Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Prof-Hieronymos-Grost A scientist, Adam Brake(Gareth Thomas) has a 3 month opportunity to study and write a thesis on electromagnetivity in neolithic stones in the remote English village of Milbury. He brings along his young son Matthew, whom he enrols in the local school for the duration of their stay, Matthew is a budding scientist himself with lofty ideas for his future. Adam is keen to start as soon as possible and is delighted when Margaret, the curator of the local museum offers to show him something rather startling concerning the stones. Margaret asks him simply to touch the stones, this Adam does without any fear, but that soon changes as he hears ancient voices and sees strange visions just before a strong surge throws him feet into the air. Something else is at work here, but Adam doesn't know what. Margaret also warns him that he will soon feel very alone here as the residents are an odd bunch, with odd sayings and customs, in fact the village seems divided into regular people and what are known as "The Happy Ones" Matthew notices this in school right away, as the Happy children also show that lighter demeanor and are vastly more intelligent than the other kids.Matthew befriends Dai (Freddie Jones) a local tramp, whose social status belies his intelligence, for he has been spying on the residents and immediately knows Matthew is different, he warns that he will not be able to escape the boundaries of the village because of the power of the stones. The oddness seems to be being controlled by the town leader Rafael Hendrick (Iain Cutherbertson) a Lord Summerisle character and a former astro physicist of some renown, who on the outside seems friendly but he hides whats really going on very well. As the numbers of regular people begin to dwindle Adam and Matthew who has suddenly developed telepathic powers, begin a dangerous fight with unknown forces.Children of the Stones sure is an oddity, it was a 7 part series initially aimed at a school going audience, but there are some confounding themes at large here, some perhaps too dark, even the title sequence with its deeply unsettling choral vocalizations, while seeming perfect for the subject matter, does seem out of place for their target audience. It draws on many areas of Horror and Sci/FI, there's echoes of The Wicker Man, with the Hendrick character and the pagan pageantry, Village of the Damned, its odd and gifted kids, Invasion of the Snatchers, The Stepford Wives and perhaps most closely of all, The Quatermass Conclusion.For a children's TV program it does well to retain a sinister air and never dumbs down the plot. The cast is for the most part excellent, Thomas providing the assured hero figure with the gravitas and intelligence the role requires. Cutherbertson is his usual sinister self, he seems to revel in the Faustian roles and duly fulfills the task with gusto. Jones is also delightful as the eccentric tramp who knows everything. Overall its an enjoyable watch, it lacks some of the believability factor when it comes to the science and technology though, what a shame it wasn't written by Nigel Kneale, it would surely then have been considered a classic

Kenesay10 This was a movie that US Nickelodeon channel used to show when I was young (and Nickelodeon channel was new). I loved the movie then because it was so unlike any other movies I had seen. Would definitely recommend it (it is now available on DVD but is fairly expensive for US markets).When I had a chance to go to England for school, I actually went to Avebury and saw the stone circle (which is older than Stonehenge). The movie itself is a nice blend of factual history, science, science fiction and eerie music.This is one of those lost gems that might be well worth another look!

marlowe_is_dead The music for this, which mainly consists of a choir of people singing wordless dischords, is certainly disquieting - especially as the music supervisor seemed to have the mic levels too high! The acting is really quite bad, especially by the child actors, but I thought this added to the charm of this eerie series, which I bought on DVD. Both my girlfriend and my former house-mate thought the series was scary and the music horrible. In fact, my girlfriend told me it gave her nightmares, and she is 20, and this was a children's show! Overall, a great slice of old British TV at its best - quirkily unusual and essentially 'English'.

gnb If ever any one ITV region was the head of the pack when it came to producing children's TV, then HTV West, on the merit of "Children of the Stones" alone, would be it.Broadcast in 1977, COTS is a 7-part fantasy series set in the fictional village of Milbury. Starring a pre-Blake's 7 Gareth Thomas and 70s telly stalwart Iain Cuthbertson, this delightful little series concerns a scientist and his son's attempts to discover the secret power behind the Milbury stone circle.This is an incredibly eerie sci-fi series and to call it a kids show is a bit of an insult. It is a well crafted tale, brought to the screen with some very adept direction and a remarkably haunting musical score.The performances from the cast are uniformly excellent and special praise must got to the talented youngsters involved.If you can get a hold of this tremendous series then I can highly recommend it. However, it has been deleted on video in the UK for some time.COTS is kids TV at its best - thoughtfully written, well acted, amazingly directed and a delightful, summery, eerie masterpiece. Because of its folksy score and pagan references COTS has been referred to as "The Wicker Man" for kids - it could be called a lot worse.