Amazing Stories (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Amazing Stories is a fantasy
, horror
, and science fiction
television
anthology series created by Steven Spielberg
. It ran on NBC
from 1985 to 1987, and was somewhat erratically screened in Britain
by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times
as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes airing at any time from early on Sunday morning (such as "The Family Dog") to weekday evenings (like "Such Interesting Neighbors") to very late at night (for instance "Mirror, Mirror"); it later received a more coherent run on Sci-Fi
.
The series was nominated for 12 Emmy Award
s 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 46th in Season 2), however, and the network did not renew it after the two-year contract expired.
The series title licensed the name of Amazing Stories
, the first dedicated science fiction magazine
.
ese LaserDisc
and UK VHS
(PAL) releases are indicated with volume numbers. Note that Vol. 7 and 8 are switched for the UK VHS release. All episodes have a running time of around 25 minutes, with the exceptions of "The Mission" and "Go To The Head Of The Class" (both running 50 minutes).
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
conducted by John Debney
.
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). 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
is the only composer 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)
Amblin
Logo (Alternate) - John Williams
(:15)
In 1985-86, TSR
published six tie-in novels under the banner "Amazing Stories". They were branching (Choose Your Own Adventure
style) books where the reader chose where to jump at key points.
format in 1993; these were titled "Book One" through "Book Five" in the US. In Japan and Europe episodes were cut together as movies and released in 8 volumes during the late 80s, early 90s. A 3-tape VHS (PAL
) set was released in the UK in 2001.
Europe/Japan VHS series
US VHS series
The Complete First Season (DVD
) was released on July 18, 2006 in the US. The second season of the series has not been released on DVD in the US as of yet, but is available in Japan (Region 2, NTSC) and was released there on July, 8th 2009. The full series was also released on DVD in Germany (Region 2, PAL) with both English and German dubbed audio as 11 single DVDs or a boxset containing all episodes, which was released on November 20, 2009.
Three of the episodes (The Mission, Mummy Daddy and Go to the Head of the Class) were packaged together as an anthology film
and released theatrically in several European countries such as Spain
, France
(July 10, 1986) or Finland
(June 26, 1987), and also in Australia
on September 17, 1987. It later appeared on LaserDisc in Japan as "Amazing Stories: The Movie" shortly afterwards.
, the SciFi
channel in the United States showed episodes on an irregular schedule. The MoviePlex
channel also shows the series as a collection of "movies," which are blocks of three episodes.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
anthology series created by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. It ran on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from 1985 to 1987, and was somewhat erratically screened in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes airing at any time from early on Sunday morning (such as "The Family Dog") to weekday evenings (like "Such Interesting Neighbors") to very late at night (for instance "Mirror, Mirror"); it later received a more coherent run on Sci-Fi
Sci Fi channel (United Kingdom)
Syfy is a television channel service specialising in science fiction, fantasy and horror shows and movies. It is available via digital cable, IPTV, satellite television and Top Up TV platforms. The channel launched in 1995 in the UK a sister channel to the US Sci Fi Channel , with a similar...
.
The series was nominated for 12 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s and won five. The first season episode "The Amazing Falsworth" earned writer Mick Garris
Mick Garris
Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror...
an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for Best Episode in a TV Series. It was not a ratings hit (ranking 40th in Season 1 and 46th in Season 2), however, and the network did not renew it after the two-year contract expired.
The series title licensed the name of Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, the first dedicated science fiction magazine
Science fiction magazine
A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard copy periodical format or on the Internet....
.
Episodes
The series list below is annotated with the Book numbers as they appeared in the US release on VHS; the JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese LaserDisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
and UK VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
(PAL) releases are indicated with volume numbers. Note that Vol. 7 and 8 are switched for the UK VHS release. All episodes have a running time of around 25 minutes, with the exceptions of "The Mission" and "Go To The Head Of The Class" (both running 50 minutes).
