TV Review: The Ray Bradbury Theater Season One (1985)

The Ray Bradbury Theater Season One (1985) developed for television by Mark Massari based on the short fiction of Ray Bradbury

This series follows the fomula of The Twilight Zone, i.e. anthology stories with a fantastic bent. Ray Bradbury writes the teleplays, most based on previous short stories. The show attracted many famous actors and has the advantage of Bradbury's creative genius. Here's an episode-by-episode rundown:

Marionettes Inc.--A henpecked husband (James Coco) finds business cards and messages from Marionettes Inc. He's initially uninterested but to stop the pestering he goes to their headquarters. He searches the empty, dark halls, eventually finding Fantocinni (Leslie Nielsen). Fantocinni offers the husband an exact duplicate. The duplicate can deal with the overbearing wife and the boring job while the real husband gets to go out and enjoy himself. But the robot turns out to be a better person, and it knows it is better. Even though the plot is predictable it's still enjoyable.

The Playground--William Shatner is a single father who needs to face up against his childhood fear of a local playground where he was bullied as a child. His own son is almost ready to start school but has been sheltered by dad. The son wants to play with others his own age. Shatner gives a good performance as the overprotective dad though he suffers from more than just bad memories.

The Crowd--A man has a late-night car accident and onlookers show up almost immediately. If that wasn't odd enough, they crowd around him, trying to move him. An ambulance shows up in time to whisk him away to safety at a hospital. He's released after a few days. By chance, a car accident happens outside his apartment and he recognizes some of the crowd that gathers. He consults a TV news friend, getting some video footage from previous accidents. Sure enough, members of the crowd have been showing up at other accidents. The man becomes obsessed with finding out what's going on without considering the possible dangers. The premise is fairly disturbing and the low-key buildup is effective.

The Town Where No One Got Off--An idealist tired of city life (Jeff Goldblum) is on a train ride through the countryside. He is goaded into getting off in a small town to see if life there really is better. Everybody must know each other and the laid-back lifestyle must be friendly and welcoming. He discovers things aren't like he imagines. Goldblum is a good choice for this story, he has the bit of awkwardness that makes the viewer wonder if it's the town or the idealist who is not quite right. 

The Screaming Woman--Drew Barrymore plays an imaginative ten-year old who reads Tales from the Crypt and, when she goes out into the woods, hears a woman screaming. She can't convince her parents that there is a problem. She gets some shovels and goes with another ten-year old but the property owner tells them to fill back in the hole. Can she save the Screaming Woman? Even though it was written for the screen, the story has a typical Bradbury feel to it. 

Banshee--A poetic writer (Charles Martin Smith) goes to visit a director friend (Peter O'Toole) in an isolated Irish cottage. The director claims the Banshee is out tonight, a female spirit moaning in the wind and foretelling a death. The director then goads his friend into going outside to confront the spirit. The friend thinks it's a practical joke...or is it? This episode definitely delivers on the creepy premise and Peter O'Toole is his usual excellent self.

Overall I enjoyed the show. It looks a little low-budget by today's standards. Even though it was produced by HBO in the 1980s, there's no skin and swearing. The show is very PG-rated. I watched the episodes on Hoopla and a few of the episodes had little individual introductions featuring Ray Bradbury. Checking the IMDB page, he did that for every episode, so there's some suspicious editing. The stories do have the Ray Bradbury feel--part nostalgic, part terrified, part whimsical. Even with the flaws, I found the episodes enjoyable.

Recommended.