Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Reason #1,329 why I love Google

All this watching TV from my youth had me half-remembering a show from Nickleodeon in the 1980s where there was a Mr Wilberforce, aliens, and kids with paranormal powers. I Googled 'Wilberforce TV Nicklelodeon' and behold, came up with The Third Eye (and here's the Wikipedia entry). It was a collection of different mini-series from around the world with unusual happenings in them. The specific feature I remembered was a New Zealand show called 'Under the Mountain'. I am now happy, mystery solved.

Here are scenes from that feature:


and a longer scene, where they find out Mr Wilberforce is not what he appeared to be.



The (bad) aliens' subterranean base looks ripe for Shoggoths, let me tell you. By the way, remember 'Shoggoth on the Roof'? Well, apparently it was a condensation of an actual musical published by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. For more, check out the article on Wikipedia. Songs include: 'Tentacles', 'Byakhee, Byakhee', 'Shoggoth Prayer', 'If I were a Deep One', and 'Do You Fear Me?'

I'd love to get a copy of the original cast recording. It can be obtained here. For more on 'Shoggoth', check out the HPLHS' website on the subject, including the trials and tribulations of staging it with music (it was threatened legally by the creators of the music for 'Fiddler on the Roof' and even though a parody and therefore legally they'd most likely win, they don't have the money for legal fees.)

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