The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV Series) The Martian (1992) User Reviews

"It's alright father, I'm home."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 26 February 2022]

This is a very short episode that appears to contrast the emotions of grief and wishful thinking. When a Martian appears to Saul (John Vernon) and Anna LaFarge (Sheila Moore) in the form of their son Tom who died five years earlier back on Earth, the mother eagerly accepts him as her own, while the father remains entirely certain that it can't be him. 'Tom' (Paul Clemens) argues with his 'father', but reconciles long enough for the family to venture into the town's marketplace, where Tom appears to be overwhelmed by the crowd. He instinctively shapeshifts into a young girl whose parents had given her up for dead when she disappeared some time earlier. Even though Saul has a handle on all this, he seeks out Tom because of his wife's concern. The story ends rather abruptly when the Martian uncontrollably morphs multiple times into other diverse persons who had passed away. With cold comfort the LaFarge's reconcile with the fact that "He was our son, for a little while".

If We Could Have One More Moment With Those We Loved

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 3 April 2015]

This episode was rather confusing at first. A man and his wife are living on an earth colony on Mars. There are few real Martians around. The came when their son died from tuberculosis. They are both having nightmares about this loss. Their emotions, especially those of the wife, are absorbed by a being. He takes the form of Tom, their son (another Tom but no Dougs). The wife believes it is really their son, even though he is buried on earth. We find that Martians have the ability to take the form of others and apparently they can build themselves from the wishes and grief of others. Tom fights with his father and runs away. Suddenly, another child, thought to be dead, turns up but with dire consequences. The mother forces all of them into the city and while there the being that is Tom when they are alone starts to morph into others wished alive by the earthlings. Things end a bit too briskly for my tastes, but the whole issue of having someone alive again is intriguing.