As part of our celebration of Star Trek’s birthday we have TrekMovie video from the weekend’s Salt Lake City Comic Con where Leonard Nimoy beamed in via Skype and talked about how he got cast in Star Trek following his appearance on Gene Roddenberry’s previous show The Lieutenant. We also have clip of that episode. Watch it all below.

Nimoy Celebrates 48th Anniversary + Talks Trek Casting At SLCC

We don’t know how we’ll celebrate birthdays and anniversaries when we eventually adopt a Stardate numbering system, but for now, Sept. 8 will always be Star Trek day. While the date Star Trek first aired with "The Man Trap" will no doubt get more fanfare in 2016, its 50th anniversary, we at Trek Movie are still celebrating the 48th and so did Leonard Nimoy, who was sure to highlight the big day on Twitter:

Star Trek went on the air 48 years ago today. The stories begin and the vision will LLAP — Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) September 8, 2014

At the Salt Lake City Comic Con over the weekend, Nimoy gave his thoughts on his half-century as Spock. He made an appearance via Skype to a packed audience of convention goers who wished he could have beamed over to share the hour with them in person. Relevant to today’s anniversary, there was a point when one fan asked how Nimoy how he landed the job as Spock. The actor recalled the story about a guest role on a series called The Lieutenant, created by a certain Mr. Gene Roddenberry, who was so impressed with Nimoy’s performance and offered him the role as Spock. Watch him tell the story below.

The Lieutenant – Birthplace of Star Trek

Nimoy’s episode of The Lieutenant (which starred Gary Lockwood) was "In the Highest Tradition," which aired February 29, 1964. It also featured Majel Barrett. Nimoy and Barrett appeared in Roddenberry’s first pilot for Star Trek "The Cage," which was shot at the end of that year, and Lockwood appeared in Roddenberry’s second attempt at a Star Trek pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” which was shot in 1965. The episode was written by Roddenberry and was also directed by Marc Daniels, who went on to direct 14 episodes of Star Trek. Here is a clip from The Lieutenant featuring Nimoy, Lockwood, and Barrett.

Watch a clip of the episode below (via Amalie1701 on YouTube).

Tomorrow TrekMovie will share the full video of Nimoy’s SLCC appearance.