Sapphire and Steel
I have just recently discovered Sapphire and Steel, a British TV series than ran for about three years circa 1980, and have become very enchanted with it. It has a rather eerie supernatural type theme (said eeriness often being somehow associated with Time), was made on a minuscule budget and is often (deliberately) oblique as all Hades about what is really happening.
`We have been told that certain people are experimenting with time. People from the not too distant past or the not too distant future. Am I right?'
`That's right, yes.'
`And consequently, as nobody should mess around with time---'
`Except us.'
`Except us . . . that these people are in danger. And, not only them, Time itself is in danger.'
--Assignment 3
The series extended for six arcs (or Assignments) in which the eponymous Sapphire and Steel show up to fix Time (sometimes with the assistance of others of their ilk), typically in the best interests of Time and the greater good, which do not always coincide with the personal good of all the bystanders. I came to the series because David Collings (Cassius in the 1979 Julius Caesar) shows up in a couple of the arcs as the character Silver, who turns out to be absolutely adorable and full of squee and I so want his costume from assignment six. Sapphire and Steel, however, are pretty damn cool themselves, with adventures ranging from Mostly Harmless to Really Disturbingly Creepy. In honor of this, I have produced a list of rules for avoiding many of the Nasty Things That Can Happen. (Located behind the cut, because, while they aren't exactly direct end-of-assignment spoilers, some are kind of mid-adventure spoilers; others are just generalizations or else fairly obvious from the outset.)
I will refrain from reciting old nursery rhymes in old places.
I will not pursue fanatic authenticity in my endeavors to recreate the past.
I will not mix old and new things.
In fact, when in doubt, I will do my best to stick to moderately recent stuff.
I will not summon ghosts.
I will avoid deserted and near deserted roadside service stations.
I will not practice genocide upon the animal kingdom at large (however, swatting mosquitoes, smashing cockroaches and eating meat on an individual level are non-problematic activities).
I will not be someone who can disappear from the world without a ripple.
I will exercise due caution with stairs and persons not on them.
I will strenuously avoid photography and photographs.
I will understand, at least loosely, how the technology I use operates.
`We have been told that certain people are experimenting with time. People from the not too distant past or the not too distant future. Am I right?'
`That's right, yes.'
`And consequently, as nobody should mess around with time---'
`Except us.'
`Except us . . . that these people are in danger. And, not only them, Time itself is in danger.'
--Assignment 3
The series extended for six arcs (or Assignments) in which the eponymous Sapphire and Steel show up to fix Time (sometimes with the assistance of others of their ilk), typically in the best interests of Time and the greater good, which do not always coincide with the personal good of all the bystanders. I came to the series because David Collings (Cassius in the 1979 Julius Caesar) shows up in a couple of the arcs as the character Silver, who turns out to be absolutely adorable and full of squee and I so want his costume from assignment six. Sapphire and Steel, however, are pretty damn cool themselves, with adventures ranging from Mostly Harmless to Really Disturbingly Creepy. In honor of this, I have produced a list of rules for avoiding many of the Nasty Things That Can Happen. (Located behind the cut, because, while they aren't exactly direct end-of-assignment spoilers, some are kind of mid-adventure spoilers; others are just generalizations or else fairly obvious from the outset.)
I will refrain from reciting old nursery rhymes in old places.
I will not pursue fanatic authenticity in my endeavors to recreate the past.
I will not mix old and new things.
In fact, when in doubt, I will do my best to stick to moderately recent stuff.
I will not summon ghosts.
I will avoid deserted and near deserted roadside service stations.
I will not practice genocide upon the animal kingdom at large (however, swatting mosquitoes, smashing cockroaches and eating meat on an individual level are non-problematic activities).
I will not be someone who can disappear from the world without a ripple.
I will exercise due caution with stairs and persons not on them.
I will strenuously avoid photography and photographs.
I will understand, at least loosely, how the technology I use operates.