I have 5 not so “Amazing short stories” for you today. Stories from a TV show that is named “Amazing Stories”. See what I did there? XDXD.
It’s a Stephen Spielberg Produced Anthology TV show that has been hyped for so long. The premise was so intuitive yet so weak. The gaping potholes and plot armors can't save something that fails to deliver. This is a great example of that. Some Episodes are greater than expected. But the lack of derivative conclusion makes it one of the weakest releases of the genre. Though it’s a remake, the original was far better as I have been told.
The Show consists of 5 episodes. Each tells a different story from the same universe.
1.The Cellar.
Two brothers, whose bread and butter is to restore homes, land a job at restoring a house with hardwood floors.
While working, one night, they get stuck in the house because of a storm. The breaker pops. So the younger brother, Sam goes to the cellar to fix it. While in there, due to the storm the air pressure drop very low and his ears start ringing. And the next thing he sees is that he has traveled back 100’s of years in the past.
In his attempts at getting back, he falls in love with a girl. The girl feels trapped in the state of living she’s in. So Sam tries to bring her back into the present. To where he is from. But, due to some complexities, the girl does come to the present but Sam gets stranded in the past.
2.The Heat.
Two girls, best of friends, love to run and want to do it professionally. Like international champions and what not.
So one girl, Tuka, who’s slightly faster than the other one, Sterling, is a feisty one. She likes to hang out and do interesting things that can’t be done normally due to familial restrictions.
So one night, they go to a Drag Race event. They have a small fight there. So while they were getting back to home, Tuka falls into an accident.
A car hit and ran her over. When she wakes up, she finds herself as a wandering ghost. People are holding her funeral, creating an altar for her where she died and what not. But nobody can talk to her or hear what she says.
Later, she meets another wandering ghost who tells her that the ones getting stranded might have things left to be done.
And the story unfolds from there.
In this EP, how the story is connected to its name is beyond me.
3.Dyno man.
Poster from the original 1985 show
A mean grandfather falls into an accident causing his leg to get broken making him stuck with his son and grandsons in their house until he recovers.
The grandson, Dylan, likes comic books and wants to become a cartoonist one day. As the grandfather is a mean one, he is notified that due to him getting slow, he might have to retire from work. This doesn’t go well with him and he becomes even meaner.
As he is stuck into the house, he chooses to take Dylan to and from school as a method to get out of the home. While bringing him back from school, he finds mail in his name. A small box. Inside, there is a ring with three odd-looking stones on it. A ring that he ordered from the listings on the last page of a comic book 60 years ago!
While at first, the grandfather doesn’t want to think anything and takes it as a prank, later the turn of events shows that the ring does have power similar to the comic book hero it’s based on.
4.Signs of Life.
This is a story about a woman and her daughter, Alia. The woman has been in a coma for six years and suddenly she wakes up. When Alia comes to visit her she doesn’t behave like she used to do.
Like she is a completely new person.
Later, events unfold to a weird plot. That an alien creature with powers has taken ahold of her.
In the end, the alien uses her powers to save Alia and Then save the mother now for real and dies in the process.
The weirdest story with a mehhh side plot.
5. The Rift.
When a WWII pilot in a dogfight goes through a wormhole like glowing mysterious tunnel in the clouds and crash lands, he finds himself years into the future,
A small boy and his mother were present while he crash-landed. So they save him and the police take him to hospital. There he in utter disbelief, he finds out about how he came back in the future.
A special government agency who specializes in such a phenomenon’s tries to send him back through the portal. But the kid finds out how he died in Burma while he was in the war and the escape.
Later after many things happening, the pilot goes back to his original time while some intricacies between the mother and son get fixed in the process.
Now, if I have successfully grabbed your attention till now, here’s is the thing. This is Apple TV plus’s attempt at creating an anthology tv series. All the major streaming platforms have one.
Like Netflix’s black mirror, Love death + robots or amazon prime’s Tales from the loop. So apple had to have one for them. And that’s the thinking where the “Amazing Stories” is made from. Making it weaker then it was supposed to be.
This mystery, drama, Sci-fie is not at the peak of its genre. Like the stories are not that good and cinematography is moderate at best. But Apple has tried it. They are new in the game as Netflix was 3-4 years ago. With shitty releases like Sense8. Let’s see if they can do better in the coming future.