Season One (1985-1986)
| № | Title | Director | Airdate | US VHS LaserDisc |
Japan LaserDisc Europe VHS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x01 | "Ghost Train" | Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an... |
1985·Sep·29 | Vol. 2 | |
| 1x02 | "The Main Attraction" | Matthew Robbins Matthew Robbins (screenwriter) Matthew Robbins is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He is good friends with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Guillermo Del Toro and Walter Murch and has had cameo appearances in THX 1138 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind... |
1985·Oct·06 | Vol. 4 | |
| 1x03 | "Alamo Jobe" | Michael D. Moore Michael D. Moore Michael D. Moore is a Canadian-born American film actor and director.Born Michael Sheffield in Victoria, British Columbia, both he and his brother Patrick were Hollywood child actors. At the age of five he appeared in his first film under the stage name "Mickey Moore". He appeared in two dozen... |
1985·Oct·20 | ||
| 1x04 | "Mummy Daddy" | William Dear William Dear William Dear is a film director, producer and screenwriter known for directing Harry and the Hendersons, If Looks Could Kill, Angels in the Outfield, Wild America and Santa Who?.... |
1985·Oct·27 | Vol. 1 | |
| 1x05 | "The Mission" | Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an... |
1985·Nov·03 | Book One | Vol. 1 |
| 1x06 | "The Amazing Falsworth" | Peter Hyams Peter Hyams Peter Hyams is an American screenwriter, director and cinematographer, probably best known for directing the 1984 science fiction adventure 2010 , Capricorn One, the comic book adaptation Timecop and the Arnold Schwarzenegger horror/action film End of Days.-Family:Hyams was born in New York... |
1985·Nov·03 | Book Three | Vol. 2 |
| 1x07 | "Fine Tuning" | Bob Balaban Bob Balaban Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television... |
1985·Nov·10 | Book Five | Vol. 7 |
| 1x08 | "Mr. Magic" | Donald Petrie Donald Petrie Donald Mark Petrie is an American film director.Petrie was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dorothea , a television producer, actor, and novelist, and Daniel Petrie, a director. Petrie has acted and guest-starred on television programs. His first directorial job was on the set of The... |
1985·Nov·17 | Book Four | Vol. 6 |
| 1x09 | "Guilt Trip" | Burt Reynolds Burt Reynolds Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its... |
1985·Dec·01 | ||
| 1x10 | "Remote Control Man" | Bob Clark Bob Clark Benjamin "Bob" Clark was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing and writing the script with Jean Shepherd to the 1983 Christmas film A Christmas Story... |
1985·Dec·08 | ||
| 1x11 | "Santa '85" a.k.a "One Amazing Night" |
Phil Joanou Phil Joanou Phil Joanou is an American film director. He is also well known for his work with Irish rock band U2, having directed their rockumentary/live tape Rattle and Hum, one of three videos filmed for "One", and the video for "All Because of You"... |
1985·Dec·15 | Vol. 8 | |
| 1x12 | "Vanessa in the Garden" | Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide... |
1985·Dec·29 | ||
| 1x13 | "The Sitter" | Joan Darling Joan Darling Joan Darling is an actress, film and television director and a dramatic arts instructor.Joan "Joni" Kugell began her career with the New York improvisational theater troupe "Premise Players", and soon graduated to off-Broadway and Broadway productions. She gravitated to feature films and... |
1986·Jan·05 | ||
| 1x14 | "No Day at the Beach" | 1986·Jan·12 | |||
| 1x15 | "One for the Road" | Thomas Carter | 1986·Jan·19 | ||
| 1x16 | "Gather Ye Acorns" | Norman Reynolds Norman Reynolds Norman Reynolds is best known for being an Academy Award winning British art director and production designer for the original Star Wars trilogy. He was born in London, England, UK.... |
1986·Feb·02 | ||
| 1x17 | "Boo!" | Joe Dante Joe Dante Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content.... |
1986·Feb·16 | ||
| 1x18 | "Dorothy and Ben" | Thomas Carter | 1986·Mar·02 | Vol. 4 | |
| 1x19 | "Mirror, Mirror" | Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation... |
1986·Mar·09 | Book Four | Vol. 6 |
| 1x20 | "Secret Cinema" | Paul Bartel Paul Bartel Paul Bartel was an American actor, writer and director. Bartel was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in and directed.-Life and career:... |
1986·Apr·06 | ||
