The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985-1986; 1988-1992) - Blu-ray Forum

AnamorphicWidescreen · 05-02-2020, 01:31 AM

I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury's short stories/novellas & have also enjoyed the filmed adaptations based on his work (notably The Martian Chronicles mini-series, Something Wicked this Way Comes, etc.). So, last year I was surprised when I recently found out about the anthology TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater - this ran on HBO from '85-'86, and the USA Network from '88 - '92. I was never even aware of this show when it was originally out, never having had cable back in the day.

Nostalgia probably has a lot to do with my enjoying the show so much. I.e., I am an '80's kid, and do remember similar anthology shows like the '80's Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, etc.

So, a while back I started watching the show on the 5-disk DVD set. I am extremely impressed by the quality of the show itself, but the DVD's themselves are utter garbage. Not at all impressed by the presentation here - extremely sub-par:

- These episodes all have extremely poor PQ, a lot of which probably has to do with them cramming a lot of episodes on each disk. In Disk 1, they include 14 episodes, all of which are 25-30 minutes each. I'm sure if there were fewer episodes per disk the quality may have been at least a little better.
-No subtitles.
-No chapter breaks.

The show itself:

Excellent sci-fi/horror/suspense anthology show. Due to being a cable series, the show seems to have a bigger budget/production values than similar TV shows - and, has some familiar faces - i.e., Jeff Goldblum, Bill Shatner, Michael Ironside, a young Drew Barrymore, etc. Some of my favorite episodes (so far) have included:

The Crowd - creepy & disturbing
Marionettes, Inc.
The Town Where no one Got off
The Man Upstairs - great "modern" vampire tale set in one of my favorite cities, Paris.
Gotcha! - funny, bizarre, and creepy
The Woman who Screamed
The Coffin - great episode, with a fitting ending.
The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
The Playground

My only issue with the series is the intro./opening, which simply shows Bradbury himself going into an office filled with fantastic knick-knacks/toys, and starting to type a story. Fairly boring & self-indulgent introduction, and I feel this could have been a lot more original. But, this doesn't mar my enjoyment of the show - and, that's what the fast-forward button is for - LOL.

Also, note that the shows aren't nearly as good as Bradbury's stories - but, are still decent adaptations.

So, the show would really benefit from a Blu release with cleaned-up PQ, etc.

05-02-2020, 01:31 AM	#1
AnamorphicWidescreen Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Feb 2014	The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985-1986; 1988-1992) I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury's short stories/novellas & have also enjoyed the filmed adaptations based on his work (notably The Martian Chronicles mini-series, Something Wicked this Way Comes, etc.). So, last year I was surprised when I recently found out about the anthology TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater - this ran on HBO from '85-'86, and the USA Network from '88 - '92. I was never even aware of this show when it was originally out, never having had cable back in the day. Nostalgia probably has a lot to do with my enjoying the show so much. I.e., I am an '80's kid, and do remember similar anthology shows like the '80's Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, etc. So, a while back I started watching the show on the 5-disk DVD set. I am extremely impressed by the quality of the show itself, but the DVD's themselves are utter garbage. Not at all impressed by the presentation here - extremely sub-par: - These episodes all have extremely poor PQ, a lot of which probably has to do with them cramming a lot of episodes on each disk. In Disk 1, they include 14 episodes, all of which are 25-30 minutes each. I'm sure if there were fewer episodes per disk the quality may have been at least a little better. -No subtitles. -No chapter breaks. The show itself: Excellent sci-fi/horror/suspense anthology show. Due to being a cable series, the show seems to have a bigger budget/production values than similar TV shows - and, has some familiar faces - i.e., Jeff Goldblum, Bill Shatner, Michael Ironside, a young Drew Barrymore, etc. Some of my favorite episodes (so far) have included: The Crowd - creepy & disturbing Marionettes, Inc. The Town Where no one Got off The Man Upstairs - great "modern" vampire tale set in one of my favorite cities, Paris. Gotcha! - funny, bizarre, and creepy The Woman who Screamed The Coffin - great episode, with a fitting ending. The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl The Playground My only issue with the series is the intro./opening, which simply shows Bradbury himself going into an office filled with fantastic knick-knacks/toys, and starting to type a story. Fairly boring & self-indulgent introduction, and I feel this could have been a lot more original. But, this doesn't mar my enjoyment of the show - and, that's what the fast-forward button is for - LOL. Also, note that the shows aren't nearly as good as Bradbury's stories - but, are still decent adaptations. So, the show would really benefit from a Blu release with cleaned-up PQ, etc.

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