History Channel Ticking Me Off!!!

[Alixz]

The Ray Bradbury Theater is an anthology series that ran for two seasons on HBO, three episodes per season from 1985 to 1986, and four additional seasons on USA Network from 1988 to 1992. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel. All 65 episodes were written by Ray Bradbury and many were based on short stories or novels he had written, including "A Sound of Thunder", "Marionettes, Inc.", "Banshee", "The Playground", "Mars is Heaven", "Usher II", "The Jar", "The Long Rain", "The Veldt", "The Small Assassin", "The Pedestrian", "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl, "Here There Be Tygers", "The Toynbee Convector", and "Sun and Shadow".

I was about to say that this show wasn't that old in the general scheme of things, but then it did go on air 26 years ago.

A Sound of Thunder is the short story that the movie A Sound of Thunder was taken from and enlarged.  It also was the basis for The Butterfly Effect.  In the original short story one of the hunters comes back with a "small golden butterfly" crushed into the sole of his boot.

Before I read the whole story I had a Freshman English teacher who used the description of the dinosaur from the short story as an example of descriptive writing.

Looking at the titles, I can see that Rod Serling based many of his Twilight Zone episodes on Bradbury's stories.

Bradbury also wrote I Sing The Body Electric which is the title of a Walt Whitman poem.  That was also made into a Twilight Zone episode about robotic nannies and care givers.

[Alixz]

Just a question:  Does anyone remember reading a short story about a planet where it rains every day except for one day every so many years?
(A very long interval - I can't remember how long.)


The story is about children in a classroom looking forward to that one day of sun.  When the day comes everyone runs outside to look at the miraculous sun but one child can't be found.  As the rain begins again, the teacher and the children go back into the school only to find that one child had been accidentally locked in a closet.  Now he will never see the sun because that sunny day comes at very long intervals and the child won't live long enough to be able to see it when it comes again.

[Robert_Hall]

I didn't even remeber there was HBO in 1985....

[bestfriendsgirl]

We first got HBO in West Virginia in 1979, which means it was probably available elsewhere years before - it takes things a while to work their way into our little cultural backwater.  I was in high school and it was a very big deal, the idea of actually being able to get R-rated movies at home. Most people's parents didn't subscribe for that reason, which kind of goes back to the earlier posts on "forbidden fruit."

[Robert_Hall]

I can understand, BFG,  I just do not pay much attention to TV, old and especially new.  In the mid 80's particularly, I was preoccupied with  other matters and things came and went without me even noticing.  Talk about "cultural backwater"  I do remember being hooked on MTV for a while in the early 80's. but that is about all.

[Alixz]

Billy Idol - "I want my MTV!"

TV comes and goes with me.  Right now, as I have mentioned before, I reduced my cable bill and lost a lot of the "high" channels that we used to get.  Now we have a more simple almost broadcast package.

I have been reading a lot and re reading things I haven't visited in a long time.  I just re read John Knowles A Separate Peace and I forgot how much it I liked it.  That also took me back to the first movie made from the book in 1972 starring Parker Stevenson in his first role.  The movie was actually filmed at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire from which both Knowles and Stevenson graduated.

Phillips Exeter stood in for Devon Academy in the storyline.

It took me a while, but I found an old VHS copy of the 1972 movie.  It was never released on DVD.  Only the newer 2004 version was released on DVD.

Parker Stevenson will always be Gene to me.

I don't miss "my MTV".

[Alixz]

Just a question:  Does anyone remember reading a short story about a planet where it rains every day except for one day every so many years?
(A very long interval - I can't remember how long.)


The story is about children in a classroom looking forward to that one day of sun.  When the day comes everyone runs outside to look at the miraculous sun but one child can't be found.  As the rain begins again, the teacher and the children go back into the school only to find that one child had been accidentally locked in a closet.  Now he will never see the sun because that sunny day comes at very long intervals and the child won't live long enough to be able to see it when it comes again.

I found it!  It is called All Summer In A Day and is, of course, written by Ray Bradbury.



[The story is about a class of school children on Venus, which in this tale is a jungle world of constant torrential rainstorms, where the sun is only visible for two hours every seven years. Such an occurrence is imminent.

One of the children, Margot, had moved to Venus from Earth five years before the story takes place, and she is the only one in her class to remember sunshine. She has become frail and miserable on Venus, and almost has a nervous breakdown from the anxiety of living with the relentless rain. "[Once], a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn't touch her head."

Margot writes a poem about the sun:

"I think the sun is a flower,
That blooms for just one hour."
Margot describes the sun as "a penny", or "like a fire in the stove". The other children refuse to believe her, claiming that she's lying and she doesn't remember.

In her misery, Margot will not play with the other children, and they bully her for her separateness and refuse to believe her memories of the sun. As the sun's predicted appearance draws near, while the teacher is out of the classroom, William, the student who most often torments Margot for being a quiet outcast, convinces the other children to lock Margot in the closet. They ignore her cries and pleas; her beating against the closet door begging to be let out.

As the sun is about to appear, the teacher arrives to take the class outside to enjoy their two hours of sunshine. In their astonishment and joy, they all forget about Margot. They run and play, skip jump and prance about, savoring every second of their newly found freedom.

All at once, a girl feels a raindrop in her hand, and with the sad realization that the rain is returning, all the children start to cry. Thunder sounds, and the children run back inside. Suddenly, one of the children remembers Margot, still locked in the closet. They stand frozen with shame for what they have done, unable to "meet each other's glances." The precious sun has come and gone, leaving Margot still pale in gloom and darkness, not having seen the sun. The children walk slowly towards the closet, now silent, and let Margot out./i]

[bestfriendsgirl]

I thought Parker Stevenson was soooo hot! Loved him on The Hardy Boys, which was appointment viewing when I was a freshman in high school. Didn't understand at the time why Shaun Cassidy became the breakout star over him, although I do now since Shaun had the Jack and David Cassidy and Shirley Jones background in his favor.

[Robert_Hall]

Sounds interesting, Alixz,
 BFG, was the Hardy Boys a Disney serial ? I vaguely remember it.

[Rodney_G.]

The Hardy Boys was a Mickey Mouse Club series, and pretty good. Tim Corcoran was one of the boys. He was almost somebody in Disney's little gang of budding stars.

 Also,I had a friend in college who  had sat in a chair in his high school classroom into which Rod Serling had carved his name. (Binghamton HS, New York) RS's hometown.
Next stop,Willoughby indeed.

[bestfriendsgirl]

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ran from 1977- 1979 on ABC - this is the series I'm talking about. I'm 49, so the Mickey Mouse Club was just a tad before my time!  

[Rodney_G.]

I wish the Mickey Mouse Club was before my time!

[Robert_Hall]

LOL, Rodney ! I thought it was Disney connected in some way.  They had several  serials that were high quality and very entertaining for kids.

[TimM]

Another show I remember.  God, I feel old!

[Robert_Hall]

At your age Tim.you have no reason to feel old. Believe me.