Amazing Stories (TV series)

Amazing Stories is a 1980s TV series produced by Steven Spielberg for NBC. This Genre Anthology series is similar to The Twilight Zone, although with a distinctly larger proportion of happy endings. The show had very impressive visual effects for the time. Of course, given Spielberg's involvement, that's not surprising. It also had episodes directed by people who hardly ever do television (Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, etc).

The series lasted from September 1985 to April 1987 for a total of 45 episodes in two seasons.


 * Afterlife Express: "Ghost Train"
 * Aliens Steal Cable: "Fine Tuning"
 * Anthropomorphic Personification: "Guilt Trip", in which the personification of Guilt is forced to go on vacation for messing up on the job, and meets and falls in love with the personification of Love.
 * Coincidental Accidental Disguise: "Mummy Daddy"
 * Deus Ex Machina: Happens a number of times, but the most extreme example is possibly "The Mission".
 * Dodgy Toupee: "Hell Toupee"
 * The Doll Episode: "The Doll". Largely avoids the creepiness common with the trope, though.
 * Edited for Syndication: Five "movies" consisting of Amazing Stories episodes edited together were released to local stations in the late 80s.
 * Evil Hand: An evil wig in "Hell Toupee"
 * Hollywood Voodoo: "The Sitter"
 * Humiliation Conga: To the main character in "Main Attraction".
 * Losing Your Head: "Go to the Head of the Class" has Sadist Teacher B.O. Beanes, after accidentally being killed, coming back to life with his head separate from his body because the picture used in the resurrection spell got torn in two.
 * Magical Nanny/Magical Negro: "The Sitter"
 * Mirror Monster: "Mirror, Mirror"
 * Monster Is a Mommy: Inverted/parodied in "Mummy, Daddy", where an actor trapped in a highly constricting mummy costume frantically attempts to reach the hospital where his wife is giving birth. His task is further complicated by two things: a hostile band of backwoodsmen and a real mummy.
 * Mood Whiplash: As each episode is done very differently this happens often and can catch people off guard. One episode will be whimsical and comedic, then the next will be dark and serious.
 * Mummy: "Mummy Daddy"
 * My Skull Runneth Over: "One for the Books"
 * Not-So-Phony Psychic: "The Amazing Falsworth" is a play on this, where people believe he's an act but he really can read minds.
 * Poorly-Disguised Pilot: "Family Dog"
 * Road Sign Reversal: "Mummy Daddy"
 * Sadist Teacher: B.O. Beanes in "Go to the Head of the Class"
 * Selective Magnetism: "The Main Attraction"
 * Shaming the Mob: Subverted in "Mummy Daddy"
 * Spin-Off: Family Dog (Although picked up by CBS instead of NBC which aired the pilot as an Amazing Stories episode).
 * Stage Magician: The main subjects of "Mr. Magic" and "The Amazing Falsworth".
 * Strange Minds Think Alike: In "Family Dog", Ms. Lestrange promises to turn the dog into "a quivering, snarling, white-hot ball of canine terror." Later, when the dog attacks burglars, one exclaims, "He's turned into a quivering, snarling, white-hot ball of canine terror!"
 * Things That Go Bump in the Night: Summoned by the babysitter in "The Sitter"
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: "Life on Death Row"
 * Trapped in TV Land: A horror movie fan makes the mistake of wishing life were more like the movies in "Welcome to My Nightmare".
 * Truman Show Plot: "Secret Cinema"
 * You Have to Believe Me: "You Gotta Believe Me"