The Ray Bradbury Theater
Season 1

MARIONETTES INC

A computer salesman who has completely lost interest in his married life is offered a get out clause in the shape of a perfect double of himself. Whilst the double carries out the tedious work of keeping his wife happy, he is free to indulge all his whims. He starts to get second thoughts, however, when the marionette seems to be enjoying its role rather too much.

When assessing candidates for writers to craft an anthology show to rival Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE, it is impossible to ignore Ray Bradbury's credentials. A master of the science fiction and fantasy genre with a huge back catalogue of novels and short stories to draw on, he is an ideal candidate. It doesn't hurt that his work is eclectic, insightful, terrifying, humorous and deeply thoughtful in equal measures. It is therefore no surprise that we went into this first episode with high hopes and expectations it was only able to partially meet.

There are some very interesting themes in this story, and they are becoming more and more relevant as AI, robotics and loneliness advance across the world. Unfortunately, there isn't time enough in the half hour of screen time to examine these in any detail. There is even less when the first section of the story is taken up by the mystery of why the titular company is harrassing the man. The episode is called Marionettes Inc, so most of the audience is going to be able to at least take a guess as the direction in which the story is heading. Once the robot double is in play, the theme of unintended consequences, or 'be careful what you wish for', perks the episode up. What the situation means for the doubled person, the betrayed and tricked wife, even the marionette itself, should have been given more time to play out before heading to the abrupt ending.

James Coco plays the henpecked husband without the backbone to end his loveless marriage, hardly a stretch for him. Exactly what accent Leslie Nielsen is putting on as Fantoccini is uncertain, but what is certain is how distracting it is. And the less we say about the title sequence with Ray Bradbury proving he's no actor, the better.

Considering the pedigree of the writer, let's hope that this opening episode is a promise of better things to come, rather than a template of what to expect.

Honestly, if this is the best the show has to offer, then the magazine has been very badly served.

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THE PLAYGROUND

A grieving husband who was bullied as a child has become an overprotective father. When advised to take his son to play in the local playground, he has visions of feral children and past bullies. It is all in his mind, or is something more sinister at work in the playground.

Kids acting in a way kids don't is inherently creepy. This second episode plays on that, with silent watchful children, angry shouting children, demonically disfigured children and shadowy child figures at the top of the slide. Add to that the potential for a child in peril and the parts are all in place for a creepy masterpiece. Unfortunately, muddied storytelling gets in the way of a truly satisfying experience. What is going on in the playground? Are the kids just kids, are the visions just visions, or is the bully from his past actually a ghost come to haunt him? By the end of the episode, it's still hard to be sure. The twist that does come at the end is somewhat out of the blue, doesn't seem to match up with anything that went before, and is therefore not all that convincing.

William Shatner has done this kind of terror at something nobody else can see before, in his classic TWILIGHT ZONE episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, so his casting in this role shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. His performance is indistinguishable from that previous story and so fits into the story quite nicely. If only the focus of the narrative had been able to support him better.

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THE CROWD

When a man witnesses a car accident only a few days after suffering his own crash, he realises that a number of the onlookers that gather around the injured driver are the same on both occasions. Obssessed by this, he tracks down news footage that shows them as being at all kinds of disasters in the crowd. He also identifies them as being dead.

The central idea of this story is a nicely macabre one. The idea that some unearthly things are clustering around disasters for some shadowy reason is both interesting and a little chilling. The unveiling of the situation as a mystery is nicely paced, but once the man determines to confront these things, things go a bit awry. The character chases them down, but then panics with fear and runs away for almost no reason. Unreasoning fear is a believable response, but it is such a side-swerve from his previous fervent obsession that it doesn't play very well.

It also doesn't help that the purpose of the beings is never explained and the actual twist in the tail is both inevitable and predictable.

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THE TOWN WHERE NO-ONE GOT OFF

A young aspiring writer is mocked on a train for his belief in the bucolic nature of small town America. Challenged to get off at the next stop and see what it's really like, he finds the people unwelcoming, the shops barred to him and suspicion around every corner. There's also a man following him wherever he goes.

This is not a genre episode at all, although it does crank up the creepy atmosphere. Instead, it is a tale of mounting paranoia and the potential for violence that lurks in the hearts of men. The exchange between the writer and his stalker in the derelict cellar has the chilling nature of believable malice. That there are people like this in the world is not up for debate. That they would have this level of patience is.

The episode hangs on the presence and charm of Jeff Goldblum, who manages to dial down the quirky and anchor the story effectively. Whilst his reponse to the challenge that eventually faces him doesn't quite convince, that's a fault of the writing and not the performance.

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THE SCREAMING WOMAN

A young girl with a penchant for TALES FROM THE CRYPT magazine hears a woman screaming from beneath the ground in a remote part of the forest. When nobody else hears the sound, they don't believe her, so the girl takes matters into her own hands, perhaps inviting the interest of the person who put the woman there.

The second non-genre offering in a row, this episode benefits from the presence of Drew Barrymore as the curious little girl. She is on screen for almost the entire running time and manages to avoid being annoying or one-dimensional. The character also manages to act her age, not realising the dangers she has put herself into with her snooping. Whilst the ending is predictable in every way, the journey to get there is quite enjoyable.

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BANSHEE

A writer of horror stories visits an eccentric director in the wilds of Ireland. The director is a lover of practical jokes, whilst the writer is not. As such, he does not appreciate the tale that there is a banshee in the woods outside the director's house.

Once again, the curse of the show's short running time strikes at an episode that could have been so much more. When you have the likes of Peter O'Toole and Charles Martin Smith in your cast, you want to give them the best material to work with. Unfortunately, the running time doesn't allow for the two characters to be properly fleshed out. As a result, there's no time for any uncertainty as to whether the Banshee in the woods is real or not. Is it an elaborate practical joke being played by the director? She is introduced with such speed that there is no time to be as sceptical as the writer is. It also means that the lack of a proper denoument is more annoying than intriguing.

Peter O'Toole chews the scenery for all he is worth as the director, which places him in direct contrast to Charles Martin Smith's buttoned up writer, both actors trying to make up for the lack of time and supporting material. In the end, though, even their sterling efforts fail to prevent the episode from falling flat at the end. Not the best way to end the season.

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