The Vine: February 17, 2012
In the mid-1980s there was a kids’ show on PBS. As I recall there were several recurring segments of the show and one of them took place on a treasure island. I think there were pirates and other people that would help solve mysteries (or probably more simply, just explain how some things work). There might have been other parts of the show, but all I remember is the island and some floating pirate heads telling me about how the world works. Any thoughts!?
Cara
*****
Dear Sars,
I’ve been reading The Vine long enough to have a smidgen of hope that the readers may be able to help me solve a long-time mystery of something I saw on TV back in probably the early ’80s. I was young, so the details are a bit hazy.
I’m not sure if this was the major plot, but from my recollection, there was a present-day attempt to solve the mystery about what happened to this young girl (I think named Rachel?) who disappeared perhaps in the late 1800s? Apparently some outlaws (of the wild west variety) were after her family, and when the bad guys came upon her house and started shooting, she was told by her parents to hide in a secret location underneath the fireplace. I think maybe her parents were killed and when neither her nor her body was ever found, it became a big mystery about what happened to her. Somehow in the end of the movie it emerged that once she was under the fireplace, she kept running further underneath the house and fell into some sort of hole and died there.
I have no idea if this was an episode of a TV show, a TV movie or even a regular movie. But, it has driven me nuts for years and I probably have been searching for this on Google since Google came along, but without success. It may be a long shot, but I thought I’d give it a try!
Thanks,
Sarah
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
The second one is Mystery Mansion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M7AOP2syhQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Could the PBS one be a bit off of 3-2-1 Contact or Square One Television?
First thing I thought of was 3-2-1 Contact, specifically The Bloodhound Gang. (For the first one, but it looks like The Mighty Nation got the second one already.)
I thought the second one might be Child of Glass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVcolCQBKyc), but Mystery Mansion looks like a better fit! Still, will include link just in case.
Oh my god, Miglet – that is exactly it! Thank you! That clip is pretty much exactly how I remembered it too. Wow, I knew I could count on The Nation – and you guys delivered!
I LOVED Square One, and the Treasure Island doesn’t sound like a Square One sketch, but my first thought was 3-2-1 Contact.
The first one might be The Voyage of the Mimi, but I’m not positive because I barely remember it, except that we had to watch it in class.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_the_Mimi
I don’t remember pirate heads, but I figured it was worth mentioning, just in case.
Oh my god–Square One! Loved it. Especially loved Mathnet. (Yeah, I admitted it.) Anyway, I never missed Square One, so I’m chiming in to agree with Jo and say that the pirate thing doesn’t seem like it was that show. I don’t remember 3-2-1 Contact as well (I think I watched that when I was younger), so maybe that is it.
@Allie: Voyage of the Mimi was about whale watchers. No treasure island there. :) But I loved that show! I had almost forgotten about it.
Not only is the second one Mystery Mansion as @Miglet says, but I’m in it! Or at least my voice is. The part of the clip right at the start of that YouTube video, where the girl says “You’re such a nice horse. Good boy, Smokey” is me! My mom worked for the production company when that movie was made, and they needed a girl’s voice for some pick-up work. My mom and dad also did other voice bits.