Countdown to Halloween 2014: 

3. Children of the Stones (ITV, 1976)
Previously: 1. Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman, 2. Masque of the Red Death

The stone circle at the Avebury Unesco World Heritage Site, the inspiration for The Children of the Stones.  

Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley

Today cable TV is the go-to place for original programming, but back in the early days its networks were still wanting for content.  Children's channel Nickelodeon was no different. While it did have a slate of homegrown shows, Nickelodeon also filled out its early 80's schedule with imports like the Canadian sketch comedies You Can't Do That On Television and Turkey Television and the British science fiction drama The Tomorrow People (which recently resurfaced as a short-lived US remake on the CW).

One show that sticks out in memory is The Third Eye, which actually was a compilation of four different serials from the UK and New Zealand (Into the Labyrinth, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer, Children of the Stones, and Under the Mountain). While most of Nickelodeon's programming was geared towards comedic or educational shows, with a few family-friendly action adventures, all of the stories shown on the Third Eye were dark and menacing, and with the exception of Under the Mountain, tales of the supernatural.

Each episode was preceded by this Rod Serling-ish opening.

By far the scariest and most memorable of the serials for me was Children of the Stones. So much so, I sought it out as an adult and watched all seven episodes on Youtube not long ago. And though its flat videotaped images and low-budget special effects (on par with old Doctor Who) have blunted its ability to frighten me now, it's certainly strong enough in the writing and acting departments that I can still see how it was the stuff of nightmares for my younger self.

Opening titles to Children of the Stones

Although Nickelodeon aired Stones during the 1980s, it was actually made in 1976  by British network HTV. The story follows an astrophysicist named Adam Brake (played by Gareth Thomas, better known to genre fans as the star of Blakes 7) who travels to the small rural village of Milbury with his teenage son Matthew. The entire town is built in the midst of a circle of stone megaliths similar to Stonehenge, which Brake and Matthew begin to investigate.

The village of Milbury and the stone circle, seen from above.

The arrangement of the stones is unusual, with no clear purpose, and they also seem to exert a sinister influence. This becomes obvious when Brake touches one of the stones and apparently receives a kind of psychic shock (seeing and hearing screaming faces and voices).

Matthew also begins noticing strange shifts in behavior among the townsfolk: people acting normal one day then unusually happy and joyful the next with no explanation (Repeatedly saying, "Happy Day."). In addition (in the grand tradition of Stephen King), he discovers that he is psychic, giving him special insight into the strange goings-on in Milbury. Awaking one night from a dream (or is it a vision?), he hears strange voices in the dark and follows them, finding a group of villagers engaged in some kind of ritual.

Only two people in the village apparently know what's really going on. One is a superstitious and slightly demented local poacher named Dai (played with bug-eyed conviction by the great British character actor Freddie Jones, who seems to have specialized in delivering eccentric performances in films such as The Elephant Man, Dune and Young Sherlock Holmes), who eventually dies under mysterious circumstances when one of the stones falls onto him (despite being rooted in centuries-old earth). The other is the village's leader, a wealthy landowner and astronomer named Rafael Hendrick, whose cryptic words and actions hint that maybe he's at the center of everything.

There's also an old painting purchased by Matthew on a whim (or premonition) before coming to the village. It depicts a stone circle resembling Milbury with people dancing in a ring within it as part of some pagan rite. Curiously, there's a bright shaft of light emanating from the ground in the center of the ring of people reaching into the sky. The painting also includes a sinister serpent and what appears to be other people either trapped within or turning into stone.

This totally spooked me as a child

As stranger and stranger events unfold and more of the townfolk turn into the "Happy Ones," Brake and Matthew attempt to depart Milbury. Unfortunately, they discover that, like the Hotel California, you can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave.

There's a number of things about Children of the Stones that make it a standout. First of all, despite the crude production values, there's a great sense of atmosphere. Just as Patrick McGoohan's science fiction series The Prisoner filmed in the Village of Portmeiron in Wales and used that town's unusual architecture to create a surreal environment on a budget, Stones makes maximum use of its location, the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, and the actual stone megaliths dotting the landscape. The mysterious and ancient stones, towering over the characters, and standing here and there in fields and next to houses and buildings, feel like characters unto themselves (as a child I swore I could make out creepy faces), and create the sensation of an alien presence lurking about and watching. Coupled with the rural environment, odd behavior from villagers and hints of paganism, the whole serial feel like an unsettling PG-rated version of The Wicker Man.

