Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories
Genre	Anthology
Created by	Steven Spielberg (uncredited)
Developed by	Steven Spielberg, Joshua Brand, John Falsey
Directed by	Various
Theme music composer	John Williams
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	45
Production
Executive producer(s)	Steven Spielberg
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 29, 1985 – April 10, 1987
Chronology
Related shows	Family Dog

Amazing Stories is a television anthology series created by Steven Spielberg. It ran on NBC from 1985 to 1987. It was somwehat erratically screened in Britain by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes airing at any time from early on Sunday morning to weekday evenings to very late at night; it later received a more coherent run on Sci-Fi. Each episode featured an independent story, similar to programs as The Twilight Zone. Unlike that program, however, it did not have a regular host.

Although nominated for 12 Emmy Awards (resulting in five wins), it was not a hit and the network did not renew it after the two-year contract expired.

One of the first-season installments, "The Amazing Falsworth", brought writer Mick Garris an Edgar Award for Best Episode in a TV Series.

The show was licensed to use the name of Amazing Stories, the first science fiction magazine.^[1]

Home video/DVD/reruns

A selection of the original series episodes were released in the VHS format in 1993; these were titled "Book One" through "Book Five" in the US. In Japan and Europe episodes were cut together as movies and released in 8 volumes during the late 80s, early 90s. A 3-tape VHS (PAL) set was released in the UK in 2001.

The Complete First Season (DVD) was released on July 18, 2006 in the US. The second season of the series has not been released on DVD in the US as of yet, but is available in Japan (Region 2, NTSC) and was released there on July, 8th 2009. The full series was also released on DVD in Germany (Region 2, PAL) with both english and german dubbed audio as 11 single DVDs or a boxset containing all episodes, which was released on November 20, 2009.

Three of the episodes (The Mission, Mummy Daddy and Go to the Head of the Class) were packaged together as an anthology film and released theatrically in Australia on September 17, 1987. It later appeared on LaserDisc in Japan as "Amazing Stories: The Movie" shortly afterwards.

As of 2006, the SciFi channel in the United States showed episodes on an irregular schedule. The MoviePlex channel also shows the series as a collection of "movies," which are blocks of three episodes.

NetFlix currently offers both seasons of Amazing Stories in streaming video. You can stream the video directly to your PC, Xbox 360 and/or the Roku instant entertainment system. Additionally, Season One is also available on DVD for rent via mail.

Episodes

The series list below is annotated with the Book numbers as they appeared in the US release on VHS; the Japanese LaserDisc and UK VHS (PAL) releases are indicated with volume numbers. Note that Vol. 7 and 8 are switched for the UK VHS release:

Season One (1985-1986)

Season Two (1986-1987)

Soundtrack

In 1999 Varese Sarabande released a CD containing a rerecording of the scores for the episodes "The Mission" and "Dorothy and Ben" John Williams and Georges Delerue respectively) plus Williams's opening and closing themes, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by John Debney.

In 2006-2007, Intrada released three volumes of original music from the series, covering the impressive lineup of composers who worked on it and featuring all of the most noteworthy scores (with the exception of Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek's "The Family Dog," because the masters could not be found - a brief suite is on Music for a Darkened Theatre: Vol. 2, however).

Other than Williams, Bruce Broughton is the only composer to be represented on all three volumes. The running times below indicate the cumulative time for each score rather than the time of each track.

Volume 1 (2006)

CD1:

Amazing Stories Main Title - John Williams (1:02)

Ghost Train - John Williams (15:45)

Alamo Jobe - James Horner (10:01)

Gather Ye Acorns - Bruce Broughton (18:37)

The Doll - Georges Delerue (10:09)

The Amazing Falsworth - Billy Goldenberg (8:47)

CD2:

Amazing Stories Bumper #1 - John Williams (:04)

Moving Day - David Shire (13:41)

Without Diana - Georges Delerue (12:39)

Mummy, Daddy - Danny Elfman & Steve Bartek (13:26)

Vanessa In The Garden - Lennie Niehaus (13:23)

Welcome To My Nightmare - Bruce Broughton (16:04)

Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams (:29)

Amblin Logo - John Williams (:15)

Volume Two (2006)

CD 1:

Amazing Stories Main Title ­Alternate #1 - John Williams (1:03)

Boo! - Jerry Goldsmith (12:13)

What If...? - Billy Goldenberg (12:32)

Dorothy And Ben - Georges Delerue (10:10)

The Main Attraction - Craig Safan (12:09)

Such Interesting Neighbors - David Newman (17:13)

Thanksgiving - Bruce Broughton (12:14)

CD 2:

Amazing Stories Bumper #2 - John Williams (:04)

Hell Toupee - David Shire (13:41)

One For The Road - Johnny Mandel (8:40)

The Remote Control Man - Arthur B. Rubinstein (12:53)

The Greibble - John Addison (15:43)

No Day At The Beach - Leonard Rosenman (11:04)

Santa ’85 - Thomas Newman (13:05)

Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams (:29)

Amblin Logo (Christmas Version) - John Williams (:15)

Volume Three (2007)

CD 1:

Amazing Stories Main Title ­Alternate #2 - John Williams (1:03)

Go To The Head Of The Class - Alan Silvestri (26:58)

The Wedding Ring - Craig Safan (12:51)

Mirror, Mirror - Michael Kamen (24:56)

Mr. Magic - Bruce Broughton (12:50)

CD 2:

Amazing Stories Bumper #1 - John Williams (:04)

Secret Cinema - Billy Goldenberg (7:56)

Life On Death Row - Fred Steiner (13:57)

The Pumpkin Competition - John Addison (14:29)

Grandpa's Ghost - Pat Metheny (11:06)

The Mission - John Williams (29:55)

Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams (:29)

Amblin Logo (Alternate) - John Williams (:15)

Spin-off

One episode of the show, "The Family Dog", was spun off into its own series. Six years after Amazing Stories finished its run, Family Dog ran on CBS for ten episodes before being pulled off the schedule.

See also

Several video movies were released consisting of two or more episodes from the series. They include:

• Amazing Stories: Book One
• Amazing Stories: Book Two
• Amazing Stories: The Movie

References

External links

• Amazing Stories at the Internet Movie Database
• Amazing Stories at TV.com
• In-depth review of Amazing Stories episode starring Christopher Lloyd, with screencaps