Kelly Freas Spock Portrait

Continuing the series of posts covering the set of Kelly Freas Trek cast paintings, first offered through Lincoln Enterprises in 1976. Last time, we saw Kirk's...this time we look at Kelly's Mr. Spock portrait...

(Click on images to enlarge.)

"Would you like me to... 'energize' you?"

In a pose and spacesuit from "The Tholian Web," we see Spock manning the transporter console with a rather impish (or some might even say seductive) expression. What does that glint in the eye signify... the onset of a slight case of Pon-Farr? The use of the suit illustrates Kelly's apparent desire to have the crew images look as different from one another as possible, through the dramatic use of props, poses and dress. (Although the IDIC would have been a more appropriate background, perhaps he was not versed well enough in Trek lore to be aware of it.) Most artists that do a series of crew portraits just have them all in the usual uniforms.

Below we have a closer look at the face. That face... which seems to resemble Nimoy somewhat less than last entry's did Shatner. I would probably put this at the bottom of the set as far as capturing the features accurately, but once again, the style in which it is rendered (Kelly's unique look) probably renders the complaint moot. Who am I to tell him how he should have painted it? All I can say is, when my 17 year-old self looked at it for the first time after getting the set in the mail, I thought, "man, that doesn't look that much like Spock!" That is probably akin to someone looking at a Picasso and saying "why does that man have both ears on one side of his face?" Oh, the ignorance of youth. What say you? Was I right? Or just irrelevent?

I am pretty certain I wouldn't want Spock looking at me that way while in the midst of a crisis. Or any time, come to think of it.

Update: As a bonus, I am retroactively adding to these portrait posts the salute that Starlog did for each actor in their Trek 25th Anniversary Issue, which came out in October of 1986 (just before the December release of "The Voyage Home." Below is their salute to Leonard Nimoy, most famous for creating the compelling alien character of Narab on "Zombies of The Stratosphere" in 1952, and also Mr. Spock on a TV show in the late 60's called "Star Trek."

"Hurry up, I'm about to fall over here!"

Bonus: Below, the nice Roger Stine painted cover art for the 1989 comic adaptation of "ST V: The Final Frontier." The inside artwork was nice, but considering the source, the story unremarkable. We did get to see the fire-breathing rock creature at the end, though... the one Shatner had scripted but didn't get to include due to budget limitations. It wouldn't have saved the movie, however.

At least the faces resemble the actors.