Amazing Stories (1985) 1.11

Santa '85

starring Douglas Seale, Pat Hingle, Gabriel Damon

written by Joshua Brand, John Falsey, Steven Spielberg

directed by Phil Joanou

Santa (Douglas Seale) goes out on Christmas Eve 1985 to deliver presents. He trips the silent alarm in one house. The owners call the police who come and arrest the old man. He winds up in jail with three other men dressed as Santa Claus.

Sheriff Horace Smyvie (Pat Hingle) is a bit of a curmudgeon and refuses to believe that he has actually arrested Santa Claus.

Bobby (Gabriel Damon), the young boy whose house Santa was visiting when he was arrested, finds Santa's sleigh and reindeer behind his house. He makes his way to the police station in Santa's sleigh and uses it to break him out.

Amazing Stories 1.10

Remote Control Man

starring Sydney Lassick

written by Douglas Lloyd McIntosh, Steven Spielberg

directed by Bob Clark

Walter (Sydney Lassick) has a miserable life. He hates his job. His wife and children hate him. His only solace in life is his television, until his wife sells it so that she can buy some clothes. He goes out and buys a new television that changes everything. The remote control transforms his wife into a participant in a beauty pageant. His sons get transformed into Face (from the A-Team) and Arnold (from Different Strokes). 

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.09

Guilt Trip

starring Dom DeLuise, Loni Anderson, Charles Durning

written by Gail Parent, Kevin Parent 

directed by Burt Reynolds

The Big Guy (Charles Durning) sends Guilt (Dom DeLuise) on a cruise because he's been working too had and screwing things up. Guilt meets Lovely (Loni Anderson) while on the cruise and falls in love with her.

Thoughts

This episode doesn't really go anywhere. I think it might have been a little too cute for it's own good. It didn't help that the characters were kind of paint by numbers.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.08

Mr. Magic

starring Sid Caesar

written by Joshua Brand, John Falsey

directed by Donald Petrie

The career of stage magician Lou Bundles (Sid Caeser) is spiraling downward, after years of success, when he finds a deck of magic cards. They briefly revive his career but then he decides that it is time to retire.

Thoughts

There isn't much to this episode. The central conflict is internal as Lou struggles with aging and accepting that he is no longer the stage magician that he once was. The special effects probably looked very impressive in 1985 when this episode first aired but 41 years later they don't look all that special.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.07

Fine Tuning

starring Matthew Labyorteaux, Gary Riley, Jim Gatherum

written by Steven Spielberg, Earl Pomerantz

directed by Bob Balaban

Three teens from Los Angeles;  Andy (Matthew Labyorteaux), Jimmy (Gary Riley), and George (Jim Gatherum); meet three aliens from a distant solar system who are big fans of 1950s television shows. The teens take the aliens around Los Angeles and show them the sights. The aliens get to meet Milton Berle and try to talk him into coming back with them to their planet but he's not interested. Andy finds some elderly actors who are more than happy to put on a show for the aliens and then return with them to their planet.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.06

The Amazing Falsworth

starring Gregory Hines, Richard Masur

written by Mick Garris, Steven Spielberg

directed by Peter Hyams

The Amazing Falsworth (Gregory Hines) a stage magician and psychic discovers (using his psychic abilities) that one of the members of the audience is a serial killer known as the Keyboard Killer. Falsworth tries calling the police but they don't believe him. A police detective shows up later that night to interview him .

Falsworth leads the detective to an apartment which he believes belongs to the Keyboard Killer. There's a piano there. Falsworth sits down at the piano to see what her can learn from using his paranormal ability from the piano. He sees the face of the killer. It's the face of the detective.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.05

The Mission

starring Kevin Costner, Casey Siemaszko, Kiefer Sutherland

written by Menno Meyjes, Steven Spielberg

directed by Steven Spielberg

The crew of an American bomber flying a mission (from England during World War II) survives encounters with German airplanes but encounters some difficulty on was home. Jonathan (Casey Siemaszko), the belly gunner, gets trapped in the belly turret due to damage incurred during aerial combat. The landing gear was also damaged and the airplane is running out of fuel. They have enough to make it back to England but they don't have enough to try anything fancy.

The only chance is for the pilot (Kevin Costner) to land the airplane on its belly but while the rest of them should probably survive such a landing, Jonathan would be crushed. They try valiantly to get Jonathan out of the turret without success. In the end Jonathan comes with an unconventional and magical solution.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.04

Mummy Daddy

starring Tom Harrison

written by Earl Pomerantz, Steven Spielberg

directed by William Dear

Harold (Tom Harrison), an actor, rushes off the set of a movie, Mummy's Kiss, after learning that his wife is about to give birth. Harold doesn't have time to change and is still in full mummy makeup. He gets lost and spooks some of the locals. They come after him thinking that he is a real mummy. Harold bumps into Ra Amin Ka, a real mummy, While running from the mob that wants to kill him. Harold eventually makes it to the hospital about the same time that Ra Amin Ka arrives on set where nobody bats as eyelash at his appearance.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.03

Alamo Jobe

starring Kelly Reno

written byb Joshua Brand, John Falsey, Stephen Spielberg

directed by Michael D. Moore

Fifteen year old Jobe starts seeing strange things while serving at the Alamo in 1836 when it was under attack by Mexican General Santa Anna's army. Jobe sees people in late 20th century clothing walking through the battle. He tries to warn them that they are in danger by being there but they don't see or hear him. Colonel Travis gives Jobe a message to get to General John Lefferts on Suttlecock Road.

Jobe leaves the Alamo and finds himself in San Antonio in 1985. He looks for Shuttlecock Road. He takes a horse someone has left unattended and rides around town. The police chase him for a while. He's about ready to give up when he finds first Shuttlecock Road and then a store named Lefferts Antiques. The owner claims to be the great-grandson of General Lefferts. He thanks Jobe for the letter. Jobe heads back to the Alamo.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.02

The Main Attraction

starring John Scott Clough

written by Brad Bird, Mick Garris, Steven Spielberg

directed by Matthew Robbins

Brad Bender (John Scott Clough) has his life turned upside down the day before he expects to be named prom king. A meteorite crashes through the window of his bedroom. His body becomes magnetized which in turn makes his life a living hell.

Thoughts

The first half of this episode makes it seem like Brad has it all. It is halfway through the episode that the meteor crashes through Brad's window turning his life upside down.

Amazing Stories (1985) 1.01

Ghost Train

starring Robert Blossom, Scott Paulin, Gail Edwards, Lukas Haas

written by Frank Deese, Steven Spielberg

directed by Steven Spielberg

Fenton (Scott Paulin) and Joleen Globe (Gail Edwards) bring his aged father, Clyde Globe (Roberts Blossom) home to live with them and their young son Brian (Lukas Haas) in their new house. The house is built on a piece of land through which the the railroad used to pass. Clyde doesn't like it. He takes his grandson around and figures out exactly where the railroad track used to be. He calculates that the tracks ran right through where the house stands now.