Tales of Tomorrow (TV Series) World of Water (1952) User Reviews

A neat idea but there really isn't any sort of ending....how odd!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 October 2012]

Victor Jory plays a mad scientist who spends his time stuck in his room working on his experiments. He hardly ever leaves the place and is fixated on not just his latest project but a woman who obviously dislikes him but uses him. When she rejects him and his niece is killed, the doctor's mind snaps. Now this is a SERIOUS problem, as he's apparently been working on an insanely dangerous project--a solution that liquefies everything it touches! Now if this isn't bad enough, he's decided that mankind is terrible and is going to unleash his horrible experiment--unless they give into his demand for extortion.

This is a pretty neat idea and the show really had my attention. HOWEVER, it also ended right after Jory delivered his ultimatum! There was absolutely no resolution nor hint of one! This took a great idea and left it rather flat at the end--and the show, while still worth seeing, ended in disappointment.

"He was nutty, nutty as a fruitcake!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 17 April 2023]

The plot for this story was kind of interesting, but arguably dumb at the same time. What scientist, no matter how brilliant, would want to invent a chemical compound that would turn anything it touches into water? Victory Jory, no stranger to villainous roles in movies from the Thirties through the Fifties, is cast here as deranged chemist Franz Kramer. He's pushed further along the path to insanity by much younger neighbor Nicki Farrell (Nita Talbot), who only cares that he arranges for cushy theater tickets and other baubles that would make her happy. When she calls him an ape and declares there's no way she would ever marry him, Kramer goes totally off the rails and pulls out all the stops to his mad scheme. It didn't help that his only niece, working at a research facility, was killed in an atomic blast! At the same time, he's being hunted by government agents who initially wanted to hire him for his brilliant lab work. I had to laugh when department boss Lane (Mel Ruick) reviewed a map with Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, and Baltimore slowly disappearing under water, and stating to his agent Nelson (Logan Field) how they could locate Kramer if they only had a lead! Why not follow the pattern of flooded cities? Therein lies yet another problem with the program's story line - how would Kramer have been able to travel all along the East Coast planting his capsules of solvent in the space of what felt like a single day the government guys were agonizing over him? And then, just like that, the story's over! Talk about an unsatisfying conclusion to a story that in the end, just didn't hold water.

Extremely Disappointing!

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 7 August 2013]

The premise is interesting, but the writer paints himself into a corner. I double checked at the conclusion to see if I had inadvertently fast forwarded through the ending. This is the story of an unbalanced scientist who develops a way to turn all hard matter into water. Why he would want to do this is itself at question. Maybe because it is there or some other justification. Anyway, he is sugar daddy to some buxom little flirt who is just using him. He, for all his brilliance, can't see past the end of his nose. When she rejects him and his equally brilliant, nuclear physicist daughter dies, he goes bananas. There is a tussle in Washington as to what to do with the guy. They had the opportunity, at the very least, of hogtying him, but that doesn't come to pass, and he is sent out to reek havoc on the world. The problem with this is that he holds all the cards and the opposition are a pack of thumb twiddlers. A very strange episode to say the least.

Great story! If TV of today was like this, I'd watch more of it.

[rightonbro-39414 · 8/10 · 9 March 2015]

I'm working my way through "Tales of Tomorrow," and this is the best episode I've seen so far. The mad scientist is brilliant, but flawed, and this becomes the basis for an interesting science-fiction plot. For a 25-minute episode, you get what you need to understand each characters' motivations. Dr. Kramer is a tragic figure, comparable to Darth Vader or Citizen Kane. Like most of the episodes in this series, the finale leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next. Will some hero swoop in to save the day? Will the female love interest cause him to have a change of heart? Or will the entire world be submerged in water? Granted, it's not as good as the better "Twilight Zone" episodes, but it does leave you wondering if this story may have inspired the 1995 movie, "Water World."