Amazing Stories 

Truly amazing, fantastical, funny, and odd, and sometimes scary, sad, and endearing stories are portrayed. Many famous actors, actresses, and directors made guest appearances.

Creators:

Steven Spielberg, Joshua Brand, John Falsey

Stars:

Charles Durning, Douglas Seale, Louis Giambalvo

Won 5 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Charles Durning	...	Assistant to the Boss / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Douglas Seale	...	Mike Malloy / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Louis Giambalvo	...	Dr. Templeton / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Sharon Spelman	...	Mom / ... 2 episodes, 1986
J.J. Cohen	...	Bert / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Paul Bartel	...	Detective Watts / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Jeff Cohen	...	Eddie / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Dana Gladstone	...	George Gershwin / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Taliesin Jaffe	...	Mark / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Tracey Walter	...	Blaze / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Joshua Rudoy	...	Billy / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Royal Dano	...	Elmer / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Rick Andosca	...	Haller / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Gregory Wagrowski	...	Ben Oltman / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Fredric Cook	...	Dr. Wittenberg / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Brad Bird	...	Family Dog / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1987
Arnold Johnson	...	Johnny / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
JoAnn Willette	...	Angela / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Gary Riley	...	Jimmy / ... 2 episodes, 1985
Billy Beck	...	Caretaker / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
John McCook	...	Jerry Lane / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Michael Horse	...	Indian / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Larry Spinak	...	Arnold Skamp / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Jed Mills	...	Marshall / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Jonathan Luria	...	Cameraman / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Ben Kronen	...	Bald Man / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Pamela Guest	...	Assistant Director / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Lynn Kuratomi	...	Nurse #2 / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Conrad Dunn	...	Gas Station Attendant / ... 2 episodes, 1986
Wade Mayer	...	Airline Representative #2 / ... 2 episodes, 1986-1987
Eve Smith	...	Old Woman 2 episodes, 1985-1986
Priscilla Pointer	...	Lady on Train / ... 2 episodes, 1985-1987

Storyline

Truly amazing, fantastical, funny, and odd, and sometimes scary, sad, and endearing stories are portrayed. Many famous actors, actresses, and directors made guest appearances.

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Plot Keywords:

anthology | 

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Taglines:

As one experience ends... Another adventure begins.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sci Fi Channel

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories

Filming Locations:

Colonial Street, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amblin Entertainment, Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (45 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby (1986-1987) Stereo (1985-1986)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title is taken from a bi-monthly, science fiction journal famous in the 1940s and 1950s, and edited by television and film writer Howard Browne.

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Connections

Referenced in Histoires Fantastiques: Anthologie Stories (2017)

User Reviews

A good series, but not always as amazing as the title would suggest.

Steven Spielberg produced, wrote, came up with ideas for and even directed episodes of Amazing Stories, so naturally this would have to be the greatest anthology ever right? Unfortunately wrong. Some episodes are just fantastic, but all too often it was a mixed bag. In fact, that might have been it's downfall is it was way too mixed. Some episodes were light comedies, some were dramas, some were horror, and one was even animated, which made this a similar, but not as good 80s version of the Twilight Zone (which also was around).

Normally I'd like having a mixture of stories in an anthology show, but they just didn't fully work here. Some of the more fantastical dramatic episodes felt like they would be better being shown late on night on the Lifetime network, like the episode "Ghost Train", which was directed by Spielberg himself. In that episode, it gave the message of hope, and gave us a fantasy story, but overall it was just a build up to the ending which didn't blow me away anyways. The horror episodes tended to work better than the drama, but there were far more dramatic ones, and they grow tiring to watch. Acting wise, this anthology got some big stars, similar to the original Twilight Zone. Kevin Costner, Kiefer Sutherland, Milton Berle, Dom Deluise, Harvey Keitel, Beau Bridges, Charlie Sheen, Forrest Whitaker, Tim Robbins, John Lithgow, Rhea Perlman, Danny Devito, Patrick Swayze, Christopher Lloyd, June Lockhart, Kathy Baker, Weird Al Yankovich and many other well knowns have been in episodes of the show. It's fun to see well known actors in almost every episode of the series. Great directors have also had part in episodes including Spielberg himself, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Bob Clark, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Paul Bartel, Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis, Danny Devito and even Martin Scorsese. I'd actually recommend this more to fans of the directors and/or the 80s than anyone else.

Amazing Stories was sometimes amazing, usually good, occasionally mediocre, and every once in a while a real stinker came out. But, this show has nostalgic value to me, and it's sort of fun to sit on boring afternoons and watch some episodes. John Williams' theme music for the show is sure to be caught in anyone's head who watches this, too.

My rating: Good show. 30 mins. per episode. TVPG