| 1x21 | "Hell Toupee" | Irvin Kershner Irvin Kershner Irvin Kershner was an American film director and occasional actor, best known for directing quirky, independent films early in his career, and then Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. -Background:... |
1986·Apr·13 | ||
| 1x22 | "The Doll" | Phil Joanou Phil Joanou Phil Joanou is an American film director. He is also well known for his work with Irish rock band U2, having directed their rockumentary/live tape Rattle and Hum, one of three videos filmed for "One", and the video for "All Because of You"... |
1986·May·04 | Vol. 5 | |
| 1x23 | "One for the Books" | Lesli Linka Glatter | 1986·May·11 | 3-tape-set | |
| 1x24 | "Grandpa's Ghost" | Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy... |
1986·May·25 |
Season Two (1986-1987)
| № | Title | Director | Airdate | US VHS LaserDisc |
Japan LaserDisc Europe VHS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2x01 | "The Wedding Ring" | Danny DeVito Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,... |
1986·Sep·22 | Book One | Vol. 2 |
| 2x02 | "Miscalculation" | Tom Holland Tom Holland (director) -Early life:Holland was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the son of Lee and Tom Holland. He graduated from Worcester Academy in 1962. He is the uncle of Dexter Holland, the singer and guitarist for the American punk rock band, The Offspring, and father of American actor Josh Holland.-Dead Rabbit... |
1986·Sep·29 | Vol. 3 3-tape-set |
|
| 2x03 | "Magic Saturday" | Robert Markowitz Robert Markowitz Robert Markowitz is an American film/television director. He has directed a number television films that include Too Young to Die? , Decoration Day , The Tuskegee Airmen , The Great Gatsby , The Pilot's Wife , Word of Honor and among other films.He also directed episodes... |
1986·Oct·06 | Vol. 8 | |
| 2x04 | "Welcome to My Nightmare" | Todd Holland Todd Holland Todd Holland is an American television and film director and producer.-Personal life:Holland was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania and raised in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was an honor student, graduating from Meadville Area Sr. High School. While there, he got his feet wet... |
1986·Oct·13 | ||
| 2x05 | "You Gotta Believe Me" | Kevin Reynolds | 1986·Oct·20 | Vol. 8 | |
| 2x06 | "The Greibble" | Joe Dante Joe Dante Joseph "Joe" Dante, Jr. is an American film director and producer of films generally with humorous and science fiction content.... |
1986·Nov·03 | Vol. 3 3-tape-set |
|
| 2x07 | "Life on Death Row" | Mick Garris Mick Garris Mick Garris is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California.-Biography:He is best known for his adaptations of Stephen King stories, such as directing the horror film Sleepwalkers starring Madchen Amick and is the creator of the Showtime series Masters of Horror... |
1986·Nov·10 | Vol. 5 | |
| 2x08 | "Go to the Head of the Class" | Robert Zemeckis Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,... |
1986·Nov·21 | Book Two | Vol. 1 3-tape-set |
| 2x09 | "Thanksgiving" | Todd Holland Todd Holland Todd Holland is an American television and film director and producer.-Personal life:Holland was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania and raised in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was an honor student, graduating from Meadville Area Sr. High School. While there, he got his feet wet... |
1986·Nov·24 | Vol. 5 | |
| 2x10 | "The Pumpkin Competition" | Norman Reynolds Norman Reynolds Norman Reynolds is best known for being an Academy Award winning British art director and production designer for the original Star Wars trilogy. He was born in London, England, UK.... |
1986·Dec·01 | Book Five | Vol. 7 3-tape-set |
| 2x11 | "What If...?" | Joan Darling Joan Darling Joan Darling is an actress, film and television director and a dramatic arts instructor.Joan "Joni" Kugell began her career with the New York improvisational theater troupe "Premise Players", and soon graduated to off-Broadway and Broadway productions. She gravitated to feature films and... |
1986·Dec·08 | ||
| 2x12 | "The Eternal Mind" | J. Michael Riva J. Michael Riva J Michael Riva is a motion picture production designer.*Son of William and Maria Riva. Grandson of Marlene Dietrich.*Michael Riva's father is William Riva, who was a set designer for Broadway... |
1986·Dec·29 | ||
