'The Ray Bradbury Theater' Retro Recap: 'Marionettes, Inc.'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

Growing up in the 1980's, there were two authors that absolutely managed to capture me in my youth. One of which I've written about on several occasions, the iconic Stephen King and the other writer came from a wholly different genre...science fiction, by way of the great Ray Bradbury. I picked up Fahrenheit 451 and never looked back, pouring into everything the man had written at the time and it just so happened, that in the midst of my newfound love for Bradbury's work, I caught an advertisement on HBO for an upcoming show entitled, The Ray Bradbury Theater. 

This was of course, something I simply could not miss, and I was front and center for the series premiere. This was another anthology series amidst a sea of them at the time that I tried to watch as often as possible, but eventually we said goodbye to cable for a while, and without any online service to watch it on...I more or less forgot about the series. But recently, it came up in a discussion revolving around Bradbury's work and lo and behold, after a bit of searching, I found the complete series on Amazon for one hell of a price and at long last I can enjoy this show once again, and discuss it right here with all of you, so let us begin a grand journey through the world of The Ray Bradbury Theater, starting with the fascinating pilot episode, 'Marionettes, Inc.'

Computer Salesman John Braling, is starting to find that life is getting to him a little more than usual. The daily grind is that just that, a grind and his home life is no better. His wife is always on his case about one thing or another, and it seems as though poor John can't get a word in edge wise. He simply feels trapped, that is until something curious happens at work. One day, his computer puts up the image for a company known as Marionettes, Inc., and despite his best efforts to remove it, it simply will not go away. In fact, the company is popping up everywhere he looks, even their business cards find their way to him. Believing that something nefarious is happening behind the scenes, a friend convinces him to check out the place and when John arrives he is greeted by a mysterious man named Fantoccini, who reveals they have been trying to get John's attention, to offer him a chance to regain his life and his happiness, with an android that is a perfect replica of him, one that can take his place whenever he wishes...for a hefty price, of course. It's a deal that John cannot resist...but while he regains his freedom, there is another price to pay for his choice to put a robot in charge of his life...

Well, where do we begin when it comes to the awesomeness of this show because it is loaded to the gills with all kinds of goodies. For starters, it's got a top notch cast with screen legends James Coco and Leslie Nielsen playing John Braling and Fantoccini respectively, so there's no cheese to be found when it comes to performances here, and that's a good thing considering how cerebral the subject matter turns out to be. This is a story that hammers home our heavy reliance on technology and how that can potentially be our downfall since Braling's android decides that it can do a better job of being Braling in just about every way and it leads to a stunning and wonderful finale that works perfectly and is satisfying to say the least.  

But what I enjoyed most about this story, is the fact that Fantoccini more or less preys on people, who are incapable of adapting or changing in life and that's the irony within this story. John is fully capable of fixing everything in his life to make it better. His wife just needed to know he cared in the same fashion she does, work can be exciting if he tries new things, the list goes on and on...but instead, he chose to have a device handle it for him, with disastrous results. It means that the moral of this story is about appreciating life, and all that we are given and when we do that...there's no need for things to keep us happy, because everything we need is right there to bring us joy and if a machine can grasp this concept over a selfish man...then perhaps he got everything he deserved. Either way, this was an absolute treat of a first episode to watch, and I cannot wait to see what other cerebral joys await us. Until next time.

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