User Reviews

Steve "The Stunt Man" Railsback is the lead in Dead Run, a sober look at what's right and wrong and the morality of what is right and wrong in the eyes of Steve's character. Steve brings much intensity to his role.

If you are looking for a Twilight Zone episode where a middle aged man in a gray flanneled suit ponders the meaning of life at a merry-go- round, or a lost astronaut yelping "Where am I" (when he's only a couple of miles away from Vegas), then Dead Run isn't for you. It raises some theological issues that some Christians may find offensive, but it's a TV show.

I think Dead Run was one of the most intriguing episodes of the 80s Twilight Zone as it features a truck driver who winds up with a job shipping condemned souls to Hell, and feels some people have been unfairly judged and has to decide whether or not to keep the job. He winds up keeping it, releasing people he feels like were unfairly judged along the way. This is a good moral & religious one. I liked it. Keep an eye out for a pre-Star Trek Brent Spiner and John DeLancie and a pre-Friday the 13th John DeLemay in it!

*** out of ****

Not much to say about "Leprechaun-Artist". It's kind of remake of the original's "Man in a Bottle", but with a leprechaun instead of a genie, and three kids instead of a pawn shop owner. Since it's basically a kids' story, the kids don't suffer as much as the shop owner in "Man". But it's still basically "Be careful what you wish for".

It doesn't help that it was written by someone who apparently thinks "whimsy" is what you get when you eat too many radishes. I wonder who the episode was written for. It's kind of aimed at children, but the show is mostly aimed for adults. "Leprechaun-Artist" has a Stephen King/coming of age feel to it, but not really. All that does is rob it of any edge it might have.

"Dead Run" is probably the best first-season episode of the 80s show, and arguably one of the best of the series as a whole. For one thing, it looks like money was spent on it. The scene when Johnny and Pete bring souls into Hell, and the scope of the depot and the number of extras, is impressive. Many times the 80s TZ looked like it was filmed on video in someone's basement and backyard.

Also, "Dead Run" has a point, where a lot of the first season shows didn't. It's a pretty anvilicious point, "Religion is bad!", but still good. For another the acting is decent. I particularly like John de Lancie as the righteous Dispatcher. There are also brief parts for (at the time) Paramount mainstays Brent Spiner and John LeMay. Unfortunately, LeMay gets the most anvilicious line of dialogue of the episode, "They wouldn't send me to Hell just for being gay." I appreciate the sentiments but not the subtlety or lack thereof.

If there's a flaw, it's in the character of Johnny. Steve Railsback is okay, but we don't know enough about the character to know why his taking up the Christ-like role of "harrowing Hell" is such a big change for him. The opening sequence where he almost runs down a group of bikers doesn't make him out to be so desperately in need of redemption. It's a case of show not tell, and we're not shown enough of Johnny's past to understand why he's needs redemption.

"Dead Run" suffers from the half-hour run time. Most of it is filled with setting up the concept. Hell is more of a toxic waste dump than a place of punishment, Hell is having disturbances, the Dispatcher is a righteous dick, "The Boss" is MIA, and Steve has to start freeing the non-sinners. A lot of this is told to Johnny, which means there's a _lot_ of exposition. By mainstay Barry Corbin, by the Dispatcher (played by John de Lancie in probably his finest role: the Dispatcher makes Q seem like a piker), and by a Hell guard or two.

This pretty much works out for the best, as it's one of the few 80s TZ episodes that I'd like to see more of. The Dispatcher makes some veiled threats against Johnny if he doesn't play ball. Do those play out down the road when the Dispatcher finds out what Johnny has been doing? Where is the Boss? How did the Dispatcher come to power? And some scenes showing that Johnny used to be a real jerk: either those were cut for time or just never written.

Also Johnny's method of "harrowing Hell" seems a little sloppy. He has a truck full of 30 people, talks to 6, determines 4 who deserve the High Road, and ignores the other 24. He's got a ratio of 2 out of 3 people who are unjustly condemned: what about 16 of those other 24? I guess they're off to Hell.

Sadly, "Dead Run" is paired with "Leprechaun-Artist", so you can't rate them separately. I'd give DR a 9, and LA a 6.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Dead wrong. :) What do you think?

