A William Shatner Cameo Teased Spock's Death In Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

On the 1982 "Mork & Mindy" episode "Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T.," Mork (as played by Robin Williams) uses some old Orkan computer parts to construct an artificially intelligent home computer, hoping to help his friend Mearth (Jonathan Winters) enter a science contest. He names the computer M.I.L.T. (which is short for Modular Integrated Laser Transformer), and it speaks with the voice of actor John Houseman. As one might predict, M.I.L.T. eventually develops a will of its own, turns evil, and takes Mork, Mearth, and Mindy (Pam Dawber) hostage, planting cameras around the apartment and spying on their every move.

The episode is more notable for its opening scene, however. Mork and Mearth, using a "Star Trek"-like transporter beam, appear in their living room, carrying the computer components they just acquired from their home planet of Ork. After a few moments, the beam activates again, and William Shatner appears between them, wearing a bathrobe. Shatner, presumably playing himself, bemoans that he did not arrive in the jacuzzi as planned and that neither Mork nor Mearth is his intended date Roxanne. Shatner haughtily snatches his bottle of champagne (which Mork was holding) and beams out. It's a cute cameo.

After Shatner vanishes, Mork yells after him, "Wait a minute! You gotta tell me if they kill off Spock or not!" This line, likely improvised, was an in-joke for Trekkies who had been paying attention to the news at the time. "M.I.L.T." aired only four months before the release of Shatner's next film, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," and rumors had been circulating that Spock, Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan character, might die in the movie. Modern audiences know that yes, Spock does indeed die in "Star Trek II." At the time, though, the rumors of Spock's death were scandalous.

It should be noted that Spock's forthcoming death was widely known by Trekkies before "Star Trek II" reached theaters. In August 1981, the Associated Press even reported that Spock was likely doomed based on a slip of the tongue by "Star Trek" actor Walter Koenig. Since filming on "Star Trek II" didn't begin until November 9 of that year, rumors soon began to fly regarding the veracity of this report. This, in turn, prompted fans to write letters of protest to Paramount, demanding that the studio change the film's story and keep Spock alive. In a dark turn of events (as was reported by the Evening News in July 1982), some Trekkies even sent death threats to actor Leonard Nimoy, insisting that this alteration be made.

Ultimately, there was such an uproar about Spock's death that it was soon reported that Spock would definitely be back for the next film, which was eventually titled "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock." Such reports certainly put a dampener on any dramatic power Spock's death may have possessed. It was like the time Marvel Studios killed all those heroes at the end of "Avengers: Infinity War." We all knew in advance they'd be back in the already-made sequel, so it was hard to be shocked. 

As such, when Williams was shooting "Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T.," he felt totally at ease badgering Shatner on-screen about the rumors concerning Spock's death. It's likely that "Mork & Mindy," being a sci-fi series, attracted many of the same viewers who're watching "Star Trek" reruns and, thus, would've been savvy to Williams' little winking joke. Williams, it should be noted, was also a Trekkie.