Eclipse Talisman fear and gubger are two interesting concepts that intersect the realms of spirituality and folklore. The Eclipse Talisman refers to an object or symbol believed to possess mystical powers and provide protection during solar eclipses. In ancient civilizations, such as the Mayans and the Aztecs, solar eclipses were seen as cosmic events of significant importance. They were often associated with fear and believed to bring about negative consequences such as famine, death, or the anger of gods. To counter these fears, people turned to various talismans and amulets, including the Eclipse Talisman, to ward off evil and ensure their safety. The fear surrounding solar eclipses can be attributed to the mysterious and awe-inspiring nature of these celestial events.

The Worst Witch (1986) — Harriet Potter and the Prisoner of Halloween

Justin’s rating: Brooms with phones? What will they think of next!

Justin’s review: A wizarding school set in a British castle. A mean potions master. Flights on broomsticks. Invisibility spells. A flighty headmaster. Cat familiars. Clearly, J.K. Rowling didn’t conjure up Harry Potter out of thin air, as the idea of magicians being trained at boarding schools actually dates back to 1974’s The Worst Witch. That series, which is quite popular in its own right, spawned a whole franchise that included a few TV series and a stage play.

However, today we’re going to focus on the first adaptation of the books: A made-for-TV movie in 1986 that stars a very young Fairuza Balk (Return to Oz), Charlotte Rae (Facts of Life), and Tim Curry (Clue). Balk is Mildred Hubble, an oh-so-slightly clumsy first-year witch who is the only kid in this all-girls school who isn’t instantly perfect. Thus, she’s the “worst” witch who does things like stumble into other kids and not get her potion mixture right. This marks her for extreme persecution by fellow students and Miss Hardbroom, who I’m convinced was Severus Snape’s mother.

If you’re looking for a movie where your lead character says “Sorry!” and makes apologetic faces a lot, you’re in for the 70 minutes of your dreams. For the rest of us, we’ll make do with the best special effects that mid-80s British TV studios could create. It’s actually kind of charming.

The plot loosely follows Mildred as she bumbles her way through her first year while the school headmistress’ twin sister shows up as an evil witch trying to destroy the place. She also has to contend with a rival girl named Ethel, who at one point is turned into a pig. I’m sure it was the highlight of Balk’s career to spend several scenes acting against a swine. Oh, and the whole school has the biggest estrogen crush on the Grand Wizard (Curry), who is visiting on Halloween. No, it’s not creepy that kids are shown kissing photos of an adult man, why do you ask?

But if you had to ask me what I liked the best about The Worst Witch, I would reply instantly — and without any sarcasm — “the soundtrack.” This features a synth score that is so incredibly cheesy that it laps itself and becomes amazing. It’s like getting blasted with EPCOT’s Future World from the 1980s, if that analogy makes any sense. And on top of that, there is a smattering of totally terrible musical numbers that, again, wrap around the world to go from “bad” to “bodacious:”

And then when you add in Tim Curry, who arrives swooping down with a cape wider than an Airbus, a bat bow tie, and his trademark silky voice, you kind of don’t want to be anywhere else. It’s all silly and colorful and weird, the kind of thing that’s aimed to delight kids but may end up pleasing the campy at heart as well.

While this wasn’t part of my childhood, you won’t have to go far to find someone who grew up watching this every Halloween and knowing every line verbatim. Maybe the best thing I can say is that I’d watch this over two, maybe three of the actual Harry Potter movies.

Didja notice?

• The blow-up skeleton in the classroom
• Tim Curry is the only guy in this entire movie
• Well that’s a horrible school song
• These bad witches look like they raided the remnants of an after-Halloween sale at a costume shop
• Every time this movie starts in on a musical number, plug your ears FAST
• Cats love to fly and be held by screaming girls, apparently
• Kids making mildly scary faces is the most terrifying thing ever

The Revenant Review

This review is part of the Daddy Dreadful review series.

