Technical difficulties

FREAKING WORDPRESS. AUGH. Please pardon me as I sort out where the index page’s layout went.

[Edit #1] This will teach me. BACK UP YOUR FILES. I have a copy of the WordPress files dating back to 2007…man. Let’s see what happens.

[Edit #2] Very weird…my WordPress theme folder was untouched, but for some reason it started pointing to the default. So I just uploaded my PoDW theme into the default folder, and we seem to be back. Extra motivation for redesigning the site, in case there are any bugs…do let me know if anything looks off, though. It should just be limited to the index/blog section.

Dark Water opening on YouTube

Many thanks to Konway for the link! The original Dark Water miniseries opening is up on YouTube. (Apparently it was used in France as well, since the title graphic in this clip simply reads, “Le Tourbillon Noir.”)

It’s quite different from what we know as the “standard” opening, with the Ioz/Hector Elizondo voiceover, and that really beautiful intro sequence with the various natural scenes of Mer. But it’s pretty awesome in its own right! I saw it a few years back when I acquired VHS tapes of the original miniseries, but still haven’t been able to digitize them…luckily, someone else has been more industrious than I have!

That map sequence in particular, with the first seven Treasures lighting in various spots, intrigues me–I think they recreated it in at least one of the video games, if I remember correctly. If anyone wants to try to break this down, please be my guest–I have a headache tonight, and it’s honestly been long enough since I’ve seen the episodes that I’m having trouble trying to figure out if the Treasures’ locations fit with the locations on this map! At the very least I can see The Dragon’s Maw (center) and Mobo Mountain (right). I’m unable to make out the others, though.

It’s hard to say if one’s better than the other, since many of us are so used to the second one I linked to. The music’s different and there’s a bit more original animation in the original…I feel like the one we know works better as an opener, the scenes are arranged more logically, and the music and voiceover serve it well and serve as a better opening for the show. But that’s not at all to discount the original one, which has a kind of jaunty and adventurous feel to it.

Woohoo! Seeing this–and in surprisingly high quality for YouTube–made my evening. Check it out!