Amazing Stories is an American anthology television series created by Steven Spielberg, that originally ran on NBC in the United States from September 29, 1985, to April 10, 1987.
The series was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards and won five. The first-season episode "The Amazing Falsworth" earned writer Mick Garris an Edgar Award for Best Episode in a TV Series. It was not a ratings hit (ranking 40th in Season 1 and 52nd in Season 2), however, and the network did not renew it after the two-year contract expired. The 1987 science fiction film Batteries Not Included was originally intended as a story for Amazing Stories, but Spielberg liked the idea so much that it was made into a theatrical release.
The series title licensed the name of Amazing Stories, the first dedicated science fiction magazine created by Hugo Gernsback in April 1926.
The title sequence was made by computer-generated imagery (CGI) firm Robert Abel and Associates.
On March 6, 2020, a revival of Amazing Stories premiered on Apple TV+.
Episodes All episodes have a running time of around 24 minutes, with the exceptions of "The Mission" and "Go to the Head of the Class" (both running 46 minutes).
Season 1 (1985–86)
Season 2 (1986–87)
Production Development The series came about from Steven Spielberg's desire to use his ideas and short stories that were not substantial enough to support feature films and had toyed with the idea of returning to work in television having fond memories of his start in the medium with shows like Night Gallery, Marcus Welby, M.D. and the television movie Duel. The title of the series came from the science fiction magazine of the same name. With the introduction of producer Gary David Goldberg, Spielberg met with Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff of NBC. After Spielberg outlined his conditions for the series (including avoiding using his name for series promotion following the premiere and placement in the 8 p.m. Sunday Night timeslot), NBC gave Amazing Stories a then unprecedented commitment of 44 episodes over a two year period as creator and producer Steven Spielberg didn't want to do the series unless he had a second year with which to work so he had room to adjust any flaws of the series between seasons. The series had a budget of $750,000 $1 million per half-hour episode with the standard rate for hour long TV episodes in regular TV series costing approximately $900,000 per episode and first year half-hour programs such as Cheers and Family Ties costing $350,000 and $400,000 per episode. When questioned about the nature of the deal, Tartikoff responded that they wanted to give Spielberg the most comfortable creative environment possible as they felt Amazing Stories had the potential to be hit for the network. Spielberg made clear his intentions with Amazing Stories was to create an all-ages family show emphasizing wonderment, fantasy, irony and comedy whilst sidestepping more scary or macabre stories (though some would still be produced, but would be broadcast later in the evening if Spielberg deemed them "too intense" for family viewing). While Spielberg expressed admiration for prior anthology TV series of the past, he said he wanted to avoid the "moralizing" seen in series such as the original The Twilight Zone. Spielberg's heavy hands-on involvement in the series lead to rumors that no Amazing Stories episodes would be screened for critics nor would clips from the series be used in promos both of which Spielberg denied (though the first two episodes were held back as Spielberg wanted to adopt a similar approach to how he handled his film releases). Spielberg wanted one third of the directors for the series to be newcomers as he felt the series could serve as a good training ground for writers and directors. Thanks to Spielberg's reputation, many established directors such as Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese came on board to direct segments as they'd wanted to work with Spielberg. Peter Weir had wanted to direct a segment, but due to scheduling conflicts with The Mosquito Coast this ultimately never came to be. NBC hoped to build a Sunday night block around Amazing Stories that would be able to beat out CBS who had claimed the number one spot for Sunday night during the previous television season with their block consisting of 60 Minutes, Murder, She Wrote, Crazy Like a Fox, and Trapper John, M.D..
Season One In the lead up to the series premiere, Amazing Stories was noted for the high level of secrecy Spielberg demanded of the production as the series was the only major series not to be screened by TV critics during the Upfronts for the 1985–86 television season. Spielberg defended his limited pre-release publicity for Amazing Stories citing the approach he'd taken for the successful E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial as well as his belief that pre-release info for films being detrimental for audiences leaving them with the feeling of having already seen what's being promoted. Spielberg also refused to do interviews for the show and instituted a rule that he would not take interviews on the series until 19 episodes of the first season had aired. The premiere episode, the Spielberg directed "Ghost Train", was a decent sized hit that managed to pull in one third of the television viewing audience beaten only by CBS' Murder, She Wrote but word of mouth saw ratings rapidly decline until the series ranked 40 out of 67 for all shows. Season one story editor Mick Garris blamed the lukewarm reception on unrealistic audience expectations who were expecting moments comparable to those in Spielberg's films and contrasted the internal enthusiasm "Ghost Train" was met with against the public ire and derision. According to Garris, Spielberg had final say on all scripts with Garris' job primarily being to rewrite the scripts to match Spielberg's specifications (hence why 16 of season one's 22 episodes have a "Story by" credit for Spielberg). In a November 1986 article for the Los Angeles Times, it was reported that a "story checklist" developed by Spielberg's office was handed out to writers detailing what the story editers would be looking for. The contents of the checklist included:
Story Checklist Element Description Source A GOAL WE CARE ABOUT Whatever drives the protagonist should be meaningful to us. FAMILY ORIENTED Are the incidents in the story appropriate for the "family hour"? UPBEAT Is the story upbeat? Does it have a happy ending? AMAZING Is there something that makes the story truly "amazing," not merely interesting? EARLY MAGIC Is the "amazing element" introduced quickly, at least by the end of Act I? A "DROP" OF FANTASY Is there only one element of magic, and everything else played as close to reality as possible?
Season Two Following the middling performance to season one Spielberg agreed with NBC to take a less hands-on approach to season two such as authoring fewer stories, taking less of a role in reworking scripts, a less juvenile tone, and allowing a panel of writers and producers to be brought in on a consulting basis including Richard Matheson, Robert Zemeckis, and Garris. Tartikoff also blamed Amazing Stories under performance on its pairing with the revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Sunday nights as parents looking for an "electronic babysitter" for their children were taken aback by the colorful whimsy filled fantasies presented in Amazing Stories that would then segue into stories of murder on Alfred Hitchcock Presents with parents opting to put on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which started before Alfred Hitchcock Presents for uninterrupted family viewing meaning that Amazing Stories target audience was being siphoned off. As a result, when Amazing Stories returned for a second season Alfred Hitchcock Presents was cancelled by NBC (though later revived by USA Network for an additional three seasons). In an attempt to improve the writing quality of the show, twice as many scripts were ordered for season two in comparison to season one with the logic that increasing the order would lead to a higher yield of higher quality scripts after culling the inferior ones. The additional scripts were acquired at the expense of both Spielberg and Universal Television as NBC had already made a sizable commitment with a two season order and $1 million per episode budget. The behind the scenes changes were unable to stem the downward trend in viewership with the series falling to 62nd place and cancelling the series after completion of its two year commitment.
Soundtrack In 1999, Varèse 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' opening and closing themes, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conducted by Joel McNeely.
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), as well as two alternate versions of Williams' main title theme, one used just once (Alternate #1, on "Alamo Jobe")Burlingame, Jon, liner notes, Amazing Stories: Anthology Two, Intrada, 2006 and the other never used.Burlingame, Jon, liner notes, Amazing Stories: Anthology Three, Intrada, 2007 The album is also notable for the premiere release of the music Williams composed for the Amblin Entertainment logo (although the logo music is not heard on the show itself).
Other than Williams, Bruce Broughton and Billy Goldenberg are the only composers 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. (The series theme is not quoted in any of the episode scores, with the exception of "Ghost Train.")
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)