Just because a wizard doesn't use dark magic doesn't mean that he CAN'T.

"Most of us go through life with blinders on, knowing only that one little station to which we were born. But now you, on the other hand, have had the rare privilege of escaping your bonds for just a spell....to see life from an entirely new perspective. How you choose to use that information is entirely up to you." - Roddy McDowall

I watched OVERBOARD! last week and wondered how far I could compress the movie into a bite-sized bit of content and still have it retain it's true meaning. Here's what I came up with. Four minutes and Nineteen seconds. Not bad. Next time we'll break the 4 minute barrier for sure.

"The veil of reality can only be pulled back so far, mortal. Take your stand, and fight the Darkness!"

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track Six

Song: Gloryhole
Artist: Trust
Album: TR/ST
Quote: Ellia/The Tome of Eternal Darkness

IN WHICH: The Essence of Mantorok comes to the Guardians of Light at last, bringing Hope.

Although it may seem at times that evil permanently has the upper hand, such is not the case. All around us, in every walk of life, the forces of good are always working for the Glory of the Lord.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

These people are DEAD Burke!!! Don't you have any idea what you've done here? Well I'm going to make sure they nail you right to the wall for this. You're not going to sleaze your way out of this one. RIGHT TO THE WALL.

They will live again in Freedom in the Garden of the Lord. They will walk behind the ploughshare; They will put away the sword. The chain will be broken and all men will have their reward! Will you join in our Crusade? Who will be strong and Stand with me? Somewhere beyond the Barricade is there a World you long to see? Do you hear the People sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the Future that they bring when Tomorrow comes!

Trinity: Track Twenty
Song: Finale/Do You Hear The People Sing?
Artist: John Cameron, Claude-Michel Schonberg
Album: Les Miserables Original Broadway Recording

"There is much you do not know...and much you never will."

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track Five

Scene: The Absent Horror (Xel'lotath)
Artists: Voices (Jennifer Hale/Kim Mai Guest/Richard Doyle)
Game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Quote: Xel'lotath/Eternal Darkness

IN WHICH: Pious Augustus makes contact with Xel'lotath from beyond the boundaries of our Reality. They discuss a possible flaw in the two thousand year plan to summon the Ancient of Insanity into our Universe.

This is the first of three major cutscenes that are scattered throughout the Mix which feature Xel'lotath and Pious Augustus discussing various aspects of their long term plan to bring Eternal Darkness to our world. Only the coming planetary alignment will generate enough Power to fuel the massive summoning spell. The devastating effects of Insanity gripping our world can be felt as the Great Ancient's time approaches.

"You must forget the past. Despite who you are now, you will become something more, just as I have. But the sacrifice must be made. We must remain here and guard the Artifact. Dark things will come to claim it, and you must be strong to keep it from them. Without your sacrifice, the world will fall into Eternal Darkness."

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track Four

Song: The Gift of Forever
Artist: Steve Henifin
Album: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem OST
Quote: Chandra (Paula Tiso) / Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

IN WHICH: In the distant past, a Princess in Persia sends her would be suitor, Karim, on a quest to retrieve THE VEIL OF ULYAOTH from deep within the Forgotten Temple. They both die so that their Spirits may remain behind to guard the Artifact throughout the ages.

Karim is the coolest. So is his song.

"The Ancient’s influence was incredible. From all walks of life, to all parts of our world, their tendrils crept and wrought their insidious damage. With the fear of devilry running rampant, the Ancient’s corruption extended far beyond the knowledge, corrupting all that could be corrupted."

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track Three

Song: Dark Wings Dark Words
Artist: Ramin Djawadi
Album: Game of Thrones OST
Quote: Edward Roivas/The Tome of Eternal Darkness

IN WHICH: Alex Roivas, the Guardian of Light, pores over the Tome of Eternal Darkness in an effort to understand the diabolical influence of Xel'lotath and those from the distant past that stood against the Darkness.

As a secondary motif for the Mix I chose two different versions of the main theme from Game of Thrones, placing one near the beginning and one near the end. Ramin Djawadi is a musical genius who has composed one of the most incredible and well known themes of our age. This version of the theme is particularly foreboding and helps to underscore the power of the evil that silently encroaches upon us all.

