Trying to find out the title of a SF TV series

Question

When I was little I used to watch a nice SF series on TV. It was in the 90's, about 15 years ago. The format was similar to The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits but I don't really think it was the case. They were on TV too, but in a different period and on different channels.

I remember the plots of some episodes:

The first one was about a leader of a terrorist or paramilitary organization who captured some hostages. He then proceeds to play a game of chess with one of the hostages, using humans as pieces: military men vs hostages. Each time a piece was taken, that person was taken from there and killed. One of the moves involves the sacrifice of a boy who is revealed to be still alive at the end of the game, a game that the hostage manages to win. I clearly remember the military leader/terrorist telling him something like: "Ï am a terrorist, not a monster"

The second one was about an old and very rich lady. She's kept alive by her doctor with some new, revolutionary treatment, but she's reduced to being simply a head. He tries to convince him to let her die, but he's opposed to it because we was making a fortune from the old lady's insurance. I don't remember how, but in the end the woman dies and the doctor has an accident and finds himself stuck in the same situation of being reduced a head and unable to die.

The third one is foggy... it was about a weird ride at a carnival, a sort of ferris-wheel that made people younger or older. If I recall correctly, a thief was using it to change his age and get away with crimes, but he somehow gets stuck in the wheel and gets really old and dies.

Any help would be really appreciated. Another thing I remember was me really enjoying the show. It was well done and with some really nice effects, it didn't look cheap so I'd like to be able to watch it again.

[edit] It was definitely NOT The outer limits, the only episode here referencing "chess" is not like the one I saw.

Answer 1

It sounds like the series is probably Kurt Vonnegut's Monkey House. The Showtime series was based on Vonnegut works, mostly stories from the collection Welcome to the Monkey House. It was a short-lived series (just seven episodes) and obscure enough that it doesn't have a Wikipedia entry (and its IMDB one is rather skeletal). And it first aired in 1991, so the time-frame is plausible -- if you didn't catch the original run, you probably saw one of the re-re-repeats.

I couldn't find useful synopses for the series' episodes. But I found them for some of the short stories (and one play) that the epps are based on:

• As Dima pointed out, the chess episode sounds like "All the King's Horses". Wikipedia says about the original short story, "The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Communist guerrilla chief Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the white pieces. Any American pieces that Pi Ying captures will be executed immediately.... Eventually, [Kelly] realizes that his only chance to win involves sacrificing one of his knights, played by his sons."

• The unhappy heads are from "Fortitude". In the original play, "The story follows Dr. Elbert Little on a visit to Dr. Frankenstein's and his assistant Dr. Tom Swift's laboratory. Frankenstein's only patient and life work is Silvia Lovejoy, who after 70 some operations has been reduced to a head on a tripod, that is controlled by Frankenstein's machines." In the end, Frankenstein becomes a head attached to his own machines.

• I'm not sure which story the carnival episode is based on -- probably since it's been 25 or 30 years since I last read the book. Shame on me, because WttMH is an awesome book. I should re-read it. You should read it, too. Everybody should read it!

Answer 2

I also had a hard time finding the third one, it was an episode that stuck to my mind ever since I saw it for the first time, 25 years ago. When I read your post, I was glad I wasn't the only one to look for this story, and finally, I found it (and it's exactly like I remembered it, with that creepy shot at the end). It's the "Black Ferris" episode from "The Ray Bradbury Theater"

Here's a link

Answer 3

youtube Monkey House-All the kings Horses.