Nimoy's directorial starting point was a vampire story in Night Gallery.

Leonard Nimoy's first officially signed directorial work is about a vampire trapped on a barge.A review published by TVLine on October 25 traced the Star Trek actor's directorial beginnings back to the horror unit drama Night Gallery.

Nimoy is already familiar to audiences for his role as Spock.When he got behind the camera, he relied on his own initiative to fight for it.In an interview with the Archives of American Television in 2000, he recalled that he had repeatedly approached Night Gallery producer Jack Laird for the opportunity to direct.Laird had a reputation for supporting new directors and later gave him the script for Death on a Barge.

“The script is like poetry, a very good script.” Nimoy described the materials he got like this.

《Night Gallery》created by Rod Serling, was born five years after the end of the original《The Twilight Zone》(The Twilight Zone).Death on a Barge is the twelfth episode of Season 3, based on Averell Worrell's 1927 short story The Canal.

Leslie Ann Warren stars as Hythings, a lonely vampire trapped on a barge by her father.She falls in love with local fishmonger Ron, played by Robert Platt, but her bloodthirsty instinct makes this relationship difficult to realize; as a vampire, she cannot cross flowing water.These settings connect love with the water space that cannot be left, forming a gothic horror atmosphere in a single episode.

The cramped and erratic images in the film come from Nimoy's collaboration with cinematographer Gerald Fennerman.The two are no strangers; Fennerman was the director of photography on the original Star Trek.“I know, with him here, I feel relieved.” Nimoy said in that archives interview.

This was the only episode Nimoy directed for --Night Gallery.Since then, he has continued to take on directing roles in other TV series.