quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
I did buy the odd one as late as 1985.

Which one was that?

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
When Bradbury adapted "Gotcha!" for RAY BRADBURY THEATRE...

He said that he had just watched Stonesteel on the television last week. It was one of the better ones, as I recall. My favourites are The Coffin and The Lonely One, I think.

"Gotcha!" the teleplay written by Ray Bradbury, is published in The New Ray Bradbury Review 1. Does anyone have info or notions about other RAY BRADBURY THEATER scripts being published?

quote:

Originally posted by Linnl:
"Gotcha!" the teleplay written by Ray Bradbury, is published in The New Ray Bradbury Review 1. Does anyone have info or notions about other RAY BRADBURY THEATER scripts being published?

I have no info, but think it would be a good idea for some of the scripts to be published in a collection. Bradbury writes scripts in a very non-technical way, which makes them accessible for the general reader. From my researches in the archives at the Center for RB Studies, I seem to recall that not all the teleplays from RBT have survived - that is to say, not all have been preserved among Bradbury's own papers (but they might exist as studio scripts somewhere).

I am doing some work on Bradbury scripts at the moment, which might eventually lead to a publishing project, but RBT isn't at the heart of it.

Would you recommend the DVDs of the RBT, Phil?

I recently searched for them on Amazon and elsewhere, but some of the comments suggested that the video quality wasn't very good.

I'd certainly consider acquiring them at some point, because I saw only a handful of them - the first ones, I think, where Ray arrives in an elevator - and there have been no re-runs where I live.

Because the DVDs are so cheap, yes I would recommend them. However, be prepared for some poor picture quality resulting from a misguided attempt to cram too many episodes onto too few discs.

The production values of the series also vary enormously. They started off looking quite good - the episodes with the likes of William Shatner, Jeff Goldblum, etc - but once it became an international co-production it was at the mercy of production crews who weren't always up to the task. The French episodes were generally the worst.

For the Bradbury aficionado, watching the whole series is a bit of a rollercoaster. You will scream, you will smile, you will groan and shout at the screen. Sometimes they got it right (A Sound of Thunder works well, even with a rubber dinosaur), and sometimes they got it horribly wrong (Tyrannosaurus Rex, to take another prehistoric example). Bradbury hated The Dwarf and On The Orient, North... even though he wrote the scripts himself, and was an executive producer on the series!

Originally posted by philnic:

quote:

I am doing some work on Bradbury scripts at the moment, which might eventually lead to a publishing project, but RBT isn't at the heart of it.

I hope it does, good luck!

Others that captured RB "rather well":
Banshee
Chicago Abyss
Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone
Toynbee Convector
The Murderer
Zero Hour
Happiness Machine
Anthem Sprinters
Great Wide World Over There
Marionettes, Inc.
The Lonely One
Usher II
Town Where No One Got Off
Exorcism
Mars is Heaven
Phil: (...once it became an international co-production it was at the mercy of production crews who weren't always up to the task. The French episodes were generally the worst.) Where is this information on the collections' episode production available?

quote:

Originally posted by fjp451:
...Where is this information on the collections' episode production available?

Er, nowhere in particular. You can work it out from the end credits, though. Usually you will see a series of production companies listed at the end of the episode, which gives the game away. With the French episodes, you can tell because some of the production credits are for people with distinctly French-sounding names.

The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies has a small amount of correspondence and documentation from the production of Ray Bradbury Theater, and this also gives some indication of where episodes were filmed. I also have some correspondence from that time from Tom Cotter, who is a British producer-director who joined the production team when the British episodes were filmed and stayed with the series through its international travels. (I think Tom is one of the great unsung heroes of the series, who brought much of the stability and consistency of the later years.)

I ought to write something about the international dimension for my blog... one day...

fjp listed some other episodes that he thought captured Bradbury well. Here's my take on his choices:

Banshee - agreed

Chicago Abyss - agreed, one of the better episodes

Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone - it's OK, but not one of my favourites

Toynbee Convector - like many of the "futuristic" episodes, this is a bit weak in production values. It doesn't quite convince, despite spot-on casting with James Whitmore

The Murderer - agreed

Zero Hour - I'm not convinced by the kids; it may just be that the episode has dated badly, although I didn't think much of it at the time!

Happiness Machine - can't really remember what I thought of this one. Is it Elliot Gould?

Anthem Sprinters - can't remember!

Great Wide World Over There - agreed. Tyne Daly can do no wrong!

Marionettes, Inc. - pretty good. Futuristic stuff doesn't matter in this; casting is everything

The Lonely One - agreed

Usher II - not too fond of it, but never really cared for the story either. I know, sacrilege!

Town Where No One Got Off - agreed

Exorcism - I thought the performances were a bit off

Mars is Heaven - agreed. Infinitely better than in the Martian Chronicles miniseries



To fjp's list I would probably add "Emissary" and "The Playground" and "The Crowd". "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" almost works, but could be better. I also quite liked "The Earthmen" last time I watched it, although it could be funnier.

Apologies to douglasSP, whose thread we have hijacked!

There's no hijacking at all - each time a story is mentioned, it triggers all sorts of free association and discussion, spinning off in all directions. And how can that not be good?

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Usher II - not too fond of it, but never really cared for the story either. I know, sacrilege!

Tis! It may be my favourite story in my favourite book!

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
There's no hijacking at all - each time a story is mentioned, it triggers all sorts of free association and discussion, spinning off in all directions.

Sort of like harvey101blind espouses.

RE: Usher II ~ One of the many great aspects I love about RB's style is the twists and turns you can find in his phrasings. Wording that stays within your mind and influences your outlook on life forever once the nerve has been struck. Metaphors...

Usher II, "I'm being ironic. Don't interrupt a man in the midst of being ironic. It's not polite."

F451, "It was a pleasure to burn."

Dandelion Wine, "The facts about John Huff, aged twelve, are simple and soon stated. ...He ran laughing." How great is that!?
(Read the entire passage p. 114 in DW...beautiful and poetic!)

Sound of Thunder, "Wee taek yu thair. Yu shoot itt."

The Pedestrian, "Walking, just walking, walking?"

The Murderer, "I bought a quart of French chocolate ice cream and spooned it into the radio transmitter."

Something Wicked this Way Comes, "Nothing much else happened all the rest of the night."

...to cite just a few! (Others?)

RE: THE RAY BRADBURY THEATER

In case you are interested, fan Loren Heisey, of innermind.com, has put together an episode guide to RBT as well as several other genre shows. At the lower part of the page, you can find downloadable pdf versions.

I asked, and she said it would be OK to post a link. Thanks Loren!

http://www.innermind.com/myguides/guides/eplist.htm