Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site puff.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!uwvax!puff!pauer From: pauer@puff.UUCP Newsgroups: net.tv,net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Amazing Stories (NBC, Sunday, 8PM Pacific) Message-ID: <452@puff.UUCP> Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 11:23:31 EDT Article-I.D.: puff.452 Posted: Fri Oct 4 11:23:31 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 6-Oct-85 04:25:16 EDT References: <3192@nsc.UUCP> Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept Lines: 43 Xref: watmath net.tv:3320 net.sf-lovers:10417 > While watching this, all I could think of was "ET meets twilight zone" and > I find that both lose. Spielberg said that they were going to emphasize > fantasy because the cost of special effects in a SF anthology was > exorbitant. I can't disagree with that, but they took a story with a lot of > possibilities (a variant of "The Hell Bound Train" and gutted it. > There was no attempt at character development, after five minutes > you knew what the ending was going to be. They could have played it for > laughs or tried to do a serious traditional "Twilight Zone" style episode. > Instead they took a semi serious track and then tossed in a bunch of cheap > reaction shots. The end result is a mess with no impact, no real direction, > and a number of attempted one liners that fail because they seem out of > place. I think the script was a little weak, but I don't think this is the > fault of the writer (I didn't catch their name, unfortunately). As > director, Spielberg could have taken this script in either direction and > done it successfully. By his unwillingness to add a direction to the story > and trying to do both, he fails. > > I know see why copies of the show weren't made available in advance. There > is a lot riding on Amazing and the return of the anthology, and if this is > the episode they used to start off the seriese, I don't hold out a lot of > hope for future episodes. Perhaps Spielberg just couldn't handle the 30 > minute format, or perhaps they haven't really figured out what they want to > do with it. > > I hope it gets better. I don't think it can get much worse. Fortunately, a > local PBS station has started playing "Outer Limits" at 11PM on Sundays, so > the evening isn't a complete waste. I just wish Spielberg had done a better > job of recreating the classic anthology format. All he did in the opening > episode of "Amazing Stories" was mock it. > -- > :From under the bar at Callahan's: Chuq Von Rospach > nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA {decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,pyramid}!nsc!chuqui > > If you can't talk below a bellow, you can't talk... It seems Spielberg's own rep ruined the effect of this episode. His action-minded audience can take this as a mystical time-travel story. It was effective to me, though, because I interpreted the story as a view of death through a child's eyes. If you see it again, watch it with this view. Also, I believe they were saying Opah, (or something that sounds that way) which, according to my girlfriend, is German for grandfather. Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com