Friday, December 4, 2009

Sometimes There's Someone Who Sees With A Third Eye

The above clip was the intro to the short-lived Nickelodeon series The Third Eye, an anthology comprised of serials imported from the UK, which aired on the then-newly minted kids cable channel in 1983. Episode details have slipped largely from my mind all these years later - although I remember the one I liked best was the seven episode tale "Children of the Stones," about a Stonehenge-like stone circle that cast a mystic influence over a small village. As it turned out, The Third Eye's opening - which brought to mind both The Uncanny X-Men comic and Cronenberg's Scanners (1981) with their similar premises of special, psychically gifted, humans who looked outwardly normal - had absolutely nothing to do with any of the tales that ran under its banner. I guess it was just a catch-all way on Nickelodeon's part to refer to the paranormal content of the show.

Or maybe they meant to imply that by watching the show, its audience of young viewers were watching it through the 'third eye' of their imaginations. Who knows? Whatever the reasoning behind it, it's a cool opening. In fact, I still think there's a cool show waiting to go with it. It won't happen, of course, but if I close my eyes I can see it.

4 comments:

Matt-suzaka said...

I am not sure if I have ever seen that show before, or at least i don't remember it. Either way, that opening is pretty awesome and I'm sure I would've watched it if I didn't!

Jeff Allard said...

Yeah, this was definitely a blink and you missed it kind of show. I can barely remember the actual episodes but that title sequence has stuck in my mind for years!

senski said...

First of all, a dance of joy, as I was jonesing for a Jenke post all week!

Never saw this show either - I was a cable-less college student in '83. However, I joined a Facebook group dedicated to weird stuff that aired in the UK during the 60s, 70s and 80s, and many of them spoke very highly of the "Children of Stones." I need to find that and watch it - I think it's on YouTube, or at least it was...

Jeff Allard said...

It does look like Children of the Stones is on YouTube, Senski - at least a portion of it. When I get some time I'll probably sample it. Something tells me it's still pretty good.