The V-shaped Vulcan salute was first introduced in “Amok Time” — an Original Series episode beloved by Star Trek fans. In it, Spock undergoes Pon Farr (the Vulcan urge to mate) and must return to his home planet to be married. On Vulcan, he meets T’Pau, a powerful Vulcan politician who will officiate the ceremony.
Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Spock, wanted to come up with a special greeting infused with hidden meaning during the scene. As a boy, he had attended a Synagogue and was fascinated with the rituals performed there.
“There were a group of five or six men facing the congregation and chanting… My Dad said, ‘Don’t look.’ I learned later that it is believed that during this prayer the feminine aspect of God comes into the temple to bless the congregation. The light from this Deity could be very damaging. So we are told to protect ourselves by closing our eyes. I peeked. And when I saw the split-fingered gesture of these men… I was entranced. I learned to do it simply because it seemed so magical. It was 25 years later that I introduced that gesture as a Vulcan greeting in Star Trek and it has resonated with fans around the world ever since.”
Nimoy decided that a form of words should go with the hand gesture. The original Hebrew blessing was “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” Theodore Sturgeon, writer of “Amok Time,” quickly improvised a short line of dialogue that has since gone down in history — “Live long and prosper.”
A challenge for some
Now both the gesture and the words have become one of the most iconic parts of Trek lore, imitated by Trekkies the world over. But not everyone can perform the salute as effortlessly as Nimoy could. Co-star William Shatner reportedly has great difficulty performing the salute. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, a scene called for him to make the legendary hand gesture, and eagle-eyed fans have since spotted a near-invisible fishing line holding two of the actor’s fingers together.
Another actor who had trouble was Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in the Kelvin timeline films. On the set of Star Trek (2009), the crew was frantically searching for a method to allow Quinto to perform the gesture until someone came to the rescue with a tube of skin-protective super-glue.
Regardless of how difficult it is for some, the Vulcan salute remains an enduring part of Leonard Nimoy’s legacy.