Comments | midsummernd: For your Edification

midsummernd

For your Edification

Jul 24, 2007 14:00

So some of you have heard me rant and rave about a show from my childhood - and nobody seems to believe it ever existed. . . The show is "Long Ago and Far Away" - and it pretty much involved James Earl Jones introducing animated fairy tales. It was the best show ever. And this was its opening sequence:

PBS is just so coolI was kind of fairy tale ( Read more... )

fairy tales, nostalgia, childhood, tv

Comments 15

choirsoftheeye July 24 2007, 19:08:24 UTC

*Promises to someday find you female-centric scifi.*

I don't remember from when we discussed this last, but have you tried Le Guin's 60s-70s stuff? I think it's quality, anyhow.

If I didn't already love High Fantasy I couldn't imagine starting to read it now.

midsummernd July 25 2007, 13:57:32 UTC

Still haven't read LeGuin. . . I'm skeptical of scifi of the 60's and 70's - but I'm willing to give it a shot.

choirsoftheeye July 25 2007, 14:24:21 UTC

You shouldn't be, it's when SciFi really got past technowanking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_%28science_fiction%29

amarysta July 24 2007, 19:11:46 UTC

because enough right-wing christians have protested and banned HP as an exemplar of satanism, the devil, and serious damning witchcraft that other groups aren't as encouraged as they could be?
s'a shame, really.

midsummernd July 25 2007, 13:59:08 UTC

see, I'd agree. . .but if it was commercially viable, I'd say they'd do it. But the low production values on most kids' shows right now is just appalling. *sigh*

bluearisbe July 25 2007, 06:24:59 UTC

I had no idea what you were talking about just from reading your post, but every part of that opening was incredibly familiar. Thanks for dredging up a piece of my childhood!

midsummernd July 25 2007, 14:00:03 UTC

weird, no? i think i have an above-average recollection for things I saw on TV as a kid. not movies, not books, but the crap I watched on TV - which is good, because now half my job is remembering what I saw on TV.

bluearisbe July 25 2007, 18:16:39 UTC

I just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJcDcxXTOWE
It's produced by the Hensons and some of the episodes actually have real actors. John Hurt's narration is a little obtrustive, but who can stay mad at John Hurt?

midsummernd July 25 2007, 21:45:45 UTC

yep - I remember that too. i think i wasn't allowed to watch the scarier episodes, though

meanutt July 25 2007, 14:52:17 UTC

i used to watch the grimm tales. (those were great)

i dunno, my person opinion is that the people who were making the shows when we were little had been on drugs all through the 70s, or during the early 90's, were supervised by people who were on drugs all through the 70s. thus we got much more interesting television.

midsummernd July 25 2007, 16:12:51 UTC

so the answer is. . . do more drugs?

shentou July 25 2007, 21:26:33 UTC

This seems like a fine operating theory to me. :-P

shentou July 25 2007, 21:27:36 UTC

So, in a "holy shit" moment, I watched the opening to Grimm's...

I actually remember that song. I could hum along to it after hearing like, the opening note.

To some extent, I remember the whole show too. And something called David the Gnome that involved dumb trolls and a fox.

midsummernd July 25 2007, 21:45:07 UTC

You mean this?

Also, note: they spell Medicine wrong in the title. It's a wonder any of us graduated college.

shentou July 25 2007, 22:08:16 UTC

You're scary, you.

And yes, that's it. Having seen it and the little clips they added, I'm remembering being all upset as a child when they ended the series by killing off David. Like, gone, dead, people are crying.

Our cartoons were hardcore, weren't they?