Удивительные истории Amazing Stories

American anthology television series

Amazing Stories is an American anthology television series created by Steven Spielberg, that originally ran on NBC in the United States from September 29, 1985, to April 10, 1987. The series was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards 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 52nd in Season 2), however, and the network did not renew it after the two year contract expired. The 1987 science fiction film Batteries Not Included was originally intended as a story for Amazing Stories, but Spielberg liked the idea so much that he decided to make it a theatrical release. The series title licensed the name of Amazing Stories, the first dedicated science fiction magazine created by Hugo Gernsback in April 1926. The title sequence was made by computer generated imagery (CGI) firm, Robert Abel and Associates. On March 6, 2020, a revival of Amazing Stories premiered on Apple TV+.

All episodes have a running time of around 24 minutes, with the exceptions of "The Mission" and "Go to the Head of the Class" (both running 46 minutes).

The series gained a number of positive reviews. However, some reviewers were unimpressed with the show, with Jeff Jarvis of People saying "Amazing Stories is one of the worst disappointments I've ever had watching TV."

Year Category Nominee(s) Episode Result1986 Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Steven Spielberg "The Mission" Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series John Lithgow "The Doll" Outstanding Cinematography for a Series John McPherson "The Mission" Outstanding Achievement in Costuming for a Series Sanford Slepak, Carol Hybi, Daniel Grant North, Deahdra Scarano "Ghost Train" Outstanding Makeup for a Series Joseph Roveto, Jane Ruhm, James Cullen, Fran Vega Buck "Gather Ye Acorns" Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series Bunny Parker "Gather Ye Acorns" Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series Richard L. Anderson, Wayne Allwine, James Christopher, George Fredrick, John Stacy,Burton Weinstein, Lettie Odney, Denise Whiting, Kenneth Wannberg "The Mission" Outstanding Costuming for a Series Joseph Roveto, Jane Ruhm, James Cullen, Fran Vega Buck "Gather Ye Acorns" Outstanding Editing for a Series – Single Camera Production Joe Ann Fogle "Mummy, Daddy" Steven Kemper "The Mission" 1987 Outstanding Makeup for a Series Michael Westmore, Mark Bussan, Chuck House, Fred C. Blau Jr. "Without Diana" Outstanding Cinematography for a Series John McPherson "Go to the Head of the Class"

One episode of the show, "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. The video game The Dig originated as an idea Spielberg had for Amazing Stories, but decided it would be too expensive to film. In 1986, Steven Bauer wrote two novelizations of the series which were both published by Charter Books in the US and Futura Books in the UK. The first book, Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (October 1986, ), adapted episodes 5, 12, 9, 2, 7 and 12, while the second book, Volume II of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (December 1986, ), adapted episodes 7, 20, 8, 11, 18, 25, 4, 3, 21, 17 and 19. In 1985–86, TSR published six tie in novels under the Amazing Stories banner. They were branching (Choose Your Own Adventure style) books where the reader chose where to jump at key points. The 4 D Funhouse by Clayton Emery and Earl Wajenberg. Cover by Jeff Easley. Jaguar! by Morris Simon. Cover by Jeff Easley. Portrait in Blood by Mary L. Kirchoff (credited as Mary Kirchoff). Cover by Jeff Easley. Nightmare Universe by Gene DeWeese and Robert Coulson. Cover by Jeff Easley. Starskimmer by John Betancourt. Cover by Doug Chaffee. Day of the Mayfly by Lee Enderlin. Cover by Doug Chaffee. The 1987 film Batteries Not Included was originally planned to be a segment for the series, but Spielberg thought the story would work better on the big screen instead of television.

On October 23, 2015, it was announced that NBC was developing a reboot of the series with Bryan Fuller writing the pilot episode and executive producing alongside Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank. Production companies involved with the series were set to include Universal Television. Steven Spielberg was not expected to be involved with the new series. On May 5, 2017, NBC and Universal Television were formally notified that their option rights to the Amazing Stories properties had been withdrawn. Rights for the development of a genre television series under the name Amazing Stories were subsequently sold to Experimenter Media LLC. On October 10, 2017, it was announced that Apple Inc. made a deal with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and NBC Universal to develop a new, ten episode series on Apple's streaming service, Apple TV+. On February 7, 2018, it was announced that Fuller had stepped down as showrunner of the series over creative differences. It was further reported that it was unclear whether he would have a different role on the project going forward. He had not delivered a script to Apple before his amicable departure. Later that day, it was also announced that executive producer Hart Hanson was exiting the series as well. On May 22, 2018, it was announced that Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz had joined the production as executive producers and showrunners.

Between 2006 and 2009, The Complete First Season was released on DVD in the US, UK, France, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and Australia. In 2009, both seasons were released in Germany and Japan only. In Germany both seasons were released as 12 separate DVDs or a complete box set, which was also reissued in 2011. All countries' DVDs contain the original English soundtrack, while Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Japan have a second soundtrack, dubbed in their respective languages. The second season was never released in any video format in America despite much demand by collectors.

On January 8, 2018, Seasons 1 and 2 were released on Apple iTunes in standard definition.

In 1992, the series 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. 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. Until 2006, the Sci Fi Channel in the United States showed episodes on an irregular schedule. The MoviePlex channel also showed the series as a collection of "movies," which are blocks of three episodes.