'For the Love of Spock' Clip: How Leonard Nimoy Invented the Vulcan Death Grip

Within Star Trek’s Holy Trinity of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, the Enterprise’s captain provided the brawn, the science officer brought the brains and the doctor possessed the attitude. Even though Kirk always took point on throwing punches, Spock could handle himself in a fight courtesy of his go-to move, the Vulcan death grip. Grasping the back of an adversary’s neck, Spock could call upon his training at the “Vulcan Institute of Technology” to transmit the energy in his fingertips to a pressure point that would instantly render the person unconscious.

Related: Leonard Nimoy Had to Turn Down Appearance in ‘Star Trek Beyond’

At least, that’s the explanation that Leonard Nimoy — the dearly departed sci-fi icon who portrayed Spock across five decades in movies and on TV — invented for his pointy-eared alter ego. In this exclusive clip from the new documentary For the Love of Spock, the actor recalls how he turned a throw-away moment in show’s fifth episode, “The Enemy Within,” into a finishing move that Star Trek fans still practice to this day. “The [director] didn’t know what I was talking about,” Nimoy says of his improvisatory bit of action. Fortunately, William Shatner knew exactly what his co-star had in mind. “He’s the one who sold it — he dropped like a rock!”

Directed by Nimoy’s son, Adam Nimoy, For the Love of Spock is filled with insights into the creation of one of science fiction’s most-loved characters. The filmmaker stopped by Yahoo Movies earlier this year for a Facebook Live chat where he touched on what it was like to grow up in Spock’s long shadow. Watch our video of that conversation below and look for For the Love of Spock in theaters and on VOD on Sept. 9.