A couple of years ago, inspired by The Twilight Zone, I had an idea for a short story illustrating the perils of failing to look before you leap. An irascible, introverted author is constantly interrupted by a nagging wife, noisy children, and friends who ring while he's trying to write. A genie appears and offers to fix it so he can be alone with his thoughts. He agrees, and next day wakes up not in bed but with his decapitated head kept alive by wires and tubes in a fish tank. AAARGH!
So I was naturally intrigued to discover the idea had long since been brought to fruition. Terminally ill William consents to have his brain surgically removed, intending to carry on tyrannising his long suffering wife. As the one other reviewer says, it has a good cast and is well acted. However it does rather fail to milk the obvious horror of the situation. I hate to be a plot hole pedant but would any sane person volunteer for such a hellish, inhuman existence, even if the only alternative is death? Even the dimmest bulb would realise his wife would henceforth have the upper hand. One naturally hesitates to try and improve on Dahl but it could have been better.
So I was naturally intrigued to discover the idea had long since been brought to fruition. Terminally ill William consents to have his brain surgically removed, intending to carry on tyrannising his long suffering wife. As the one other reviewer says, it has a good cast and is well acted. However it does rather fail to milk the obvious horror of the situation. I hate to be a plot hole pedant but would any sane person volunteer for such a hellish, inhuman existence, even if the only alternative is death? Even the dimmest bulb would realise his wife would henceforth have the upper hand. One naturally hesitates to try and improve on Dahl but it could have been better.