"Thy time is done Great Ancient. Forever in shadow will you be, Master of Chaos! And to fade to nothing in obscurity will be thy fate. My master has planned many millennia for this day. It is the true chaos of all things that you now must be entombed amongst the beings of flesh and bone."

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track Two

Scene: The Binding of the Corpse God
Artist: Silicon Knights
Game: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Quote: Pious Augustus/The Tome of Eternal Darkness

IN WHICH: Pious Augustus, Liche servant of the Darkness, binds the Great Ancient Mantorok and upsets the Eternal Balance which imprisons the three Ancients and keeps them separate from our Reality. With the power of Mantorok nullified, the way is now open for Xel'lotath, the Great Ancient of Insanity, to extend It's influence and prepare to enter our Universe.

No idea what's going on? Check out the first Fireside Chat I made for Eternal Darkness four years ago. You'll find it over in CHRIS VIDS. This is one of the old Feet-on-the-wall vids from yesteryear, so Foot haters, beware! Feet aren't disgusting, people are. Your Feet reflect your soul, believe it or not. But anyways, yeah check it out if you want information on the Story of Eternal Darkness. Later!

"You are one of the chosen many, flesh and blood. It is now your destiny to fight the Eternal Darkness.. You hold one of Mantorok’s hearts. To some it is a source of great power. From these people, you must defend it, lest they use it to destroy what little brightness your world has left in it... Guard it well!"

ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH: Track One

Song: The Power
Artist: Jerry Goldsmith
Album: Poltergeist 2: The Other Side OST
Quote: Mantorok/Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

IN WHICH: As the planetary alignment approaches, the chosen gather atop a spire of stone to be gifted with the Power to destroy evil.

It's that time of year again. It's time to put an end to the endless insanity and screaming nothingness of Xel'lotath once and for all.

ESCAPE FROM SUBURBIA

All versions of ETERNAL DARKNESS use Jerry Goldsmith's score from Poltergeist 2: The Other Side as a base, so I figured before we jump into that it would be a good time to revisit the climactic scene from the first movie. Forty One years after it was released it remains one of the most intense and frankly satisfying endings in motion picture history.

Batai : "We hoped our probe would encounter someone in the future. Someone who could be a teacher. Someone who could tell the others about us."

Capt. Picard : "Oh... Oh, it's me... Isn't it? I'm the someone. I'm the one it finds. That's what this launching is. A probe that finds me, in the future."

Eline : "The rest of us have been gone a thousand years. If you remember what we were, and how we lived, then we'll have found life again. Now we live in you. Tell them of us... my darling."

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Fifteen

Song: The Inner Light
Artist: Jay Chattaway
Album: The Best of Star Trek Volume One
Quotes: From The Inner Light (Star Trek TNG Season 5: Episode 25)

Well, we made it. Thank you all who have come on this journey with me. THE INNER LIGHT is regarded by many as the absolute pinnacle of excellence that The Next Generation was so well known for. For those who are unfamiliar with this episode, the Enterprise encounters an ancient probe in deep space which mentally attaches itself to Captain Picard, rendering him unconscious. He awakens in an unfamiliar land as a different person, and proceeds to live an entire lifetime inside his mind in the span of 30 minutes on the ship. In that lifetime he experiences all the things that he sacrificed in order to become a Starfleet Captain. He comes to know true love through his marriage to Eline and his two children, Batai and Meribor. He learns to play the flute and experiences the joy of music and how it can deeply touch all those whose hearts are open to it. And when the probe finally detaches and he returns to his former life, he must grapple with the devastating fact that he has lived an entire lifetime in the span of minutes, and that all those whom he loved the most have been dead for 1000 years. Inside the probe is a box containing a flute. And that's how it ends.

The emotional impact of this episode cannot be understated, and of course a huge part of that impact comes from the music. Although hard to believe, Ron Jones in fact did NOT compose the music for this episode. It was scored by Jay Chattaway, another brilliant composer who contributed so much to Star Trek over the years. This particular version of the main theme is not played during the actual episode, which emphasizes the flute portion without the full orchestra. But I feel that this version of the theme is by far the most beautiful and powerful, which is why I chose to create an entire Mix around it. It is my hope that many people will hear it in the years to come and will experience the joy that it brings.

