THE BOX OF DELIGHTS episode 1: When the Wolves Were Running

 

THE BOX OF DELIGHTS ep 1-When the Wolves Were Running

 

Having watched this over ten years ago and finding it boring, this sort of escaped my memory and time but not being in the Christmas Spirit, on this cold and misty December dark day, I decided to watch it under the comfort of my blankets in my warming house in my bedroom. Just the first episode. I was pleasantly surprised. All the info about it and the novel it came from as well as the book before THE BOX OF DELIGHTS can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Box_of_Delights_(TV_series)

 

This first episode sets it all up and does so with atmosphere, mystery, and Christmas spirit. There’s also a wild fling of pagan running throughout and in the first 12 minutes, young (12 year old?) Kay Harker meets an extraordinary amount of characters, both seemingly mystical and natural as he travels to his guardian’s mansion for the holidays. This is Caroline Louisa, who in the first book was a sort of magical guardian of the boy but here seems quite like a favorite and quite human and pretty aunt. On the train (and yes we see the train) Kay meets two strange men Foxy Faced Charles and Chubby Joe who seem to be wolves in human form but only after he meets the warmer and protective Cole Hawlings played so grandly by Patrick Troughton. Cole also has a dog named Barney and the man is a Punch and Judy showman who is later invited by Kay to perform for he and the Jones children who are also staying at Caroline Louisa’s named mansion. Along the way, he is told by Cole to watch out for an old woman with a ring and he explains about the Box Of Delights which allows Cole to see a Phoenix in the fire place of Cole’s present cottage (Cole says he dates back from pagan times or earlier). He also propels himself into one of Kay’s grandfather’s paintings…where a donkey picks him up.

 

So much is presented here but in style. We see and hear the sights and sounds of Christmas including shops, snowy streets, Carolers singing, and the song First Noel is imbedded in the soundtrack. There is a brightly lit day, a traveling camera over countryside greens, King Arthur’s campsite fortress which in the cliffhanger seems to be attacked as Kay rides over it on a flying horse after seeing, for the second time, Herne the Hunter. At times, it seems Kay is dreaming some of this and at other times, not. He also re-meets the Jones kids: Peter, the one who stands out most Moira who scares the cleaning girl, Jemima, and Susan, all companions in adventures yet to come.

 

Of the villain, Charles and Joe bring us to the chief evil, Abner Brown, who seems to want to end Kay, find the Box and get power, and stop the Christmas show tomorrow night at the church, the 1000 such show. He also has a henchman named Rat, a human shaped rat-man.

 

The casting here is spot on 100 percent perfect; the music a grand mix of Christmas tunes, darkness, and the type of music used on the BBC shows (especially Doctor Who during Peter Davison’s run) that show enthusiasm, mystery, and even danger and darkness, too. The interior sets are lavish and sprawling, the exterior all wonderfully executed either on location or with some kind of animation or other then-tech. It all adds up to a wonderful holiday spirit tinged with paganism, Christianity, and magic. I really enjoyed episode 1 and hopefully that will continue.

 

And wow: it put me in the spirit of Christmas mode!

 

The Wikipedia synopsis is short: Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield) is returning from boarding school for Christmas 1934 when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box. The current owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings (Patrick Troughton) whom Kay meets at the railway station. They develop an instant rapport, which leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a magician called Abner Brown (Robert Stephens) and his gang, which includes Kay's former governess.

 

The box allows the owner to shrink in size, to shapeshift, to fly, to travel to the past and to experience various magical wonders and creatures, and thus is sought for evil purposes by Abner. Cole (who turns out to be the medieval philosopher and alleged magician Ramon Llull) entrusts the box to Kay. The schoolboy then goes on to have many adventures across time as he protects the box from Abner Brown.

 

During his travels, Kay encounters many characters drawn from English folklore, history and pagan mythology including Herne the Hunter, King Arthur, Father Christmas, unicorns, Roman soldiers and medieval monks. Jenny Shirt of "We Are Cult" notes that The Box of Delights features a recurring "motif of the intertwining of paganism and Christianity".