Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes Battleground 7/12 Spoilers Ok

[BeanMeScot]

I was surprised a thread had not been started. What a great, edge of your seat episode! It was really eerie that not a single word was said the entire episode. I guess the fact that he was a hit man explains why he never tried to call for help. I wonder what would have happened had he surrendered?

[Rob Helmerichs]

It was really eerie that not a single word was said the entire episode.
That was a nice touch, although they botched the execution in a couple of places, especially when he was communicating with his seat-mate on the airplane. And a little odd that the very verbal William Hurt was the actor in the part. But of course he did a great job.

Great start to the series!

[tony touch]

Who sent the soldiers- was it the CEO's mom?

[5thcrewman]

His Number One Ideas Girl!

[BeanMeScot]

Yeah, it was signed with the same little weird pointy eared thing as the picture from the guys Mom.

[pcguru83]

Man, this was last night? Totally forgot about it... Can't wait to get home and check it out. Looks like a great mini-series. :)

[dirtypacman]

I have it recorded but did not watch it yet... glad to hear it did not disappoint.

[myriadian]

i'm confused. was this ep 1 or ep 6 of this series? the guide information says it's ep 6.

it was ok. you'd think he would have gulver'd out on them more though, stomping on small slow moving people should be easy.

M.

[5thcrewman]

The backpack nuke was the only thing that they had to even the field.

What would have happened if he surrendered?

[zordude]

Man, this was last night? Totally forgot about it... Can't wait to get home and check it out. Looks like a great mini-series. :)

It's no so much a mini-series, as 8 1hr stories. I'm pretty sure there is no common thread connecting them

Z

[scoblitz]

We enjoyed it.

I loved the little Trilogy of Terror doll in his curio cabinet...

[b5ver]

We enjoyed it.

I loved the little Trilogy of Terror doll in his curio cabinet...

I thought I recognized that doll.

It also had a "Cat's Eye" feel to it. Remember a very young Drew Barrymore trying to kill that tiny demon clown-doll thingy that hid behind wall.

[MikeMar]

I saw Stephen King at the Sox/Mets game the other week :)

[jamesbobo]

They may be putting their best foot forward. The story that followed it, about another dimension, was a complete waste of time.

[PJO1966]

I thought this episode was amazing. It really kept me on the edge of my seat. It reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode called "The Invaders" with Agnes Moorhead. It also had no dialogue (until the end) and involved someone being terrorized by miniature people.

[hyimted]

They may be putting their best foot forward. The story that followed it, about another dimension, was a complete waste of time.yup ... the second one was totally stupid. i would have shut it off but the family was watching.

the first one was awesome though ... totally dug it.

[Cue-Ball]

I really loved the first ep as well (the toys vs. William Hurt). I was telling some friends about it at work today and they looked at me like I was out of my freaking mind.

[pcguru83]

yup ... the second one was totally stupid. i would have shut it off but the family was watching.

the first one was awesome though ... totally dug it.

I for one liked the second one. Maybe it's because I'm a big Stephen King short story fan and had read the original in the book.

That brings up a good point though. I'm curious, how many of you have read the book by the same name?

[fischproduction]

I'm really looking forward to the eposide next week with Macy.
That was a really good story in the book.

[starbreiz]

I thought this episode was amazing. It really kept me on the edge of my seat. It reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode called "The Invaders" with Agnes Moorhead. It also had no dialogue (until the end) and involved someone being terrorized by miniature people.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who immediately thought of that. Toy soldiers instead of aliens/astronauts :P

[newsposter]

isn't this sorta a knock off of other movie ideas? toys coming to life etc?

[BeanMeScot]

I really loved the first ep as well (the toys vs. William Hurt). I was telling some friends about it at work today and they looked at me like I was out of my freaking mind.

On a local radio show, the girl of the guy/girl team watched this episode and was trying to describe it. She was getting all kinds of grief from the cohost and the producer. I guess it just doesn't translate well when described. :D

[harvscar]

There was a show called Darkroom that ran when I was a kid and the only story I remember was one like this where toy soldiers attacked someone.

I liked the battleground story, although I wonder how much noise it takes for this exclusive apartment building to call the police.

I also agree that the second show was terrible. The guy became the cat? He was always the cat? The wife was crazy? I was crazy for watching this thing for an hour?

[myriadian]

once again it's proven to me that stephen king is a washed up hack.

bleh. the first one with the toy soldiers was just a ripoff of some old twilight zone show and the 2nd one was just....stupid. if you wanted to make it about some old gods that eat people as a way to sustain itself then......bring it up!

bleh. i hate stephen king.

M.

[David Platt]

I for one liked the second one. Maybe it's because I'm a big Stephen King short story fan and had read the original in the book.

That brings up a good point though. I'm curious, how many of you have read the book by the same name?

I'm a big fan of Stephen King's short stories-- I've read each of his short story collections a few times.

That being said: the second one totally blew. I don't remember liking the original story all that much either, though.

[dirtypacman]

I only watched the first one "Battleground" I would give it around a C+

Hopefully they get a bit stronger.

[newsposter]

2nd one seemed like a knock off of something too....i guess we are supposed to like how he did it not that the story was new

[max99]

isn't this sorta a knock off of other movie ideas? toys coming to life etc?

These are not stories he wrote recently. SK wrote this short story 30 years ago (it was published in the mid 70's) so it would have to be a knock off of an old movie.

[Lee L]

I watched it this weekend. I liked the story (and actually had not thought about the fact that nothing was said the whole time, that is pretty cool). But, for the most part, the entire premise was predictable. The whole soldiers thing just seemed obvious as well as his first couple of attempts at killing them with the gun and its limited effect on such small figures. Then I immediately thought of using a spray can as a flamethrower.

Then of course the tiny thermonuclear warhead blast at the end. Good thing they found a way around critacal mass. ;)

[hyimted]

That brings up a good point though. I'm curious, how many of you have read the book by the same name?i don't think i read this specific book ... but i used to be a sk junkie. i even read the stuff he wrote as "richard bachman" .... i think i read every book he wrote up to the point when i finally burned out ... that woulda been somewhere in the mid 90's.

i still think he's creative (and certainly innovative for as long as he's been around) ... i'm just tired of the format.

[ClutchBrake]

Watched Battleground last night. Loved the production values but the story itself was boring and utterly predictable. I guess that shouldn't surprise me. I've felt the same way about virtually every other bit of horror with King's name attached.

On the other hand, some of my favorite movies are based on his non horror works. Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile.

Might give N&D one more chance as I like the actors involved.

[bengalfreak]

After all the hype, I thought this episode was a major downer. Extremely boring until the king army man showed up at the end. The fight got good at that point. But too little, too late.

[etemple]

I'm a big fan of Stephen King's work (and those of you who say he's a washed up hack should actually read some of his material--i.e. "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" . . .)

That said, while I've only watched the first two of these so far, I've been a bit disappointed in the execution. I thought that the acting has been solid, but I'm just not satisfied with the way that the stories have translated to TV . . .

I dunno--I'll probably watch the rest at some point since it's summer and I like all the actors, but if this were during regular network season, I'd probably not bother.