Well that's it for that Mix! Coming up next will be the great battle against the Ancient of Insanity in ETERNAL DARKNESS: XEL'LOTATH. Much love to you all and take care out there.

Evil deeds do return to their source. They always come Full Circle, and their Evil will never end until the Circle is broken.

"There it is, ladies and gentlemen. The first and only stable wormhole known to exist. It's yours… for the right price."

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Fourteen

Song: The Price
Artist: Ron Jones
Album: Star Trek TNG Season Three OST
Quote: Bahvani/Star Trek TNG: The Price

Well, here we are at the penultimate track. I'm starting to wonder if I should have just named this mix THE INNER RON JONES, since this is the third song of his I put on here. It's a very sad and contemplative piece which plays at the end of the episode THE PRICE from the third season of The Next Generation. More than anything else it focuses on Deanna Troi and the incredibly difficult decision that she is faced with - does she stay with the man she is in love with or does she stand by her principles and let him go? The music perfectly captures this moment and the inner sorrow she feels. The song is structurally very similar to WE ARE FLESH AND BLOOD (track two) and I feel it adds a nice "bookend" to the Mix. There is ALWAYS a price that must be payed for the things we desire the most. Alone, we all must decide if the price is worth it. I'll see you all at the Inner Light.

The Avatar is ambushed by the Shadowlords of Malice, Falsehood and Cowardice in a dark and forsaken grotto. One by one they reveal themselves, bending the fabric of reality to their twisted and evil wills.

"Oh, THERE you are Peter!"

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Thirteen

Song: You are the Pan
Artist: John Williams
Album: Hook OST
Quote: Pockets (Isaiah Robinson)/Hook

My family got its first CD player for Christmas in 1991. And the very first CD I ever owned was the soundtrack to Hook. That alone should tell you all you need to know about me. Needless to say, I've been a movie score man all of my life. And in the end, I suppose it all comes down to one song. THIS song. John Williams is without a doubt one of the most accomplished film composers ever, along with Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner (God rest their talented souls). From Superman, to Indiana Jones, E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, the list of his famous works is practically endless, and many of them are featured on this channel. Hook is probably one of his lesser known scores - the movie did alright back in the day, but never achieved the superstar status of other Spielberg movies. However, for me, the score to Hook is one of his most powerful, and this song is the greatest of them all. Childlike wonder and beautiful innocence combine to create a melody capable of softening the hardest of hearts. It is, in my opinion, one of the greatest musical compositions ever created.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Twelve

Song: L'arena
Artist: Ennio Morricone
Album: Il Mercenario Soundtrack
Quote: Martin Luther King Jr.

The first time I heard this song was in KILL BILL: VOLUME 2, arguably one of Tarantino's best films (and that's saying a LOT considering the quality of his work). It plays during the scene where The Bride (Uma Thurman) punches her way out of a coffin buried in the ground. I've never seen Il Mercenario, which is the movie that Ennio Morricone originally composed this incredible song for, but I'm sure it added as much to that movie as it did for Quentin's. I was going to focus on the graveyard scene for the images and quotes for this track, but felt called to go in a different direction entirely. May we always remember Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, understand them, and take comfort in them...for he was a Man of God and he was correct.

So yeah we went on Millenium Force four times. It was our first ride on Day One and our last on Day Two. No matter how many times I ride it, it never gets old. We hit Steal Vengeance and Maverick three times each as well. Steal Vengeance is an Hyper Hybrid roller coaster built on the framework of the Mean Streak All I remember was screaming as we plunged twisting through a Dark Grotto of Wood.

“To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Eleven

Song: The Killing of Dumbledore
Artist: Nicholas Hooper
Album: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince OST
Quote: Albus Dumbledore/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/J.K. Rowling

SPOILER ALERT!!!! Snape kills Dumbledore. Now that we've gotten THAT out of the way, let's talk about the music that plays during that fateful scene at the end of the Half-Blood Prince. I must admit I was a little worried about how the movie would handle this scene, perhaps the most important moment in the entire series. However, my fears turned out to be baseless as Dumbledore's death scene is masterfully portrayed, from the acting to the pacing to the lighting and yes, to the music. The Harry Potter series went through four different composers during the decade it took to create all eight films. Nicholas Hooper (who also scored the Order of the Phoenix) creates an atmosphere of tension and dread as he uses an extremely slow buildup of strings which builds to a terrible crescendo as Albus Dumbledore is killed by Severus Snape. The music couldn't be any more fitting here and it elevates this devastating scene to the very heights of cinematic achievement.

