I was always Spock
If the game was Star Trek, I was always Spock.
I’m old enough to have watched the original Star Trek series during its first run.  Brand new, never-before-seen — not syndicated, not rerun, and not from the past. New. Now.
Just hearing about it, well before the first episode, sent me into paroxysms of joy. Science fiction! On TV! And not monster movies, not evil aliens. The real deal — or so I hoped.
And when the first photos and articles appeared in TV Guide my hopes went higher.  And when the show premiered, it did not disappoint.
Looking back at the original series now, oh, there’s plenty to criticize. Of course there is.
But the flaws it had were the flaws of its time, while the virtues it had were its own – and more forward-looking than anything else to be found on the TV of those days.   The positives shone so very brightly, and that was all that mattered.
And there was Spock.
The instant I saw him, I wanted to be him.  He was everything I loved.  Science, reason, strangeness. Discovery, adventure.
He was smart, and it was good. He was wise, and others turned to him for that.
He was the Outsider, and I didn’t just want to be an outsider, I was one –Â and I liked it.
The existence of Spock let the world know that the Outsider is a good and worthy thing to be.
I was just at the age when one stops playing make-believe… but I still played make-believe.  Perhaps I’ve never stopped.
And in my games, and in my dreams, I was Spock.
