Gather Ye Acorns

A hairy little troll (looks and sounds like a leprechaun with the Irish accent) gives a young boy ("Jono") some bad advice....and advice you often hear in the movies: listen to your heart. No, that is bad advice because the heart is deceitful. Anyway, he tells the kid to forget about studying to be a doctor and that hard work is not a virtue. "There's doctors aplenty is this world," he says, What we could truly do with is a few more dreamers."

Wow, there's sound advice. He claims several times "I am Mother Nature's only son." Actually, writer-director-producer Steven Spielberg, who was responsible for this TV series, actually believes that nonsense (except I would guess he worked pretty hard to get to where he is).

We switch from 1932 to 1938 and now it's Mark Hamill of "Star Wars" fame playing Jono. He winds up spending all his hard-earned money on car. His dad is a little peeved, to say the least, and boots him out of the house.

Years go by and our boys is now a white-bearded almost-homeless bum, a man who has barely survived to ready to kill himself by driving his car - if he can get gas money - over the Hoover Dam.

The story has a happy ending, of course, but a message that doesn't lead to a happy life. (They don't detail the man's 50 years of poverty with no family and friends). An interesting story, nonetheless with a guest appearance by an "unknown" at the time: Forest Whitaker!

This "Amazing Stories" episode from season one called "Gather Ye Acorns" is one entertaining and sentimental one that proves it's okay to get attached to material things and be a collector. The episode kind of reminds a little bit of me as I'm a collector of comic books, toys, movies, and other items as I like the value and memories they bring! Starring Mark Hamill("Luke Skywalker" from "Star Wars")as a young boy who's a dreamer growing up in the 1930's who's life is listening to his favorite series on the radio and reading comic books, yet his tough loving mom and dad want him to study medicine and become a doctor which will take a lot of work.

Now enter the appearance of a troll one day and he tells the Hamill character to take the route he's on by being a collector and never throw anything away as material possessions are most important! This doesn't sit well with mom and dad and soon the Mark character is a pack rat and he's off to live with it like a moving junkyard, and doubt starts to set in is this life of worth and value? Then enter some people who notice his items of value as now his collection of comic books, toys, and antiques sell for big money, proving that these treasures bring more than sentimental and memory value as they are worth a fortune! It proves that junk is someone else's treasure! Overall good sentimental tale that proves being a collector pays off in the end not only memory and sentimental wise, but value wise as the old items are worth a fortune!

This is an okay episode of "Amazing Stories"--more of interest for who's in it than the subject matter itself.

Mark Hamill stars as Jonathan, a real dreamer. When he is little, a tree troll (David Rappaport) comes to him and encourages him NOT to listen to his parents about going to medical school but to be lazy and collect trinkets. The boy does so and eventually grows into someone his parents cannot stand and his life sucks. Eventually, however, there is a happy ending--though you also wonder if he'd really have been much happier if he hadn't listened to the little twerp.

The episode is unusual but its moral vague and confusing. But seeing Hamill, Royal Dano and a young Forest Whitaker make it of some interest.

By the way, only a few years after this show, Rappaport committed suicide. A sad end for this ubiquitous actor from the 80s.

Marc Hamill (Luke Skywalker) disappoints his parent. They have high expectations for him and for a while he does a good job. Then he takes his savings and buys a fancy car. From there on, it is downhill. He loses his family, He loses any ambition he did have. He becomes a sort of hermit with long white hair. All this comes about because one day while lying in his front yard, he is approached by what I guess is a troll and talked into being a dreamer rather than a doer. That's about it. Life passes him by. The one word of advice that he gets is not to let his mother throw away anything that he loves from his room. This is a slipshod, formula with a deus ex machina ending. I guess for some it is entertaining. For me, it is silly and to pat to really grab one's emotions. The message is that most of the world and its rules are worthless. Don't work. Don't contribute. And everything will work out.