The realisation that my next big milestone is 50 has had a funny effect on rearranging my mental furniture. Those picture-perfect moments I chased in my twenties, the ones that I thought would be etched in my memory forever have softened and blurred, like watercolors left in the rain.
Now it's the little weird mishaps, the glorious imperfections – the long bus ride on the number 5 after missing the last train from Central London, sitting in a cold tent in a campsite in Snowdonia sharing out a Kitkat Chunky between 4 of you because you forgot the shops would close for a Bank Holiday, walking around London in the early hours with a dear friend after forgetting where we parked the car after a long walk to combat our shared insomnia – those are the memories that have truly stuck with me. They have a bit of grit, a little friction, something to hold onto.
And isn't that true of so much in life? We build these shrines to the things we loved, the touchstones of our youth. That movie that wasn't just a movie, but a pure shot of wonder (The Goonies) or that cartoon that sparked our imagination (The Mysterious Cities of Gold). So when new versions arrive, shiny and different, our first instinct can be a protective groan of ‘It's not the same!’ forgetting that we aren't either.
The internet can fan the flames of this resistance as fandoms can turn fierce when beloved stories are reimagined for a new generation. We see it all the time but I saw it with the reimagined and updated He-Man, She-Ra and Carmen Sandiego – the list goes on. There's a powerful pull to our nostalgia, a comforting familiarity in the echoes of the past but nostalgia, like any strong emotion, can be manipulated. Those Facebook groups painting the past in hues of pure gold often gloss over the less-than-perfect realities. It’s easy to fall into the trap of 'hauntology,' a longing for a past that never quite existed, a phantom limb of what could have been.
Once I’d got over the difference in voice actors, animation and some characterisation, the MCOG finale proved to be every bit as amazing as I’d hoped and more.
I'm not perfect and am not immune to this either, I have to admit. When the second season of The Mysterious Cities of Gold released some 30 years after the original, my initial reaction was…well, muted. It felt different. Wrong even. How could they have ruined such a cherished show from my childhood? But then, I took a breath. I gave my head a wobble and I realized the issue wasn't the show; it was me. It was a good continuation, even great, but it wasn't the carbon copy I'd built up in my mind over years of rewatches, reading fan theories and wishful thinking.
Once I shifted my perspective, once I truly recontextualized the situation – a continuation of a beloved story, guided by some of its original creators after all this time – it felt like a gift. No more fan-fics confined to message boards; this was the real deal unfolding. And you know what? The show blossomed beautifully over the following two seasons, ending in the prefect way that felt worthwhile after 40 years.
Growing older isn't about accumulating absolute wisdom as the world keeps turning and new perspectives emerge. Just because we've clocked more years doesn't automatically grant us superior insight – the current global political landscape certainly proves that point. It's easy to fall into that Simpsons meme:
No-one wants to think that they are out of touch, but it does sneak up on you.
But this isn't some self-indulgent rant about how things were ‘better back then.’
It's about something bigger. It's about recognizing that the joy we found in something as children or young adults was often tied to that particular moment in our lives, our specific experiences, the people we shared it with. To expect a new iteration to perfectly replicate that feeling is often setting it up for failure.
Instead, what if we approached new ideas, and perspectives with open hearts and minds? What if we allowed them to spark that same sense of wonder in a new generation? Their connection to it will be different, colored by their own experiences, their own world and that's okay. It doesn't diminish what the original meant to us but simply means that wonder can bloom in different gardens.
Learn from your experiences, absolutely, but don't let nostalgia become a weapon with which to bludgeon and dismiss the passions of the young. Let's appreciate the echoes of the past while embracing the vibrant possibilities of the present. Let's allow new flames to flicker and grow, even if they cast a slightly different light. After all, the magic lies in the spark, not just the memory of the original fire.
LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) -Complete Series Review
LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East
LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review
LINK- MCOG Soundtrack on Vinyl Review
LINK- Twin Peaks: The Return Series Review
LINK- Secret History of Twin Peaks: Book Review