Battleground (short story)

Last updated
"Battleground"
Short story by Stephen King
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Action, Fantasy, short story
Publication
Published in Night Shift
Publisher Doubleday
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Publication date 1972

"Battleground" is a fantasy short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in the September 1972 issue of Cavalier magazine, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift .

Contents

Plot summary

Renshaw is a professional hit-man, who returns from his assassination of a toy-maker to find a package delivered to his penthouse apartment in the Bay Area. The package contains a G.I. Joe Vietnam footlocker, sent to him by the mother of the toy-maker he had recently killed. When he opens the package, he finds that the toy soldiers are alive with working copies (albeit miniature) of weapons, jeeps, and helicopters. To Renshaw's surprise, the tiny soldiers begin to attack him. Despite his training and experience as a hitman, Renshaw finds himself outnumbered and outgunned, and he cedes control of the living room to the toy soldiers, taking cover in the bathroom. As the soldiers establish a base camp on his dining table, they unveil more and more military hardware, ranging from shoulder-launched rockets to military attack helicopters. The soldiers pass a piece of paper under the door, demanding his surrender, but Renshaw writes "NUTS" on the paper and sends it back, prompting a barrage of rocket fire which destroys most of the door.

Renshaw eventually plots to destroy the soldiers with a Molotov cocktail constructed from a bottle of lighter fluid, but before the cocktail detonates, a massive blast destroys the entire apartment. Outside in a park below, a couple finds Renshaw's bloody shirt, and the other contents of the footlocker are revealed, including one made-to-scale thermonuclear weapon.

Film and TV adaptations

"Battleground" was converted to a teleplay by Richard Christian Matheson for the television series Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Originally airing on Wednesday July 12, 2006, the episode was directed by Brian Henson and starred William Hurt as Renshaw the assassin. There is no dialogue in the entire episode. [1]

The episode featured a longer ending than the short story, in which Renshaw is attacked again and makes it out of the penthouse for a final showdown in the elevator shaft with an angry plastic commando (played by an uncredited Bill Barretta). Renshaw defeats the final commando, only to find it has armed a thermonuclear weapon that then explodes and kills him.[ non-primary source needed ]

The story was also made into an animated short film, Srazhenie (Russian : Сражение - meaning "Battle"; see External Links below) by the Soviet Kievnauchfilm studio in 1986, directed by Mikhail Titov.[ non-primary source needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Umneys Last Case</i> Short story by Stephen King

Umney's Last Case is a short story by American author Stephen King, first published in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993). In July 1995, it was published as a separate paperback as part of Penguin's 60th anniversary.

<i>Nightmares & Dreamscapes</i> Short story collection by Stephen King

Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a short story collection by American author Stephen King, published in 1993.

<i>Night Shift</i> (short story collection) Book by Stephen King

Night Shift is Stephen King's first collection of short stories, first published in 1978. In 1980, Night Shift won the Balrog Award for Best Collection, and in 1979 it was nominated as best collection for the Locus Award and the World Fantasy Award.

<i>Small Soldiers</i> 1998 film by Joe Dante

Small Soldiers is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Joe Dante. It stars Kirsten Dunst and Gregory Smith, along with the voices of Frank Langella and Tommy Lee Jones. It depicts two factions of toys which turn sentient after mistakenly being installed with a military microprocessor, in turn putting two families in danger when one faction turns lethal.

"The End of the Whole Mess" is a short science fiction story by American writer Stephen King, first published in Omni Magazine in 1986. It was collected in King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes in 1993 and in Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse in 2008. The story is written in the form of a personal journal, and tells the story of an attempt to cure humanity's aggressive tendencies.

"The Night Flier" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, first published in the 1988 anthology Prime Evil: New Stories by the Masters of Modern Horror, and then in King's own 1993 Nightmares & Dreamscapes collection.

"Crouch End" is a horror story by Stephen King, set in the real-life North London district of Crouch End, originally published in New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1980), and republished in a slightly different version in King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes collection (1993). It contains distinct references to the horror fiction of H. P. Lovecraft.

