As a kid I was also into unexplained phenomena, and this show is one of those childhood gems of mine that really acknowledged my interest in them and strangely believe or not it was the first.
This is another under the radar/forgotten gem, this was a show that was no doubt ahead of it's time way before the unexplained phenomena even became a subgenere in sci-fi. There really weren't many shows like this except "Koljak the Night Stalker" but no doubt predates the shows that came after like "The X-Files", "Gravity Falls", and "Dark Skies" another under the radar gem. The show isn't quite a sci-fi classic it's not on the same level as those shows in my book but it comes close and I feel is good in it's own way.
I do like the theme song which is solid if not the most memorable but it's good enough to evoke an eerie and mysterious feeling. As you hear the music you see our contemporary reality but this is taking place in the nighttime and you start to see some other things like in the reflection of a window you thought you might have seen a ghost. From that you know that things aren't what they seem.
The characters not much to say for them they serve their functions. But this show we're all really in it for the mysteries and suspense and this show has a good amount of both. Each of the mysteries are loosely based on real unexplained phenomena cases which just added to the spookiness and interest factor more.
Most of these case are mainly based on ghosts and psychic phenomena. Though to me it was the ones on psychic phenomena that impressed be the most and the show focused on that the most which I feel gives the show a slight uniqueness because psychic phenomena isn't really tackled much in both the horror genre and even the unexplained phenomena subgenere which is weird to say.
I really liked how the show handled it, showing that you can do more with it, like in one episode we see how someone's consciousness can merge with an animal. Another was on a forgotten memory of a parent can somehow travel to a sibling's subconscious. Those things just go to show how powerful the mind can really be and how much of it's untapped potential there is.
Also the show is slightly thought provoking, I like the fact that this show actually has some science involved, which makes sense because paranormal psychology is a scientific field after all and it also adds to the shows uniqueness. I really like how when science is applied to each of the cases, they apply and assess certain physics and logic is involved which really give each situation a certain groundness showing that there really is a reason why this and that is happening and it's real.
There are plenty of memorable episodes like one on a runaway slave whose consciousness somehow time travels to someone in the present, it was a bit of an emotional episode as you actually felt a sense of pathos for the slave but also grateful that we've overcame that disgraceful period in history. Another which is dark and kinda sad one on a Nazi psychically preying on Jews in a rest home, this one made me all the more bet on the good guys to win.
If there is a bad thing about the show it would have to be Season 2, when they decided to go the more fictionalized route which I felt was kinda a misstep, not to say it was bad it wasn't but it just wasn't as good as the first, it's kinda like having a piece of fruit when you really want Ice Cream. Where some episode were kinda silly and others despite serious felt kinda padded which really muddled the sense of danger. It really made the show feel kinda uneven and is probably what made the show fade from existence.
This is a buried mystery worth uncovering.
Rating: 3 stars
