Then and now
I'm currently working through The Dead Zone TV series as my daily breakfast show. Anyway, yesterday I watched an episode called Cycle of Violence in which John Smith has a vision of a high school student doing a "Columbine" style shooting. For various reasons the episode struck a deep chord in me.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about the star of the show - Anthony Michael Hall. I remember the first thing I saw him in, the film The Breakfast Club (1985) where he plays a high school student. Really funny the changes in 20 years, as the photos below show:
I really like The Dead Zone. I've a long history of watching "I can see visions/know and change the future" type shows like Quantum Leap, Early Edition, and Medium. The good ones pose a moral question of just what one should do if one could change thing (usually for someone else) for the better. The thing about Johnny Smith is that he sees exact video type visions (complete with 360° walk-through snapshots) that are usually exactly right. The issue becomes one of morals - should he interfere and if so how. Love it (though oddly enough I can't stand
Ghost Whisperer whereas I loved Dead Last)! The writing is overall, good.
I had other weird connections too lately. I borrowed a copy of St. Trinian's : the entire appalling business by Ronald Searle.
These were the original cartoons (much like the ones by Charles Addams that inspired The Addams Family) that inspired the series of Films in the late 1950s (and the recent restart). They are very dark and mischievous. I can imagine Gomez and Morticia sending Wednesday to St.Trinians (where she'd thrive)! I can also imagine St. Trinian's taking on Hogwarts - there's plenty of non-muggles at the school.
Which brings me to another connection - Flash Harry. Harry is the shady connection that the St.Trinian's girls have with the underworld. Originally he was a black marketeer. He was also played by George Cole in four of the films. And what was I watching before The Dead Zone? Why Minder of course, where he plays Arthur Daley (who could very well be Flash Harry 'grown up')! What goes around comes around.
