The 10th Kingdom

The year was 2002 and a summer ritual was beginning. Having spent our Saturday at the local amusement park, Magic Springs, we were sticky from our humid adrenaline quest, but full of bologna and cheese sandwiches and the fizz of off-brand cokes. We shuffled into a Hastings entertainment store in search of the perfect unwind. The store offered everything from CDs and books to DVDs and VHS rentals.

“You can each pick out one movie,” my father prompted my sister and me.

The over conditioned air soothed my exposed sunburn and gave me the chills as I perused the pictured cases. When a picture caught my eye, I had to flip it over and check the ratings. I knew the rules: Anything above PG-13 would instantly be rejected and anything PG-13 would have to go through parental scrutiny.

I remember, to this day, where I found what would become my dearest friend and obsession in the penultimate row on the far-left hand side of the store, near the cash registers. It wasn’t in my usual haunt, which is to say the children's section. It was in the fantasy section surrounded by darker fictions I was not ready to face. It stood out from the pack with its light blue fairytale scene.

It came in a two pack VHS bundle, and I assumed it was just long, like the Titanic movie. I didn’t bother to look at the movie length, just its rating. It had a PG rating and a whimsical synopsis that immediately suckered me in with the promise of every aspect my angsty preteen soul could want: adventure, romance, and a strong deviation from reality.

That night, I lay in bed watching it with my sister. We didn’t notice as the hours melted by, so enthralled where we by the movie’s charm. It was a simple premise with a complex undertone; one that you didn’t really get mentally as a kid but felt all the same. It had good guys with personal obstacles and bad guys forcing them into this self-discovery. There were no gray areas of morality, making it easy to discern right from wrong.

Midway through, my father poked his head in to tell us it was one in the morning and we needed to go to sleep. We hadn’t even finished the first VHS and we whined our protests. It was to no avail and we were threatened with retribution if he had to come back in, so we pretended to go to sleep. We turned the TV down low and sat on the edge of the bed to finish the show.

The ending had stricken my heart like a good book. I was depressed at its finality. Everything had been wrapped up nicely in a bittersweet ending that left me forlorn. I don’t know why I had connected so deeply with the characters; it was nothing I could relate to, for sure. All the same I had spent hours worrying over them, laughing at their misguidedness, and rooting for their inevitable success.

My newfound obsession did not end as the credits rolled. I wanted to wallow in whatever endorphins this epic fantasy had plunged me in. The craving did not subside with repeated viewings either. It got to the point I was banned from having it as my rental pick. My family rolled their eyes as I had repeated the ritual of picking it back up off its shelf and presenting it as my pick.

When they had grown tired of watching it with me, I was officially banned from it. I never voiced my protest. I had known it was silly and tried to hide away my longing. I would pass it by it, making awkward contact with it as I did. I would, when I thought no one was looking, check to see if it was still behind the empty case that guarded it.

I thought I had been hiding my melancholy well, but everyone had noticed. Trolls addicted to shoes, overly sexualized catty shepherdesses, a serial killer huntsman, gypsy curses, family feuds, and a girl just trying to get back home culminate into the silliest of happily-ever-afters, and I can never get enough of it. Eventually, my father broke down and bought my first copy of the 10th Kingdom a few weeks later. There were rules, though. I could not just watch it on repeat until the family went mad. I had to practice moderation. It was my first true guilty pleasure that I occasionally subjected my friends and family to, which is to say every chance I got! I was not able to watch it enough. I had watched it so many times that I melted two VHS copies of the masterpiece. That’s not to mention 8 DVD copies that met various ends, both malicious and accidental.

In my early adult college years, when I couldn’t afford internet or cable, I was fine. I had the 10th Kingdom to watch. When I was alone and feeling isolated in my first apartment, I could turn it on, and it would act like a balm to my soul. When my mind was frazzled and yearned for simplicity, I could lose myself in its repurposed fairytale.

I am not going to lie. It is the cheesiest thing to watch; and if someone catches you watching it, they are going to make fun. Even after all the time that has passed, I still catch myself uttering their curse words or wishing there were more memes out there related to the show.

My love for this show goes so deep that I have joined Facebook groups that have also succumbed to this epic’s charms. I have also purchased the book that accompanied it. I can quote the whole show front to back, but I can’t explain to you why I like the 10th Kingdom. Maybe, it just hit me with the right kind of emotional at a time when I was susceptible to it. Maybe it's just a really well written but overlooked show. I don’t know. I do know I like it, though, so I will watch it with you any time you want!