Customer Reviews

Beyond Reality - The First Season

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

BEYOND REALITY appeared on the USA cable network for two seasons. Forty-four half-hour episodes aired between 10/1/91 and 3/1/93. The show centered on two university-based parapsychologists, portrayed by Shari Belafonte (as Laura Wingate) and Carl Marotte (as J.J. Stillman) and their explorations of poltergeists, telekinesis and other such eerie phenomena. Also appearing infrequently was Nicole de Boer (as Celia Powell).

MCE's DVD set of BEYOND REALITY contains all 20 Season #1 episodes plus two from the second season. They probably did this to evenly divide this program's catalog into lots of 22, but short of consulting J.J and Laura, we can't know for certain if a Season #2 collection is in the foreseeable future.


THE RAY BRADBURY THEATER - Complete Series consists of 65 episodes-- all based on show host Bradbury's short stories. It's a little-seen and fascinating 1980's anthology of sci-fi and fantasy that featured such fine actors as William Shatner, Jeff Goldblum, Leslie Nielson and Peter O'Toole.


The "Beyond Reality" Season #1 list is sequential by original airdate.
Also included are episode titles and featured guest stars.

Mirror, Mirror (10/4/91) - Lynne Cormack/Nicole de Boer/Peter Dvorsky
The Doppelgänger (10/11/91) - Len Doncheff/Kenneth Walsh
Miracle Worker 10/18/91) - Chris Makepeace/Cedric Smith/Nick Rice
Return Visit (10/25/91) - Cynthia Preston/James B. Douglas/Jill Frappier
Intimate Shadows (11/1/91) - Scott Hylands/Kate Trotter/Steve Whistance-Smith
Echoes of Evil (11/8/91) - Doris Petrie/Richard Sali/Susan Kottman
Range of Motion (11/15/91) - Deborah Duchene/Nicholas Campbell/Susan Hogan
The Cold (11/22/91) - Robert More/Janet Laine-Green/Laura Press
The Bridge (11/29/91) - Nathaniel Moreau/Sandy Quan/David Ferry
Black Magic (12/6/91) - Krista Bridges/Lindsay Merrithew/Anthony Sherwood
Enemy in Our Midst (12/14/91) - Jennifer Dale/Mathew Mackay/Andrew Gillies
Asylum (12/20/91) - Errol Slue/ Denise Fergusson/Roy Lewis
Killer Instinct (12/27/91) - Jennifer Griffin/Lawrence Bayne/Allan Price
Sins of the Father (4/17/92) - Marvin Ishmael/Nigel Bennett/Ashleigh Ann Wood
Nightmare Without End (4/24/92) - Laura Bruneau/Peter Krantz/Vince Marino
Master of Darkness (5/1/92) - Colm Feore/Leah Pinsent/Jeremy Ratchford
Siren Song (5/8/92) - Nancy Anne Sakovich/Larissa Laskin/Sharon Dyer
Justice (5/15/92) - G. Danovan Spence/William Lynn/John Tench
The Fire Within (5/22/92) - Von Flores/Janet Lo/Lawrence Tan/Henry Li
The Color of Mad (5/29/92) - Geordie Johnson/Dixie Seatle/Ron Small

a little dated but great to see where some actors have been in the past

I've watched three episodes so far, spread out to see if it improved after the first episode. Not really, but the actors are generally decent. The lead actor doesn't give off much charisma. Pretty much everything reminds me of episodes of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps I watched with my nephew, especially the quality of writing and direction. The stories are so thin they barely support their half-hour running time.

I have no memories of this show, and it probably helps to retain a strong sense of nostalgia about it. I suffer from nostalgia more than anyone, so enjoy this all you want if you want to. I mostly wanted to point out that Beyond Reality = Goosebumps. It sells for $8.47, which sounds about right.

Quality of the picture is compatible with a 90's series, mostly okay, though. The show is really interesting, but the episodes seem to be a bit too short.

This anthology series is about two researchers who investigate paranormal events.

The main problem is that this show tries to be two things and fails at both.

First, it's marketed as a Horror show. But the horror is weak. I don't need gore, but these stories aren't even suspenseful, let alone scary.

Second, it's marketed as a True Paranormal show. Something for Jonathan Edwards fans. For people who watch "true ghost-hunting" shows with "dramatized recreations" of supposedly real events.

Each episode begins with the message: "The following story of paranormal activity is based upon reported incidents."

But note the phrasing -- "reported incidents." Plural. In other words, each episode is NOT a recreation of an actual incident, but a "story" BASED UPON a mish-mash of MANY incidents.

I think the producers simply perused many articles about astral projection, reincarnation, hauntings, whatever -- then created an entirely fictitious story "based upon" whatever bits and pieces they liked from all their research.

