Traumafessions :: Reader Heather on the Tristar Pegasus

I was afraid of many things as a child, but nothing proved to traumatize me more than the old Tristar opening before movies with the Pegasus running towards the screen. I can honestly say that I have never watched that little 15 second opening all the way through. When I was young, I was convinced that if I watched it all the way through, the Pegasus would jump through the TV and attack me. (Which makes no sense, seeing as the Pegasus of mythology was a good creature and I knew this, being a mythology nerd from a young age.) I would run out of the room or hide behind a couch as soon as I heard the highly recognizable music. Everyone in my family found this amusing, but at the time I was scared to death.

A few years back, I got bored and popped in an old VHS tape I hadn't watched in years. As I stood in the middle of my room contemplating fast forwarding, I heard the music and saw the Pegasus head enter the screen. I lost my breath, my chest tightened, and the sense of doom I felt was overwhelming. The Tristar Pegasus caused an irrational minor panic attack. You think I would be over this by now, but to this day, at 23, I cannot watch that opening.