In one of those familiar 80s Spielbergian neighborhoods, three youths (Joey Green (Steve Miner's House), Bradley Gregg (Class of 1999) and Danny Nucci (James Cameron's Titanic)) actually hear a humming Leprechaun (on vacation, no less), deciding to descend upon him, carrying the little man back to their treehouse. Shawn McGool (Cork Hubber) gives up after repeated attempts to escape and offers the three a wish each. Nucci wants X-ray vision. Green wants the trio's parents to obey their every command. Gregg wants a fancy, fast car with their own driver (who has a mind of his own). We watch as each wish produces disastrous results. Thankfully, McGool is a reasonable Leprechaun and will have mercy on these teenagers who have to learn a hard lesson that every wish comes with its share of consequences. Light, unremarkable fluff; a harmless diversion with some clever moments deriving from how wishing for your own personal gratification can bring less-than-satisfying results. I think this episode of Twilight Zone might tap into the nostalgia of my generation as the neighborhood presented here resembles many of our own. And certainly a lot of us kids would've wished for some of the same things as the three do here. Hubber is good fun here as the burdened Leprechaun who just wants to have a vacation in peace, tolerating the three teenagers because he admittedly likes them. 5/10

"Dead Run" is quite a yarn. It stars Steve Railsback (I'm a big fan of this guy) as an out-of-work trucker just too impatient for his own good, always reckless in trying to pass cars around curves, with no insurance company at that point willing to cover him. He appeals to his father's old buddy, played by Northern Exposure's Barry Corbin, for help because he is reputed to get truckers jobs when it seems impossible. Well, Corbin has a job for him, but it is unlike any cargo he's ever carried anywhere: the dead to hell! Quite a bombastic premise with a hell of a cast (yeah, couldn't resist). John de Lancie (Q of Star Trek: The Next Generation) as the "high level" Manager in Charge, determining who "goes to the high road or the low road", has a chat with Railsback when he encounters a member of hell and is bothered by the fact that he really wasn't a bad fellow at all. Look carefully for Brent Spiner (Data of Star Trek: The Next Generation), his face half-hidden, as a member of the low road, not understanding why. This is an episode that questions the idea behind many facets of Christianity where there's a separation of people according to spiritual belief and their actions when alive. In "Dead Run", Railsback is deeply concerned about those sent to low road, believing that certain among them have no reason to be going there. At the end he stops the truck and questions each person (the dead being trucked to their destination) on why they were on the trip to the low road, deciding to let some of them go to the high road, determining that if Jesus went to hell to rescue souls why shouldn't he. It is quite a premise to absorb, that's for sure. Railsback offers such empathy for those on their way to the low road which makes him a potential hero as he drives the truck to and fro but the story ends recognizing that doing what he does could endanger him eventually…that's left open-ended. Corbin is the no-nonsense trucker who abides by the rules and is beholden to de Lancie. The grunts that whip the dead into order are a gruff and growly sort that not willing to tolerate disruption. Unique half hour of television with quite a spin on the afterlife. Many will recognize John De Lemay from Friday the 13th: The Series as the gay man set free by Railsback for the high road. 6/10

A great premise ruined by thinly-veiled Lib propaganda. What started off as a fun idea of truck-drivers that transport sinners to Hell turns into a preachy, dumb moral tale with very obvious left-wing influences.

The real moral of the story is this: never let political activists write a script about Heaven and Hell, because they will always politicize things, ruining a potentially entertaining story with the usual nonsense. They can't help it, they are wired that way. Wired to propagate their nonsense, just as Jehovah Witnesses are wired to recruit new people. The irony...

A very stupid aspect of the script (not related to politics) is that the protagonist actually BELIEVES the sinners when he asks them one by one what they'd done to deserve Hell. Why trust their answers? Besides, most immoral people are too dumb to know they're immoral, hence if you ask them point blank "what evil deeds did you do" they'll honestly tell you they did nothing wrong.

In intelligent, apolitical hands this premise could have been turned into a good movie.

"Leprechaun":

5/10

All 3 wish stories are ruined by the same ultra-predictable shtick: always a catch hence the wishes never get fulfilled. Some decent moments, and a fun performance by the little actor.