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"The Lathe of Heaven" tells the story of George Orr, a young man who has "effective dreams," which means that his dreams appear to influence events and they do so in some very unpleasant ways. When a therapist, Dr. William Haber, works with him and discovers the truth of Orr's dreams, those "unpleasant ways" are pretty dramatic, including the creation of a plague that devastates the planet's population. Haber decides to take advantage of Orr's apparent powers and tries to direct his dreaming to create conditions for the betterment of the human race; the doctor even builds a machine that will allow him to do the effective dreaming himself. The two have heated debates about the doctor's attempts to fix everything he thinks is wrong with the world.

George: "Don't you see, those things are not problems. They don't have answers you can find in your arithmetic book....Your attempt to use my dreams to make the world a better place will destroy it....

Haber: "Isn't that the purpose of man on earth? To act? To change things?"

It's a good argument. Haber is not an evil genius out to enslave humanity and give himself riches. He's trying to help people avoid the misery of overpopulation and warfare. But to George, who has had to deal with this dreams and their effects ever since he was a teenager and his dreams killed his aunt, the issue is one left alone. He wants to stop dreaming, not perfect his dreams. And, as you would expect from any self-respecting film that deals with dreams, the very issue of reality is at issue, as when George asks Haber, "What if I'm not the only one who can dream effectively. What if everyone could do it and reality was being pulled out from under us all the time and we didn't even know it?"

To catch the significance of that last statement, you'll want to watch closely from the opening scene of Orr crawling through a destroyed city to the two lead characters' confrontation and its aftermath at the end. But paying attention pays off with this film. (WNET, the public television station in New York that produced the film back in 1980, will also be distributing a new interview of Ursula Le Guin by Bill Moyers, so maybe she'll clear up any questions you still have.)

WNET claims that "Lathe" is the most requested program in the history of the public television archives. Its fame extends to some unlikely places; Barzyk recalls getting a request from the office of Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame for a tape of the film. It was not clear that it would last so long when it was first broadcast. The director says the critical reaction "was muted, but it was respectable," and the ratings were merely decent. But it scored with younger audiences. "It stuck in the minds of those who were between 12 and 20," Barzyk says, and now that those viewers are older, they are behind the requests for the revival.

The film has some great talent behind it. George Orr was played by Bruce Davison, who went on to star in "The Crucible, "Six Degrees of Separation," and "Longtime Companion" (and who has a role in the upcoming "X-Men" film). William Haber was played by Kevin Conway, whose credits include "Looking for Richard," "The Quick and the Dead," and "Elephant Man." Margaret Avery, who plays George's lawyer and eventual lover, was nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award for "The Color Purple." On the production side, after abandoning an early script that Barzyk says was too expensive to film, they turned to Diane English to script the project. She, of course, went on to produce the long-running "Murphy Brown" series for CBS.

It takes a lot of talent to overcome a constrictive budget, even though they had more money to play with than the typical PBS production at the time. Shooting on location in Texas, the production got a lot of help from the state film commission to use the local modern office buildings to represent a near-future city. But when the end called for something special, Barzyk says it was "pure luck" that they ran across a Texas company that was working with lasers and was willing to let the "Lathe" crew use their equipment. There, the actors ad libbed their way through an up-tempo climax, which the director says "was pretty effective at illustrating what was going on."

Barzyk, who began in the industry in 1948 at Boston's WGBH, has worked in public and commercial television for more than five decades, most recently completing what will be the first high-definition drama for PBS. Sadly, his partner in directing and producing, David Loxton, died in 1989, and Barzyk says his promotion of the re-release of "The Lathe of Heaven" is meant as a tribute to Loxton. "This is for David Loxton, who deserves to have his name live on."

In other news and views

"X-Files" star David Duchovny tells Ian Spelling on the Fangoria Web site what's the real point of doing another "X" season: "At this point...it's just about money. Anybody who tells you that creatively there is anything left to do on the show....The only creative thing left to do is the sheer high-wire act of 'How can I keep on making this?' That's really all. You can't really say that there's more to do. All you can say is, 'Wow, I can't believe you keep on doing it and it's still good.' And it is. But, creatively, that's a weird response."

This week's episodes

All times Eastern. Syndicated episodes are sometimes shown in different weeks in different locations, so your local broadcast may, naturally, differ.

Angel
WB, 9 p.m. Tuesdays; David Boreanaz, Seth Green, and Charisma Carpenter
May 16: In "Blind Date," Angel comes across a blind woman who can foresee attacks and can protect herself from being suspected of her crimes.
May 23: In "To Shanshu in L.A.," Angel and his buds try to figure out the meaning of a scroll taken from the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
WB, 8 p.m. Tuesdays; Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Kristine Sutherland, and Anthony Stewart Head; official site
May 16: In "Primeval," Buffy takes on Adam BOOM, the Initiative takes on demon prisoners POW, and Buffy's backup crew fights their fears BANG, before Sunnydale goes POOF!
May 23: In "Restless," Buffy and her friends are stalked by some bestial force that attacks in their dreams.

