Screenshot by Jonathan Skillings/CNET

"We went through the struggle of getting the ears right," said the great Spock. "It took some time."

Indeed, it took several iterations before, finally, there existed ears that reflected Spock's essentially intellectual, tortured character.

In a revealing and amusing interview with the Los Angeles Times, Leonard Nimoy tells this story -- and many others -- with huge grace.

He relates of the day that he met Jimi Hendrix.

It was in Cleveland. Where else would have been more appropriate for the pointy-eared hero of sci-fi and the afro-topped hero of rock to meet?

Was it Nimoy -- Spock himself -- who wanted to touch palms with the great rock star? Not quite.

For in a Cleveland restaurant, it was Hendrix who heard that Nimoy was in the next room and sent someone to ask whether, please, Spock would grant him an audience.

"I had done some recordings in my illustrious singing career," mused Nimoy. Surely everyone remembers, um, what was the name of that platinum album again?

Nimoy was having dinner with some music people, when he received the request from Hendrix. It was shortly before the rock star died.

The "Star Trek" actor doesn't relate whether they discussed doing an album together, but that surely would have been one of the grossingest pieces of all time.

In the interview, Nimoy admits that when he was first approached about "Star Trek" he had little idea what a success it might become.

"I had no idea what the cosmic impact might be," he said. "But I did know I had good material to work with."

He added that once he got into the material, he felt the show might live long and prosper, as it was "about the future."

"Star Trek IV", he says -- surely the best of the the franchise (especially when they land in San Francisco and can't find anyone who looks like a normal human) -- was the one he'd always wanted to make.

This was only the first part of this interview. In the second, Nimoy apparently does his Captain Kirk impression.