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Exorcism Of Ancient Ghosts
Feb. 3rd, 2012 12:11 amA while back, I managed to get Rossini's La Gazza Ladra Overture in full on a CD I'd bought. Playing it for the first time, I felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders. I loved this overture, as much as The Barber of Seville - but never owned the CD. I'd been looking for it for years.
It felt liberating, knowing I no longer needed to quest for this Questing Beast ever again.
And today, I felt an even heavier burden lift off me. I got to see how Children of the Stones ended.
Let me take you back in time. The Seventies. A time of nasty fashions, porno track bow chicka wah wah music in mainstream American films, cool dudes driving funky cars, tearing down alleyways, knocking over piles of empty boxes to show how badass they were at, er, littering ... and British kidvid.
Doctor Who. The Tomorrow People. Ace of Wands. Shows doing the rounds like Thunderbirds and Joe 90, Captain Scarlet, US imports like Wacky Races and, later, Hong Kong Phooey.
Scooby Doo in his prime, before the Scrappy came along to bugger it all up.
Star Trek making its first appearance on British screens.
And Children of the Stones.
This show ran for seven weeks, back in 1977. It was produced in 1976, which was the year of the record hot summer, the ladybird plague and endless power cuts and strikes, and aired in '77.
'77 was noted for four other major events in SF.
Star Wars.
Space: 1999.
2000 AD.
Traveller.
So now, it looks like Children of the Stones can be added to the list of items worthy of 35th anniversary celebrations.
Anyhow ... Children of the Stones. A story of relentless edge-of-the-seat tension and terror, mixed with moments of out and out horror here and there. A man and his son visit a village, where the stone circle threatens to eat their souls like it eats the souls of all who come to it.
It was a terrifying series, spread out over seven weeks in 1977. And guess what?
Did I mention the power cuts?
When, do you think, would be the very worst place for a power cut to strike?
You guessed it. A forty minute power cut, halfway through the final episode.
The series aired exactly once, if I recall. If it aired again later, I never knew about it. And so for damn near 35 years, I carried around in my head a horrifying image of this series, and then a darkened screen. I never got to see how it ended.
Until just tonight, when I saw the series on YouTube, courtesy of my friend who posted me the link.
I did it. I finally got to see all of Episode Seven. I saw how it all went down. I saw who lived, and who died, and how it all ended, and how it all began again.
I saw it all.
And I feel like a 35 year old ghost that has been lurking around inside my head has been finally exorcised.
My siblings don't know how it ended. Damn near nobody I know from my street knew how it ended - you could practically hear the outraged cries of hundreds of kids and parents from the entire street when the lights went out.
Yes, I remember that too.
Sean will never know how it ended. But because I now know, I feel that I can let go of Sean's burden of memory too, a little. I can say "He guessed it right. He guessed how the bad guys fell, and the good guys and innocent bystanders got to live. But he had no idea how the show ended, so now I can tell him.
"Next time. When I meet him in my dreams."
I feel so light from this revelation. This gift, this exorcism.
So. What awesome things happened to you yesterday?
It felt liberating, knowing I no longer needed to quest for this Questing Beast ever again.
And today, I felt an even heavier burden lift off me. I got to see how Children of the Stones ended.
Let me take you back in time. The Seventies. A time of nasty fashions, porno track bow chicka wah wah music in mainstream American films, cool dudes driving funky cars, tearing down alleyways, knocking over piles of empty boxes to show how badass they were at, er, littering ... and British kidvid.
Doctor Who. The Tomorrow People. Ace of Wands. Shows doing the rounds like Thunderbirds and Joe 90, Captain Scarlet, US imports like Wacky Races and, later, Hong Kong Phooey.
Scooby Doo in his prime, before the Scrappy came along to bugger it all up.
Star Trek making its first appearance on British screens.
And Children of the Stones.
This show ran for seven weeks, back in 1977. It was produced in 1976, which was the year of the record hot summer, the ladybird plague and endless power cuts and strikes, and aired in '77.
'77 was noted for four other major events in SF.
Star Wars.
Space: 1999.
2000 AD.
Traveller.
So now, it looks like Children of the Stones can be added to the list of items worthy of 35th anniversary celebrations.
Anyhow ... Children of the Stones. A story of relentless edge-of-the-seat tension and terror, mixed with moments of out and out horror here and there. A man and his son visit a village, where the stone circle threatens to eat their souls like it eats the souls of all who come to it.
It was a terrifying series, spread out over seven weeks in 1977. And guess what?
Did I mention the power cuts?
When, do you think, would be the very worst place for a power cut to strike?
You guessed it. A forty minute power cut, halfway through the final episode.
The series aired exactly once, if I recall. If it aired again later, I never knew about it. And so for damn near 35 years, I carried around in my head a horrifying image of this series, and then a darkened screen. I never got to see how it ended.
Until just tonight, when I saw the series on YouTube, courtesy of my friend who posted me the link.
I did it. I finally got to see all of Episode Seven. I saw how it all went down. I saw who lived, and who died, and how it all ended, and how it all began again.
I saw it all.
And I feel like a 35 year old ghost that has been lurking around inside my head has been finally exorcised.
My siblings don't know how it ended. Damn near nobody I know from my street knew how it ended - you could practically hear the outraged cries of hundreds of kids and parents from the entire street when the lights went out.
Yes, I remember that too.
Sean will never know how it ended. But because I now know, I feel that I can let go of Sean's burden of memory too, a little. I can say "He guessed it right. He guessed how the bad guys fell, and the good guys and innocent bystanders got to live. But he had no idea how the show ended, so now I can tell him.
"Next time. When I meet him in my dreams."
I feel so light from this revelation. This gift, this exorcism.
So. What awesome things happened to you yesterday?
