Blog Title Explanation (more exciting than post heading)

So I imagine the burning question on everyone's mind is.....What does 'I Deny You the Nidus!' even mean? Well, if you already know the answer to that question then you are my best friend forever. If not, this post will provide the answer.

Back in the early 1980's, Nickelodeon was a fledging television network that I watched faithfully. Being a new network, they did not have a lot of original programming so instead they imported a number of shows from other countries. Many of these shows (primarily from England and New Zealand) had a sci-fi twist to them and were presented under the banner "The Third Eye". About 4 shows comprised "The Third Eye", only 2 of which have stayed with me, as I made sure to watch them every time the came back on in rotation. Yes, the 4 shows were basically looped for quite some time. The first show was called "Children of the Stones", a fantastic sci-fi story about a scientist and his son who arrive in a small town to study the odd stone formations found there and get caught up in a mystery involving the town's "Happy Ones". I'll write more detail about this show on a later date.

The other show, and the one more pertinent to my blog, was "Into the Labyrinth". (presented in three pictures on top of each other, as I don't know how to do side by side pictures yet...sorry)





In this show, three young children in the English countryside are mysteriously drawn to a cave, in which lives an imprisoned wizard, Rothgo. Rothgo is dying as he has lost his power source, known as the Nidus. He asks the three children to help him find it. The Nidus is lost somewhere in time, so once the three kids agree to help, they are sent back in time to start their search for the Nidus. Each episode takes place in a different "time period", which, given the budgtary limitations of the show, all took place in the same set of caves, but with different window dressings, meant to invoke the time period. (Easier to swallow when I was only 10 watching this.) The Nidus is disguised as some object in each time period and only by looking at that object's reflection will the fact that it is the Nidus be revealed.

Now, there is also a nemesis. A witch, Belor, pictured in my header, is also after the Nidus, so she can control its power for herself. In each time period, she is able to disguise herself as a different charatcer. Now, here is where my title comes in. At the end of each episode, the children discover which object is the Nidus. At that point, Belor transforms from her disguise into her real form, points at the object and yells: "I deny you the Nidus!" This causes the Nidus to be thrown through time into a different era. The kids then follow to that next time period and their adventures start anew. Until the last episode, when you can pretty much guess what will happen.

There were three seasons of "Into the Labyrinth." Season 2 follows the same pattern. Rothgo has again lost the Nidus, and the kids have to search for it, with Belor trying to stop them; and yelling "I deny you the Nidus!" until the final episode, natch. In season 3, only the oldest of the children returns, finds a new wizard he has to help with some other object......whatever, Season 3 was bad.

When deciding the title of my blog, I first came up with a number of different variations on my name, then decided that was dumb, as a lot of people have already done that and better than I could do. So one day I was going through my movie collection, looking for something or other to watch (I really need to organize it), when I came upon the DVD's of the show. Immediately, I knew that I'd use "I Deny You the Nidus" as the title. It's a phrase I like and remembered, it reminds me of growing up and the obscene amount of TV I watched, and it wasn't some corny play on my last name Flink (not an easy name to do workplay with).

Thus was "I Deny You the Nidus!" born.

The DVD's I have of the show are bootleg versions I bought from Ebay, copied from the English DVD release. I believe the series is still sold on DVD in England, for those who have region-free players. Or I'm sure Ebay must still have them. I would recommend buying the series and also "Children of the Stones". They might skew a little young, but they are well done shows and a nice throwback to classic sci-fi.

If anyone has heard of or seen these series, let me know. I don't want to be the only soul who enjoys them.

P.S. Oh yes, add "The Tomorrow People" to that list. But that's another post.