The Ray Bradbury Theater
Encyclopedia
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
".
Many of the episodes focused on only one of Bradbury's original works. However, Bradbury occasionally included elements from his other works. "Marionettes, Inc." featured Fantoccini, a character from "I Sing the Body Electric!". "Gotcha!" included an opening sequence taken from "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair." Characters were renamed, and elements added to the original works to expand the story to 23-28 minutes or to better suit the television medium.
Each episode would begin with a shot of Bradbury in his office, gazing over mementos of his life, which he states (in narrative) are used to spark ideas for stories. During the first season, Bradbury sometimes appeared on-screen in brief vignettes introducing the story. During the second season, Bradbury provided the opening narration with no specific embellishment concerning the episode. During the third season, a foreshortened version of the narration was used and Bradbury would add specific comments relevant to the episode presented. During the fourth and later seasons, a slightly shorter generic narration was used with no additional comments.
Famous actors appearing in the series included James Coco
, William Shatner
, Peter O'Toole
, Patrick Macnee
, Jeff Goldblum
, Drew Barrymore
, Hal Linden
, Michael Ironside
, Robert Vaughn
, Eugene Levy
, Saul Rubinek
, Donald Pleasence
, Denholm Elliott
, David Ogden Stiers
, John Saxon
, Harold Gould
, Bruce Weitz
, Barry Morse
, Eddie Albert
, David Carradine
, Sally Kellerman
, Vincent Gardenia
, Robert Culp
, Shawn Ashmore
, Richard Benjamin
, John Vernon
, Elliott Gould
, Tyne Daly
, Lucy Lawless
, Jean Stapleton, Marc Singer
, Michael Hurst
, Louise Fletcher
, Magali Noël
, John Glover
, Howard Hesseman
, and Shelley Duvall
.
Echo Bridge also released 2 single disc volumes on January 2, 2007, each volume features 13 episodes.
On May 31, 2011, Alliance Home Entertainment
will release The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Complete Collection on DVD in Canada only for the very first time.
There was no Episode Listing with this set, so here is the episode listing:
Disc 1
The Crowd
The Emissary
To The Chicago Abyss
The Pedestrian
Banshee
The Screaming Woman
Skeleton
Gotcha
Disc 2
The Man Upstairs
The Small Assassin
The Haunting of the New
The Town Where No One Got Off
Marionettes Inc.
The Playground
The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl.
Disc 3
The Wind
A Sound of Thunder
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone
Hail and Farewell
Touched With Fire
Here There Be Tygers
Touch of Petulance
The Black Ferris
The Long Years
Exorcism
Mars is Heaven
The Murderer
Usher II
Disc 4
The Toynbee Convector
The Day It Rained Forever
And the Moon Be Still as Bright
The Earthmen
Zero Hour
Colonel Stonesteel and “The Desperate Empties”
The Concrete Mixer
The Jar
The Utterly Perfect Murder
The Martian
Let’s Play Poison
The Dead Man
The Happiness Machine
Disc 5
The Lonely One
The Long Rain
The Anthem Sprinters
Fee Fie Foe Fum
Downward From Gettysburg
By The Numbers
The Tombstone
Tomorrow’s Child
Silent Towns
Some Live Like Lazarus
Sun And Shadow
Great Wide World Over There
The Handl
Disc 6
Punishment Without Crime
On The Orient, North
The Coffin
Tyrannosaurus REx
There Was An Old Woman
The Dwarf
A Miracle of Rare Device
The Lake
The Veldt
Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms In Your Cellar!
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
from 1988 to 1992. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
. All 65 episodes were written by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
and many were based on short stories or novels he had written, including "A Sound of Thunder
A Sound of Thunder
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. As of 1984 it was the most re-published science fiction story up to the present time...
", "Marionettes, Inc.
Marionettes, Inc.
"Marionettes, Inc.", is a short story by Ray Bradbury from his collection of short stories, The Illustrated Man. In it, Bradbury conjures a conflict between man and machine and depicts the human dependence on technology, a common theme for Bradbury's stories.- Plot summary:Smith and Braling, both...
", "Banshee
Banshee (short story)
Banshee is an autobiographical short story written by Ray Bradbury, and later adapted by Bradbury as an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater. The story is based on Bradbury's experiences with John Huston during pre-production of their film Moby Dick, directed by Huston and adapted into a screenplay by...
