The Ray Bradbury Theater

I saw this on "Home Box Office" (heh! Love that...HBO now) when it first aired. Drew Barrymore's Screaming Woman has always impressed me and still does.

I recently picked up the Platinum Disc Corp DVD set for this series and was pleasantly surprised by the image quality. It's has nice color for the most part but may appear too pink at other times. I doubt the source material was outstanding visually. The biggest problem is something that was not a big surprise: image tearing. This happens when there is a lot of action on screen. It's infuriating that a company does this to a series that isn't available any way else just to save a few bucks. I paid about $25 but I'd pay more for better quality spread across more DVDs. It really sucks! And they could've turned themselves around with this collection. Yey to PDC for releasing these but boohiss for dropping the quality. For that I WON'T BE buying this for Christmas for another member of the family who is a fan. :(

What makes this series fun is its low budget. but they do have really good actors on the show and I like watching it. What's hard to believe is that the show lasted for six years.

Each of the 65 episodes divided into 6 seasons, pose the problem and solution in under 30 minutes.

As you hear the introduction you will recognize many of the novels the teleplays are based on.

We get many famous actors of the time period that the presentation from 1985 to 1992 are present in these productions. We even start off with Leslie Nielsen playing a straight man as in Il pianeta proibito (1956) as opposed to the joke in L'aereo più pazzo del mondo (1980).

Do not get distracted by the ancient technology as devices and transportation of the time. They have something called computers in some of the series.

You will need to watch them all to find your favorite. I can only imaging having to wait for each one for almost a decade.

Different episodes may be of different values to you but the series in general is top notch.

I have always been a huge fan of shows like The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Hitchhiker, Night Gallery, Outer Limits, and of course The Ray Bradbury Theater. The stories in The Ray Bradbury Theater are extremely well written, intriguing and enthralling. His writing pulls me in and keeps me fully invested in the characters of each story. They chose the perfect actors/actresses for each role. You can tell a show is genuinely good when its (sometimes for this show) very low budget but the writing and acting is so well done that you are able to completely overlook that huge detail. I only wish there had been more than 6 seasons.

Every episode (totally 65) in this TV series is based on a short story written by Ray Bradbury. I have seen most of them and I am more than happy on the way Bradbury's stories are presented on screen. The lack of budget for some episodes at least does not get in the way and the presentation exposes sufficiently well Bradbury's imaginative power.

Bradbury is one of my favorite novelists. He is (perhaps) mostly known for his science-fiction novel 'Fahrenheit 451' and the compound stories of 'The Martian Chronicles'. Nonetheless, his strength I think lies to his short stories that contain a rich blend of many themes ranging from lighthearted comedies to horror stories of the macabre. These episodes (for the most part produced for cable TV) do a more-than-decent job of introducing us to Bradbury's universe and can be an ideal starting point for many viewers to discover Bradbury. 'The Ray Bradbury Theater' is a must for fans and highly recommended for everybody.