Something Streaming This Way Comes: "In Search Of..."
Picture it: Roanoke, Virginia, the late ‘70s. I’m at my cousin Hortense’s house, I’m enjoying the wonder of a TV station that isn’t one of the precious few I’d always known in the pre-cable era, and I’m instantly gripped by the sight of a gigantic green hand gripping a starship…although I’m sure that, in my head, I was calling it a spaceship. Why? Because I didn’t know any better. Not yet, anyway.
This was my first introduction to a little show called Star Trek, a series that captured my attention immediately, and over the course of 60 all-too-short minutes, this episode - “Who Mourns for Adonais?” - made me a Trekkie, a status which remains to this day.
Having discovered Star Trek and been transformed into an obsessive fanboy overnight, I naturally started keeping my eyes open for the stars of this series as they appeared in other series, at which point I’d more often than not become fans of those series, too. Sometimes the fandom wasn’t long-standing - I can’t claim that I have T.J. Hooker: The Complete Series in my collection - but sometimes it was, and I think it’s fair to say that there’s no other post-Trek program that’s remained in my memory quite as strongly as In Search Of…, hosted by the late, great Leonard Nimoy.
Damn, Nimoy could send chills down your spine with the way he delivered some of the dialogue on that show. Indeed, his status as a narrator of strange, spooky, but ostensibly true documentaries was so profound that I’m fairly certain it was directly responsible for the way he was utilized in one of his iconic appearances on The Simpsons.
As you may recall from its opening credits, "In Search Of… “presents information based in part on theory and conjecture; the producers’ purpose is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the only one to the mystery we will examine.”
Oh, but there’s more!
During the closing credits of certain episodes, we hear Nimoy intone the following words: “Lost civilizations, extraterrestrials, myths and monsters, missing persons, magic and witchcraft, unexplained phenomenon… In Search Of… cameras are traveling the world, seeking out these great mysteries,” after which he reminds viewers that “this program was the result of the work of scientists, researchers, and a group of highly skilled technicians.”
Here are some - but certainly not all - of my favorite In Search Of… episodes that still stand tall within my fuzzy childhood memories, starting with an episode uploaded by The Museum of Classic Chicago Television that actually includes the original commercials from its airing in 1982. In addition to pulling two jingles out of the recesses of my brain, I can’t help but note that there’s at least one talking head in this particular episode who comes across so much like a Christopher Guest character that if you’d told me this was an inspiration for Corky St. Clair, I’d believe you without hesitation…but I’ll let you figure out which gentleman I’m talking about. (Trust me, there won’t be any doubt in your mind.)
I really wish this was streaming properly somewhere, but in case you’re of a mind to revisit the series in its entirety, it’s actually available on DVD, and for only $24.99, so feel free to order yourself a copy…and, hey, while you’re at it, pick one up for me, too!