", "The Playground", "Mars is Heaven
Mars is Heaven!
"Mars is Heaven!" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury originally published in 1948. "Mars is Heaven!" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one the best science fiction short stories of all time. As such, it was published in The Science...
", "Usher II", "The Jar", "The Long Rain
The Long Rain
"The Long Rain" is a short story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in 1950 by Love Romances Publishing Co., Inc.-Plot summary:The first paragraph reads as follows:The rain continued...
", "The Veldt
The Veldt
"The Veldt" is a short story written by Ray Bradbury that was published originally as "The World the Children Made" in the September 23, 1950 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, later republished in the anthology The Illustrated Man in 1951...
", "The Small Assassin
The Small Assassin (short story)
"The Small Assassin" is a short story by American author Ray Bradbury. It was first published in the November, 1946 issue of Dime Mystery. It was collected in Bradbury's anthology Dark Carnival and later collected in the anthologies The October Country, The Small Assassin, The Stories of Ray...
", "The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian
"The Pedestrian" is a short story by author Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in 1951 by The Fortnightly Publishing Company. It is included in the collection The Golden Apples of the Sun .-Summary:...
", "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
"The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" is a short story by Ray Bradbury. It was first published in Detective Book Magazine in November 1948. The story was also published as "Touch and Go" in EQMM in January 1953.- Plot summary :...
, "Here There Be Tygers
Here There Be Tygers
"Here There Be Tygers" is a short story written by Ray Bradbury, originally published in the anthology New Tales of Space and Time in 1951. It was later collected in Bradbury's short story collections R is for Rocket and The Golden Apples of the Sun...
", "The Toynbee Convector
The Toynbee Convector
"The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. First published in Playboy magazine in 1984, the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled The Toynbee Convector.-Plot summary:...
", and "Sun and Shadow
Sun and Shadow (short story)
"Sun and Shadow" is a short story by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury first published in 1953 in an American news magazine called The Reporter. Later that same year, Bradbury anthologized it in The Golden Apples of the Sun....
".
Many of the episodes focused on only one of Bradbury's original works. However, Bradbury occasionally included elements from his other works. "Marionettes, Inc." featured Fantoccini, a character from "I Sing the Body Electric!". "Gotcha!" included an opening sequence taken from "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair." Characters were renamed, and elements added to the original works to expand the story to 23-28 minutes or to better suit the television medium.
Each episode would begin with a shot of Bradbury in his office, gazing over mementos of his life, which he states (in narrative) are used to spark ideas for stories. During the first season, Bradbury sometimes appeared on-screen in brief vignettes introducing the story. During the second season, Bradbury provided the opening narration with no specific embellishment concerning the episode. During the third season, a foreshortened version of the narration was used and Bradbury would add specific comments relevant to the episode presented. During the fourth and later seasons, a slightly shorter generic narration was used with no additional comments.
Famous actors appearing in the series included James Coco
James Coco
James Coco was an American character actor.- Early life and career :Born James Emil Coco in New York City, son of Feliche Coco, a shoemaker and Ida Detestes Coco, James began acting straight out of high school. As an overweight and prematurely balding adult, he found himself relegated to character...
, William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
, Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee
Patrick Macnee is an English actor, best known for his role as the secret agent John Steed in the series The Avengers.-Early life:...
, Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
, Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
, Hal Linden
Hal Linden
Hal Linden is an American stage and television actor and television director, best known for his role in the television comedy series Barney Miller and as presenter on the ABC educational series Animals, Animals, Animals....
, Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside
Michael Ironside is a Canadian-born actor. He has also worked as a voice actor, producer, film director, and screenwriter in movie and television series in various Canadian and American productions. He is best known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, though he has also portrayed...
, Robert Vaughn
Robert Vaughn
Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...
, Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
, Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.-Early life:...
, Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
, Denholm Elliott
Denholm Elliott
Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...
, David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
, John Saxon
John Saxon (actor)
John Saxon is an American actor who has worked on over 200 projects during the span of sixty years. Saxon is most known for his work in horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Black Christmas, both of which feature Saxon as a policeman in search of the killer...
