MovieChat Forums > The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985) Discussion > The Playground

The Playground

posted 15 years ago by AzRanger
5 replies | jump to latest

Easy to follow, scary, too.

But I sure got lost at the end.

After Charles and little Steve swap bodies on the slide (saw that coming) we see the kids chase Charles (now in Steve's body) into the jungle gym and little Steve (now in Charles body) goes off to play on the swing set. He sees his father mouth "Go home" and motion with his hand so he stops swinging and leaves. Wave’s goodbye, too, to his Dad who stays on the jungle gym, tears running down his cheeks (I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Captain Kirk cry).

Suddenly... the credits roll. The end.

So now what? Does little Steve take his Dad's place as an insurance salesman and make co-worker Bob Peerless happy by finally “holding his end up”?

Does Charles get tormented forever by Ralph and the kids, or vampires, or monsters, i.e., Hell?

Does Carol ask little Steve (as big Charles) why he'd leave their kid alone at the playground? Especially with that ominous sign that says "Play at your own risk"

The Few, But Proud, Then And Now

[–] GGPuentes 14 years ago

i thought too it was kind of a loose end... yet now that I read what you said, maybe charles kind of "sacrificed" for him.

may be was a david lynch sort of story... where feelings/emotions you feel are more important than sense in storyline.

or maybe it was just a sh***y episode, a lame screenplay translation, maybe reading the original story could help.

[–] jallen99 14 years ago

That was my take too. The playground kids were going to take someone and the father sacrifices himself.

Yeah, really weird that the son who now looks like the father is a child in an adult's body, but I don't think we're suppose to really focus on that. The focus is on the father facing his demons and standing in to protect his son.

[–] castlerock20002000 13 years ago

Wasnt Carol Stevies aunt? She said she had a career and that next week she was getting married or something like that.
I just dont understand why would these "children" hate Charles so much as to bother him as an adult.

[–] dawatcher 12 years ago

I though it was some kind of morality tale about child abuse and neglect. The original story was a bit different with both carol and charles waving good bye leaving little steve alone in the park. The mind transfer thing just gave me the 'in his shoes' impression.

[–] farmmom23 7 years ago

The kid that imbd uses for the cover photo for "The Playground" looks very familiar, does anyone know who he is?