Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto: Watch Audi Commercial Starring 'Star Trek' Spocks

Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto match luxury car against luxury car in a friendly race to a golf course in a new Audi commercial. Who wins? The forces of cross marketing!  

Indeed, the two actors who portray Spock in Star Trek old and new live a lavish lifestyle, thanks in no small part to their appearances in science fictions most fantasized franchise, so, taking part in this partnership for money’s sake was ... logical (I had to say it). The two agree to meet at the country club, and Nimoy, with his inferior Mercedes-Benz C class, takes a loss. It's almost like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

This is not the first time the Spocks have lived long and prospered. In the first of this modern series of prequels, Nimoy portrays an older Spock from the future in a cameo that is so wonderfully Star Trek. This pal-around, much like the Audi commercial, is a gleeful demonstration of the flexibility of Star Trek.

Once a 1960’s hit-series with a deep social commentary, with endless kitsch and mass appeal to boot, Gene Rodenberry’s original Star Trek series was like Flash Gordon with an eye for the zeitgeist and philosophical topicality. This depth of subject matter is essentially gone in the modern Star Trek, in my opinion, or at least was missing in the first prequel. There is no cavity of rich material in the absence, however.

The relationship between the various characters was put front and center, and the matters of philosophy were birthed in the conflict between Spock and Kirk. Hopefully, the second Star Trek will keep this character development up, while returning to addressing the matters of modern society, and spend less time hocking German automobiles.