The Blood Dimmed Tide

[4th Horseman]

This is my first post to this site, so please be kind. I remember waiting in great anticipation when Millenium was first released, setting the VCR for 10pm on Friday night, then racing home from work (swing shift) with the excitement level that a child has on xmas morning. I wasn't disappointed. What a great show. But as the time went by, and the direction began to change, i lost interest. I was quite surprised and very happy recently when i stumbled upon the first two full seasons sitting on the shelf at the local Borders. It brought back a lot of memories of the anticipation i had when the show was fresh, of the darkness, the use of both biblical and secular prophecy. So i decided to give Millenium another chance to pique my interest, and i have to tell you guys, this time i am HOOKED. With the exception of a couple of episodes, i feel quite guilty about giving up the show so soon. Anyway, i have re-joined the legions of loyal fans and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the 3rd season.

In Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense, does anyone remember when Chung said that you can tell a lot about a person by the books they read, he picked up a paperback with the title "On the blood-dimmed tide"...if i remember, that was a line from the Yate's poem used in the pilot by the Frenchman. Was the use in "Defense" a tribute to the pilot?

I apologize if this issue has already been discussed, but i want to thank you all for your patience and your hospitality....sincerely, Mark...

[The Old Man]

Hi Mark! Welcome to TIWWA! You may have noticed but you were out 1013th Member!

I don't think I ever spotted that link with the Frenchman before. Thanks for that.

Its also interesting to hear from someone who had not considered Millennium for some time but was reattracted to it when they saw it available on DVD. We've had many discussions on whether this sort of thing would happen!

Always good to welcome a new Member!

[Libby]

Welcome, Mark! Good to have you with us.

And well spotted! That's just the kind of in-show reference that this section of the board is all about - and personally I love it when the show does this sort of thing.

And as Graham mentioned, you're our 1,013th member. I know that doesn't quite tally with your membership number, but the important bit is at the bottom of the main page and we were all watching as that number crept towards 1,013 to see who it would be. So you have to take a bow on that account!

As you might already have noticed, we do some serious discussion of Millennium, and talk about many other things, and sometimes we just have fun!

[Guest exegesis]

This happens to be my favorite poem

it is by william butler yeats, called "The Second Coming"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: Somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

While Yeats was referring to conflict in Ireland. The wording of the poem transcends any era. It fits very well into the Millenium mythology, especially "Heading toward an Apocalypse of our own creation" .. i.e.. "The Falcon cannot hear the Falconer"

[gravity well]

You got me thinking of Millennium-istic poetry (this could be an interesting thread, though isn't there a forum for M-inspring lit? Maybe we should move, heh), and after coming up with nothing so far, I did recall 'Les Hiboux' (The Owls) by Baudelaire, James McGown translation:

The Owls

Under black yew-trees, in the shade,

The owls have kept themselves apart;

Like strange divinities, they dart

The red eye, as they meditate

They stand like statues, silent, straight

Up to the melancholy time

When, shouldering the sun aside,

Darkness establishes his state.

They teach the sage a lesson here,

That in the world he ought to fear

All movement, uproar, turbulence;

But, drunk on shadows, our strange race

Carries within the punishment

Of having yearned for change of place.

The Millennium Group (Owls, specifically it would seem) are about watching

and preparing. This movement is what keeps the world blind to reality; in all

their hustle and bustle, they aren't paying attention to the truth that's there to

see if you wish to really look. Which, post-Industrial Revolution, is pretty much

a universal theme.

[Guest exegesis]

I know owls are very prevalent in Native American mythology as harbingers of death, and act as harbingers or conduits of contact or passing through of the physical to the spiritual/supernatural world.

Owls are also believed to be guardians, often protecting the soul and acting as an escort across the plane of death.

Owls are very well represented in multiple mythologies, often as messengers or conduits involving good or evil, heaven or hell, life or death. No wonder the refrences!

In Christian belief, the Rooster represents Peter's remorse for his denial of christ.

Also the rooster announcing the rising of the sun represents Good's Triumph over evil for that day to some.

Also found this note about Roosters "During the Middle Ages, the rooster became a popular Christian image on weathervanes, also known as weather****s. Its crowing made it an emblem of the Christian's attitude of watchfulness and readiness for the sudden return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment of humankind (Mk 13:32 & 13:35-36)."

There are lots of interpretations. a lot of them are Milleniumesque enough to fit quite nicely with the pace of the show. :)

[Guest SouthernCelt]

Don't forget the ambiguous caution in "Twin Peaks": the Owls are not what they seem.

Also, if any of you have ever read Communion by Whitley Strieber, he remarked how the aliens that he believed had been abducting him at various times over his lifetime had obscured their presence by causing him to see them as creatures of the night, especially owls, when he would sense their presence outside his home.

[Guest exegesis]

Don't forget the ambiguous caution in "Twin Peaks":  the Owls are not what they seem.

Also, if any of you have ever read Communion by Whitley Strieber, he remarked how the aliens that he believed had been abducting him at various times over his lifetime had obscured their presence by causing him to see them as creatures of the night, especially owls, when he would sense their presence outside his home.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was going to mention that too., Twin Peaks was heavily rooted in native american mythology, with the white and black lodges, oil as a symbol of the ancient, and of course...owls:)

loved that show. another one that viewers were not ready for.

I have read Communion... you are correct about the creatures of the night...i had forgotten about that.

[SadEyes]

And speaking about "Jose Chung´s Doomsday Defense", don´t forget the "Spotnitz Sanatorium".