| 2x13 | "Lane Change" | Ken Kwapis Ken Kwapis Ken Kwapis is an American film and television director and screenwriter. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and He's Just Not That Into... |
1987·Jan·12 | 3-tape-set | |
| 2x14 | "Blue Man Down" | 1987·Jan·19 | Book Four | Vol. 6 | |
| 2x15 | "The 21 Inch Sun" | Nick Castle Nick Castle Nick Castle is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his role as Michael Myers in Halloween. He also co-wrote Escape from New York with his friend, John Carpenter.-Early life:... |
1987·Feb·02 | Vol. 8 | |
| 2x16 | "The Family Dog" | Brad Bird Brad Bird Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers... |
1987·Feb·16 | Book Two | Vol. 4 3-tape-set |
| 2x17 | "Gershwin's Trunk" | Paul Bartel Paul Bartel Paul Bartel was an American actor, writer and director. Bartel was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he wrote, starred in and directed.-Life and career:... |
1987·Mar·13 | 3-tape-set | |
| 2x18 | "Such Interesting Neighbors" | Graham Baker Graham Baker Graham Baker is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Southampton, Manchester City and Fulham.-Southampton:... |
1987·Mar·20 | 3-tape-set | |
| 2x19 | "Without Diana" | Lesli Linka Glatter | 1987·Mar·27 | Book Five | Vol. 7 |
| 2x20 | "Moving Day" | Robert Stevens Robert Stevens (director) Robert Stevens was a director, sometimes confused with the better-known director Robert Stevenson.Between 1955-1962, he directed 42 episodes of the TV Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents... |
1987·Apr·03 | Vol. 3 | |
| 2x21 | "Miss Stardust" | Tobe Hooper Tobe Hooper Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation... |
1987·Apr·10 |
Soundtrack
In 1999 Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
released a CD containing a rerecording of the scores for the episodes "The Mission" and "Dorothy and Ben" (John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
and Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...
respectively) plus Williams' opening and closing themes, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
conducted by John Debney
John Debney
John C. Debney is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ...
.
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
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
and Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek, born in Garfield Heights, Ohio on January 30, 1952, is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor and orchestrator.-Early career:...
's "The Family Dog," because the masters could not be found - a brief suite is on Music for a Darkened Theatre: Vol. 2, however). The album is also notable for the premiere release of the music Williams composed for the Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
logo (although the logo music is not heard on the show itself).
Other than Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
, Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
is the only composer 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
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(1:02)
Ghost Train - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(15:45)
Alamo Jobe - James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
(10:01)
Gather Ye Acorns - Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
(18:37)
The Doll - Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...
(10:09)
The Amazing Falsworth - Billy Goldenberg
Billy Goldenberg
William Leon "Billy" Goldenberg is an American composer most known for his work on television and film....
(8:47)
CD2:
Amazing Stories Bumper #1 - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:04)
Moving Day - David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...
(13:41)
Without Diana - Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...
(12:39)
Mummy, Daddy - Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
& Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek
Steve Bartek, born in Garfield Heights, Ohio on January 30, 1952, is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor and orchestrator.-Early career:...
(13:26)
Vanessa In The Garden - Lennie Niehaus
Lennie Niehaus
Lennie Niehaus is an American alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer on the West Coast jazz scene. He has played with the Stan Kenton big band, and various other jazz bands on the West Coast of the U.S. Niehaus has arranged and composed for motion pictures, including several produced by Clint...
