While there are a lot of great Stephen King TV shows, only one TNT anthology from 2006 can boast the bizarre achievement of bringing the author’s version of Toy Story to life onscreen. There are plenty of Stephen King books that were deemed unfilmable for a variety of reasons. Som are thought to be too explicit and gory, others are thought to be too trippy, and others are thought have both of these problems at the same time. Despite these misgivings, many of these books have still become great screen adaptations.
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For example, 1986’s doorstopper It is one of King’s most famously shocking novels, but the two-part movie adaptation and their HBO Max prequel IT: Welcome to Derry proved that this King story could make to the screen with its plot intact. Adapting King’s short stories can sometimes be even more challenging thanks to their brevity, but 2006’s TNT anthology show Nightmares & Dreamscapes turned King’s Toy Story predecessor “Battleground” into a compelling hour-long episode that recaptured the bleak black comedy of the source material.
2006’s TNT Anthology Nightmares & Dreamscapes Adapted Stephen King’s “Battleground”
First published in the magazine Cavalier, “Battleground” was later collected in King’s debut short story collection Night Shift. This was the same collection that included iconic King stories like “Jerusalem’s Lot,” “Strawberry Spring,” and the franchise-spawning “Children of the Corn,” but “Battleground” was one of its oddest stories. The plot follows a hitman who returns home from killing a toymaker to find a mysterious package from his victim’s mother.
The package contains toy soldiers who are not only alive but armed with functioning, albeit tiny, weapons and tanks. It isn’t long before the besieged assassin, outflanked by these tiny killers, ends up trapped in his bathroom and trying to outsmart the murderous soldiers. A darkly comedic fantasy caper, this surreal horror story ends with a twist that even the most seasoned Stephen King readers will have trouble predicting. In 2006, TNT’s anthology Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King saw The Muppet Christmas Carol director Brian Henson bring this nightmare to life on the small screen.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes Featured Some of King’s Most Underrated TV Adaptations
With a screenplay by Richard Christian Matheson, “Battleground” was the pilot episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Screen veteran William Hurt played the lead role in a self-contained story that reimagined the plot of Toy Story as a siege horror. Brimming with the same visual wit as Henson’s Muppet movies, “Battleground” also managed the impressive feat of feeling genuinely creepy at times. However, it wasn’t the only Nightmare and Dreamscapes episode worth watching.
Both episode 5, “The Road Virus Heads North,” and episode 7, “Autopsy Room Four,” are among the best small-screen adaptations of King’s work, and well worth seeking out. The former features a King villain that can rival It’s killer clown Pennywise, while the latter has one of the writer’s weirdest and most darkly audacious twist endings ever. However, for viewers who want to see the master of horror’s take on Toy Story, the first episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes is the anthology’s must-watch outing.
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