LEONARD NIMOY A M s P 0 C K

reputation for playing the gunslinging heavy that NBC refused to
let Gene ,Roddenberry hire him as the Star Trek doctor for the first
pilot, argUing that audiences would never be able to accept him as
a "good guy." 1ty to picture, if you can, the lovable Dr. McCoy
sneering as he cold-bloodedly shoots a dog! That's the kind of role
De was known for.) He'd also worked with Gene on several pro-
jects; at the time Star Trek was just getting started, De was working
in another television pilot for Gene called Police Story, playing a
crabby but lovable criminologist.
De's Dr. McCoy became a very valuable addition, bringing a spe-
cial chemistry to the show and further helping to define the char-
acters of Kirk and Spock through the acid observations of that good-
hearted curmudgeon, McCoy. McCoy and Spock evolved into
verbal sparring partners-with the good doctor taking the human-
ist stance and Spock <1>1995PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Burns, if you will, to Dr. McCoy's Gracie. The Kirk/Spock relation-
ship might have been the Lone Ranger/Thnto, but Spock/McCoy
was definitely Martin and Lewis, Gleason and Carney, or my
favorite comedy team of all time, Abbott and Costello. Abbott was
the cool straight man, and Costello the irrational "human," and
most ofthe amusing exchanges between Spock and McCoy are vari-
aLionsof that wonderful routine, "Who's on First?" Th liberally para-
phrase:
COSTELLO:(frustrated) Now, wait a minute! When the first
baseman gets his paycheck, who gets the
money?
ABBarT. (calmly) That's exactly right. "Who"gets the
money.

the side of logic-but
there was:" "always
a strong undercur-
rent of friendship and
mutual respect.
From the very first
moment he appear-
ed in "Corbomite,"
De had that special
twinkle in his eye;
he knew from the
start how to approach
the character of Mc-
Coy. Soon the writers
would begin injecting
humor into the scripts
by taking advantage
of McCoy's cantanker-
ous emotionalism and
Spock's ability to take
any comment liter-
al1y. Spock was the
sll"llighl IIIHII nOOl"14e
The joke all rides on the fact that
poor Costello simply can't under-
stand that the first baseman's name
is Who, and Abbott certainly isn't
doing much to help clear up his
confusion. Let's face it, it's not a
very far stretch to rewrite this par-
ticular bit for the good doctor and
his Vulcan friend.
McCOY: (frustrated) Now wait
a minute, Spock! When
the first baseman gets his
paycheck, who gets the
money?
SPOCK: It is only logical that
he should do so, since he
provided his services.
McCOY: Who did?
"I.
"Now, lei lilt: Rt:llhis s/raiRhl . , ,
I
"1 ..
I ~kl 1/11/1)J.:/;/s till' 1//()/W.lI"