Documentary film “For the Love of Spock”, which I belatedly watched via Netflix today, is a sincere and loving tribute to one of the most famous science fiction characters and the legendary actor behind that iconic character. While it surely pays lots of attention to his longtime connection with that very popular character of his, the documentary also shows and tells a lot about many other things in his life and career, and that will certainly interest you, even if, like me, you are not so knowledgeable about that monumental TV series or whatever has been originated from that during the next five decades.

The main subject of the documentary is the life and career of Leonard Nimoy, who has always been associated with Mr. Spock, a memorable alien character in TV series “Star Trek” during the late 1960s. As many of you know, Mr. Spock often functions as a cool, detached, and logical counterpart to the adventurous spaceship captain character played by William Shatner, and how they complement each other throughout the TV series was one of key elements contributing to the enduring popularity of the TV series even in the 21st century.

At first, the documentary, directed by Nimoy’s son Adam Nimoy, details the struggling early years of his acting career in the 1950s. Despite his parents’ objection, Nimoy decided to come to California because he was already quite passionate about acting even when he was very young, and we hear about how things were often hard for him and his first wife during that time. After doing many different jobs to earn his living, he eventually began to appear here and there in a number of movies and TV series, but that was just marginally enough to support his wife and their two children, though his children fondly remember their childhood time with their parents.

And then there came a seemingly insignificant job offer from Gene Roddenberry, who was quite impressed by Nimoy’s guest performance in one of his TV shows. Roddenberry asked him to appear in the pilot episode of his latest TV series for NBC, and Nimoy did not say no because, well, he was always ready to play any role given to him as a struggling actor. When NBC later had Roddenberry shoot the pilot episode again after the considerable casting changes, Nimoy remained in contrast to many other members of the original cast, and then he soon became quite popular in public once the first season of that TV series was aired in 1966.

Of course, that TV series in question is “Star Trek”, which incidentally garnered Nimoy three consecutive Emmy nominations. As he explored all those fascinating characteristics of Mr. Spock on TV, he made an indelible impression on millions of TV viewers out there, and he suddenly found himself receiving a lot more attention than before.

Nevertheless, Nimoy did not dwell on this popularity of his at all, and he actively tried to distance himself from Mr. Spock once the TV series got canceled in 1969. Besides appearing in several other TV series and movies such as Philip Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978), he tried a number of notable plays and musicals on stage (He even tried “Fiddler on the Roof”, by the way), and he also released several albums as a singer. At one point, the documentary shows an archival footage clip of him singing about the certain main character of “The Lord of the Rings”, and I must confess that even I could not keep my face straight in front of this ridiculous stuff (I am not a guy who can be easily amused, you know).

However, “Star Trek” and Mr. Spock still continued to influence Nimoy’s life and career in one way or another. When he was asked to appear in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979), he did not say no although he and the production company had to settle on a little business issue first. When he appeared in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), he thought that would be the end of his association with Mr. Spock, but, what do you know, he not only appeared but also directed in the two following sequels.

Around that period, the fandom for “Star Trek” kept growing more and more, and Nimoy’s son interviews a number of various fans willing to talk about how much the TV series and Mr. Spock means to them. Nimoy was always kind and generous to those numerous fans out there, and he was certainly happy to participate in the recent Star Trek movies later in his career.

Meanwhile, the documentary also recognizes Nimoy’s several personal flaws and problems. He was an alcoholic, and this personal flaw of his actually worsened his estranged relationship with his son around the time when his son entered his adulthood period. At least, he fortunately got things under control after marrying his second wife, and he and his son subsequently came to have a moment of reconciliation when his son was facing a very difficult personal matter of his. Right before he died in early 2015, he gladly cooperated with his son for the documentary, and he is certainly quite frank as being prepared to tell anything in front of the camera.

On the whole, “For the Love of Spock” handles its main human subject with considerable affection and respect, and Adam Nimoy did a competent job of shuffling a bunch of archival and interview clips to give us the engaging presentation of his father’s life and career. This remarkable actor is gone now, but his legacy will continue to live long and prosper, you know.