Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Thoughts on The Twilight Zone [SPOILERS]

Over in the fdk thread for Lynn's Twilight Zone X, a small dicussion had begun about the show itself.

I didn't want to hijack your fdk thread any further, Lynn, but have to add in my thoughts on TZ. Many of its stories - like To Serve Man - have become touchstones of the group psyche, much like Star Trek and Star Wars references have done.

Many shows have tried to emulate it over the years, but it's never really been beaten IMO for its thought-provoking plots and twists in the tale.
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One of my own, personal favourites was Eye of the Beholder:

At the end of the show as the bandages are removed, the hospital staff gasp in horror, the young woman looks into a mirror and reacts similiarly. We see a beautiful young woman. Then the camera pans back and we see the hospital staff for the first time...all with pig-like faces.

I'd definitely add to Lynn's recommendation, Michael.

LabRat

Hi LabRat,

That was an outstanding episode, and it was also one I had actually considered citing in my earlier post. I had also considered mentioning the "cornfield" episode; although that episode was nowhere near as thought-provoking as the others, it was also one of the ones that really sticks with you long after you have turned off the TV.

Joy,
Lynn

LabRat and Lynn, those are two of my favorites! Along with the one with Burgess Merith (excuse my spelling).

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He loves to read but is constantly interrupted. A nuclear bomb goes off while he's reading during his lunch hour in the vault of the bank where he works. When he comes out, everything has been destroyed. He searches the wreckage. Finally he comes across the equivalent of the New York public library where tons of books are undamaged. He's in heaven! He rearranges the books in the order that he wants to read them. He sits down to enjoy them and...his glasses break.

Joan

The cornfield one was very creepy in an understated way. That episode was redone in the 80s Twilight Zone show, I believe. There was a 'sequel' to it in 2001 (?) starring the original actor (Bill Mumy of Lost In Space). Anthony had grown up and had a child of his own. Bill Mumy's real daughter played her.

Joan

Joan, I loved the glasses episode, too, although I tend to over-analyze it by wondering what was to stop him from simply going to an optometrist's office and finding a pair of glasses that at least approximated his prescription.

Don't forget the Bill Mumy was also in Babylon 5. To judge by the number of science fiction shows he has been in, I am guessing he must be a fan of the genre. His roles are all so different that its not a matter of his being typecast.

Joy,
Lynn

Joan, I remember that one with the book. That was the thing with this show it stuck with you, which wasn't always a good thing.

For a while I was really into Alfred Hitchcock, so I started watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents... which is also very similar to TZ, in that both of them could freak you out so you couldn't sleep at night. I have a memory of an episode about a woman in a mirror, dealing with twins... I wish I could remember it fully (but I'm still half asleep), but I can't remember if it was AHP or TZ.

I saw the TZ movie and that one scene on the plane with John Lithgow (because I did a lot of flying for a kid) always got to me. Later on, I saw the original from the show which starred William Shatner.

That's right! I love Babylon 5. Although it's hard to recognize him under all the makeup. Babylon 5 also had Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek)as the evil head of the Psi Corp.

I think Bill Mumy was involved with the Nickelodian show "Space Cases" though more from the behind the camera angle. He also wrote the storyline for a graphic novel (also broke down into individual comics) that tried to resolve the fate of the Robinsons from Lost In Space.

Joan

I haven't seen many Alfred Hitchcock Presents. For some reason, I always thought the Twilight Zone presented stories more with a message than Alfred Hitchcock or the Outer Limits. Now I'm not really sure. Twilight Zone had its share of poorer episodes too.


I'm interested in your opinion of that episode. I'd seen the original episode so the TZ movie remake seemed terribly overdone.

I saw the TZ movie before I had ever seen any of the TV shows, so I saw the John Lithgow version first. It was overdone (most of the whole movie was). The fact that the old show was in black and white added to the noir-like quality and made the stories more spooky and creepy than scary (blood and guts scary, that is). John Lithgow did a terrific job, but I prefer the Shatner version.

Hitchcock's goal, IMO, was to scare the Dickens out of the viewer. In that respect he suceeded so well with me that I stopped watching the show.

