Darkroom

Madman

R4 DVD

This TV series from the early 1980s is very strongly reminiscent of Rod Serling’s old show The Twilight Zone. For those who never saw it (and Twilight Zone goes back to the days of black and white TV) Serling presented a weekly show with a one-hour mystery. The subjects varied widely but all had a common theme of the unexplained and how it may affect real life. It appears to have been duplicated in this series presented by James Coburn. Unfortunately the series was short-lived.

The stories presented are of a similar style to the Twilight Zone. We get two or three stories per episode. They seem to be perfectly ordinary, but then the mystery starts to creep in.

Some examples:

A television anchor-man finds his company has not only been duplicating him in a computer but intends to use the computerised version instead of him to present “his” news. He is initially appalled but comes to accept it, looking forward to having the time to do all the things he never did when he was younger. But there’s always a catch ….

Charlie buys his son a crystal radio set that has the ability to tune into broadcasts from 1942. In an effort to prevent his father’s troopship from being torpedoed he tries to tamper with time. Never a wise move.

Needlepoint. A very short story showing why you shouldn’t dismiss the power of witchcraft, or murder a witch.

Siege of 31 August.

Neal is a Vietnam vet and his 10-year old son Ben wants to follow in his footsteps and go to a military academy – at least, it seems so. He may be just doing it to please his father. Neil gives him a set of toy soldiers and they seem to be becoming real in his son’s mind. He has built a toy military camp behind the barn, but it seems to be growing. The soldiers are now talking to him. They have told him about a dark incident in Vietnam in which Neil was involved. Neil can now hear the soldiers at night, fighting. Is he on the edge of madness? Is his past coming back to haunt him? Or are the plastic soldiers really coming to life?

The stories are well written and well-acted.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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