# Leonard Nimoy and the Bilbo Baggins song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545 "2004-12-18T18:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/41 "2004-12-20T14:15:20Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > If you really want to put Leonard Nimoy on the spot, ask him about his voice-acting work on **Transformers: The Movie.** From the field reports I’ve heard, he won’t even _acknowledge_ having done the gig (despite having first-tier “starring” credits), even when asked point-blank at Star Trek conventions. Who was he? I really liked that movie, but it’s been years since I’ve seen it. I especially recall that after it came out, the TV show got really weird. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/42 "2004-12-20T14:53:47Z")
According to the [Internet Movie Database](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092106/combined), Leonard Nimoy was the voice of the villain Galvatron. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/43 "2004-12-20T15:11:40Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > ^^^I seem to remember that they were usually paid for… six? reruns, then nothing after that. I could well be wrong, but I seem to remember seeing or reading an interview with Bob Denver, where he was talking about that. > > Sir Rhosis I was going to make the ‘no residuals’ point, too. I recall Jim Backus once crying in an interview (he was very old) that he’d received nothing from Gilligan’s Island after the initial run. Barry Williams, ‘Greg’ on the Brady Bunch, also mentioned that in his ghost-written (but astonishingly funny) biography. Of course, those were both Sherwood Schwartz shows so who knows! ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/44 "2004-12-20T15:16:42Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > … Barry Williams, ‘Greg’ on the Brady Bunch, also mentioned that in his ghost-written (but astonishingly funny) biography. > > … Barry Williams is also a very funny radio interview-ee. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/45 "2004-12-20T15:35:33Z")
Fellow 1960s TV star Jerry Mathers also said that he received no residuals past the first network rerun. Screen Actors Guild contracts have improved considerably since then — now, as long as the product is generating revenue for the producer, the performer is entitled to residuals (based on contract year and under which type the project was produced). ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/46 "2004-12-20T17:07:01Z")
I can’t speak about the others, but Nimoy acted in a number of movies and plays that had no relationship to Trek. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/47 "2004-12-20T17:33:17Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Fellow 1960s TV star Jerry Mathers also said that he received no residuals past the first network rerun. Screen Actors Guild contracts have improved considerably since then — now, as long as the product is generating revenue for the producer, the performer is entitled to residuals (based on contract year and under which type the project was produced). I read recently that the old Nickelodeon warhorse **You Can’t Do That on Television** remains off the air because the Canadian affiliate that produced it can’t afford to make residual payments to 10+ cast members in every episode. ---
**Author:** ![Halfling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@Halfling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Halfling)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/48 "2004-12-20T18:10:42Z")
Listening to this made me physically ill. Look, you can’t go around linking to stuff like this willy - nilly where it might be seen by vunerable members of society. It is clearly satan’s work. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/49 "2004-12-20T18:14:12Z")
> [@Halfling](#): > > :eek: Nothing substantive to add. I just wanted to snerk at the username, considering… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/50 "2004-12-20T18:25:45Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > For the most part, most of them can’t be living off their acting income. Now, residuals and appearance fees I can see, but that’s not acting. Even Nimoy isn’t living off acting pay at this point. The last thing he’s done was voicework as well, in 2001 (Atlantis: the Lost Empire). Especially when you consider that the residual contracts for actors in the 60s only paid residuals to the actors for a relatively short time. After a certain number of years after the show’s initial airing, further airings did not pay residuals to the actors. In addition, the actors on Star Trek did not receive any royalty for the use of their likenesses in the sale of action figures and other such items that Lincoln Enterprises (the marketing arm of Star Trek) made quite the killing on in the 70s. Nimoy demanded, as part of his conditions for appearing in the first movie, that Roddenberry et al grant lifetime residuals on the old series and on merchandising for any old-series cast member who appeared in any of the movies. This is, for example, why Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Janice Rand) has a brief and meaningless appearance in Star Trek III: to qualify her for that deal. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545/51 "2004-12-20T18:45:18Z")
Does Majel Barrett really need to act again? She’s Roddenberry’s heir, and as such probably gets the lion’s share of money from not only the shows he directly worked on, but all the stuff that bears his name - _Earth: Final Conflict_ and _Andromeda_ in addition to all the _Star Trek_ sequels. She’s listed as Exec Producer on a lot of those. So any acting she does (after _ST:TNG_ at least) puts her in the “Hey kids, let’s put on a show” category. I think she’s the most successful Trek alumni, with Nimoy second because of his off-camera (directing, not singing) work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leonard-nimoy-and-the-bilbo-baggins-song/280545.md?page=2)