(13:23)
Welcome To My Nightmare - Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
(16:04)
Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:29)
Amblin
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
Logo - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:15)
Volume Two (2006)
CD 1:
Amazing Stories Main Title Alternate #1 - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(1:03)
Boo! - Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
(12:13)
What If...? - Billy Goldenberg
Billy Goldenberg
William Leon "Billy" Goldenberg is an American composer most known for his work on television and film....
(12:32)
Dorothy And Ben - Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue
Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...
(10:10)
The Main Attraction - Craig Safan
Craig Safan
Craig Safan is a Hollywood film composer whose biggest scores include The Last Starfighter, Angel, Fade to Black, Major Payne, Remo Williams, and music to the TV series Cheers, for which he won numerous ASCAP awards.After getting his start in theater, Safan moved to film composing in the 1980s,...
(12:09)
Such Interesting Neighbors - David Newman
David Newman (composer)
David Louis Newman is an American composer and conductor known particularly for his film scores. In a career spanning nearly forty years, he has composed music for nearly 100 feature films.-Life and career:...
(17:13)
Thanksgiving - Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
(12:14)
CD 2:
Amazing Stories Bumper #2 - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:04)
Hell Toupee - David Shire
David Shire
David Lee Shire is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals, film and television scores. The soundtrack to the movie The Taking of Pelham 123 and parts of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack such as Night on Disco Mountain, an adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald...
(13:41)
One For The Road - Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel
Johnny Mandel is an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. Among the musicians he has worked with are Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Shirley Horn.-Life:...
(8:40)
The Remote Control Man - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Arthur B. Rubinstein
Arthur B. Rubinstein is a composer and behind in particular several TV series soundtracks, but also occasional film scores, possibly most notably work such as Video Fever and Edge of the World in the film WarGames. During the making of these soundtracks, he was a member of the band The Beepers...
(12:53)
The Greibble - John Addison
John Addison
John Mervyn Addison was a British composer best known for his film scores.Addison was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at the age of sixteen entered the Royal College of Music. He studied composition with Gordon Jacob, oboe with Léon Goossens, and clarinet with Frederick Thurston. ...
(15:43)
No Day At The Beach - Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman was an American film, television and concert composer.-Life and career:Leonard Rosenman was born in Brooklyn, New York. After service in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces in World War II, he earned a bachelor's degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley...
(11:04)
Santa ’85 - Thomas Newman
Thomas Newman
Thomas Montgomery Newman is an American composer and conductor, best known for his many film scores. He is one of the more respected and recognized composers for modern film and has scored over fifty feature films in a career which spans nearly three decades.Newman has received a total of ten...
(13:05)
Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:29)
Amblin
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
Logo (Christmas Version) - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:15)
Volume Three (2007)
CD 1:
Amazing Stories Main Title Alternate #2 - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(1:03)
Go To The Head Of The Class - Alan Silvestri
Alan Silvestri
Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American film composer and conductor.-Career:Silvestri is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone , the Back to the Future trilogy , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Death Becomes Her , Forrest Gump , Contact ,...
(26:58)
The Wedding Ring - Craig Safan
Craig Safan
Craig Safan is a Hollywood film composer whose biggest scores include The Last Starfighter, Angel, Fade to Black, Major Payne, Remo Williams, and music to the TV series Cheers, for which he won numerous ASCAP awards.After getting his start in theater, Safan moved to film composing in the 1980s,...
(12:51)
Mirror, Mirror - Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
(24:56)
Mr. Magic - Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton
Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as "Homeward Bound," "Silverado", "Tombstone," and wonderfully lyric music for "Miracle on 34th...
(12:50)
CD 2:
Amazing Stories Bumper #1 - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:04)
Secret Cinema - Billy Goldenberg
Billy Goldenberg
William Leon "Billy" Goldenberg is an American composer most known for his work on television and film....
(7:56)
Life On Death Row - Fred Steiner
Fred Steiner
Fred Steiner was an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, film historian and arranger for television, radio and film. Steiner wrote the theme music for The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Perry Mason and The Bullwinkle Show...
