The Tale of the Phone Police

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, January 29, 1994
Storyteller: Tucker (Daniel DeSanto)

Frame: The Midnight Society gathers, impatiently awaiting Tucker's arrival, as he's supposed to be up for storytelling that night. Gary (Ross Hull) reassures the rest of them that he'll be along soon. Suddenly, a portable phone rings. Gary answers, and it turns out to be Tucker on the other end. Gary hooks the portable phone up to a speaker (in a scene that screams early 90s, these days) so that everyone can hear, and Tucker proceeds to tell his story through the phone, if only for atmosphere, as his story has everything to do with proper phone usage.

Story: Two boys, Jake (Marcus Turner) and Chris (Ryan Kent), are hanging out one night and decide to make some prank phone calls. Catching them in the act, Jake's sister, Annie (Marlowe Dawn), tells them an urban legend about the "Phone Police," who, one day, hauled away a kid for messing around with the phone. When Jake finds the apparent, odd six-digit number of the kid (in a time when there were seven digits, unless it was a long-distance call), he brings it to the attention of the "Phone Company." They then accuse him of prank calling people, take him away, and the urban legend becomes all too real.

Review: This episode was undoubtedly better in its time. Back in '94, the world of phones was very different from what it is today. Half the fun of a prank call was that the other side had little to no way of knowing who you were without the advent of Caller ID. It's by far one of the most dated episodes considering its subject matter, and wasn't the scariest concept for its time either. There's a bit of atmosphere to it, but it's simply not enough, and the ending feels rushed, as though they had no idea how to end it. I'd classify it as one of the weaker titles in the series, especially in this day and age of technology.

Final Rating: Calm

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