The Tale of the Dream Machine

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, July 17, 1993

Intro: As the Midnight Society grows impatient, awaiting the arrival of another late member, Kiki (Jodie Resther) finally arrives with her voice taken out by laryngitis. Taking a seat at the storytelling chair, she opens up a box to unveil an old typewriter, and hands some notes to Gary (Ross Hull). She then goes on in a sickly, raspy voice that she used said typewriter to write 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 classmate, Jennifer Johnson (Nicole Lyn). As a result, a lot of his stories are also 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. They soon find that if Sean writes a story about someone while they're sleeping, that person dreams of Sean's story. However they also find that if they're read aloud, they come true, and Sean's stories often come with dark endings.

Review: This is one of those situations where I absolutely love the ideas behind the story, and conceptually, as a lover of the mystery world of dreams, this is a personal favourite. Certain things about it could have been executed better, but someone needs to take this idea and turn it into a horror movie. If I have any complaints about it, aside from some of the execution of the concept, it's nitpicky at best. The acting can be a bit stiff here, namely from Sean, but I can't very well criticize the acting in a series made to be children's horror. It also has one of my favourite endings!

Closing/Moral: Gary ends the story, and the gang suddenly find that Kiki snuck away while everyone was paying attention to Gary. However she left the typewriter behind with a note that Frank (Jason Alisharan) reads aloud, suggesting a headless man chasing down the Midnight Society one by one. I love it! But I have no idea what the moral of the story is...

4/5

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