(13:57)
The Pumpkin Competition - John Addison
John Addison
John Mervyn Addison was a British composer best known for his film scores.Addison was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at the age of sixteen entered the Royal College of Music. He studied composition with Gordon Jacob, oboe with Léon Goossens, and clarinet with Frederick Thurston. ...
(14:29)
Grandpa's Ghost - Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
(11:06)
The Mission - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(29:55)
Amazing Stories End Credits - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:29)
Amblin
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
Logo (Alternate) - John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
(:15)
Spin-offs
One episode of the show, "The Family Dog", was spun off into its own series. Six years after Amazing Stories finished its run, Family Dog ran on CBS for ten episodes before being pulled off the schedule.In 1985-86, TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
published six tie-in novels under the banner "Amazing Stories". They were branching (Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
style) books where the reader chose where to jump at key points.
- 1. The 4-D Funhouse by Clayton Emery and Earl Wajenberg. Cover by Jeff EasleyJeff EasleyJeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork in the tradition of Frank Frazetta.-Early life:...
. - 2. Jaguar! by Morris Simon. Cover by Jeff EasleyJeff EasleyJeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork in the tradition of Frank Frazetta.-Early life:...
. - 3. Portrait in Blood by Mary L. Kirchoff (credited as Mary Kirchoff). Cover by Jeff EasleyJeff EasleyJeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork in the tradition of Frank Frazetta.-Early life:...
. - 4. Nightmare Universe by Gene DeWeeseGene DeWeeseThomas Eugene DeWeese is an American writer of fiction, particularly science fiction but including Gothics, mysteries, romances, suspense, fantasy, and horror; as well as non-fiction books on technology and folk art...
and Robert CoulsonRobert CoulsonRobert Stratton "Buck" Coulson was an American science fiction writer, well-known fan, filk song writer, fanzine editor and bookseller from Indiana....
. Cover by Jeff EasleyJeff EasleyJeff Easley is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork in the tradition of Frank Frazetta.-Early life:...
. - 5. Starskimmer by John Betancourt. Cover by Doug Chaffee.
- 6. Day of the Mayfly by Lee Enderlin. Cover by Doug Chaffee.
Home video and rebroadcasts
A selection of the original series episodes were released in the VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
format in 1993; these were titled "Book One" through "Book Five" in the US. In Japan and Europe episodes were cut together as movies and released in 8 volumes during the late 80s, early 90s. A 3-tape VHS (PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
) set was released in the UK in 2001.
Europe/Japan VHS series
- Amazing Stories: The Movie (1987)
- Amazing Stories II (1987)
- Amazing Stories III (1988)
- Amazing Stories IV (1988)
- Amazing Stories V (1989)
- Amazing Stories VI (1989)
- Amazing Stories VII (1990)
- Amazing Stories VIII (1990)
US VHS series
- Amazing Stories: Book One (1993)
- Amazing Stories: Book Two (1993)
- Amazing Stories: Book Three (1993)
- Amazing Stories: Book Four (1993)
- Amazing Stories: Book Five (1993)
The Complete First Season (DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
) was released on July 18, 2006 in the US. The second season of the series has not been released on DVD in the US as of yet, but is available in Japan (Region 2, NTSC) and was released there on July, 8th 2009. The full series was also released on DVD in Germany (Region 2, PAL) with both English and German dubbed audio as 11 single DVDs or a boxset containing all episodes, which was released on November 20, 2009.
Three of the episodes (The Mission, Mummy Daddy and Go to the Head of the Class) were packaged together as an anthology film
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
and released theatrically in several European countries such as Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(July 10, 1986) or Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(June 26, 1987), and also in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on September 17, 1987. It later appeared on LaserDisc in Japan as "Amazing Stories: The Movie" shortly afterwards.
, the SciFi
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...
channel in the United States showed episodes on an irregular schedule. The MoviePlex
MOVIEplex
MoviePlex is an American premium television network which features recent and older motion pictures. It is a spinoff of the Encore movie channel and is owned by Liberty Starz...
channel also shows the series as a collection of "movies," which are blocks of three episodes.