconic actor and character. We learn about his career prior to being tapped for the role of Spock. Adam goes into a fair amount of detail about their family life and how Leonard’s sudden stardom affected their family. He interviews most of the original actors from the series, as well as other industry people. There’s a lot packed into this nearly two hour film.

What struck me the most was how frank Adam was regarding his relationship (and sometimes lack thereof) with Leonard. Oftentimes, people think that celebrities live an amazing life with nary a problem in sight. For the Love of Spock clearly and repeatedly shows that to be false. There were definite problems in the Nimoy family, on multiple levels.

Despite all of that, Leonard, his son, and everyone else in the family eventually worked things out. It was gratifying to see how close Adam and Leonard became in the last several years of Leonard’s life. Adam documented his journey as he was creating this film. During the process of filming, Leonard died, and that made the film all the more impactful. I found this film to be more about family than anything else: the Nimoy family, the cast and crew family, and so on. This really struck a chord with me.

For the Love of Spock even included part of this nostalgic favorite of mine:

I usually try to find something which could have been done better, something which would have improved the work being reviewed. In this case, I couldn’t find anything. Adam did an excellent job throughout For the Love of Spock, directing it while also appearing in it. From people there in the beginning to those involved in the latest (almost—it was released before Discovery came out) Star Trek endeavors, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the memories and thoughts of everyone involved. I highly recommend seeing this documentary. It’s available in pretty much every current format. Go watch it today!

Release Date: April 16, 2016 (USA)
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Language: English

MySF Rating: Five point zero stars
Family Friendliness: 99%

Content:

Alcohol/Drugs: 1 (brief, some discussion about)
Language: 1 (brief, mostly mild)
Nudity: 1 (brief, art photos)
Sexuality: 0
Violence: 0