, Harold Gould
Harold Gould
Harold V. Goldstein , best known by his stage name Harold Gould, was an American actor best known for playing Martin Morgenstern in the 1970s sitcoms Rhoda and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as Miles Webber in The Golden Girls...
, Bruce Weitz
Bruce Weitz
Bruce Peter Weitz is an American actor. He is perhaps best-known for his role as Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker in the 1980s TV series Hill Street Blues for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.-Early life:Weitz was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son...
, Barry Morse
Barry Morse
Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
, Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
, David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
, Sally Kellerman
Sally Kellerman
Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress and singer known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the film MASH , for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.-Early life:...
, Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia
Vincent Gardenia was an Italian American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life:...
, Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
, Shawn Ashmore
Shawn Ashmore
Shawn Robert Ashmore is a Canadian film and television actor, perhaps best known for his role as Jake in the Animorphs television series and Iceman in the X-Men films. He is the twin brother of actor Aaron Ashmore.-Early life:...
, Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
, John Vernon
John Vernon
John Keith Vernon was a Canadian actor. He made a career in Hollywood after achieving initial television stardom in Canada.-Early life:...
, Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould
Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
, Tyne Daly
Tyne Daly
Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey and as Maxine Gray in the television series Judging Amy. She is also known for her role as Alice Henderson in television series Christy...
, Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless, MNZM is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess....
, Jean Stapleton, Marc Singer
Marc Singer
Marc Singer is a Canadian-born American actor best known for his roles in the Beastmaster film series and as Mike Donovan in the original 1980s TV series V.-Personal life:...
, Michael Hurst
Michael Hurst
Michael Eric Hurst, ONZM is a New Zealand actor, director and writer, mostly on stage and television. He is probably best known internationally for playing Iolaus in the television programs Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and companion series Xena: Warrior Princess...
, Louise Fletcher
Louise Fletcher
Louise Fletcher is an American actress best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and as Kai Winn Adami in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She also guest starred on the science fiction television series Heroes...
, Magali Noël
Magali Noël
Magali Noël is a Turkish-French actress and singer. Originally from Izmir, she emigrated from Turkey to France in 1951, and her acting career began soon thereafter. She acted in multilingual cinema chiefly from 1951 to 1980, doing several films in Italian with renowned director Federico Fellini,...
, John Glover
John Glover (actor)
John Soursby Glover Jr. is an American actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.-Personal life:...
, Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.-Early life:...
, and Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall
Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in The Shining, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and 3 Women....
.
DVD releases
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD In Region 1 on January 11, 2005.The 5-disc DVD set features all 65 episodes of the series.Echo Bridge also released 2 single disc volumes on January 2, 2007, each volume features 13 episodes.
On May 31, 2011, Alliance Home Entertainment
Alliance Films
Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...
will release The Ray Bradbury Theater: The Complete Collection on DVD in Canada only for the very first time.
There was no Episode Listing with this set, so here is the episode listing:
Disc 1
The Crowd
The Emissary
To The Chicago Abyss
The Pedestrian
Banshee
The Screaming Woman
Skeleton
Gotcha
Disc 2
The Man Upstairs
The Small Assassin
The Haunting of the New
The Town Where No One Got Off
Marionettes Inc.
The Playground
The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl.
Disc 3
The Wind
A Sound of Thunder
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone
Hail and Farewell
Touched With Fire
Here There Be Tygers
Touch of Petulance
The Black Ferris
The Long Years
Exorcism
Mars is Heaven
The Murderer
Usher II
Disc 4
The Toynbee Convector
The Day It Rained Forever
And the Moon Be Still as Bright
The Earthmen
Zero Hour
Colonel Stonesteel and “The Desperate Empties”
The Concrete Mixer
The Jar
The Utterly Perfect Murder
The Martian
Let’s Play Poison
The Dead Man
The Happiness Machine
Disc 5
The Lonely One
The Long Rain
The Anthem Sprinters
Fee Fie Foe Fum
Downward From Gettysburg
By The Numbers
The Tombstone
Tomorrow’s Child
Silent Towns
Some Live Like Lazarus
Sun And Shadow
Great Wide World Over There
The Handl
Disc 6
Punishment Without Crime
On The Orient, North
The Coffin
Tyrannosaurus REx
There Was An Old Woman
The Dwarf
A Miracle of Rare Device
The Lake
The Veldt
Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms In Your Cellar!