I always liked the bad guy

When I was a boy and watched reruns of Lost in Space I was a huge Dr. Smith fan. I thought the Robinsons were a bunch of boring, plastic models of the status quo. (How I knew that inherently as a small boy I’ll never know) But I rooted for Dr. Smith most of the time. I so enjoyed his antics that I asked my mother for a Dr. Smith toy for Christmas one year. She had to break it to me that the TV show had been off the air for nearly 20 years at that point. I didn’t know about reruns then, but I sure could spot the more interesting character.

The villain, in this case Dr. Smith, was just more interesting than the boring Robinsons. He was always making things interesting and acting completely cowardly. He had depth while the other characters had shiny silver space suits. There was something I liked about that and stayed with me as I got older.

I thought Professor Moriarty was cool. I rooted for COBRA. I rooted for Skeletor. Heck, I even rooted for Mum-Ra on the Thundercats. I want Vegeeta on DragonBall Z to win, just once. Hannibal Lecter is still one of my favorite villains. The villains were always more appealing to me. They had a position and were willing to do just about anything to achieve their goals. While the good guys were just… boring.

Not that I grew up to be a bad guy. In fact, I’m quite good. I have a strong moral compass and a deep compassion for my fellow man. I don’t think I learned that from the good guys though. I think the example of the evil-doers I saw as a kid made me recognize the value of goodness. Even if it is boring.

History is rife with villainy and I am certainly no fan of Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin. I’m no fan of terrorists or despotic dictators of any kind. I believe in mans ability to do good in the face of such opposition. But I wonder where would the world be without history’s villains? Would any global progress have been made if there were not great challenges to overcome? I just don’t think so. But of course, that’s the counter point isn’t it? Without evil there is no good?

Without adversity we would become stagnant. We’d be quivering bowls of fleshy jelly moving across the surface of the planet leaving a slug-like trail of slime. Yawning all the time.

But I do wish Dr. Smith had gotten his, just once. It would have made all his scaredy-cat nonsense that much more bearable. Oh the pain, the pain.