Amazing Stories S1 Comp

For those wondering, the hilarious "Family Dog" episode aired as part of this show's SECOND season, and therefore is not part of this particular collection. Presumably it will be on the Season 2 DVD box set when the time comes.

Here are the first season episode titles in air date order, all of which will be on this box set:

1 Ghost Train

2 The Main Attraction

3 Alamo Jobe

4 Mummy, Daddy

5 The Mission

6 The Amazing Falsworth

7 Fine Tuning

8 Mr. Magic

9 Guilt Trip

10 Remote Control Man

11 Santa '85

12 Vanessa in the Garden

13 The Sitter

14 No Day at the Beach

15 One For the Road

16 Gather Ye Acorns

17 Boo!

18 Dorothy and Ben

19 Mirror, Mirror

20 Secret Cinema

21 Hell Toupee

22 The Doll

23 One For the Books

24 Grandpa's Ghost

There are some things that are just special. Special things or moments that are benchmarks for a certain period in your life. Well, this show was one of them for me. Along with the likes of "The Goonies", "Stand By Me", and any John Hughes film of the 80's, this show was one of those treasures from my childhood that makes me look back fondly on it with such great nostalgia. I loved this show. I watched it regularly, and was always looking forward to seeing what strange trip Spielberg and crew were going to take us on this week. Of course, at this time Spielberg could do no wrong, so it was obvious to me that I was going to be right there for this show. I had already seen "E.T." and I had gone to the theaters with my dad to see "Temple Of Doom" 11 times. Spielberg wanted a show every week that he had described to the network would be like campfire tales. It's too bad that in it's time, the show was never really appreciated for what it was. It was not a big hit, but Spielberg was already promised a two season pick up. I have no idea why the show was not regarded very highly by people back then, and it still seems to fight for respect and recognition today. It doesn't make sense to me. Anyways, this was a wonderful and fantastic show that delivered the goods every week. Sure, not all of the episdoes were huge winners, but they never disappointed in creativity and were always fun to watch. So, what does season one have to deliver?. The premiere episode, "Ghost Train", is a pretty good one, but the first real classic of season one is the episode, "Mummy, Daddy". This is one of many that I always remember. It's about an actor named Harold who is playing a mummy in a movie. He goes to his wife who is going into labor, and doesn't know that a real mummy has come to life. Classic episode. Then there is "The Mission". Starring Kevin Costner, this has to be one of the most remembered episodes. A world wat II crew's belly gunner is stuck in his seat in the bottom of the plane and it appears that he will be crushed upon landing...until a miracle happens. A brilliant and magical episode. "Fine Tuning" is kind of a silly, but fun, episode about a teen who picks up an outer space signal that aliens are coming, and the aliens come to Hollywood and want to take people back with them. "Mr. Magic" has the great Sid Caesar playing an aging and fading magician who gets a new shot at his career with the help of a magical deck of cards. "Remote Control Man" is another favorite of mine. A harried man with a horrible family life is able to bring TV images to life. One episode that will always be cherished by moi is "Santa '85", a charming ep about a boy who helps Santa after he's jailed while delivering presents. Another top ep I remember quite fondly. Shot in black and white, "No Day At The Beach" finds a put upon GI try to save the lives of his comrades in World War II. Charlie Sheen appears in this one. John Lithgow stars in "The Doll", a finely written piece about a man's obsession with a doll he got for his niece. These eps are the best of the bunch. Not that the others are bad. The show got top notch talent behind the scenes with people like Richard Matheson, Martin Scorsesse, Paul Bartel, Joe Dante, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Bob Balaban, Mick Garris, and of course, Steve Spielberg. The first season also had an array of great guest stars like Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Costner, Gregory Hines, Milton Berle, Charles Durning, Sid Caesar, Charles Nelson Reilly, Harvey Keitel, Beau Bridges, Seth Green, James Cromwell, Joe Pantoliano, Forest Whitaker, Sam Waterston, Tim Robbins, Eve Arden, Griffin Dunne, and others. The show was amazing shot and filmed, and even when the stories went to the extremely goofy and silly, I think it was meant to be that way. Some were quite cheesy and hammy, but I believe that it was the show's intent to be kind of slapsticky in the old school ways. Hopefully, the show will finally get the respect it deserves. It is a fine, fine show that was wonderfully designed and brings back so many fond memories. Who knows what more Spielberg could of given us if the show had continued. Seasn two contained more of my absolute favorites, and I hope that DVD is soon on it's way. Do yourself a favor and get this DVD to rediscover the magic of this wonderful show.

I remember watching Amazing Stories every week when I was a kid. Rewatching the episodes again on DVD brought back many fond memories for me.

Season 1 is overall a clear winner. There were a few episodes I found quite boring but there were many more I absolutely loved. My personal ratings on the episodes of season 1 are:

1 Ghost Train 9/10~ Great series opener. It had Steven Spiellberg's magical touch throughout it.

2 The Main Attraction~ 8/10 Pretty clever episode.

3 Alamo Jobe 6/10 ~ ok episode. A bit boring

4 Mummy, Daddy 10/10 ~ This was the first masterpiece, IMHO. Great, hilarious episode!

5 The Mission 10/10 ~ if Mummy Daddy was the first comic masterpiece, The Mission was the frist dramatic masterpiece.

6 The Amazing Falsworth 8/10 ~ very good, suspenseful episode

7 Fine Tuning 7/10 ~ kinda cute and kooky, but not top notch

8 Mr. Magic 7/10 ~another pretty good episode but not top notch

9 Guilt Trip 5/10 ~not one of my favorites, I was quite bored with it.

10 Remote Control Man 5/10 ~another below average episode for me

11 Santa '85 8/10 ~considering there are too many Santa themed episodes on tv to count, this one was very enjoyable

12 Vanessa in the Garden 10/10 ~beautiful episode. Exquisite.

13 The Sitter 8/10 ~I found this episode quite funny.

14 No Day at the Beach 8/10 ~this is the second "War" themed episode (The Mission was the first), and although not as excellent as The Mission, it was still very good

15 One For the Road 5/10 another below average.

16 Gather Ye Acorns 3/10 I really didn't like this one at all. I suppose I'm being generous by giving it a 3.

17 Boo! 8/10 ~ Cute episode. Reminded me of Beetlejuice (Ghost's living in attic trying to get rid of new tennants)

18 Dorothy and Ben 10/10 ~ another beautiful episode.

19 Mirror, Mirror 10/10 ~absolutely top notch and the first episode to scare me silly. Better than some of the "horror" movies of the modern era.

20 Secret Cinema 6/10 ~ Ok episode, reminded me of The Truman Show

21 Hell Toupee 1/10 ~this is by far the worst episode, IMHO. Comparing HT to an episode like "The Mission" is quite laughable.

22 The Doll 10/10 ~ Another beautiful, exquiste episode. John Lithgow probably gave one of the finest performances of the entire first sesason.

23 One For the Books 4/10 ~ what a let down after "The Doll".

24 Grandpa's Ghost 9/10 ~ wonderful ending to Season 1

With the exception of a few, I thought most of the episodes were definitely above average. Also the impressive roster of guest stars: Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Gregory Hines, Sam Waterson, Harvey Kitel, and of course, John Lithgow, to name a few, gave the audience the feeling they were watching a mini-movie each week.

Also for me, I find Amazing Stories so appealing because it is a show that the entire family can watch and enjoy together, which is getting rarer and rarer these days. I highly recommend Amazing Stories for your dvd collection.