MovieChat Forums > Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1997) Discussion > Episode themes...interesting thought

Episode themes...interesting thought

posted 12 years ago by sinatra_219
4 replies | jump to latest

Well, we all know that Friday the 13th, Evil, Animals, and Disasters were the so-called theme shows of this series, all being mentioned by Frakes in the beginning of the episode. But a closer look at this series would show you that many episodes of the show had an overriding theme that they did not mention. To wit...

Ep 13--Avenging wrongs.

Ep 14—Stories featured on "Unsolved Mysteries"

Ep 19--Spirits saving people from danger.

Ep 21--Happy accidents.

Ep 24--Dreams.

Eps 27 and 32--Bad people getting their comeuppance.

Ep 28--Haunted by the dead.

Ep 33--Bad guys who did something good for somebody.

Ep 34--Ghosts.

Ep 38—Turning a tragedy into something positive.

Ep 40—Objects with supernatural powers.

Ep 41—Psychic abilities and premonitions.

(Episode numbers taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Beyond_Belief:_Fact_or_Fiction_episodes )

I think it is a very interesting facet of this interesting show that the writers decided to reveal the themes for a select few episodes but leave it to the viewers to figure out that there were a lot more.

Did anybody else ever notice this? If so, am I missing any?

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 12 years ago

Wow. In my 16 years of loving this show, I must admit that that's one analysis I never made. I still tend to think that it's mostly coincidence, because for most of those it's two or three segments out of the five that fit the theme--as opposed to all five for the four "themed" episodes. There are some definite similarities among grouped-together stories, which you pointed out very nicely...perhaps those segments were deliberately included in the same episodes because of those relationships, or because they were all made around the same time and the writers and researchers sometimes got "stuck" on a certain theme or element. xD

[–] gulmatan 11 years ago

I must say thanks for such attention to detail as well as some extensive and devoted watching the show. Your efforts are very appreciated!

[–] gulmatan 11 years ago

Another theme-based episode was 'Mysterious Animals'--which also featured the theme of child stars.

For instance, in the segment, 'Deer Hunters' was Johnny Whitaker (Jody from
'Family Affair')
and
in the segment, 'The Card Game,' were Tony Dow ('Leave It To Beaver'), Brandon Cruz ('The Courtship of Eddie's Father'), Charles Diekrop ('My Three Sons') and Paul Peterson ('The Donna Reed Show').

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 11 years ago

^ GOOD observation there!! I only picked up on Tony Dow, which I thought was neat but didn't constitute a secondary theme by himself. Wow, that's cool. :D

Saluki mom