Review of Arthur C. Clarke`s Mysterious World

Introduction

In 1980, Granada TV premiered a 13 part series of mysteries from the files of Arthur C.Clarke, author of 2001 and inventor of the communications satellite. From his home in Sri Lanka (after a lifetime of science, space and writing), he has pondered the riddles of this and other worlds.

Arthur C. Clarke`s Mysterious World took a look at perplexing mysteries, some major and some minor in an age prior to the internet, global communication and travel. Each week Clarke would take a 25 minute look (plus adverts in an age when they weren`t anywhere near as intrusive) at different mysteries linked under a common heading.

Episodes:
1. The journey begins
2. Monsters of the deep
3. Ancient wisdom
4. The missing apeman
5. Giants for the gods
6. The monsters of the lakes
7. The great Siberian explosion
8. The riddle of the stones
9. Out of the blue
10. UFO`s
11. Dragons, dinosaurs & giant snakes
12. Strange skies
13. Clarke`s cabinet of curiosities

Video

Presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, the picture is still pretty good for its age with minor damage every now and again. What dates the series though, aside from the soft slightly blurry images on some of the shots, are the fashions and hairstyles of some of the interviewees. Quite amusing, looking at it 28 years later. The Skull of Doom still looks very imposing today though…

Audio

Narrated with the golden smooth tones of newsreader Gordon Honeycombe, the soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo which is more than adequate. No subtitles though, which is a shame. Also of note is the eerie and somewhat mysterious electronic soundtrack by Alan Hawkshaw.

Features

Mysteriously, none. Wonder if Arthur has a file on that mystery…

Conclusion

The black hit of space, get James Burke on the case. Well James Burke may well have still been around in 1980, but Arthur C. Clarke was definitely on the case with this 13 part series for Granada with accompanying book. As an impressionable 12-year old with an interest in the mysterious, but found the like of Erich von Däniken too difficult a read, Clarke`s series was a godsend.

Clarke covered a lot of different subjects in a short space of time and didn`t come up with a lot of answers (and even those he did were more opinion than fact), but what he did do, with me at least, was open my mind to some perplexing mysteries and make me more aware of them so that I could investigate a bit more. I was more than aware of UFO`s the Loch Ness Monster, Sasquatch and Stonehenge at this time but there were many other things that I hadn`t even considered or heard of. This was a stepping stone for me, and whilst my burning curiosity has faded, it hasn`t dimmed completely and I believe it helped me to consider things slightly more differently from then on.

It`s always a bit strange looking back on TV series that were so influential during childhood, but sometimes what seemed like a gem then is still a gem today. Admittedly things have changed dramatically since 1980 and the ground that Clarke treads was ably championed by Fox Mulder in the X-Files a decade or so later. Clarke, however, is not a Mulder prototype. If anything he`s a Scully, seemingly dismissing most mysteries as something quite ordinary. Writers are generally open to possibilities, especially science fiction writers, but then Clarke is also a scientist. The two conflict and normally rationality comes out on top. It`s still a very interesting ride though with some surprises, such as seeing Adam Hart-Davis mentioned in the end credits as a researcher.

A real joy to watch again.