A battleground is the site of a battle.

"Autopsy Room Four" is a short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published in King's limited-edition collection Six Stories in 1997 and appeared in the anthology Robert Bloch's Psychos later the same year. In 2002, it was collected in King's collection Everything's Eventual. It was adapted into a short film in 2003. It was also part of TNT's Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King series in the summer of 2006.

"You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" is a 1992 horror short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published January 1992 in the horror anthology Shock Rock and later included in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It concerns a young couple on a road trip in Oregon when they accidentally wander into a small town inhabited by dead rock and roll legends.

Richard Christian Matheson is an American writer of horror fiction and screenplays, the son of fiction writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson. He is the author of over 100 short stories of psychological horror and magic realism which are gathered in over 150 major anthologies and in his critically hailed hardcover short story collections Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks, Amazon #1 bestseller Dystopia, and Zoopraxis. He is the author of the suspense novel Created By. He also authored a magical realism novella set in Hollywood titled The Ritual of Illusion, and was the editor of the commemorative book Stephen King's Battleground. Matheson also adapted the short story which was made into an iconic episode of the TNT series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King and won two Emmys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army men</span> Plastic toy soldiers

Army men, or plastic soldiers, are toy soldiers that are about 5 cm (2.0 in) tall and most commonly molded from low-density polyethylene plastic, which makes them durable and flexible. Unlike the more expensive toy soldiers available in hobby shops, army men are sold at low prices in discount stores and supermarkets. Army men are traditionally solid green or tan and almost always dressed in modern military uniforms and armed with 20th-century weapons. 'Jumbo' army men are a less common secondary scale with 4.75-inch (12.1 cm) soldiers made by the same process.

"Popsy" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King, included in his short story compilation Nightmares & Dreamscapes, published in 1993.

"Home Delivery" is a short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published in the zombie anthology Book of the Dead (1989) and later included in King's short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993).

"Dedication" is a short story by Stephen King first published as part of the 1988 short story anthology Dark Visions and reprinted in King's 1993 short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.

"The Moving Finger" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published in December 1990 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and three years later in 1993 was included in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.

"Sorry, Right Number" is a teleplay written by author Stephen King for an episode of the horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside. It is the ninth episode of the fourth season. It was later included in King's 1993 short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes, and is the only such work that King has included in any of his anthologies. It appears in script format, and begins with an authors' guide for screenplays and abbreviations.

"The Fifth Quarter" is a short story by American author Stephen King, originally published in the April 1972 issue of Cavalier and later collected in King's 1993 collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It was filmed as an episode of the TNT miniseries Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.

<i>Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King</i> 2006 American anthology television series

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King is an American horror anthology television series that aired on TNT, based on short stories written by American author Stephen King. It debuted on July 12, 2006, and ended its run on August 2, 2006. Although most of the stories are from the book collection of the same title, some are from different collections by King. A trailer confirming a DVD edition of the series was released in October 2006. The series was filmed entirely in Melbourne, Australia.

Food Fighters was an action figure line released by Mattel in 1988. Proverbial for the concept of a food fight, the figures were all different types of anthropomorphic food dressed in military gear. Food Fighters consisted of ten figures, three vehicles, and an unproduced playset. The characters were divided into two armies: the protagonist Kitchen Commandos and the antagonist Refrigerator Rejects. Each figure was made of soft, rotocasted vinyl similar to a squeaky toy with hard plastic limbs. Each figure included a small hand weapon and removable backpack, resembling accessories from Hasbro's G.I. Joe line. The tagline on the figure' packaging read, "Combat At Its Kookiest!"

References

  1. Eisenberg, Eric (July 15, 2022). "Adapting Stephen King's Battleground: The 2006 Nightmares & Dreamscapes Premiere Is Like Toy Story With A Horror Twist". CinemaBlend . Retrieved November 2, 2024.