Daddy Dreadful Review – The Worst Witch (1986)

I can’t help but to have a bit of anxiety when revisiting the influential films of my childhood even as I am excited to watch them with my son and see them anew through his eyes. Ultimately, it may be disheartening to have my fond memories tainted by the viewing of a film that clearly hasn’t aged well. Of course, nostalgia can carry us a long way, and I have to assume that is largely the case with the enduring popularity of 1986’s The Worst Witch. My wife watched this movie every Halloween season on a well-worn VHS recorded from television throughout her childhood. As we sat down to watch it with my son (age three) – my first viewing and his – she texted her two brothers a screen shot and they too felt compelled to find a copy and watch it that same night.

The Worst Witch is based on the Jill Murphy’s children’s book of the same name. It stars Fairuza Balk in her second of three films involving witches in her career, the first being 1985’s Return to Oz and the next 1996’s The Craft. Also starring are Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae, and Tim Curry. The film was a collaboration between HBO and UK television, and the production quality is clearly minimal. The editing is shoddy and the story, especially the climax, is weak. There are three songs of varying quality: the first is cute and probably the best, the second catchy for kids but Charlotte Rae certainly wasn’t going to win any vocalist awards for it, and third one, performed by a confused-looking Tim Curry before a green screen, is an acid-trip of 1980’s kitsch. Rock Horror this ain’t. In addition to the worst witch, the film may also showcase the worst lyrics:

Your dentist could turn into a queen,
Has anybody seen my tambourine?

Of course, none of this mattered to my son. He loved Aggie’s song and sang it for days. I thought he’d be bored with the fairly slow pace of the movie but he asked to watch it again and again as the month of October went along. It’s a harmless film with nothing objectionable. I have to admit that there is a minor charm to all, and seeing the similarities that J.K Rowling would employ in the Harry Potter series can on its own occupy the focus of one’s viewing. As a bat lover my eyes widened when one girl briefly walked in with a live megabat hanging from her hand, and I wish we could have seen more of that. My wife recognizes the film’s shortcomings but, knowing it word for word, doesn’t adore it any less. Who am I to shit in their punch bowl?

Recommended Age: 3+
Final Thought: Soft recommendation. If you’re nostalgic for it, indulge to your heart’s content. No judgement here. For the kids it’s probably best for the preschool crowd before they graduate to Hogwarts. If you’ve never seen it before and want to, you might want a hard drink handy.

#BlastfromthePast: The Worst Witch (1986)

Welcome to a suitably spooky DeLorean ride for Halloween on this week’s #BlastfromthePast. This week, we hop on our broomsticks to 1986, when the then 11 year old Fairuza Balk (Return to Oz, The Craft) took up the role of one of Britain’s best loved witches.

Originally airing on ITV in October of that year, The Worst Witch had started life some ten years before as the first in a series of bestselling novels by popular children’s author Jill Murphy. This feature length adaptation of the first book in the series was to be the first of three TV adaptations – including a long running series in 1998, and now a new version of the show on CBBC and Netflix in 2017 – but arguably, in my view, one of its best.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Worst Witch follows the misadventures of Mildred Hubble, a witch-in-training at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches (St Michael’s College in Tenbury doubling up as the academy for this adaptation) who means well but frequently gets everything wrong, leading to her being dubbed the worst witch in the entire academy.

Her best friend Maud Warlock is often along for her misadventures, but matters aren’t usually helped by the fact that her frosty form mistress, Miss Hardbroom, is always on her case, as is teacher’s pet and vindictive goody goody, Ethel Hallow. The events of the first book and the 1986 film chronicle Mildred’s first term at the academy, with laughter potions going wrong, pupils being turned into pigs, a broomstick formation display at the Halloween ceremony going spectacularly tits up, and Miss Cackle’s wicked twin sister Agatha, and her coven of cronies, plotting to take over the entire school and turn everyone into toads.

The 1986 version finds Balk in the role of Mildred Hubble, with The Avengers star Diana Rigg in the role of a dramatic and comically camp Miss Hardbroom, whilst Charlotte Rae takes on both Miss Cackle and Agatha, and the Sweet Transvestite himself, Tim Curry, plays the Grand Wizard.

