As per my usual practice, I always go back to my research notes to ensure that I haven't missed anything or overlooked something that I really wanted to do but didn't fit in with the other books. When it comes to my research notes, I'm a bit of a packrat. I lost materials on failed floppies, dying hard drives, and just plain dumb luck, so I keep multiple copies of everything. Trust me, cheap storage has been the biggest quality of life improvement in my research since I first bought a computer for myself (in 1985) or got a library card (1977).
As it turns out, 1985 keeps coming up for me. Part of my research involves re-reading, this time with a little more critical scrutiny, the first edition of Unearthed Arcana. I have re-read that, digging through this huge pile of notes and handwritten materials about games I played in 1985 (some of which will be headed into this new project). There are lots of forgotten treasures here.
Memory is a funny thing.
I am a psychologist by training. My Master's Thesis was on memory, and my Ph.D. dissertation was on information processing systems. Pardon me while I turn introspective for a moment here, but it is jarring to see something you know you did or had some sort of effect on you, and you don't recall it. A lot of these notes are doing that to me now.
Case in point.
In another 1985 flashback, I stumbled on something I am not entirely sure how to quantify. Let me see if you, my loyal readers, have the same reaction that my oldest just had a few seconds ago. Who does this "Masters of the Universe" character remind you of? Not the Sorceress, her younger reflection.
Red hair. Wrist guards. Magical powers. Wears a lot of purple. Blue eyes. Yeah, that looks like a younger version of my witch Larina.
Needless to say, I was a bit stunned by this. I had totally forgotten about this episode, "Origin of the Sorceress," until I saw the picture, and then it all came back. I mean, the timing is right. This episode aired on September 23, 1985. I rolled up Larina in July 1986.
Now, I wasn't a huge fan of Masters of the Universe, but my younger brother was, and I *know* I saw this episode. After seeing this image, I remembered it. I even borrowed the evil wizard Morgoth from this and combined him with the DC evil wizard Modru as a villain in my own games. "Morgru" can still be found in my notes.
There is no way this didn't influence me. Additionally, the Sorceress was the only character on the show, besides Evil-Lyn , that I liked. Yeah, I have a type.
I didn’t create Larina so much as channel her. Looking back now, it’s like she stepped fully formed out of 1985, the red hair, the bracers, the purple, the attitude. Maybe she’s not of that year, but certainly from it. Keeping in mind that by this point, I had already worn out a copy of "The Wild Heart."
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| Teela Na or Larina? Lari Na? |
Honestly, looking at this image is just so odd for me, jarring even. I feel neuron activation going on, but it's getting lost in the translation of the last four decades, like trying to remember where you got a scar. The evidence is there, but the details are fuzzy.
The episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski, the same as Babylon 5. It's not a great episode, but it was a cartoon for kids and an extended toy commercial at that. I remembered the Sorceress as having more power, but that says a lot more about me than it does about my clarity of memory.
What else was going on in 1985?
Keep in mind I didn't choose this date out of the blue. Ok, a little, but there was a lot going on in 1985 that I consider peak for my AD&D 1st Edition experiences.
Movies & TV
"Legend" hit the big screens with one of the best devil make-up effects to date; Tim Curry's Darkness. Not to mention Meg Mucklebones, who was very much like the Jenny Greenteeth that my mom used to scare all of us with when we were younger.
"Return to Oz" was not a great movie, but it gave us Fairuza Balk as Dorothy and the recently departed Jean Marsh as Madame Mombi, one of the scariest witches in film. Marsh would later go on to give me, ok, us, Queen Bavmorda in Willow, and Morgaine/Morgan Le Fey in Doctor Who (one of three characters she played in Doctor Who over the decades). Ten years later, Fairuza Balk would enter witch royalty as Nancy Downs in "The Craft" and later open her own pagan-themed online store. With a small stop along the way as Mildred Hubble in "The Worst Witch."
On TV "The Midnight Hour" ran. Not a great horror movie by any stretch, but damn... Shari Belafonte? Yeah, that was a good reason to tune in. I remember the soundtrack being pretty good. I think I should re-watch it.
"The Third Eye" was on TV, I sorta remember it, but while I know it filtered into my consciousness, it didn't quite have the same impact as the young Teela Na from Masters of the Universe.
If 1986 gave me Larina, my enduring witch, then 1985 set the stage. A stage already filled with adventures from Ravenloft, to exploring the multi-versal strangeness of Killian's Towers (that...is for another day) and more. My notes have entries for Healers, Necromancers, and Sun Priests. Now I can also add more notes on Riddle Masters and Star Adepts. It was a time great productivity.
This project should feel like it could have sat on the shelf alongside Unearthed Arcana and other AD&D books circa 1985-6. I think I owe that to myself.
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