Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes

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Serenity

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I don't know how many are watching tonight, but the first story: "Battleground" was absolutely astounding! Brilliantly done without a shred of dialogue. Just a great story, musical score and incredible acting by William Hurt (someone I don't normally care for all that much).

I'm watching the second story right now and will comment in an hour when it's over. :e2woo:
 

SpookyWriter

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Serenity said:
Spooky, I'm absolutely *certain* that these will be out on DVD 'fore long. Or maybe, *MAYBE*, if you're super sweet to me, I'll tape them all and make you a copy of them. :e2file: :e2chain:
:heart: :heart: But I don't have a tape machine either. Errr...
 

Serenity

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SpookyWriter said:
:heart: :heart: But I don't have a tape machine either. Errr...

:Wha: Well then, I guess I have nothin' for ya. I'd let you borrow mine, but knowing the US Postal service, you probably wouldn't be able to use it once it got to you. Go pound on your neighbor's door, demand to be let in and that their cable-ready television be tuned into TNT and nothing else. :wag:
 

SpookyWriter

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Serenity said:
:Wha: Well then, I guess I have nothin' for ya. I'd let you borrow mine, but knowing the US Postal service, you probably wouldn't be able to use it once it got to you. Go pound on your neighbor's door, demand to be let in and that their cable-ready television be tuned into TNT and nothing else. :wag:
But I don't have neighbors yet. I live in a new apartment and the other ones on my floor are empty. My t.v. is rarely on and I only get about eight channels on a good day. So if I, and my son, aren't reading (me - working), going outside with friends, or writing (me again) we spend time talking about our day.

Hmmm...technology...pffttt....;)
 

Serenity

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SpookyWriter said:
But I don't have neighbors yet. I live in a new apartment and the other ones on my floor are empty. My t.v. is rarely on and I only get about eight channels on a good day. So if I, and my son, aren't reading (me - working), going outside with friends, or writing (me again) we spend time talking about our day.

Hmmm...technology...pffttt....;)

Dude... you have to give me something to work with here!

Anyhow, the second story is ok, so far, but it's not grabbing me like the first one.
 

SpookyWriter

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Serenity said:
Dude... you have to give me something to work with here!

Anyhow, the second story is ok, so far, but it's not grabbing me like the first one.
Agghhh...you're killing me now. Please don't stop...:D
 

kristie911

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I forgot all about these...I'll have to set my DVR to record them for the rest of the week. I see they're going to repeat the ones from tonight so I won't have missed them.

Thanks for the reminder!!
 

Serenity

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SpookyWriter said:
Agghhh...you're killing me now. Please don't stop...:D

Heh... Well, I won't go into any spoilers here, for the sake of those who haven't seen them yet. I'll probably write about it in my blog tonight. I will say that I am impressed so far.

The second story was interesting and I think my main problem with it was mainly due to the actress- Claire Forlani. She just isn't that great of an actress, in my not-so-humble opinion. I did love seing Eion Bailey (of Band of Brothers fame among other things) on screen again.

Anyhow, I will be tuning in next Wednesday for another Band of Brothers alum: Ron Livingston.

And I just found this: http://alt.tnt.tv/nightmares/nightmares.shtml You can fight the soldiers from "Battleground". Too cool.

--Ack, nix the last paragraph. I think the description on the site is a bit misleading, it simply took me to a very brief synopsis of the story.
 
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underthecity

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So, then, who saw it? Comments? Here are mine (SPOILERS):

Battleground. I thought it was strange that an anthology series called Nightmares and Dreamscapes started with a story from SK's Night Shift, but I thought Battleground was wonderful. And starring a high profile actor like William Hurt was a nice way to start the series. I thought the choice of having no dialog was interesting, but nicely done: letting the situations, music, and acting tell the story. The only part I didn't get was the exchange between Hurt and the woman on the plane.

I have to admit I was expecting the ending since I had read the story before, but I liked the deviation from SK's original (the elevator scene was new), plus the whole backstory with the toy manufacturer added some motivation as to why it was all happening in the first place. Overall, a very well done TV show. You can tell it was a big budget show. Money spent well.

I have to admit that I didn't recognize the second story, Crouch End, until I found out later it was one of the stories in the N&D book I never got into when I read it years ago (there are a few stories in there I still haven't read). What can I say except that this one was 100% SK: setting, story, characters, and especially dialog. And it had that overall sense of "weirdness" that is so apparent in the best SK stories. But did I like it? Yes and no.

I had no problem with the actors (but kept on wondering how the wife was running up and down paved streets while wearing high heeled shoes), and I would have liked to have known what happened behind the hedge and what changed the main character into such a weird jerk. I liked the history given of the city Crouch End, but IMO it didn't explain a whole lot. In fact, all while I was watching it I kept asking, I wonder what's going on, but was never given a satisfactory answer.

