Now that a certain doctor will be on sabbatical for a while, let's do a bit of time traveling of our own. Follow me.

It was the early 1980s and PBS stations across the United States were showing British Sci-Fi shows to viewer acclaim. Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People, Sapphire and Steel. Viewers that normally didn't watch PBS were tuning in to get their Sci-Fi fix late Saturday nights. Although these shows featured lower production values than seen in most other Sci-Fi shows in the United States at the time, viewers were drawn-in by their mystery and smart storytelling, so viewer donations went up. (To the uninitiated, PBS is funded by local viewers and sponsors.)

WSDE-TV, a PBS station in Rhode Island, came up with a novel idea: Make a low-budget British Sci-Fi style show, but filmed locally, based around one of the area's most noted authors, HP Lovecraft. The episodes would be filmed in Providence, when possible, and emphasize plot, mystery, and atmosphere over flash.

An intern named Ernst Meadows came up with the initial concept: The Silver Key. A literary invention of Lovecraft's, the key would allow the show's characters to mysteriously travel any where and any time, simply by inserting the key in a threshold of some type: a door, a gate, a tomb, and simply walking through. No spacecraft interior, no weird noises, and no special effects needed. And it left the show wide open for any type of stories to be told. Creating a main protagonist was simple, they would just use Lovecraft's own Randolph Carter, the literary possessor of the Silver Key, and Carter would just pick-up traveling companions along the way.

It was originally simply titled "The Silver Key". However, the station manager, Edwin Lionsdale, wanted to cash-in on the regional popularity of Doctor Who, as they were still showing episodes featuring Tom Baker. So, Lionsdale re-titled the show "Pilgrim Weird", thinking it would strike a chord with viewers.

Lionsdale hired a local community theatre actor named Billy Parsons to play the role of Randolph Carter. Parsons was best know in the area for a local dinner theatre he ran that adapted Sherlock Holmes stories for their "Friday's Date with Mystery" show. As a local, Parsons loved the idea of playing Randolph Carter, and threw himself into the role, and was known to stay in character through the whole shoot.

Both Lionsdale and Meadows wrote the first episode, and then took turns alternating writing and directing duties for the other episodes, bringing in a few local novice writers when they could. Parsons spearheaded the revolving cast, which mostly consisted of his theatre regulars and other novice locals. However, Parsons was reportedly a good teacher and walked everyone through their roles to much acclaim. However, because everyone had 'day jobs', each episode took sixteen days to film.

Pilgrim Weird aired, by surprise, in place of the regularly scheduled Sunday night episode of The Star Lost, and was an immediate local hit. It was immediately on everyone's minds and mouths in Providence, and made the area proud to have produced such a novel show. Lionsdale aired an encore presentation of the first episode the following Friday evening, using a large word of mouth and flyer campaign during the week.

Word quickly got out to the PBS station manger at WGGH in Boston, who was a big fan of Doctor Who, even having traveled to England just to meet Tom Baker at a media convention that was held to promote the show in syndication. A deal was struck, and WGGH started to air Pilgrim Weird episodes one week after their premiere in Rhode Island. This was actually due to necessity, as limited funds prevented the reproduction of the studio video tapes they were filmed on. In Boston, word got out quickly, and lightning struck twice. Pilgrim Weird was an over night hit in the city.

Soon, Pilgrim Weird was being shown on fourteen different PBS stations across the region. All stations forwarding the episode tapes to the next station on the list, then finally back to WSDE. It was a regional hit propelled by word of mouth. It's unclear storylines worked in its favor, with people standing around the water cooler at work on Mondays, trying to discern the plot points of the previous episode.

Then, came the call from Virginia.

PBS headquarters contacted Lionsdale about airing Pilgrim Weird nationally, as a summer series, in the timeslots that Doctor Who was currently airing on. The catch was that they needed twelve episodes to launch. Lionsdale said no problem, and signed a contract via fax.

It seemed like a good move. After all, they were already six episodes in, and the people of Providence were behind them. Lionsdale and Meadows also had conceived a cost cutting idea for the next three episodes that would also address viewer feedback, stating those episodes were unclear and confusing. The next three episodes would find Carter and his current companion, Delta West, traveling back in time to the events of the first three episodes of the series. New footage of them would be intercut with existing footage. The new footage would expand and explain the existing plotlines better, with Carter having to explain the events to Delta, and eventually tie all three storylines together. The rest of the season would feature two episodes adapted straight from Lovecraft stories and one original story that had come to Meadows in a dream.

In preparation, Lionsdale went to re-view the first episode, and was shocked to find it completely blank. In a panic, he tried all the existing tapes. They were all blank. Their investigation found that the night manager at a PBS station in Philadelphia had wiped the tapes for reuse, in accordance with their stations policy, unaware they were the only copies in existence.

Because of the loss of the original episodes, Lionsdale was in default of his contract, as he would be unable to produce twelve completely new episodes in the short time allotted. What resulted was the show entering into legal limbo for the next two years, as the contract dispute was sorted out. The court eventually ruled that Lionsdale had acted in good faith, and was in breach of contract due to no fault of his own.

