Throughout his impressive Star Trek career, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has time-traveled more than most. After his introduction on Star Trek: The Original Series, Spock quickly became one of the franchise's most popular characters. Because Spock was half-Vulcan and half-human, he felt caught between two worlds. Spock chose to embrace his Vulcan side, valuing logic above all else, but sometimes his emotions peeked through. As the Science Officer and First Officer of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock often accompanied his captain on away missions.
Time travel has long been a staple of science fiction, and Star Trek has certainly embraced this classic trope. Every Star Trek series has featured stories that involve time travel in some way, meaning many Trek characters have ventured beyond their own time periods. Even among these many time-traveling Star Trek characters, Captain Kirk and his crew time-traveled several times in Star Trek: The Original Series and its subsequent films, and Spock even made a trip to an alternate universe past in Star Trek (2009). Overall, Spock has journeyed through time more than most.
6 “Tomorrow Is Yesterday”
Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1, Episode 19
The USS Enterprise inadvertently travels back to 1960s Earth, resulting in Captain Kirk and his crew's encounter with an Air Force pilot named Captain John Christopher (Roger Perry). To save Christopher's life after his jet breaks apart, Kirk transports the pilot aboard the Enterprise but worries about how this will affect the timeline. When Kirk goes down to Earth to retrieve footage Christopher captured of the Enterprise, he is apprehended by Air Force officers. Spock then beams down with Captain Christopher to rescue Kirk.
"Tomorrow is Yesterday" was the first Star Trek episode to be written solely by a woman. The episode was penned by D. C. Fontana, who wrote ten TOS episodes and served as story editor for the show's first two seasons.
Spock and Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) formulate a plan to return to their own time period by slingshotting around the sun. As the Enterprise performs this maneuver, time begins moving backward, and Kirk has Christopher beamed back to his jet in the instant before he first sees the Enterprise. Christopher's memories of the encounter are erased as if the Enterprise had never even been there. Spock ensured that the calculations were accurate for the risky slingshot maneuver, and it became a move the Enterprise would use again in the future.
5 “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1, Episode 28
In one of Star Trek's most iconic and heartbreaking episodes, Kirk and Spock follow Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) into the past to 1930s New York. When the Enterprise encounters a powerful portal known as the Guardian of Forever, Kirk and Spock have to repair the damage McCoy inadvertently caused to the past. Once they arrive in the 1930s, Kirk and Spock work to blend in, with Spock donning a hat to hide his Vulcan ears. The two end up at a local soup kitchen, where they meet Sister Edith Keeler (Joan Collins).
While Spock works to determine what McCoy changed, Kirk falls into a romance with Edith. Spock learns that McCoy's presence in the past prevented Edith Keeler's death, altering the future in surprising ways. Spock tells a devastated Kirk that Edith has to die in order to save millions of lives in the future. In the end, Edith dies, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy travel back through the portal to their restored future. Although the main story of "The City on the Edge of Forever" focuses on Kirk, Spock is the one who ultimately ensures that events play out as they were always meant to.
4 “Assignment: Earth”
Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2, Episode 26
In what was meant to be a backdoor pilot for an Assignment: Earth television series, Captain Kirk and the Enterprise travel back to 1960s Earth. While there, they encounter a man called Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) who claims to be on an important mission that will greatly affect Earth's history. Spock discovers that the United States will soon launch an orbital nuclear weapons platform, and determines that this must be the event Gary Seven spoke of.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 revisited Gary Seven, revealing him to be connected with the Travelers, like Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton).
Kirk and Spock track Gary Seven to see what he's up to, eventually allowing him to complete his mission and destroy a nuclear missile, thus discouraging humanity from pursuing such technology. After the proper timeline is ensured, Kirk and Spock tell Gary Seven and his assistant, Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr), that they will have an interesting future, setting up a spin-off series that never happened.
3 “All Our Yesterdays”
Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3, Episode 23
In Star Trek: The Original Series penultimate episode, Spock and Dr. McCoy find themselves trapped 5,000 years in the past during an ice age on the planet Sarpeidon. They soon encounter a woman named Zarabeth (Mariette Hartley), who takes them to a cave and helps them adapt to their new environment. Spock begins displaying uncharacteristic emotions and soon falls in love with Zarabeth.
When Spock attacks McCoy, the doctor realizes that Spock is reverting back to the barbarism of ancient Vulcans. Although Spock wants to stay with Zarabeth, he eventually realizes that he and McCoy must travel back to their own time together. In the end, they return through the planet's time portal, and Spock returns to his logical self. Spock is the focus of "All Our Yesterdays," more than any other Star Trek: The Original Series time travel episode, and the Vulcan gets to experience a far wider range of emotions than normal.
2 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Spock: "They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales."
In one of the Star Trek franchise's most beloved films, Admiral Kirk and his crew take a captured Klingon Bird-of-Prey (aka the HMS Bounty) back in time to 1986 San Francisco in order to save the future. To answer the signal of a potentially dangerous alien probe, Kirk and his crew must find whales to bring back to their future. They use the slingshot maneuver first seen in "Tomorrow is Yesterday" to make the journey back in time and hide their cloaked ship in Golden Gate Park.
Kirk and Spock then set out to find some humpback whales, while the rest of the crew prepare for other aspects of the journey back home. Spock provides some of Star Trek IV's funniest moments, as he interacts with Kirk as well as the citizens of 1980s San Francisco. Kirk and Spock soon meet Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), who cares for two whales named George and Gracie at a nearby aquarium. As these whales are about to be released back into the wild, Kirk tries to explain his mission, but Gillian does not believe him.
Spock swims and mind-melds with the humpback whales.
Later, Kirk commands the Bounty as it rescues George and Gracie from whalers and then returns to its own time, with Gillian Taylor on board. The whales respond to the probe's signal, saving Earth. Most of the charges against the Enterprise crew from their previous adventures are dropped, but Kirk is demoted to Captain. Spock reconnects with his father, Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard), before the Enterprise crew sets out on the newly christened USS Enterprise-A.
1 Star Trek (2009)
Spock Prime: "Spock, in this case, do yourself a favor. Put aside logic. Do what feels right."
In 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek movie franchise by establishing a new timeline with different actors. However, Leonard Nimoy's Spock Prime still played a major role in Star Trek (2009), as he was partially responsible for creating the alternate Kelvin universe. In the Prime Universe, Spock tried to save Romulus from being destroyed by a devastating supernova.
Spock arrived twenty-five years after Nero.
Spock was not fast enough to save Romulus, but he did prevent the supernova from expanding further by creating a black hole. A Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) intercepted Spock before he could escape, and both ships were pulled back in time through the black hole. Nero arrived first, destroying the USS Kelvin and establishing the alternate timeline. Spock arrived twenty-five years after Nero, not only traveling back in time but also to the new timeline.
Blaming Spock for the destruction of Romulus, Nero then destroyed Spock's home planet Vulcan. While stranded on Delta Vega, Spock Prime shared all of this information with a young James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), urging him to take command of the Enterprise and save Earth from Nero. After Earth has been saved, Prime Spock makes plans to establish a new colony for the surviving Vulcans, encouraging his younger alternate self to remain in Starfleet. Throughout his long life, Spock became one of Star Trek's most experienced time travelers and spent his final years rebuilding an alternate-reality Vulcan before his death in the Kelvin Timeline.