I thought the ending left much to be desired, but then many of SK's endings are like that. This one didn't explain much at the end. Was Crouch End a city stuck between dimensions? Why was it deserted one moment and completely populated with normal people the next? That took me out of the story, and when I have to ask questions like that, I can't enjoy the experience.

I look forward to seeing more stories in the N&D series. My wife pointed out that it was a little like Amazing Stories from the 1980s, and I tend to agree. Television needs more shows like N&D as a break from all the damn reality shows and horrible sitcoms. (And I like some of the sitcoms!)

allen
 

Cthulhu

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I liked Crouch End a lot. It wasn't so much a city stuck between dimensions as an alternate dimension of this one given city. As the cab driver said, it had "thin spots" that allowed things to happen, so the main characters slid between the different dimensions at the beginning and then managed to escape again at the end.

One of my favorite parts in the whole story was the unexpected Lovecraft stuff thrown into the mix in the form of all those words on the buildings with the deep voice reading them. Not exactly sure what that means, but it was fun nonetheless. :D
 

PeeDee

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I have the first two sitting on my DVR box, waiting a free moment to watch them. I missed the TV movie they did of "Desperation" (which irked me, since it starred Ron Perlman, and I really like him) but I've got the first two of these. William Hurt has had my heart since he appeared in Star Trek VI, and then again appeared as Draal on Babylon 5, season two, through five.
 

Serenity

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I thought that 'Crouch End' had a very 'Neverwhere'-like quality to it which is why I liked the story. And yes, it was very much Stephen King in story telling. But I still liked 'Battleground' a lot better.

Although PeeDee? William Hurt didn't play Draal. It was played by two different actors: Louis Turenne (who later played Brother Theo) and John Schuck, a character-actor from various tv shows. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't in any of the Trek films (but I could be wrong about that).
 

PeeDee

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Serenity said:
I thought that 'Crouch End' had a very 'Neverwhere'-like quality to it which is why I liked the story. And yes, it was very much Stephen King in story telling. But I still liked 'Battleground' a lot better.

Although PeeDee? William Hurt didn't play Draal. It was played by two different actors: Louis Turenne (who later played Brother Theo) and John Schuck, a character-actor from various tv shows. And I'm pretty sure he wasn't in any of the Trek films (but I could be wrong about that).

I know. I know. I know. Damn it. I got nostalgic, went off, watched "War Without End, pt 1" just now and thought "Oh. Hang on. That's....that's John Schuck.....damn, damn, damn....."

I have gotten a Babylon 5 fact wrong. I will deminish and go into the west, and remain Peedee.
 

PeeDee

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Serenity said:
Awwww.... :Hug2: I still love ya anyway. (Just remember to, once again, not let the wife know :D )

ARe you kidding!? I will NEVER tell her that I got a Babylon 5 fact wrong! It's probably a sign of neurosis, but I'm actually a bit disgusted with myself. Here I am, man who can recite the opening monologue for all five seasons, and I can't remember my actors. Pete = Twit.
 

ChaosTitan

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I thoroughly enjoyed "Battleground." After about fifteen minutes, I looked over at my dad (vacation visitation) and said, "Has anyone spoken yet?" It was a brilliant episode, and kudos to TNT for allowing them to air it commercial free. Commercials would have killed the atmosphere completely. I've liked William Hurt for ages. He's such an understated actor, and was a great choice for this role.

"Crouch End" was an odd one. I actually enjoyed Claire Forlani in this, because I only remember seeing her in Meet Joe Black (a forgettable movie that was about two hours too long). This was something else, and shows she has a little range. It was also great fun to watch Eion Bailey run around and act out a bit. The man has great eyes....

Err...what was I saying?

My only complaint about the ep was that the effects were, um, a little goofy. They reminded me a lot of the effects from The Langoliers. Bad CGI and fuzzy green screen images there at the end, with those tentacle things. But very much a patented Stephen King story, right down to that "Outer Limits" ending.

I'm looking forward to the rest of them. They have top-notch actors, and some well-respected directors, so I have high hopes.
 

Cthulhu

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Yeah, the effects in Crouch End were rather fake, I did notice that.

I'm with you all the way in anticipating the others! Thanks for alerting me to the fact that such a series existed, Serenity! :D
 

PeeDee

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I watched Battleground last night, and I was very impressed. I loved that there was no dialogue...but that it was a natural part of the story. There was no dialogue, because there was no one who was going to talk to our man Jason.

If I had to one-line review it, I would call it, "A comfortable mixture between the Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt." I think that's pretty fair.
 

Cthulhu

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Ooh, 29 minutes!

I almost forgot!

At the rate you keep reminding me of things I'll owe it to you to look at that brain soap-required Superman picture, chaostitan...
 
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