An endless loop of a screaming red haired woman.

"Damn you, Worf! You'd let me go without saying another word, wouldn't you?"
"What needs to be said?"
"Nothing. Everything. We're about to go our separate ways again."

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Ten

Song: Unfinished Business
Artist: Ron Jones
Album: Star Trek TNG Season Two OST
Quote: Worf and K'Ehleyr/Star Trek Season 2/The Emissary

You may be wondering why I chose to put the theme song to a Klingon sex scene on the Mix. Well, of course, it's Ron Jones, so there's that. But beyond that I've always found The Emissary to be one of the strongest episodes from Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, mainly because of the strength of actress Suzie Plakson who plays Worf's love interest, K'Ehleyr. Their chemistry together is, shall we say, explosive, and I think the song Unfinished Business captures that relationship perfectly. The "events" of that night would lead to the birth of Worf's son Alexander, who plays a significant role throughout the rest of the series. Well, I could babble on about Star Trek until the end of Time but let's just leave it there for now.

"Right behind you I see the millions,
On you I see the glory!
From you I get opinions,
From you I get the story!"

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Nine

Song: Listening to You
Artist: The Who
Album: Tommy (Broadway Recording)
Quote: Listening to You (Lyrics)

I've never seen Tommy except for like a second of that acid trip movie. But I LOVE the orginal broadway recording with Michael Cerveris. So many incredibly talented people worked together to create something truly AWESOME.

"The wind blows hard against this mountainside
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road"

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Eight

Song: Kyrie
Artist: Mr. Mister
Album: Welcome to the Real World
Quote: Kyrie (Lyrics)

Kyrie Eleison. Translated from Greek it means "Lord have mercy". I had to look that up. Despite the song being released 38 years ago and having heard it countless times AND having been raised Roman Catholic I just didn't know what it meant. I obviously knew it was about the Almighty but I thought it meant something like "Praise the Lord". But nope. It means "Lord have mercy" and every human being on this planet is in need of that, myself included. The fact that this song reached into the stratosphere of popularity back in the day (it was number one for two weeks in 1986) is a testament to not only the incredible talent of Mr. Mister but also to the message that it sends. One of the great songs of yesteryear and more relevant than ever in these dark times.

"You’re our only hope, Samus.

Should we fall, the Ing will look to the stars for new planets to ravage and conquer. Your species could be their next victims. Do not relent. Press on! Once you reach the Sky Temple let nothing stay your hand.

Let the Light of Aether be your guide. May it serve you well in the darkness!"

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Seven

Song: Sector Zero
Artist: Kuniaki Haishima
Album: Metroid: OtherM OST
Quote: U-Mos/Metroid Prime 2: Echos

There's a lot of different Metroid going on in this one, but at my core I'm always gonna be an Echos man. And trust me, those things in Metroid Dread ARE the Ing, just in robot form. This song was also on the last mix I put up, THE MASTER SWORD, but I think it works better here. It was always Samus' song anyways, not Links. I don't know what my obsession is with this song, to me it just feels so.....desperate. I used to play Other M just to get to this part to listen to it. Oh, and I liked Other M. Kind of.

"You have no right to ask me how I feel
You have no right to speak to me so kind"

THE INNER LIGHT: Track Six

Song: Separate Lives
Artists: Phil Collins/Marilyn Martin
Album: White Nights OST
Quote: Lyrics (Separate Lives)

I've never even seen White Nights. I think it's about some Russian Ballet dude twirling on his toes or something. I guess it was just one of those movies that never "happened" for me. Oh, but I remember this song from back in the day. It was HUGE. It was the kind of slow song they would play at those dreaded swim meet dances or 8th Grade "Fun Nights". Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin hit it out of the park with this one. It's a good song to sing Karaoke as well, if you can find the right partner. Great stuff.