There was discussion of starting the show over, refilming new streamlined versions of the first six episodes, however in the two years that had passed, public interest in the show had waned. Eventually, the idea of a revival series was scrapped.

Parsons continued to work his dinner theatre for many years more. Reportedly, he and Meadows filmed a pilot with Parsons portraying the title character in 'The Weird Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'. This loose adaption of 'Hounds of the Baskervilles' found the famous detective trying to deduce the true identity of a deadly Werewolf. Apparently, it was shopped around to a few local stations and aired once, at midnight, at a Providence film festival, but it is considered lost and forgotten.

What's left of the show now is just anecdotal information from people's memories, which are unfortunately, very contradictory. Episode lists are contradictory, as well a synopses. Much of this is attributed to the eclectic nature of the stories to begin with. Below is what is mostly considered to be the most accurate episode order, titles, and synopses:

Season 1 - All lost

1. Twice Upon a Time - Novice horror writer Nathan Wyles is working night security at a port dock when he sees strange tentacles coming out of the water, and meets the bizarre Randolph Carter. Together, they try to work out what is drawing the sea creature to attack land.

2. The Black Lock - Carter and Nathan explore a cemetery where the spirits of Civil War soldiers seem compelled to fight each other for eternity. The only clue to the mystery is a tomb with a strange obsidian lock on it.

3. Midnight's Edge - A seance releases an invisible poltergeist on a group of party goers in 1918. Carter and Nathan must devise a way to contain the spirit. First appearance of Delta West, but as a background character.

4. The Known Unknown - Carter and Nathan explore what appears to be ancient library, only to discover it's on a huge spacecraft in orbit around Mars. There they meet a mysterious librarian. Although not mentioned by name, fan speculation and rumor suggests that the librarian is HG Wells, although this is unconfirmed. Nathan stays aboard ship to travel the universe in the Cosmic Library.

5. Wednesday's Child - Carter picks up a new traveling companion, the oddball flapper named Delta West. Together, they try to solve a murder at an old dark house, that turns out to be alive, and the murderer itself. Reportedly many of the sets and props were reused from the 'Midnight's Edge' episode.

6. How Grey is Your Tomorrow? - In the future, impoverished people sell their actual dreams and hopes to the idle rich, just for food to get by. These are permanently removed from their minds via technology. Disgusted by the society, Carter considers going back in time, to end the life of the woman who created the technology to begin with, before she can create it. Widely regarded as the best episode, the story's resolution is actually disputed. Note: Anecdotal information about this episode suggests that conflicting accounts of its resolution stem from the episode featuring multiple alternate timelines and possible outcomes.

Season 2 - Early concepts only, not fully written. Note that these synopses are all based on rumors and hazy memories.

7. Thrice Upon a Time - Carter finds himself back at the night he met Nathan, and attempts to save the life of a woman killed by the prehistoric squid, without altering any more of the timeline.

8. The Black Key - Carter and Delta try to stop Carter and Nathan from opening the tomb, without being discovered.

9. Midnight's Folly - Carter and Delta discover that the poltergeist is the spirit of Florence Reynolds, the woman who died on the dock in the first episode, and her spirit has been following Carter through the doorways all this time.

10. Cool Air - based on the short story

11. Vampires in Salem - based on a dream by Meadows. Carter discovers that a vampire invasion was the real cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Allegedly, a witch would become his new traveling companion.

12. The Unnameable - based on the short story

Sadly, Pilgrim Weird is now just the stuff of fan speculation and convention rumors, both of which are quickly fading with time. No one associated with the production of the show are still among the living. I haven't even heard it mentioned at a convention since the early 90s. I only know of it myself because I lived in Philadelphia at that time it aired, and my Mom and Dad would talk about it. I wasn't allowed to watch it, as they felt it too bizarre and intense for me. I do recall hearing a lot about it at school on Mondays as well, and vaguely remember a local ad for it. It was at my first Star Trek convention in 1987 that I heard other people reminiscing about it. My mother's only recollection of it was that it was "creepy scary, because it made you think about creepy scary things". These days, it's less than a footnote in the history of American Sci-Fi, and sadly is remembered less and less every year.

I present this bot as an homage not just to this forgotten series, but to the spirit in which it was made. There's something noble about a group of creative people going out and fearlessly making a home-brewed show and airing it locally on public television, especially for the time. (Please understand how costly cameras and studio video tapes were at the time.) Although I've never seen the show, I admire the heart and myth of it. In strange way, I miss it. To be clear, I miss hearing about. I miss the speculation. I miss the discussion. I miss the rumors. I miss trying to cobble together the conflicting story points. I miss the mystery of it.

In this bot, you take on the role of Randolph Carter's new traveling companion. It's best to play as a normal person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Think of it as a rival TV series.

I hope that this odd bot allows the myth of Pilgrim Weird to live on just a little bit longer. It's from another time, a better time, when there was still wonder in the world.

PS: Never sell your dreams, no matter how much they offer you. The very idea just terrifies me.

This bot it dedicated to: Shaelyn, for bringing class to.everything around her.

NOTE: The Silver Key can have a mind of its own. If you end up in a repeat location, step out of character and tell it to reroll the location.