Main cast: Roberts Blossom (Opa Clyde Globe), Scott Paulin (Fenton Globe), Gail Edwards (Joleen Globe), and Lukas Haas (Brian Globe)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Amazing Stories was a Steven Spielberg-created anthology series that was widely acclaimed, having garnered quite a number of awards, and perhaps due to the pedigree of the creator, it also had an impressive staff and cast of considerable pedigree.

Naturally, not enough people bothered to watched it back then and it lasted only two seasons.

Well, was the show as, er, amazing as all those critics made it out to be, or were they just simps and friends of Mr Spielberg? Let’s find out, beginning with the very first episode: Ghost Train.

Fenton Globe and his wife Joleen bring Fenton’s father Clyde to live with them and their son Brian in a new house that have just been completed on the piece of land that Fenton had bought.

Clyde, a good-natured but eccentric jolly old fellow with a gentle wit, has no idea where they are taking him to, only to end up dismayed by the site of the home.

Why? Well, that will come out in due time, as lonely and unhappy Brian bonds with his grandfather and discover that the old man has been hiding a secret pain all this while, one that is inexorably linked to their new home.

This is a pretty absurd episode, if you ask me, because it relies on a few coincidental turns of events, such as Fenton somehow building a house exactly on the location of a tragedy in which Clyde has a link to. Of course, one can argue that maybe all this is just fate or destiny or whatever doing its thing, but if so, I’d be miffed if I were Fenton, as this coincidence takes a big chunk out of his bank account and exerts an emotional toll as well.

Since this is a story by Steven Spielberg, in an episode directed by him, it’s to be expected that this one is sappy and sentimental as can be. While Lukas Haas is a wooden child actor—some would argue he’s just as wooden as an adult actor, heh—the late Roberts Blossom is awesome as this genial old man that has been carrying a heavy burden in his heart all this while.

Mr Blossoms manages to make the treacle in this episode bearable with his tender, layered, bittersweet performance, and in this episode, he makes me a bit choked up quite a few times.

Anyway, this episode is a pretty average one, but Mr Blossom elevates it by hitting me hard in the feels more than I’d have liked to admit. I may not be bowled over by it, but I’m definitely alright with it because of this.