Leonard Nimoy, who both Star Trek fans and non-Star Trek fans alike know as Mr. Spock from the original "Star Trek" series, has been retired for quite a while from movies and television, concentrating more on his philanthropy and his photography. But Star Trek still is very much a part of his life, and recently spoke about it with Trek Brasilis, about the state of science fiction -- a question that has been coming up more than once over recent years.

"Well, I think it may be healthy," Nimoy said. "Science fiction in recent years have become more about special effects and explosions, and the Hobbits stories (from 'Lord of the Rings') have a core of humanity, which I think (is) very touching."

Nimoy was involved with Star Trek films both in front of and behind the camera, even taking the director's chair in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." However, the movie that followed those two successful installments came from his friend, William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk). And then, just five years later, Shatner's character would be killed in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations."

Nimoy said that film not only irked him in the way they handled Kirk, but also with how he himself was handled by the Star Trek leaders since.

"I just felt that the story did not really successfully come to grips with any major concern that interested me," Nimoy said about "Generations," and why he turned down a chance to direct the film. "It felt as a mechanical construction of a conflict with an individual, a particular individual whom I didn't care much about him, didn't really represent a meaningful force to me. I just didn't care about it. It wasn't something that touched me, or something thaet I felt was accessible for me."

And Kirk's death?

"I don't know," Nimoy said. "I can say that I do remember that I thought it was a rather unglorious death, frankly. It was a battle in the desert with some nasty guy, whom I didn't care much about, and there was not much at stake, except his life, which of course, is important.

"But, when Spock died in 'Star Trek II,' he died saving the ship and the crew. In the case of Kirk fighting this unimportant character and dying, I thought it was rather unfortunate. I tell you this, hypothetically. If I had been the director, I would have tried very hard to make his death more meaningful, someway."

Nimoy's turning down "Generations" seems to have been the start of a drifting part between himself, and Star Trek -- most especially executive producer Rick Berman.

"We haven't had much contact since, that's the best way I can put it," Nimoy said. "I'm trying to find a way to describe what happened, and the simple truth is that we haven't had much contact. At the same tim, in fairness, Star Trek was what we had in common. And since I no longer had any connection with Star Trek, it's not surprising that I haven't had any connection, no contact with Rick Berman."

So, what's Nimoy's future with Star Trek?

"I think my days being involved with making films and television shows are over," he said. "My life is much more important to me now, I'm no longer as compulsive or obsessed about career activity as I used to be. We have a very, very comfortable life, my wife and I, we do a lot of travelling. My photography is a wonderful creative outlet for me, and particularly because it does not take me away from home for weeks and months at a time. I could do at my leisure, on my schedule.

"I doubt very much that there's anything in films and television that could draw me back to that kind of time commitment."

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