The Ray Bradbury Theater

1985
The Ray Bradbury Theater

Seasons & Episodes

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  • 1

EP1 The Earthmen Jan 03, 1992

A crew of a spaceship return to Mars after a 20-year absence to discover a scientist and his family unaffected by their stay.

EP2 Zero Hour Jan 10, 1992

In the near future, young children are persuaded to help an imaginary friend named "Drill" to play a game called "Invasion".

EP3 The Jar Jan 17, 1992

A farmer impresses the townsfolk with a mysterious jar bought from a traveling carnival sideshow.

EP4 Colonel Stonesteel and the Desperate Empties Jan 24, 1992

A boy and a neighbor invent a fake mummy to stir up the townspeople and relieve the boredom of the last days of summer.

EP5 The Concrete Mixer Jan 31, 1992

A Martian's reluctance to attack Earth stems from what he read in his alien comic books.

EP6 The Utterly Perfect Murder Feb 07, 1992

As a boy, piano prodigy, Douglas, was tormented by a gang of bullies, led by Ralph. Now, fifty years later, Doug looks for closure in his life, by traveling back to his hometown and getting his revenge.

EP7 Let's Play Poison Feb 14, 1992

After witnessing a student's accidental death because of bullying, a teacher vows to put children in their place but they plan to do the same to him.

EP8 The Martian Feb 21, 1992

A Martian welcomes grieving parents who move to Mars.

EP9 The Lonely One Jul 10, 1992

After discovering the body of the latest victim of the serial killer known as The Lonely One, Lavinia persuades her friends to go to the movies to take their minds off the tragedy. The result is a long, scary midnight walk home for the increasingly terrified Lavinia.

EP10 The Happiness Machine Jul 17, 1992

A family man, incorrigible dreamer and small-town inventor is inspired to build a machine that can create happiness. However, his wife makes him realize the irony of such concept.

EP11 Tomorrow's Child Aug 14, 1992

An experimental childbirth procedure results in a couple's baby being born into another dimension. The child's non-human appearance puts a lot of strain on the new parents and threatens to send the wife into madness.

EP12 The Anthem Sprinters Aug 21, 1992

An American author on a visit to Dublin stops by a pub where he is caught up in the excitement over a local sporting event known as "anthem sprinting." In this challenge runners compete to see who can get out of the theater fastest during the pause between the end of the film and the start of the Irish national anthem and this time the stakes are the American's first edition of Joyce versus the pub's Sean O'Casey autographed playbill.

EP13 By the Numbers Sep 11, 1992

The manager of a hotel pool drills his young son with military precision, leading to tragedy.

EP14 The Long Rain Sep 19, 1992

When an army spaceship crash lands on a world where it never stops raining, the four survivors try to reach the Sundome that has been erected on the planet and provides the only shelter. But exhaustion hits and predatory plants await.

EP15 The Dead Man Sep 26, 1992

A lonely middle-aged woman moves to a small town to take a job as a manicurist and finds she is strangely drawn to local eccentric Odd Martin--who claims to be dead.

EP16 Sun and Shadow Oct 03, 1992

An American film crew arrives in a Mexican village to shoot a TV commercial; Ricardo, a townsman, interferes with the filming because he resents his life being treated as a colorful prop by these arrogant interlopers.

EP17 Silent Towns Oct 10, 1992

A technician accidentally stranded on Mars by a sudden evacuation searches desperately for another human being on the desolate world. When he finds an equally lonely woman, she is not what he was expecting.

EP18 Downwind from Gettysburg Oct 17, 1992

Walter Bayes has devoted his life to creating a robot duplicate of Abraham Lincoln to inspire the American people to recommit themselves to the nation's ideals. On the night of its unveiling, however, a maniac named Booth plots to assassinate the Presidential automaton.

EP19 Some Live Like Lazarus Oct 24, 1992

A young couple falls in love but his domineering mother comes between them; when the old woman finally dies--forty years later--the next step is not very clear.

EP20 The Handler Oct 27, 1992

A small town mortician takes a perverse delight in exacting postmortem revenge against his enemies, until his day of reckoning arrives.

EP21 Fee Fie Foe Fum Oct 28, 1992

A vicious prankster convinces his wife's mean old grandmother that he is planning to kill her and her pets and grind them up in the new garbage disposal that he bought for her.

EP22 Great Wide World Over There Oct 29, 1992

Cora Gibbs is an illiterate woman living on an isolated farm with her much older husband. When her educated nephew Benjy visits for the summer, she sees her opportunity to connect with the "great wide world over there" by sending and receiving mail.

