The Ray Bradbury Theater
Season 4

MARS IS HEAVEN

The first manned mission to Mars lands and the astronauts are confronted with a representation of small town America that can't exist. It also happens to be populated with some of the dead people they used to love.

The first of three linked Mars landing stories from Ray Bradbury's celebrated collection THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, which was also included in the big money adaptation in 1980. This version doesn't vary the story at all, which is fair enough because it stands for itself. There is a very definite throwback TWILIGHT ZONE feel to it as the commander is flummoxed by the turn of events. Can Heaven really be a place on Mars? What other possible explanation could there be? The mystery is kept for length of the episode, though the final reveal is neither unexpected nor as frightening as it is meant to be.

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THE MURDERER

A psychiatrist is called to a detention hospital to take on the case of a killer. What he finds is a man who is relaxed and calm in a cell devoid of all noise.

The modern world is a noisy place and for all of the technology linking us, we are more more disconnected and frustrated and angry than we have ever been. That the is premise of an episode that is every bit as relevant now as when it was first shown, possibly even more so with the current obsession with our smartphones. It is easy to see our modern world reflected here and the protagonist's rage agains the machine is quite understandable. The story is somewhat predictable, not least because most of it is told in flashback from a prison cell and we can all see the twist in the tail coming from a mile away. That said, it is nicely played and doesn't outstay its welcome.

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TOUCHED WITH FIRE

Two retired insurance men with lifetimes of experience dealing with people who came to untimely ends make it their cause to warn others who are likely to meet the same fate before it befalls them. In Annabelle Shrike, however, they may have met their match.

The idea of being able to spot a crime before it happens and prevent it is not an overly new one, but this scenario puts a new spin on it by having the two older heroes trying to warn victims whose own behaviour leads to their inevitable end. The case in question is Annabelle Shrike, a cantankerous woman who is ceaselessly rude and demanding to all those around her, including her husband who is a brute of a man who wields a sharp hook in his job as a longshoreman. Eileen Brennan fits the part easily, rattling from place to place and being as rude and irritating as the observers describe her to be. That she might be a high-risk "murderee" candidate comes as no surprise to anyone.

Sadly, though, the story is too slight to fill out the running time. We spend too much time with the observing insurance men, which means we get too little time to learn about the people on the receiving end of Anabelle Shrike's behaviour, something that becomes a critical flaw when we reach the twist in the tail. The meeting between the insurance men and Shrike ought to have been the high point of the story, but it is marred with the characters just shouting over the tops of each other, obscuring any real point that might have been made.

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THE BLACK FERRIS

Two boys discover that the head of the local carnival has taken himself back to being a small boy in order to be taken in by an old widow who is rumoured to have valuables hidden in her house. They make it their mission to thwart his plan, but how when none of the adults will believe them?

This story was done much better in the film version of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES as part of the overall evil of Mr Dark's carnival. Set in the modern day and all on its own, it doesn't have quite the same impact. Considering the age-altering effects of the ferris wheel, the outcome is inevitable and so comes as no shock to anyone. It also marks a very abrupt end to the story, which does really have the feel of something that has been lifted from a longer, more nuanced work. There is no sense of the relationships between people. Why do the boys care about the widow? Why is the kid hanging around the carnival after closing time? Why does the father take away the kid's clothes to prevent him from going out when surely he has more? Why doesn't he wear them?

The gothic nature of the carnival setting doesn't sit with the modern setting of the rest of the town and the episode overall doesn't quite come to life.

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USHER II

After all books of imagination are banned and burned, one man bucks the system by building a recreation of the House of Usher. When the puritanical authorities come to examine it, he puts in motion a long-held plan.

Ray Bradbury is passionate about books and their banning. His famous Fahrenheit 451 is all about that subject. In this short extension to that, he not only decries the idea of banning or burning books thought to be "problematic" and takes his revenge upon the people who consider such acts justified. His "Moral Climate" enforcers are here depicted in the image of nazis, but then presented as hypocrites as capable of enjoying the works they have banned as anyone. Then, he kills them, at least in his own imagination. A writer taking revenge on book burners everywhere.

The works of Poe loom large in this story, which revels in creating the gothic atmosphere and recreating his most famous moments of terror within the framework of the bigger story. Patrick MacNee is also having a great time, vamping it up as the Poe-loving rebel and helping to make this one of the most entertaining of the show's episodes, whilst never totally burying the point of the story (or bricking it up alive in the basement).

TOUCH OF PETULANCE

A man sickeningly in love with his new wife is visited by himself from the future, where he has just murdered that same wife.

