Maddie James
Candle Cove is a fictional children's television series that was aired in the early 1970s. The story centres on a young girl named Janice who imagines herself to be friends with marionette pirates. The show was produced by Tom Thrives and Caroline Barker, who also designed and built the puppets. In 2009, Kris Straub published an online horror story with the same name, based on the fictional Candle Cove television series. The story takes the form of a thread on a fictional forum where users discuss the unusual show. In 2016, a TV series called Channel Zero was released, with its first season based on Kris Straub's Candle Cove.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of first announcement | 1970 |
| Channel | 58 |
| Date of first airing | 1971 |
| Format | Television show |
| Genre | Children's show |
| Creator | Tom Thrives |
| Director | Lynn Huntington |
| Writer | Gary McKimmon |
| Broadcaster | HeyKids |
| Inspiration | Thunderbirds |
| Number of seasons | 2 |
| Basis for Channel Zero season 1 | Yes |
| Date of Channel Zero season 1 premiere | October 11, 2016 |
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What You'll Learn
Candle Cove was a fictional children's TV show
Candle Cove was a fictional children's television show that first aired in the early 1970s. It was created by Tom Thrives, a student at the University of Ohio, who had always been interested in the artistic possibilities of puppetry in television. The show was produced by HeyKids and aired on Channel 58 in the Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area.
The show centred on a young girl named Janice, who imagines herself to be friends with marionette pirates. The pirate ship was called the Laughingstock, and the main character was Pirate Percy, who was not a very good pirate because he got scared too easily. The show also featured other characters, such as the Earl of Wax, Horace Horrible and his Rubber Fishes crew, and the Skin-Taker, a skeleton pirate who wore clothing made out of children's skin.
The production of Candle Cove took place over the course of about a year, and it was created with a very low budget. The puppets and sets were designed and built by Caroline Barker and Mary Prescott, who had to work with limited resources. As a result, the show had a cheap and gritty look. Despite this, the show was innovative and presented educational themes with a mixture of humour and entertainment.
The show only ran for a short time, with the first season airing in 1971 and the second season, consisting of 15 episodes, airing the following year. The show was locally produced and quite obscure, with very little information available about its reach. However, it gained a cult following, with fans recreating the story's exchange as if it actually occurred on various internet forums and websites. In 2015, the SyFy Channel announced their intent to adapt the Candle Cove story as the first season of a newly announced series, Channel Zero, which premiered in 2016.
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It was created by Tom Thrives in 1970
Candle Cove was created by Tom Thrives in 1970. Thrives, who was studying for his bachelor of arts at the University of Ohio, had always been interested in exploring the artistic possibilities of puppetry on television. He conceived of Candle Cove as an experimental artistic endeavour, hoping to present educational themes that young children would find entertaining.
The show was produced quickly, taking place over the course of about a year. It was first announced in 1970 on local Channel 58, in a program about education in the city. An interview was held at the fine arts department of the University of Ohio, where Thrives and two other students, Caroline Barker and Mary Prescott, revealed that they were working on a public-access television show project involving puppetry called "Candle Cove". Barker and Prescott were commissioned to build the puppets, and during the interview, shots of puppet designs, drafts, and even unfinished puppets were shown.
The pilot episode was written by another HeyKids employee, Gary McKimmon, and directed by Lynn Huntington, who had previously directed the puppet show "Sunshine City". The puppets and set were mainly built by Barker and Prescott, and the pilot was performed by a handful of actors and puppeteers from other local productions. The pilot was successful, and in 1971, Candle Cove was greenlit by HeyKids for their first season, to be aired on Channel 58.
The show centres on a young girl named Janice, who imagines herself to be friends with marionette pirates. It features several antagonists, including the Skin-Taker, a skeleton pirate who wears clothing made out of children's skin, and Horace Horrible, a marionette with a monocle and a handlebar moustache. The show also includes a ship called the Laughingstock, which constantly plays calliope music.
Candle Cove has since inspired an online creepypasta horror story written by web cartoonist and author Kris Straub, published in 2009. The story takes the form of a thread on a fictional internet forum, where users discuss their memories of the disturbing children's show they watched as children. In 2015, the SyFy Channel announced their intent to adapt the Candle Cove story as the first season of a newly announced series, Channel Zero, which premiered in 2016.
