The Tale of the Dream Machine

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, July 17, 1993
Storyteller: Kiki (Jodie Resther) / Gary (Ross Hull)

Frame: As the Midnight Society grows impatient, once again awaiting the arrival of another late member, Kiki finally arrives to tell her story, but her voice has unfortunately been affected by laryngitis. Taking a seat at the storytelling chair, she opens up a box to unveil an old typewriter, and she hands some notes to Gary. She then goes on in a sickly, raspy voice that she used the typewriter to type her story to have someone else read it aloud because her throat is killing her. She submits her story for approval, and Gary continues to read.

Story:  A young man named Sean Hackett (Michael Hong) has a passion for creative writing along with a crush on his classmate, Jennifer Johnson (Nicole Lyn). Inspired by Jennifer, a lot of his stories end up being about her. One day, he and his friend Billy (Joel Gordon) find a hidden room in Sean's new house and find an old typewriter. After a while, as Sean uses the typewriter to type his tales, they discover that if he writes a story about anyone while they're sleeping, that person dreams of Sean's story. However, they also find that when read aloud, these stories also come true, and Sean's stories often have dark endings.

Review: Once again, this is one of the many stories in this series where I love the concept, but wish to see it done bigger and better. I love the world of dreams, and this idea would work for a decent horror flick, especially with the idea of the writing coming to life (although, I suppose 'Goosebumps' did this to a degree, which is a fitting parallel). Although the acting can be stiff, particularly from Sean, I'm hard-pressed to criticize the acting in a series made to be light-hearted children's horror too much. I'm not sure I'd call it one of the best in the whole series, but it's one I enjoy quite a bit for what it is.

Final Rating: Scared

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