FT424
- Thread starter oxo66
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AgProv
Doctor of Disorientation Studies, UnseenUniversity
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
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- 1,342
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- too North to be Midlands, too south to be North
This is going to be a classic. I have so far only dipped in.
First observations. (The article by Darren Charles on portrayals of witches in childrens' TV). Go outside the English-speaking world for your witches on TV. Television came late to South Africa and it's interesting that the very first TV show for kids, or one of the very first, was this. Die Liewe Heksie adapted storybooks for kids which first became a radio show and then moved to TV. I do believe that if it wasn't for apartheid sanctions, it would at the time have been an export hit. (Holland and Belgium first?) Cute, charming, guile-less. But with, every so often, a hint of that Seventies numinous creepiness.
Also.. I'd be surprised if there were no mention at all, anywhere, of the way Terry Pratchett re-invented the witch for the Discworld.....
And a little coincidence. Earlier today I was on Tv Tropes (I do a lot there) and was reading the Flying Saucer page. The thump on the doormat announced FT424. I open it, flick through... and in Nigel Watson's article, there is a reference to the very same TV Tropes page which was actually up on my screen at the moment of delivery. I had to mark this. I opened the Flying Saucer page and added a link to the TV Tropes page on Fortean Times. (Written largely by me, incidentally).
TV Tropes Flying Saucer
TV Tropes on Fortean Times
First observations. (The article by Darren Charles on portrayals of witches in childrens' TV). Go outside the English-speaking world for your witches on TV. Television came late to South Africa and it's interesting that the very first TV show for kids, or one of the very first, was this. Die Liewe Heksie adapted storybooks for kids which first became a radio show and then moved to TV. I do believe that if it wasn't for apartheid sanctions, it would at the time have been an export hit. (Holland and Belgium first?) Cute, charming, guile-less. But with, every so often, a hint of that Seventies numinous creepiness.
Also.. I'd be surprised if there were no mention at all, anywhere, of the way Terry Pratchett re-invented the witch for the Discworld.....
And a little coincidence. Earlier today I was on Tv Tropes (I do a lot there) and was reading the Flying Saucer page. The thump on the doormat announced FT424. I open it, flick through... and in Nigel Watson's article, there is a reference to the very same TV Tropes page which was actually up on my screen at the moment of delivery. I had to mark this. I opened the Flying Saucer page and added a link to the TV Tropes page on Fortean Times. (Written largely by me, incidentally).
TV Tropes Flying Saucer
TV Tropes on Fortean Times
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AgProv
Doctor of Disorientation Studies, UnseenUniversity
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,342
- Location
- too North to be Midlands, too south to be North
Incidentally, this copy of FT also filled in a blank regarding a scene in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Unseen Academicals. There is a scene in a department of Unseen University (which deals with weird things) where the wizards are apprehensive as to whether the squid has escaped again, is blocking a corridor, and needs to be recaptured. This mental image is left unexplored and unexplained, comes out of nowhere, and just seems to be there for its inherent weirdness and absurdity.
On page 62 of the current FT424, there is a long reply from Bob Rickard where he is describing one of those eccentrically managed British academic institutions, the Natural History Museum. The sort of place that Terry would have gleefully drawn on when creating that most eccentric and nutty haven of academia called Unseen University.
Bob describes a visit where the Department's pet octopus kept escaping from its tank, could be found determinedly escaping down the corridor, and needed to be retrieved and re-incarcerated.
It is just possible that Professor Pycraft and the fish department of the NHM were part of the inspiration for Unseen University on the Discworld! (And a big sub-theme of UU involves pies, of the edible sort....)
On page 62 of the current FT424, there is a long reply from Bob Rickard where he is describing one of those eccentrically managed British academic institutions, the Natural History Museum. The sort of place that Terry would have gleefully drawn on when creating that most eccentric and nutty haven of academia called Unseen University.
Bob describes a visit where the Department's pet octopus kept escaping from its tank, could be found determinedly escaping down the corridor, and needed to be retrieved and re-incarcerated.
It is just possible that Professor Pycraft and the fish department of the NHM were part of the inspiration for Unseen University on the Discworld! (And a big sub-theme of UU involves pies, of the edible sort....)
MorningAngel
Justified & Ancient
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- May 14, 2015
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- 3,214
I liked the first two in Happened to Me this month. But I don’t really see the point of the last one. I thought it was going to say he checked and the house disappeared years ago, no such luck.
blessmycottonsocks
Antediluvian
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- Dec 22, 2014
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- Wessex and Mercia
Great to see Farnham get a mention - one of England's most haunted towns and only 5 miles down the road from me.