To some, putting Mr. Spock's face on money is perfectly logical.
And according to the Bank of Canada, it's perfectly legal, too!
Not that the Bank is encouraging that Trekkies continue to turn Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who's on the Canadian $5 bill, into the Star Trek icon as tribute to Leonard Nimoy, who died last week—but technically, businesses can accept the altered currency.
"It is not illegal to write or make other markings on bank notes because neither the Bank of Canada Act nor the Criminal Code deals with mutilation or defacement of bank notes. However, there are important reasons why it should not be done, Bank spokeswoman Josianne Menard told Canada's Global News and others in a statement.
"Writing on a bank note may interfere with the security features and reduces its lifespan. Markings on a note may also prevent it from being accepted in a transaction. Furthermore, the Bank of Canada feels that writing and markings on bank notes are inappropriate as they are a symbol of our country and a source of national pride."
Design Canada (the CDR) was the outfit that encouraged fans via Twitter to "'Spock' your $5 bills for Leonard Nimoy" and the response was tremendous, with folks immediately grabbing their markers and giving Laurier that signature bowl cut, geometrically piercing eyebrows and, of course, Vulcan ears.
Laurier, who was prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911, has a mostly bald pate fringed with fluffy white hair—but his profile, too, is a noble one, and this isn't even the first time that various Canucks have turned Laurier into Spock. They've also turned him into Snape, from Harry Potter!
"This series of Canadian bills was an easy target," CDR publisher Todd Falkowsky told Quartz. "The existing portraits are quite large and can be improvised with easily and the colour of our $5's are the same blue as Spock's uniform."
Live long and spend, Canada.