Secondly, the script, acting and direction all approach the story with dead seriousness. There's absolutely none of the campiness or reassuring comic relief of new or old Doctor Who.  Each new piece of plot information is introduced intelligently and understandably, which is especially important when things take an incredibly fantastic turn. I don't want to give away too much of the plot in this mere blog post, but suffice to say the eventual revelation of what the stones are and their connection to the village is an incredibly ambitious blend of science fiction and supernatural concepts involving psychic powers, cosmic energy, and reality-bending causality loops.

I'm not sure if kids (or adults) today would enjoy Children of the Stones the same as when it was originally made. It might just look too chintzy for modern tastes, and some of its dramatic devices (like the chorus of moaning voices on the soundtrack) might feel hokey instead of spooky.

But if you're curious, the entire thing is up on Youtube to view or may be purchased on Amazon. My personal viewing recommendation: Watch it on your TV, but first close the shades, turn down the lights and put yourself into the mindset of a 10-year-old child.

Baby's Trip to Space: The Crazy Things New Dads Will Do 

The past two weeks have been the first my wife has been at work since maternity leave. Although we've made arrangements to get help watching the baby from our mothers and a paid babysitter (Deanna Myers, who by the way, does an awesome job if you're looking), there's still blocks during the day when it's just me and him. After all the busywork is taken care of (changing clothes, diapers, feeding, etc.), I sometimes have to keep him entertained, which has resulted in things like the following (originally posted over three days on my Facebook page).

Dwight Egan Sora

October 8 at 10:22am ·

Calling Mission Control. I have deployed the parawings on my exo-suit and have begun my descent to the planet below. Active camouflage engaged.

Dwight Egan Sora

October 8 at 1:26pm ·

Mission Update: Inhabitants of planet have turned out to be benign but have mistaken me for a local deity.

Dwight Egan Sora

8 mins ·

Final Mission Report: My retrieval pod has arrived and I commence the journey home in hypersleep. Mission accomplished.

Photos from Karate Meets Aikido Night

Erik Matsunaga at Ravenswood Shorin-Ryu Karate Dojo has kindly posted photos on their website from the joint training session on Monday, October 6 with members of Chicago Aikido Club led by Joe Takehara Sensei.

Exchange Training with Joe Takehara and Chicago Aikido Club

Posted on October 7, 2014

Joe Takehara sensei and Chicago Aikido Club at Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo.

On October 6th, we were honored to host Joe Takehara sensei, a charter member of the old Illinois Aikido Club. IAC, founded in 1961 by a small group of Nisei professionals in Chicago Police Detective Tony Muranaka’s basement, was the first aikido dojo in the Midwestern United States. Initially learning from a book by Koichi Tohei, then Chief Instructor of Aikido World Headquarters in Tokyo, the club would go on to host such luminary in-house instructors as Chester Sasaki, Francis Takahashi, Motokage Kawamukai, Isao Takahashi, Yoshihiko Hirata, Akira Tohei, and Shigeru Suzuki.

Takehara sensei demonstrates aiki principles with Ravenswood Dojo member Ryan Yokota.

As a special treat, the Chicago Aikido Club – where Takehara sensei occasionally instructs today – cancelled their scheduled Monday class to attend our dojo in support of this goodwill exchange. We shared a couple warm-ups and basics of karate, then handed the floor over to Takehara, who introduced some advanced concepts of applying technique through kimochi (feeling), relaxation, and proper breathing. A former boxer and gymnast, Takehara took up the practice of aikido shortly after starting a dental practice located across the street from Muranaka’s home. Like his contemporaries, he was not so much interested in the physical aspects of the art as the mental and spiritual side that would help him center and settle his energies for enhanced focus in his career and family life.

Special guest Jason Matsumoto, of Chicago-based Ho Etsu Taiko – “a collective of musicians with a fresh take on the art of Japanese drumming” – also happened to stop by the dojo for some training. Here he works with Chicago Aikido Club manager Dwight Sora.

At 83-years of age and plenty genki to join us for a post-practice hamburger and beer, Joe Takehara is an exemplar of traditional budo. The fact that his vehicle for expression is aikido and our chosen vessel is karatedo makes no difference. We are grateful for this rich experience and look forward to future such exchanges.

