Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey
Remastered DVD cover
Written byLawrence Blair
Directed byLorne Blair
Narrated byLorne Blair
Lawrence Blair
ComposerMason Daring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes5
Production
Executive producersDavid Fanning
Chris Blair
Robin Gurney
ProducersLorne Blair
Lawrence Blair
Production locationIndonesia
Running time50 minutes x 5
Production companiesWGBH-TV
SavEarth Media LLC
Original release
NetworkPBS (US)
BBC (UK)
Release13 June (1988-06-13) –
18 July 1988 (1988-07-18)

The Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey is a series of five documentary films following the decade-long Wanderjahr[1] of the filmmaker/sibling partnership Lorne and Lawrence Blair.

Background

With financing from investors including the BBC and Ringo Starr, the Blair Brothers arrived in Indonesia from England in 1972. At that time, the Indonesian archipelago offered isolation for Neolithic cultures and their indigenous beliefs. The Blair brothers spent over two decades documenting the relationships between island ecology and their peoples. One result of the work was a PBS-distributed multimedia package: an oversized picture book, alongside the Emmy-nominated BBC/PBS television series titled Ring of Fire. A book of the television series was published in 1988 and republished in 2010. A digitally remastered DVD was released in 2003. In 2021, in celebration of 50 years since filming began, Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey was digitally remastered (both picture and sound) and is now available on iTunes (US, UK, AUS and CAN).

Production

Originally edited from 80 hours of 16mm film in co-production with WGBH-TV, Boston, Ring of Fire was produced, directed and photographed by Lorne Blair[2][3] and co-produced and written by Lawrence Blair.[4] The executive producer was Frontline's David Fanning. The films have been shown in more than 60 countries. A 2021 digital remaster was produced by SavEarth Media, an impact media company.

Series episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1Spice Island Saga13 June 1988 (1988-06-13)
The Blair brothers follow the footsteps of naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace on a Bugis sailboat in search of the bird of paradise to the Aru Islands near New Guinea.
2Dance of the Warriors27 June 1988 (1988-06-27)
The brothers sail to the islands of Komodo where they encounter the Komodo dragon, Sumba where they witness human sacrifice, western New Guinea where they meet the Asmat, and finally Bali where they build a home in a village.
3East of Krakatoa4 July 1988 (1988-07-04)
The Blairs descend into the active volcano Anak Krakatoa and meet the legendary 116-year-old artist Lempad. They also meet the neigong master known as “Dynamo Jack” and witness the funeral rites of the king of the Toraja people of the Celebes.
4Dream Wanderers of Borneo18 July 1988 (1988-07-18)
The brothers go in search of the nomadic Punan Dayaks.
5Beyond the Ring of Fire1996 (1996)
Lawrence Blair returns to a lost paradise at the outer edge of the known world eight years later in a retrospective voyage to many of the islands first visited and others never previously filmed.

Reception

In the Los Angeles Times, Steve Weinstein called the series an "incomparable adventure teeming with thrills, chills, mystery and the bizarre".[5]

References

  1. ↑ Blair, Lawrence; Lorne Blair (1 April 1988). Ring of Fire. Bantam Books. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-553-05232-9.
  2. ↑ "Lorne Blair in Bali". Sophia Anastasia (his life partner). 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Lorne Blair, 1945-1995: A short biography of Lorne from a brother's perspective". www.drlawrenceblair.com. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  4. ↑ "Dr Lawrence Blair - Bio". www.drlawrenceblair.com. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Adventurers in the 'Ring of Fire'". Los Angeles Times. 14 May 1988. Retrieved 25 September 2021.


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