EP23 The Tombstone Oct 30, 1992

A bickering couple checks into the last available room in a small hotel only to discover that the previous occupant left a tombstone in the room. No one gets any sleep as the wife is now convinced the room is haunted.
7.3| 0h30m| TV-14| en| More Info
Released: 21 May 1985 Ended
Producted By: Atlantis Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A Canadian-produced fantastic anthology series scripted by famed science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. Many of the teleplays were based upon Bradbury's novels and short stories.

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Reviews

gridoon2018 The best thing about "The Ray Bradbury Theater" is its diversity: you never know what the next episode will bring you. There is sci-fi (both on Earth and on Mars), tales of the supernatural, mystery, horror, black comedy, just plain comedy, heartwarming stories, etc. The most disappointing thing is how many of the episodes don't have a memorable punchline or payoff, something that is required in this type of anthology show. Sometimes Bradbury's stories get lost in translation due to the generally dismal production values, or the usually unimaginative directors. But other times the stories themselves begin with a great idea that is never developed; too many endings make little sense or leave you wondering "Huh? Is that it?". There are episodes that make 22 minutes feel like an eternity; there are also episodes that achieve a kind of poetry. I won't go extensively into specific titles, because everyone has their individual tastes; I will just mention three episodes that I think are painfully unwatchable ("Colonel Stonesteel and the Desperate Empties" "There Was An Old Woman", "Exorcism"), and three that are clever and successful ("Touch of Petulance", "By The Numbers", "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl"). Most of the others are somewhere in between. The DVD of this show is extremely cheap (under 10 US dollars), but you'll find out why: they have stuffed all 65 episodes in 5 discs (13 in each), resulting in frequent, and distracting, pixelization. Still, you can't beat that number of episodes for that price.
AMar_rom Every episode (totally 65) in this TV series is based on a short story written by Ray Bradbury. I have seen most of them and I am more than happy on the way Bradbury's stories are presented on screen. The lack of budget for some episodes at least does not get in the way and the presentation exposes sufficiently well Bradbury's imaginative power.Bradbury is one of my favorite novelists. He is (perhaps) mostly known for his science-fiction novel 'Fahrenheit 451' and the compound stories of 'The Martian Chronicles'. Nonetheless, his strength I think lies to his short stories that contain a rich blend of many themes ranging from lighthearted comedies to horror stories of the macabre. These episodes (for the most part produced for cable TV) do a more-than-decent job of introducing us to Bradbury's universe and can be an ideal starting point for many viewers to discover Bradbury. 'The Ray Bradbury Theater' is a must for fans and highly recommended for everybody.
Cristi_Ciopron It was a discrete, wise, quite, charming and weird TV show.Pére Bradbury's filmed sketches were on TV during my adolescence, and they shaped my idea of a Sci—Fi show and of how it should look (and taste, as well…). That's why a later exposure to TV space operas was practically useless—I was lost for the space—opera ,and educated, as it were, by Pére Bradbury's quiet marvels and paradoxes—nice, wise ,gentle things, often with a humorous or a paradoxical side …;and by the '80s TWILIGHT ZONE (whose score still thrills me …).These humble things looked to a 13—14 yrs. old quite exquisite and stylish and even maybe somewhat sophisticated; never dull or disappointing. This was my idea of a Sci—Fi show, of vintage Sci—Fi TV. The intro was unforgettable—Pére Bradbury in the elevator, than entering his small office—the toys, the objects around his office ….We were told he never took the plane; we felt that his mind was imposing, and the oldster looked friendly and peaceful.At the same age, I had the pleasure of reading a weekly magazine that sometimes offered a Bradbury short story (it offered a short story—sometimes two, if even shorter …--each time …), and then the treat was manifold. I think that there, in that magazine, I first encountered Bradbury's literature in its printed form.I remember your TV show,Pére Bradbury,with fondness and gratitude;it was first—hand Sci—Fi.It cultivated the taste for the concise TV sketch.
radioman970us I saw this on "Home Box Office" (heh! Love that...HBO now) when it first aired. Drew Barrymore's Screaming Woman has always impressed me and still does.I recently picked up the Platinum Disc Corp DVD set for this series and was pleasantly surprised by the image quality. It's has nice color for the most part but may appear too pink at other times. I doubt the source material was outstanding visually. The biggest problem is something that was not a big surprise: image tearing. This happens when there is a lot of action on screen. It's infuriating that a company does this to a series that isn't available any way else just to save a few bucks. I paid about $25 but I'd pay more for better quality spread across more DVDs. It really sucks! And they could've turned themselves around with this collection. Yey to PDC for releasing these but boohiss for dropping the quality. For that I WON'T BE buying this for Christmas for another member of the family who is a fan. :(