Post-practice pub grub at O’Shaughnessy’s Public House, around the corner. Most importantly, we all had fun.

BTW, Erik had mentioned to me that the original draft of his article at Nikkei Chicago on Takehara Sensei had included far more material than made it to the final version. Recently on the Chicago Aikido Club Facebook page, Erik posted a little snippet of what got cut out, which was about Takehara Sensei's time as a gymnast. I have reposted it below.

Erik Matsunaga

September 28 at 2:58pm

Joe Takehara sensei, the most senior aikidoka in the Midwestern United States, captained the 1951-1952 gymnastics team at the University of Illinois at Navy Pier. While attending Lakeview High School in Chicago, Takehara met Herbert "Herby" Vogel, a member of the Chicago Chapter of the American Turners - a nationwide German American gymnastics club.

Herby encouraged Joe to participate, and Takehara went on to practice gymnastics with the Turners from high school through undergrad, until he entered the University of Illinois Dental School. By that time, Takehara said, he had no more time to practice. His buddy Herby Vogel founded and led the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Women's Gymnastics Team for 23 years, and went on to be regarded as "The Father of Women's Collegiate Gymnastics."

After his first dentistry job doing labs for Andrew Kambara, D.D.S. at 2561 N. Clark, Takehara opened a dental practice at 3355 N. Clark, a mile north (at that time, a mile in city terms was a world away) in a Japanese American neighborhood near Wrigley Field, and became a charter member of the Illinois Aikido Club - founded in Chicago Police detective Tony Muranaka's Clark Street 3-flat basement in 1961.

Little known fact: Joe Takehara, D.D.S. once gave the legendary Koichi Tohei, then Chief Instructor of Aikikai / Aikido World Headquarters, Tokyo, an emergency root canal during one of the latter's visits to Chicago.

Countdown to Halloween 2014: 

2. Masque of the Red Death (Zagreb Film, 1969)

Previously: 1. Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman

"THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood." - The Masque of the Red Death, Edgar Allen Poe (1842)

Edgar Allen Poe's short story The Masque of the Red Death (1842) is pretty creepy on its own terms. Its gloomy Gothic setting within a Medieval castle while a deadly plague ravages the countryside outside is dripping with atmosphere and death, topped by the haunting image of a cloaked figure that turns out to be the plague incarnate.

My first encounter with the tale was a glimpse of Lon Cheney dressed as the Red Death in the masked ball sequence from the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera (1925). I didn't see the actual film until catching it on the Arts & Entertainment Network when in high school, but a still of the scene showed up in one of the many movie monster books I used to check out of the River Forest Public Library.

The significance of the name was lost on me, but the red-cloaked, skull-faced image was definitely arresting. Later when I was eight, the horror film program Son of Svengoolie on WFLD Channel 32 in Chicago showed Roger Corman's 1964 film version of Masque of the Red Death starring Vincent Price. Although it follows the general contours of Poe's original narrative, it added a lot of character, plot and dialogue to fill up a feature length running time. However, despite these alterations, Corman's film is a pretty solid horror film in its own right. I'm not the biggest fan of the Corman/Price Poe collaborations, but to me Masque is exceptional. A big part is the cinematography (by Nicholas Roeg, who himself later became a noted director, helming The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and The Witches (1990) among others), which makes some startling use of color. Usually with older horror films, I find it's the black & white ones which have best retained the ability to scare over the years, as the color quality is sometimes too garish or highlights flaws in special effects. But the color in Masque is evocative and jarring, helping to set the mood or shock the senses.  I remember even the end credits creeping me out as a child.

That brings us to what I feel is the single best film adaptation of Poe's story: the 1969 animated short by the Croatian company Zagreb Film, MASKA CRVENE SMRTI. I first saw this when my English teacher Mr. Millet showed it to my class at Roosevelt Junior High and it's stuck with me ever since.

Like Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman, this version of Masque of the Red Death uses limited animation in extremely effective ways. In this case, the style recalls Renaissance paintings, though includes elements of horror that remind me of Francis Bacon. 

There's no dialogue to speak of. Not much music except for a tune sung by a troubadour at a party (which climaxes in a black joke on the part of the singer). Just creepy, unsettling sound effects which include the screams of those succumbing to the deadly plague.