Cleopatra 2525
Syndicated; Gina Torres, Victoria Pratt, Jennifer Sky, Patrick Kake, Danielle Cormack, Joel Tobeck
Week of May 16: In "Hel and Highwater," Sarge's life is saved by a Bailey.
Week of May 23: "Home:
Week of May 30: "Rescue"

Earth: Final Conflict
Syndicated, Lisa Howard, Leni Parker, Von Flores, David Hemblen, Robert Leeshock, Richard Chevolleau, Anita LaSelva, Jayne Heitmeyer, Peter Krantz, Barna Moricz, Lindy Booth, Sten Eirik; official site
Week of May 16: In the season finale, "Arrival," Lili Marquette (Lisa Howard) comes back to Earth. And a Taelon shuttle is discovered by East European soldiers. Third season finale.
Week of May 23: In "Once and Future World," Renee and Liam look into some Taelon artifacts that were discovered by a smuggler.

Farscape
Sci-Fi, 8 p.m. Fridays; Ben Browder, Lani John Tupu, and Virginia Hey; official site
May 19: In "Till the Blood Runs Clear," Blood Trackers sideline Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo on a planet.
May 26: Preempted by movie, "No Escape"

First Wave
Sci-Fi, 7 p.m. Sundays; Sebastian Spence and Roger Cross; official site
May 21: In "Susperience," a seer's death makes Cade look into psychics who are working on reality-altering powers.
May 28: Preempted

Futurama
Fox, 7:00 p.m. Sundays; Billy West, Lauren Tom, John Di Maggio, and Katey Sagal; official site
May 21: In the season finale, "Anthology of Interest 1," there's a bumper-crop of voice cameos: Vice President Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, and Nichelle Nichols. Bender, Fry, and Leela get a taste of the Professor's "What If" machine.

Lexx
Sci-Fi, 10 p.m.; Xenia Seeberg.
May 19: In "Love Grows," Lexx accidentally swallows a spaceship of cowboys.
May 26: Preempted by movie, "The Amityville Horror"

Nova
PBS, various times Tuesday evenings; official site
May 16: The title--"Little Creatures Who Run the World"--is misleading. This story isn't about those pixies and elves you imagine are really turning the levers of power in your life. No, that's something your health insurance should help you get worked out with a trained therapist. This "Nova" episode looks at ants and termites.
May 23: In "Siamese Twins," the separation of conjoined twins is detailed.

Now and Again
CBS, 9 p.m., Friday
May 19: Preempted by--and I wish to high heaven this wasn't so--a "Dukes of Hazzard" special.

Outer Limits
Showtime, 11:30 p.m. Fridays;
May 19: In "The Beholder," he once was blind, but now can see--an alien woman not visible to anyone else.
May 26: "Seeds of Destruction"

Roswell
WB, 9:00 p.m. Mondays; Jason Behr, Shiri Appleby, Brendan Fehr, and Katherine Heigl
May 22: TBA

Seven Days
UPN, 8 p.m. Wednesdays; Jonathan LaPaglia, Don Franklin; official site
May 17: In "Playmates and Presidents," while trying to save a popular presidential candidate, Parker learns the unpleasant truth behind the politician's plans.
May 24: In "The Cure," a scientist is targeted by a time traveler from the future, where humanity's been devastated by the scientist's medical research.

Stargate SG-1
Showtime, 10 p.m. Fridays; official site
May 19: In "A Hundred Days," O'Neill is stranded on a planet after a freak accident.
May 26: In "Shades of Grey," O'Neill's diplomatic mistake endangers Earth's relations with its allies. This is why Bismarck kept diplomatic control all to himself.

Star Trek: Voyager
UPN, 9 p.m. Wednesdays; Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Jeri Ryan, and Garrett Wang. official site
May 17: In "The Haunting of Deck 12," Neelix tries to entertain the brats on Voyager when there's a nebula blackout--what's a nebula blackout and why it would matter on a ship, one doesn't know; just let yourself get caught up in the scientific bankruptcy of the show's writers and enjoy the story--by telling them a ghost story. "Neelix, I see dead people."
May 24: The Borg Queen, played by Susanna Thompson, returns in "Unimatrix Zero," the season finale. In it, Janeway discovers a weakness in the Borgs that she's determined to use against them.

Xena: Warrior Princess
Syndicated, Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, Bruce Campbell, official site
Week of May 16: In "Motherhood" (season finale), Xena battles the Gods; meanwhile, Eve and Gabrielle have their own fights to wage.
Week of May 30: "Lyre, Lyre Hearts on Fire" (Repeat)

The X-Files
Fox, 9 p.m. Sundays; David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi; official site
May 21: In "Requiem," the end is near. Scully and Mulder return to the case they confronted in their first case together, in the series premiere seven years ago. Elsewhere, the Cigarette Smoking Man brings in Alex Krycek and Marita Covarrubias.

"Come on! You call yourselves chumps?"
—Bender, "Mother's Day" episode of "Futurama"

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This page last updated 18-May-00 12:12 am