A pair of young filmmakers are reviving local superhero Captain Newfoundland who will be receiving a new introduction to the rest of the country. Canadians will soon meet the mind-bending hero who patrolled the airwaves of late night television in the province for decades.
He saved Viking Leif Erickson from an alien attack; he tutored a Canadian apprentice that once met Jesus and saved Wayne Gretzky from peril; his ancestors came from beyond the stars to found the lost continent of Atlantis.
At least that’s how the story goes.
"Psychedelic is a great word for it," said Mike Feehan, who has partnered with neighbour Jaime Miller to bring a new examination to the stories.
Their film, Captain Newfoundland: The Geoff Stirling Story, will take a look at the superhero and his creator, Newfoundland and Labrador media mogul Geoff Stirling.
"I've read some of his writings, I've read the comics, and in a lot of ways it was really ahead of its time," he said.
"These philosophies, things that are really popular now like yoga even, transcendental meditation, experiments with psychedelics, these are things that he really embraced."
Stirling, who once co-owned local broadcaster NTV, along with magazine Newfoundland Herald, created the character of Captain Newfoundland after returning from a meditation trip to India.
His character was just as eclectic as the creator, Feehan and Miller agree. Captain Newfoundland preached the power of meditation, once revealing to his protégé the "Holy Gospel of Consciousness."
Geoff Stirling, an eccentric media mogul, owned multiple broadcasters in Newfoundland. (NTV)
Stirling is famous in Newfoundland for his experimental and sometimes downright odd broadcasts. Overnight programming at NTV was often filled with his spiraling interviews with gurus, his meditations on life, wandering discussions about crop circles and politics, and unique edits of music videos.
Feehan said he watched a lot of it when he worked overnights at a local paper in St. John’s.
"Geoff would call into the programming room and say, 'Okay, let’s blow their minds,'" Feehan said, recounting some conversations he had with NTV staff.
"Wildly experimental, bizarre footage, animations layered on top of each other with rock music or pop music playing, just doing whatever they wanted."
Miller said it all revealed a unique, future-forward vision for Newfoundland and Labrador.
"He really thought everything is possible here and that is this really optimistic outlook for our province that we don't always get, you know, in our politics and in our history."
Their project has recently won funding from Telefilm. Miller says they’ll use that money to finance some more fundraising and grant-writing with an aim to start shooting next year, and show their film in early 2026.
Their film was inspired, in part, by the revelation that not every community in the country had access to late-night spiritual meditations that they could receive on over-the-air television.
Stirling died in 2013, but NTV is still led by his family and some of that content — including some Captain Newfoundland programming — is still aired overnights.
"They’re not what you think of when you think of Newfoundland," Feehan said. "And we just want to explore something that is so unique and important."
With files from The Canadian Press
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