Everything witnessed onscreen follows Poe's original story pretty faithfully. One interesting deviation is the moment from the original story when the prince whose castle is serving as a refuge from the plague for the wealthy and privileged chases down an uninvited guest appearing at a masked ball. In this film version, the guest is changed into a seductive woman who leads the prince through various rooms until revealing her true identity.

If you're at a loss for some perfectly-themed Halloween scares for the kiddies, I think this should fit the bill. Enjoy.

Countdown to Halloween 2014: 

1. Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman

This year will mark the first Halloween for my son Jack who was born in July. Having been fond of tales of the macabre, ghosts and monsters from an early age (which I blame on catching Son of Svenghoolie's Halloween Draculathon on WFLD Channel 32 in 1979 and my subsequent discovery of the Crestwood House Monster Series of books at the River Forest Library), I thought I'd look back on some of the films, books and TV shows that fed my childhood nightmares.

To keep things interesting, I'm going to skip the more obvious choices like The Exorcist or The Shining, and all those other Hollywood horror films kids growing up in the late 70s/early 80s dared each other to watch on VHS or cable in their parents' basements or at sleepovers. I'm going to reach back into my memories for some less well-known works whose stories and images have lingered with me to this day.

First up is the short film Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman. I saw this sometime between ages six and nine at Lincoln Elementary School in River Forest as one of those films teachers would sometimes screen for kids in class, or that you'd watch in the school auditorium when bad weather prevented playing outdoors during recess. I think they were all made available to schools by the Scholastic Corporation.

The story is about three brothers who wander into the woods one day an encounter an old lady who is actually the "Witch Woman" of the title, who eats little children and has a fence around her house made from their leftover bones. While the two oldest brothers remain clueless as to the peril they face, the youngest brother (Teeny-Tiny) realizes something is amiss, and manages to outsmart the Witch-Woman and devise an escape for all three using some magical items he pilfered from her house.

I remember being creeped out by the film's narration, which was done by an actress either possessing or affecting a terrific foreboding old crone voice, and even as a child feeling like I was watching a nightmare. I couldn't put my finger on it back then, but rewatching the movie as an adult I notice marvelous things were done with limited resources. The action is crude and static, but the animators seemed to have realized exactly when and what should be moving or unmoving to deliver maximum impact. When Teeny-Tiny and his brothers walk through the woods, the trees and their shadows stand stock still, looming over them with vague hints of human faces and bony fingers outstretched. In the great tradition of old horror films, the Witch-Woman is introduced by a creaking door and then a single green inhuman hand beckoning with a clawlike finger. And the scene where Teeny-Tiny catches the Witch-Woman sharpening her kitchen knives (at 7:16 in the Youtube link above) is a perfect moment of storybook terror. There's also simple but great design work with extreme angles and exaggerated shapes that accentuates everything (I wonder if Tim Burton saw this film, because it's very evocative of his now familiar style).

So, if you've never seen Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman and are looking for something to give the kids a scare (though a tolerable scare), check it out (A link to the complete film is below).

Aikido Meets Karate: Some Cool Cross-Disciplinary (Martial Arts) Training in Chicago

Myself and some fellow students will be accompanying the senior instructor of our home dojo for some cross-training with Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo.

Originally posted on the Chicago Aikido Club's blog page.

Takehara Sensei at Ravenswood Shorin-ryu Karate Dojo

Posted on September 30, 2014by ChicagoAikidoClub

Monday, October 6  7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Jo Takehara taking ukemi for Aikido Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba at the Illinois Aikido Club

As part of a special karate class Takehara Sensei will talk about the mental aspects of budo, the fundamentals of Aikido and Ki energy. Also expected to be in attendance is Mr.Shojiro Sugiyama, former head of the Japan Karate Association of Chicago.

The class will be held at the Ravenswood Shorin-ryu
Karate Dojo at the Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church four blocks from the Chicago Aikido Club at 4511 N. Hermitage. (Ring the Gym bell at the door)

Doors open at 7pm.
Please show up prior to 7:30pm.
Visitors should bring their own bottles of water as RFUMC is not equipped with a functioning drinking fountain.

Random Star Trek Thought . . .  

How exactly do the communicators on Star Trek: The Next Generation work? There's no discernible dialing mechanism (or caller ID) yet with a single touch they always reach who they want to. Just once you'd think there'd be a moment of "Picard to the bridge," followed by "Sorry, this is Jones down in the kitchen."