Amazing Stories: Season One

Scientists have for a long time sought to define what separates humans from the other animals that share this planet. While many delve into biological differences the real solution is very simple, we as a race love to tell stories. Man is a social creature capable of speech and has used this ability since before recorded history to weave fantastic tales for amusement and edification. There is little doubt that one of the great storytellers of out time is Steven Spielberg. He has shown us everything from a cute little alien to the horrors of a concentration camp always touching on the humanity of his audience. Spielberg is also a man that recognizes just what influenced his life, particularly television. Unlike many film directors he was not afraid of taking on a project on the smaller more intimate venue afforded by TV. The only other director of this status that has done this was Alfred Hitchcock in the fifties. In 1985 Spielberg created a new fantasy anthology series for the tube, Amazing Stories. Each week a different thirty minute tale was told that ranged from horror to the comical. The series was never really intended to compete with The Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. The focus was more in line with the inspiration of the series; those pulp horror comics that so many of us read with flashlights as kids after bedtime.

Each episode would set the stage of just how eternal storytelling is by showing a caveman storyteller (played by a barely recognizable Ray Walston). He stood before a group of children who was hanging on every word. The audience then sees the ancient storyteller on television, getting us ready for the story that would follow. In the first episode ‘Ghost Train’ we meet an old man, O’Pa (Roberts Blossom) who is spending his declining years living with his daughter-in-law Joleen (Gail Edwards) and her young son Brian (Lukas Haas). For seventy-five years O’Pa has felt responsible for a train derailment that killed all on board. The story was well crafted, directed by Spielberg and just perfect for setting the stage for what was to come. Spielberg even brought in a couple of cameo appearances of note. Amy Irvine, who would marry Spielberg shortly after the show aired and his young start of E.T., Drew Barrymore, show up as passengers on the ghostly train.

In another episode, ‘Alamo Jobe’ a teenage scout a the doomed Alamo, Jobe (Kelly Reno) takes a wrong turn during the faithful battle and winds up years in the future where the Alamo is a tourist attraction complete with a gift shop. The episode ‘The Amazing Falsworth’ takes the series on a more sinister track. A nightclub mind reader, Falsworth (Gregory Hines) normally has a fairly routine time with his act. He amazes the drunken audience with minor feats of psychic abilities until one night he picks up the thoughts of a heinous serial killer. This episode was considered a little too intense by the network and was moved to a later time on Tuesday night. It was this balance of terror and flights of fancy that made this series wonderfully unpredictable. Tuning in on Sunday night the audience was never quite sure what they where in for. It could be humorous such as Santa ’85 where the real Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) accidentally trips a burglar alarm and winds up in a jail cell with several drunken Santas. No matter what the subject each episode had something that is missing with so much of what is on television today, heart. There is humanity to the tales showed here. Sure some of the plot twists where predictable but we didn’t care. Just like the old time comics the experience was what drove the entertainment. Even when the ending was silly like the use of cartoon pieces in a real setting in the episode The Mission, the overall result was just good old fashion fun.

The series was never a hit and the network declined to renew it after the two year contract was up. Critics at the time accused the series of being inconsistent but it may be that they just missed the point. Story telling isn’t always great. Sometimes it is just a little bedtime tale to amuse the kids. There are no great moral lessons here such as in the previously mentioned ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Outer Limits’, the story is just something to experience. This series was intended for the nostalgic folks out there that spent dark nights reading those often parentally banned comics. Spielberg is just paying homage to an influence in his early years; one that would help him become the talented story teller he has become. With any anthology series consistency can be a problem. The thing is a series like this has to been taken as whole and not so much as individual episodes. While Spielberg created and produced the series in the two year run he only took the helm as the director twice. Some pointed to this as the commercial failure of the series. Actually, like the old Alfred Hitchcock presents, the series became a venue for others to hone their skills in writing and directing. People like Matthew Robbins who wrote an early Spielberg opus, Sugarland Express was given a chance to strike out as a director. Even actor Burt Reynolds was given a chance to direct and holding to the nepotism that run through the series employs the talents of his long time friends and co-stars Dom DeLuise and Charles Durning.

Universal certainly has become the leader in bringing classic television series from the seventies and eighties to DVD. While some younger audiences may think these series are corny those of us that remember their first airing appreciates having them in our collections. Amazing Stories may not have been a success by network standards but when you consider how many really innovative series have been canned lately I would hardly take their criteria to heart. Typical of a Universal classic TV release the technical specifications bring new life to the series. The full screen video is well transferred, brighter than the reruns that often appear on the Sci-Fi Channel. Considering the music used in the series was composed by greats like John Williams almost unprecedented attention was given to the audio. The sound tracks where beautifully remixed to a rich Dolby 5.1. The rear speakers provide a realistic ambience that puts you in the scene. There are over twenty minutes of deleted scenes but nothing really too notable is presented. This is a fun way to spend some time with the family watching good old fashion story telling.

Posted 7/19/06