Centennial (A 12 Part Miniseries 1979) PART ONE

Based on the novel by James A. Michener, "Centennial" was an incredible television event that featured an all-star cast and over 26 hours of Television. It aired on NBC in 1979, from October through February. Over the next few days (Maybe weeks), I will be re-watching the series in it's entirety and trying to share my thoughts on the film some 41 years after.

I first watched the series around 1985-86 or so... it had been in the video collection of a family member who was very enthusiastic about the show and its characters. She allowed me to come over and watch over the course of some two weeks at a time when I was struggling in my own life. The series helped me get through a rough patch after a particularly traumatic experience. So the series has always held a warm spot in my memory.

EPISODE ONE: Only the Rocks Live Forever

The title is based on an Arapaho saying that the young Lame Beaver is told when his father dies in battle. Some narration provides explanation to the tradition of "counting coup" and that Lame Beaver's father had tied himself to a stake while in war with the enemy Pawney tribe. The young man grows up to be a leader (Michael Ansara) and a great warrior, and it isn't long until he meets a French fur trader named Pasquinel (Robert Condrad). The story weaves through the relationship between these two men and the land that will one day become the town of "Centennial".

Pasquinel is a veritable force of nature and pure strength of will. Conrad commands the screen and we are immediately spellbound, but it isn't until the introduction of his future partner that we start to see his darker side in contrast to that of McKeag. As the first episode follows the two men building a fur trade empire with the aid of a local silversmith investor (Raymond Burr), it cuts with the slice of life experiences of an aging Lame Beaver as he strives for a warriors death against the enemy Pawney tribe. Both stories divest and converge in a gut wrenching finale that foreshadows the dark and light of the American Frontier to come.

Alexander McKeag is played well by Richard Chaberlain, who acts as a sort of surrogate for the audience's experience in learning about the frontier, the various tribes, and the ruthless ambition of men like Pasquinel. Despite the deep guilt McKeag feels for a past transgression, he is largely an innocent and inexperienced man in the world. Without Pasquinel, he would be dead. But how long can the Scottish immigrant exist under the swagger and brass of his best friend?

As the first episode draws to a close (with over two and a half hours of runtime, three hours during it's original broadcast with commercials), there are certainly a lot of unanswered questions and the audience is left cold with expectation for the continued story of both Alexander McKeag and the man only ever known as Pasquinel.

A perfect 10 out of 10,