Well, Ian, in time of emotional crisis and moral ambiguity, I usually stop a little second and ask myself, 'What would Groucho do?" You, however are someone with connections to live experts. Why don't you go ask your new, best friend, the reverend, Tom Estes?

The reason why Star Trek was taken off the air after only two highly rated seasons, is because Gene Rodenberry had a power struggle with William Shatner, who had actual undue influence over the show, for reasons which my contact won't disclose. Rodenberry and Nimoy were allies, however, as exemplified in the episode, "Patterns of Force", which Rodenberry, the show's creator, was forced to have to produce. Rodenberry totally agreed with and supported Nimoy, when he particularly objected to a phrase that Spock was scripted to say, something along the lines of: "There was no madness during the Twentieth Century." The original Star Trek did return for a third season, by popular demand, for one, more year, but when Gene Rodenberry launched, "Next Generation," he made damned sure that Shatner would have no business in it at all.

As it turned out, Rodenberry and Nimoy, even though they strongly objected to having to do, "Patterns of Force," were in the final analysis, reluctantly, only just following orders.