Okay, this isn't your standard trauma but it's been bugging me for years. It's the major pop culture mystery memory that I've never been able to solve, so maybe someone here can help!
Anyway, this is in the early '60s (probably '65 or earlier), and I'm visiting my grandmother's house. For some reason am horribly sick and kind of delusional/hallucinating (and somewhere around 5-8 years old). In the afternoon I remember seeing a T.V. show that's remained in my brain and I can't figure out what it was or why I remember it.
What I do remember is some kids (maybe two to four boys in the 10-15 year old range) on a raft in a river or a marshy area. I have the idea that they've accidentally traveled back in time. I think (this is very tentative) that maybe they were in a natural history museum and entered an exhibit and found themselves transformed back into prehistoric time. There might be dinosaurs. One of them is blaming another for getting them into that mess. I think it was in black and white (I think my grandmother had color T.V. at the time).
I think it was a series or serial of the kind they had on MICKEY MOUSE CLUB or later on THE BANANA SPLITS. I sort of remember seeing it more than once but that one awful afternoon when I was really sick stands out. So it's related to trauma even if it didn't really cause it.
Would be really grateful for any help in tracking this thing down.
—Mike F.
UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Special thanks to reader tychoanomaly for naming it with JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME.
'Journey to the Beginning of Time'. This was a mid-1960's American reworking of the mid-1950's Czech film by Karel Zeman. The American version was cut up into a serial that played on many local station kids' shows. It's better than you might think.
If it wasn't for the dates I'd say this was Land Of The Lost – but that's from the '70s. Father, son, and tomboyish daughter get sent to another universe where there's dinosaurs, cavemen, and Sleeslaks….
"‘Journey to the Beginning of Time’. This was a mid-1960′s American reworking of the mid-1950′s Czech film by Karel Zeman"
Looks like we have a winner! Many thanks!!!!
I now see the whole thing is on youtube in both the original czech and american dubbed versions. I think my childhood fascination with dinosaurs came at least partly from this and I'll be checking it out in detail.
I think I was confused because I thought it had been on Mickey Mouse Club but it must have been part of some other kids show.
I used to have this film on Goodtimes VHS (Man I miss those they had every b movie).
I would watch it and Planet Of Dinosaurs regularly as a kid.