September is briskly rolling past and at times I feel, constantly a slave to time. The days go by and the nights begin to draw in. Autumn will soon be replaced by winter. I should not really think so far into the future. There is plenty of work to be done before then, and as far as I am concerned the future is very uncertain and there is no joy in making big plans. Only to seem them die, in a towering inferno a few months down the line.

It was my father and his generation that experience at first hand, the epic. Not just the epic movie but the grand scale to which all forms of entertainment tried to live up to. If you are old enough to remember, you will briefly recall this movement coming to an end in the early 1980s. you are the one of the lucky ones, for there are a whole generation of children growing up on a diet of bland American comedy and far fetched Japanese anime. Let me take you on a journey. To a time when our minds sparked up at the mouth watering prospect of adventure and fun.

It was the early 1980s, a golden era which saw children’s television finally being taken seriously by the broadcasters and producers a-like. Thursday afternoon was a special time in our house. Only one more day left at school and the weekend heavenly near. At 4pm, my sisters and I would settle down in front of the television. It was out time, nothing was more important in the world, for the next half hour at least. My memory is weak, but I vaguely recall the three main characters, all young children, appealing to us all. We were easily able to relate to them and this longing to find what they had been searching for.

“I believe there’s a hero in all of us. Gives us strength, makes us noble. Even though sometimes we have to give up the thing we want the most.” Just as Aunt May said in Spiderman 2, our story has one to call it’s own, but also the comic element of a Laurel & Hardy double act.

I tried to research the series a few times on the net over the past five years, but it was last year when it finally clicked. Towards the end of the summer, I was driving my sisters mad, asking them for the name of a cartoon, we used to watch as children. Then, one night, I awoke, to suddenly have the name of on the tip of my tongue. A brief search on the Internet, gave me all the information I needed to know, but yet again, something else came along and my desire to find about more the series and relive my childhood was short lived and put back on the shelf. When I started my final year at University in September 2003, my housemates Paul came to the rescue. He had a treasure trove of goodies on a 80gb hard drive. The only problem was, he would be very sparse with the sharing this drive on the network. It was then I discovered he had many but not all of the series downloaded on this drive. The moment the drive came online, I grabbed my chance and copied a few of the early episodes onto my PC. I later learned that he had been obtaining these from a source in the Middle East and due to differences in politics he had to cut short a useful friendship. This did not both me too much. Late one evening, I watched the first episode and was taken back to my younger days, in a way I never thought imaginable. But the fact that not all the episodes were there, left the dream unfulfilled and the whole quest unsolved. So therefore, I had to take a decision.

Would I hunt high and low across the information superhighway for these files, with little chance of finding every single missing episode in watchable quality. Or would I bite the bullet and purchase a copy for a nominal fee from a strange across the wire? Knowing the the collection would be complete, with good quality and sound and not having to waste hours searching the net, swung my decision. I got in touch with one of the well published copies and it arrived on 18th December 2003. My plan was to watch an episode a week, from September to June. To date, I have not seen any at all. I just have not been able to find the time to sit down, and enjoy the series for what it was. Something different, something special. As I have great respect for what is a great story, I could never do a weekend marathon, like some completely undisciplined people. If I lost you three paragraphs a go, all you need to know is available there, here and yonder

I would like to apologise for the week long delay between updates. Work is busy as ever, and I just do not have the time to dedicate to my blog as I wish. I have also started a new web project, that will hopefully prove to be very successfully. For now, all I can say is that sometimes a name is worth more that material riches. I can also give some explanation for the poor viewing figures for my favourite soap. I have not been watching the usual early evening slot, but opting for the late night edition shown on Three. Don’t worry, I don’t think the Beeb will ever consider dropping the show. For all those that have been giving the show criticism, please take it as it is. It is pure escapism. It is to there for you to place your life into relief and realise that things are not that bad. Sure, at times it can be rather dull and uninteresting but overall I personally find it highly entertaining. A particularly favourite episode was, Friday 10th September. Particularly newly arrived, Keith Miller calling Minty Monty throughout the episode! 🙂 (Will somebody tell Teg that it isn’t real life!)

Do you remember your first time with CeeFax? Read a great article in the Guardian about the Fax of Life. As always, Diamond Geezer has come on with his own personal tribute. I will ponder my own and then and some thoughts over the weekend. Until then, hope you all have a great Friday! 🙂