These stories aren't recreations of actual paranormal events. Which would be okay if the horror weren't so weak. Unfortunately, the "horror" is laden with squishy new age/feel good spirituality.

In "Intimate Shadows," a woman sees her husband's ghost. Not that the ghost is scary -- he's nice to the woman. Then our intrepid paranormal investigators discover that the "ghost" is not a ghost at all. It's an astral projection by the husband, who's still alive and living as a homeless man. In the end, the wife reaches out to her homeless hubby, and it's implied that she'll help him get back on his feet.

In "The Bridge," a boy sees his dad's ghost, and wants to die to join him. But the ghost tells the boy that he needs to go on living, because it's not his time to die, and his mother needs him.

In "The Cold," a woman sees an old lover's ghost in a frozen cave. Research reveals that the lover died recently, and was cryogenically frozen. But he's changed his mind, and wants to fully die. The woman, and our paranormal investigators, convince the wife that this is indeed her frozen husband's true wish. So she "frees his soul" by unfreezing his body.

Many of the episodes are this sort of squishy, spiritual, New Agey, feel good stuff.

Some of the stories are just plain silly. In "Master of Darkness," college students engage in a Dungeons & Dragons type role-playing game. Through hallucinogenic incense, they transport themselves onto an astral plane where the game becomes real. What happens to them on this astral plane happens to their bodies back on Earth. Those who are imprisoned on the astral plane, disappear on Earth.

So the paranormal team enters this astral plane -- one of them, luckily, was a role-playing game fan back in college -- and beat the Dungeon Master at the game. This frees all the trapped students. The Dungeon Master/college student apologizes for getting carried away, and everyone is friends again, having "learned their lesson." (The show's moral: live life and meet people, rather than get lost in fantasy role-playing games.)

Stephen King has said that the typical horror anthology show has about 1/3 great episodes, 1/3 so-so episodes, and 1/3 duds.

I'd say that BEYOND REALITY is more like 40% duds, 40% so-so, and 20% good stories.

I bought this on Amazon for $5.99. For 22 episodes, that's pretty cheap, so I don't mind the duds. I fast-forwarded through a couple of the really bad episodes, and you can do the same.

One bright spot: a half dozen or so of the supporting actors appeared in episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series, another made-in-Toronto TV series shot around the same time. (e.g., Kate Trotter played the wife in "Intimate Shadows.")

Horror fans may want to add this DVD to their collection, provided the price is low.

I bought this forgetting how cheesy this series was. If you can get past the "cheese" factor, it is an okay series. Something I would rather have rented.

My son and I, have loved this show since it first made it's appearance years ago. we would make a game of it and see who guessed more accurately regarding the collection of short stories, with the true or false question that each presented, which of us guessed more with a right answer, be it true or false.
The stories there selves are all interesting and hold your attention whether finding it was a true or false story. It would always seem that the most unbelieveable clips were the true one's..."go figure"
In any event, you will not regret this purchase, it's entertaining with or without the game and just plain fun to watch!

Thanks,
Ron Poplaski

this is a very good tv series.mysticism,paranormal activity,strange goings-on...all these ingredients and more are investigated by a very intelligent team that has something that most people(at least the ones i've come in contact with)don't have:an open mind.

A VERY GOOD TV SERIES WITH SHARI BELAFONTE WHICH COVERS A VARIETY OF INTERESTING STORIES. IT REMINDS OF CLASSICS SUCH AS "ONE STEP BEYOND" WHICH USED ACTUAL FILES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. SO THE STORIES VARIED FROM LOCAL, AND TIME. ALSO, HIGHLY RECOMMEND AS AN ADDITION TO ANYONES COLLECTION.

This is a gem, an early '90s series with episodes based on true events. The "true events" are often questionable urban myths, or off the mark representations of non-mainstream religions, but there is no question that this series is worth watching. The acting stands up to the test of time, with writing that fits a complete storyline into each episode. Season one is 22 episodes, which harkens back to a time when no one would call 12 episodes of a show a "season". Shari Belafonte and Carl Marotte do a great job portraying the main characters: Laura Wingate a parapsychologist; and J. J. Stillman, a clinical psychologist; as a university's Parapsychology department. Their characters mesh well, and balance each other while pursuing the validity and cause of each episode's supernatural focus. Nicole deBoer joins the cast later in the season.

Some of the clothing - and a lot of the technology - screams late 80s to the early '90s. Still, the portrayals of everyday folks seeking help in dealing with unusual events in their lives make for interesting viewing. Rather than using a narrator voicing the story in a somber voice, as is often done with more recent shows depicting the paranormal, Beyond Reality used talented actors to convey the eeriness of having day to day life disrupted by a supernatural event. And did a very good job of it. I'm looking forward to the next season of Beyond Reality being released on DVD.