And Mr Spock was my favourite TV character of all time.
The first episode of Start Trek was "The Man Trap" and was broadcast in October 1969. I remember watching it on Irish television. I'm not sure if it was broadcast in October or if there was a delay. If there wasn't, then I was 7.5 years old. I remember seeing ads for it in advance and looking forward to it. And I remember that episode scared the heck out of me (but didn't stop me from watching subsequent episodes!)
As I watched the show, I wanted to BE Mr Spock.
As I look back on it now, it is clear that he was like a superhero for that time: he was stronger and smarter than the humans around him. And he had the Vulcan nerve pinch, and the Vulcan mind meld".
But the thing which impressed me most was his ability to control his mind, and to control his emotions. How I wanted to be able to do that!
I was particularly impressed by an episode called "Operation: Annihilate!" where Spock was able to resist the control of a parasite which was causing him extreme pain to force him to do what it wanted. And then (to cap it all) Spock was blinded and then had his sight restored because he had a special Vulcan extra eyelid.
So the coolest thing for me would have been to have been able to exert that kind of self control. I didn't manage to achieve that, of course, although I did manage to master the Vulcan salute and the single raised eyebrow!
Here are some photos of Mr Spock and Mr Nimoy, mostly from the original series. Inevitably Captain Kirk appears in a few of them as well. Interestingly, the one with him holding the model of the Enterprise seems to be related to the picture I included in my posting on ASCII Art some time ago.