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The show was aired on Channel 58 in 1971
Candle Cove was aired on Channel 58 in 1971. It was a local show produced in Ohio, with a limited budget and a small team of puppeteers, writers, and set designers. The show was initially conceived as an experimental artistic endeavour by Tom Thrives, a student at the University of Ohio, who was intrigued by the artistic possibilities of puppetry in television. He collaborated with fine arts student Caroline Barker to bring his vision to life, and together they designed and built the puppets, resulting in a show with a distinctively cheap and gritty aesthetic.
The show's target audience was young children, and it aimed to educate and entertain through the adventures of a young girl named Janice, who imagined herself to be friends with marionette pirates. The pirate ship was called the Laughingstock, and one of the pirates, Pirate Percy, was known for his antique porcelain baby doll head. The show also featured a villainous marionette called the Skin-Taker, a skeleton pirate who wore clothing made out of children's skin.
Candle Cove's production took place over the course of about a year, and it was broadcast in several different areas, though specific location details are scarce due to the local and obscure nature of the show's production and airing. The show has since gained a cult following, with fans recreating threads and exchanges on forums and websites, sharing their memories and interpretations of the show.
The concept of Candle Cove and its characters have also inspired YouTube videos, fan fiction, and even a self-published collection of short stories by Kris Straub, who is known for his online creepypasta horror stories. The show's impact has extended beyond its original audience, with references to it appearing in various forms online and even sparking rumours of a potential TV show adaptation.
The show's airing on Channel 58 in 1971 holds a significant place in the history of television and has left a lasting impression on those who experienced it, blurring the lines between nostalgia and horror in popular culture.
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Kris Straub's 2009 story was inspired by an Onion article
Kris Straub is an American web cartoonist, performer, and content creator. He is also a horror writer. In 2008, Straub created the website Ichor Falls, a setting for his horror stories and a place to post his collection of horror prose and those of others. The website hosted Straub's horror stories about the fictional town of Ichor Falls. In 2009, Straub published "Candle Cove" on his website ichorfalls.com under a Creative Commons license.
In a 2011 interview, Straub revealed that he got the idea for "Candle Cove" from a satirical Onion article titled "Area 36-Year-Old Still Has Occasional Lidsville Nightmare". The story is told in the format of a thread on the fictional "NetNostalgia Forums", where a group of users discuss a low-budget children's television show, Candle Cove, that they remember watching in the early 1970s. As the users continue to reminisce, they begin to recall more disturbing details about the show, such as a character known as the Skin-Taker and an episode that consisted of the puppets flailing and screaming.
"Candle Cove" quickly became popular, inspiring numerous YouTube videos and fan fiction. In 2015, Straub self-published "Candle Cove" in a collection of short stories entitled "Candle Cove and Other Stories". The Verge commented that "Candle Cove" differed from other creepypastas in that it originated from a known source and author.
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Channel Zero: Candle Cove premiered in 2016
Channel Zero: Candle Cove premiered on October 11, 2016. The series was created by Nick Antosca, who served as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. The first season centres on Kris Straub's story of one man's obsessive recollection of a mysterious children's television program from the 1980s. The story is told in the format of a thread on a fictional forum, where a group of users discuss their memories of the show, becoming increasingly disturbed as they share darker details.
The premiere of Channel Zero: Candle Cove marked the first installment of the Channel Zero series, an American horror anthology television show. The series was greenlit for two 6-episode, self-contained seasons, with the first season airing in late 2016 and the second in late 2017 on Syfy. The storylines for the series are based on popular creepypastas, with Candle Cove being the first to be adapted for television.
Creepypastas are horror stories circulated around the internet, often shared across various internet forums and websites. Candle Cove, written by web cartoonist and author Kris Straub, was originally published in 2009 on his website ichorfalls.com. The story centres on a fictional children's television series discussed by users on an internet forum. Straub's story quickly gained popularity, inspiring numerous fan-created videos and fiction.
The first season of Channel Zero: Candle Cove stars Paul Schneider and Fiona Shaw and is directed by Craig William Macneill. The season received generally favourable reviews from critics, with an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The series as a whole has been praised for its unique format and storytelling, with Will Wiles of Aeon commenting that Candle Cove was "among the best creepypastas out there".
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Frequently asked questions
The Candle Cove TV show was made in the early 1970s.
The Candle Cove book was written by Kris Straub and was originally published on his website ichorfalls.com in 2009.
The Candle Cove TV series aired on October 11, 2016.
The pilot for the Candle Cove TV show was made in 1971.