This adaptation wasn’t met in high regard by Jill Murphy herself, but so many elements to this film make this entertaining and compulsive viewing for me every Halloween, including, but not limited to:

• The dodgy 80s early CGI/green screen. There’s plenty of it abounding in this version but the flight sequences of the Grand Wizard in particular make him look, as me and my sisters observed, like a sock has been cut and pasted into the scenery.
• The songs by Don Black and Charles Strouse. Only three of them, admittedly, but the title song, sung with total theatrical abandon by a young Bonnie Langford, and the songs by both Agatha and the Covens’ ‘Queen Aggie’s School’ and the Grand Wizard’s song at the Halloween ceremony are OTT spectacles of the best kind. Especially lyrics in the latter along the lines of ‘Anything can happen on Halloween, your dentist could turn into the Queen’. Quite.
• The fact it sticks to the plot line of the book. More so than other adaptations, the 1998 series in particular, it doesn’t deviate by having Ethel turned into a pig then a duck before she becomes herself again, or by Mildred getting Maud to help her fight Agatha and her coven.
• It’s really funny in places. Charlotte Rae’s portrayal of Agatha, and her pairing with bumbling sidekick Delilah (played by Su Elliott) is a hoot. Similarly, Miss Cackle’s niece, the straight talking, trashy but flashy Donna (played by Kate Buckley), looking every inch like she has stepped out of CBGBs, is a hoot and greatly underused.

But more than anything, I greatly identified with the character of Mildred Hubble. Growing up, as the title song says, isn’t easy, and everyone can identify, through the medium of a fantasy, magical witches’ academy, the themes of being bullied, not being great academically, and just generally trying to find your place in the world with the best of intentions.

The full 1986 film is on YouTube thankfully, and is well worth a watch after a round of trick or treating this weekend. Charmingly shoddy and retro, but bewitching all the same.

What are your memories of this week’s #BlastfromthePast? Tweet me now @ThePensmith10 using the hashtag #BlastfromthePast and I may feature some of your Tweets in next week’s blog!

The fear surrounding solar eclipses can be attributed to the mysterious and awe-inspiring nature of these celestial events. The sudden darkness that blankets the sky during an eclipse can be unsettling, as it disrupts the familiar cycle of day and night. Many cultures interpreted this disruption as a sign of impending doom, prompting the development of various rituals and superstitions to mitigate the perceived negative effects.

The Eclipse Talisman served as a physical representation of this desire for protection and was often worn or carried during an eclipse. Gubger, on the other hand, is a term derived from Turkic folklore and represents a mythical creature or spirit that is believed to accompany and cause harm during an eclipse. Similar to the Eclipse Talisman, gubger is rooted in the fear and uncertainty surrounding eclipses. Gubger is described as a malevolent entity that preys on unsuspecting individuals during the darkness of an eclipse. It is believed to possess supernatural powers and bring misfortune or illness to those unfortunate enough to encounter it. To ward off gubger, people would perform rituals, light fires, or make loud noises during an eclipse to scare away the malevolent spirit. Both the Eclipse Talisman and gubger reflect the universal human response to the unknown and the desire for protection in times of uncertainty. While these concepts may have originated from ancient civilizations and folklore, echoes of these beliefs can still be found in contemporary society. During solar eclipses today, people often gather in groups to witness the event and share in the sense of awe and wonder. Additionally, some individuals may still choose to wear or carry talismans or amulets as a personal source of comfort and protection during these celestial events. In conclusion, the Eclipse Talisman fear and gubger highlight the primal fears and desires that arise in the face of the unknown. Solar eclipses have long captivated human imagination and inspired various rituals and superstitions. While the Eclipse Talisman serves as a symbol of protection, gubger represents the fear and belief in malevolent entities that accompany eclipses. These concepts remind us of the rich tapestry of human beliefs and the enduring power of folklore in shaping our understanding of the world around us..

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