What would tell your younger self if you were able to go back in time and give advice? Chances are "kill your wife" wouldnt' be one of the choices. That, though, is the scenario here. There is no explanation of how the older Jonathan came back in time, but the potential consequences of the meeting are played out more interestingly than in some other versions of this trope, once the usual "ask me something only you would know" cliches are dealt with. The ensuing dinner party in which the older man decides that murdering the wife in the present might be better than murdering her later is fraught with tension and the ending manages a little frisson of chill with its less than subtle foreshadowing.

Eddie Albert is a usually comforting screen presence, so having him appear as the downtrodden future spouse-killer allows for some nice character shading. When the young man declares how in love he is with his wife, Albert's rendition of "I remember" is filled with layers of regret and uncertainty. His performance certainly lifts the episode.

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AND THE MOON BE STILL AS BRIGHT

A new expedition lands on Mars and discovers a city of wonders. Some of the crew couldn't care less about that and treat it just like their polluted planet at home. The mission historian, takes offence to this, enough to don a Martian's mask and take on the defence of the planet himself.

Another of the THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES and another that suffers in comparison with the previous version. It benefits greatly from having David Carradine in the role of historian, Spender. He exhibits all of the refinement and wonder of discovery as well as the vengeful violence of a man defending what he holds dear. The change from one to the other is necessarily abrupt considering the running time, but his performance softens the sharp edges. Kenneth Welsh also gives a good performance as the commanding officer who has sympathy for Spender's beliefs, but still has to act in the defence of his own men, no matter their transgressions.

This is, of course, an ecological parable, and a blunt one at that, but it's heart is in the right place and there is enough of a story to keep the morality at bay.

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THE TOYNBEE CONVECTOR

The first, and only, time traveller went forward 100 years and brought back news of how humanity had pulled together and brought the planet back from the brink of ecological collapse and restored it to its full beauty. Now, on the 100th anniversary of his flight, all eyes turn to the skies for a glimpse of his fateful arrival.

The second cry for us to look after the planet that bore us in a row is a lot less subtle, but it does have a clear message and a story that is decent enough, though it's reliance on the news story format is a little more gimmicky than perhaps it needed to be.

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EXORCISM

A woman turns to her own home made potion in a struggle against a self-proclaimed witch neighbour for control of the local women's group.

Whilst there have been flashes of humour throughout the series, this is one of the few episodes that is an out and out comedy, played completely for laughs. The nominal star is Sally Kellerman, but she plays second fiddle to Jayne Eastwood's Elmira, a delightfully batty comedic character. She is the driving force of both the narrative and the fun. Yes, it's completely throwaway entertainment, but there's a place for that as well in such a varied show.

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THE DAY IT RAINED FOREVER

Three men sit outside an all but abandoned hotel and wait for the one day every year when it rains. When the rain doesn't come, they face a crisis, but then the day brings a stranger into their group.

There's a sense of regret about this episode, the regret for lives that have been wasted, either by living in remote places where nobody ever comes and nothing ever happens or living in crowded places where too many people and too many events mean that no real attention is paid. That said, this is a vignette rather than a story. It has a beginning and end, but no conclusion and no obvious point. It is also unclear as to what the significance of the new arrival is, whether she brought the rain or the rain brought her, what lasting impact she will have on the trio of old men or they on her. And as for it raining forever, there is nothing to say that it did.

Because nothing much happens, the script is very talky. we don't actually learn too much about the men other than their intentions to leave, or die. What we learn about the newcomer, we learn in an infodumping monologue. It's nicely played, but ultimately unsatisfying.

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THE LONG YEARS

In the decades since being left behind in the evacuation of Mars, John Hathaway has managed to scratch out a life with his wife, son and daughter, always waiting for a rocket to come from Earth to rescue them. Now that rocket has arrived, leaving John faced with a dilemma.

A mystery piece that doesn't contain a particularly mysterious reveal, this story is middling at best. Though what happened to the character of Hathaway and his family and his solution to it have emotional depths and resonance that increases in time with the advancements of robotics and AI, its presentation is simplistic and unsurprising. The reveal is told in flashback, which the audience has already guessed anyway, and the sudden death is a deus ex machina conclusion to a limp twist at the end.

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HERE THERE BE TYGERS

An Earth expedition looking for new resources to exploit lands on a beautiful and sentient planet. One of the scientists takes against the plan to strip mine the place.

Effectively, this is the same story as And The Moon Be Still As Bright, only replacing an unnamed planet of wonders for the named planet of Mars and changing the identity of the murderer to the planet instead of the conservationist. Where this episode suffers by comparison is the special effects, that are far from special. There is some truly awful back projection and matte work in an attempt to create flying sequences and any sense of the suspension of disbelief is shattered way before we get to the sledgehammer ecological message.

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