Now, that I've had my coffee, I remember more about that episode with the twins. Two sisters arguing over a man and at the end the man shows up for the date and you realize she was talking to herself in the mirror. Hmmmm. I think I have a deep seeded fear of going crazy. Maybe I should talk to a therapist about that. Or not.

I *love* TZ! I've only seen a few AHP episodes, but the ones I have seen are pretty good. But the Twilight Zone... /shudders/ So very excellent. I love so many of them. The Hitch-Hiker, The Monsters are due on Maple Street, etc. I think the freakiest one (to me) was the one about the ventriliquist who was controlled by his own dummy. (context- I am terrified of puppets or dummies ). But other than that, I pretty much love all the ones I've seen.

The Twilight Zone is definitely one of my favorite shows. The books are great, too. A long time ago...I happened on a Twilight Zone paperback by Serling. I own all that I have seen since. I'm a bit afraid to search on Amazon, though.

I agree. For consistently outstanding episodes, none of the other shows (even Serling's) hold up as well as the Twilight Zone. There are glimmers of greatness in some of the others, though. For example, I would put "Demon with a Glass Hand" (Outer Limits season 2, episode 5) with the very best of the Twilight Zone.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667812/videogallery

I love the Twilight Zone, it's on e of my favorite shows of all time. Everyone has already brought up some of the great episodes from the series. I was recently given The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree, it was very interesting. Some behind the scenes stuff and a lot of info about the show and a summary of each episode with the opening and closing narration. Some of the mentions for the later series are out of date, as the book is from the early 80's I think, but all in all a great read for fans.

One thing that cracked me up so much was Third Rock from the Sun which first had the big giant head, played by William Shatner. He got off a plane and was talking about his trip and said he looked out the window and saw something on the wing. And Dick, played by John Lithgow, says the same thing happened to him. Hilarious cause Shatner was in the original episode with the gremlin on the wing (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) and John Lithgow played the character in a remake for the Twilight Zone movie.

Note: You can see it in the beginning of this clip on YouTube for what I'm referring to:

I think one of my fav eps was The After Hours, where a woman goes to return a gold thimble, and gets stuck in the department store after hours.

Oh, another episode that really sticks with me, "People are All Alike." I'll refrain from spoiling the ending; instead, I'll just say that this is the one where a pair of astronauts crash-land on Mars and find some all-too-human-like beings.


Joy,
Lynn

I love it!

I actually remember that episode! (Another show I loved and grew up on.)

Amazon's deal of the day today is the complete TZ series on DVD or Blu-ray . I fear that even on sale, the price is a bit high for my wallet (US$91.99 and US$179.99 respectively), but I thought I'd mention the sale (their regular prices are $299.98 and $399.98 respectively), just in case anyone else was interested.

Joy,
Lynn

Hey! There was a Twilight Zone marathon on SyFy network yesterday. Watched it until almost 2 am... and then they showed a clip of 'The Dummy' and I promptly switched over to the Disney channel and watched an hour of mind numbing happy children's shows.

(I have a rather complicated and irrational fear of puppets, dummies, clowns, etc. )

But before that, the marathon was awesome.

Last week, Stuart and I signed up to a free month trial with Netflix and this evening, to my delight, whilst browsing around for something to unwind with before bed, I discovered that they have four seasons of TTZ on there. And a whopping 36 eps or so in each season. I hadn't realised there were so many. Puts modern shows to shame. And I know I've only seen a fraction of them.

I was a little concerned that the show wouldn't stand up to the test of time and my memories, but I've just had the most wonderful time watching the first 5 eps of S1 and the stories were are enthralling as ever.

I've now put all 5 seasons on my Amazon wish list - these recently released editions have a quite impressive list of extras attached - and can't wait to see the rest of them over the next few evenings.

Bliss.


LabRat

Sounds awesome, Labby! I might just have to sign up for Netflix again for this! Maybe I'll wait until I have a significant amount of time to spend on it though...

And as a side note: I think the fact that the Twilight Zone (and similar pieces, such as Outer Limits or anything Hitchcock) still holds up just goes to prove that a show/movie doesn't need blood, guts and gore or over-the-top effects to be classified as effective horror. The unseen and alluded to can be even more frightening.