Journey to the Unknown

...searched for the name of this tv series that haunted me as a child, I can't even tell you. Many times, I have Googled a description of the opening (the carnival setting, the lights coming on as a man with an unseen face whistles a most eerie tune). Google searches yielded no results till now. I am so grateful for user reviews to clue me in, till I realized "THIS! This is IT!" I was a kid so I really only recall the opening and the episode where a young man fell in love with a shop window mannequin who spoke (only) to him. He dreamed she was to "die" in a fire.

Now, I just need the dvd(s). I get those and I'll go nuts.

When you see some of the dross that is available on DVD/Blu-ray you have to ask why this brilliant series isn't.

I was just surfing through this site and stumbled across the title JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN . Sounds familiar I thought , then I read the comments " Oh yeah I remember it now " I told myself " That`s the series with the opening title sequence of someone whistling , stepping through the deserted twilight fair and going on the big dipper " . Maybe not a classic title sequence compared to THE PRISONER or DOCTOR WHO but still very impressive and if memory serves me right ( I haven`t seen the show since the Spring of 1983 ) a very impressive fantasy series

There`s two episodes that stick out in my mind . One is Eve which stars a young Dennis Waterman as Albert who works in a fashion store and falls in love with a showroom mannequin who appears to him as a living teenage girl and which ends with a twist in the tale . The other episode ( Did someone say it`s titled Beautiful Dreamer ? ) starts with an American draft dodger with his girlfriend in a cafe where a waitress approaches warning them not to leave . The girlfriend doesn`t heed the advice and is killed in an accident moments later . The boyfriend realises the waitress can tell the future and decides to profit from this . Again there`s another twist at the end . In fact I can`t remember the details but I think every tale closes with a twist in the tale with varying degrees of success

The production values are absolutely superb , always as good as or sometimes better than movies made at the time . The reason was that the show was funded by American money ( As were the latter series of THE AVENGERS ) which meant filming in colour and showing an American audience how cool and swinging London is , a London Brits living there at the time probably wouldn`t recognise . It also explains why every episode had an American character in the narrative somewhere ( It`s for the benefit of audience identification )and why the opening caption " In Color " is spelt the American way

I can still remember it , and remember it more fondly than those other twist in the tale shows like TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED . Having said that I haven`t seen it for over twenty years and there`s a nagging doubt that my memory might have cheated on me same as it cheated with VAULT OF HORROR , THEATRE OF BLOOD and THE CREEPING FLESH

This series has 3 very important things going for it:

1. It has 17 episodes. "So what" I here you cry. Well, 17 must be magic numeral because The Prisoner is the only other classic 60s show to have that number of episodes and just like McGoohan's masterpiece, once bitten you'll not escape the charms of "Journey to the Unknown". These are 17 slices of classic telly folks...

2. IT HAS THE BEST TITLE SEQUENCE IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION. PERIOD.

3 "The New People" episode is the "Rosemary's Baby" of TV (only much better) It is, along with The Prisoner's "Girl Who Was Death", the single best televisual segment of the 1960s. You probably don't believe me. Seek it out, prepare to be amazed...

It may have sprung from the Hammer horror stable, but this feels more like The (original)"Outer Limits" meets "UFO" meets, well, "The Prisoner"!. There's no silly costumes and Kensington gore here- this stunning batch of mystery thrillers, ghost stories and frighteners was a U.S. co-production produced by Hitchcock's close associate Joan Harrison (who produced Alfred Hitchcock Presents). Consequently, and uniquely, this TV production is of a markedly higher cinematic quality than any of the big screen outings Hammer produced. Indeed, many episodes were cut together for cinema distribution in the early 70s with linking narration from the likes of Joan Crawford and...Patrick McGoohan (umm..). Oh sure, the reliance on obligatory American guest stars in the (very) British settings is somewhat quaint, and the acting is often, ahem, variable. But the sheer force of imagination on display here commands your attention. A rare treat indeed.

This series barely lasted one season, yet I still remember several episodes after nearly 40 years. It was intelligent, thought provoking and yes...a bit on the creepy side. The episode with Stefanie Powers is still my favorite of the series. It was well written and a bit on the sappy love story side, but again it lingers in my memory. Like the Twilight Zone, this series took ordinary people and put them in extraordinary situations. Also, like the Twilight Zone, The opening theme is very catchy and I still can "hum" it after all of these years.I hope it is available on DVD someday, as I would like to add it to my collection.