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The Twilight Zone (1959 — 1964)
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Twilight Zone Trivia } "On Thursday We Leave For Home," May 02, 1963.

Director Buzz Kulik was going to shoot a scene up high overlooking the colonists settlement. While checking this out the crew were shocked to discover there were not roofs on any of the sheds. That's because lights are needed to be placed there in order to film scenes inside the buildings.

Overnight the production crew hurried to place canvas over the roofs.

Note from me } Uh,wouldn't an experienced director & crew know that it is standard operating procedure to not have roofs in place over sets due to being able to properly light a set? I believe it remains S.O.P. to this day.

Yeah, that item sounds bogus. But it's more likely the buildings didn't have roofs because backlot sets are usually just fake exteriors, with no interior furnishings or details whatsoever. Interiors are normally shot on soundstage sets.

Some of those IMDb trivia items are written by people who obviously have no clue how movie and TV production actually works.


Last edited by scotpens on Sun Jun 14, 2020 12:26 am; edited 1 time in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In "Eye of the Beholder", for the reveal they wanted a beautiful girl, so they hired Donna Douglas. But they were unsure of her acting talents, so they hired Maxine Stuart to play the character in bandages. Well the whole time Donna Douglas was watching the performance. With the reveal Donna Douglas shocked them, as she copied Maxine Stuarts movements and speech patterns. Their reaction was, "SHE CAN ACT! Who would have thought".

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I was pretty strict when I composed the list of TZ science fiction episodes in my earlier post, but I'll admit there were a few episodes I omitted just because they didn't exhibit the overt sci-fi elements I needed to set them apart from all the murky, flaky, quaisi-fantasy episodes that I really don't care for. Sad

But Mirror, Mirror has a premise firmly rooted in science fiction, and a story which sticks to it's sci-fi roots from start to finish. So, I'd like to include it now . . . for your perusal . . . here the ASF Zone. Wink


Mirror, Mirror



Sci-Fi Elements: The concept of parallel universes which contain twins of ourselves! Shocked

Sci-Fi Premise: On a stormy night, Vera Miles is waiting for a bus that's late because of the rainy weather, and when she asks the cranky old bus depot attendant for a little information, he accuses her of pestering him repeatedly with questions. The strange thing is . . . he tells her this the first time she speaks to him!

What follows is a series of disturbing incidents which suggests that there are two versions of Vera who keep phasing in and out of existence in the same bus depot — without "our" Vera catching more than a tantalizing glimpse of the "other" Vera!






Strongest Aspect: The presence of the Good Samartan, Martin Milner —





— helps us feel that Vera will figure out this puzzle before the poor young woman goes insane. But even with his help, the "other" Vera seems to be on top of the situation and actually want "our" Vera to be hauled off to the Booby Hatch when we see her at the window of the bus, giving Martin an evil smile while the bus pulls away!

This nightmare element of the story is both puzzling and fascinating . . .

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 16, 2019 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

And then, of course, there are the very imaginative and enjoyable NON-science fiction stories that dazzled us as kids and inspired those discussions Gord described when he said —

" . . . every day after a Zone transmission it was the chief topic of conversation on the walk to school and the debate on what was presented was more meaningful to us than anything our teachers could present to our Space-age, Super developed minds!"

One of the most memorable ones was A Nice Place to Visit, the one where the petty crook is killed by the police, and he thinks he's gone to heaven because a kindly gentleman in a white suit (Sebastian Cabot) gives him everything he wants; money, a penthouse suite, beautiful women, and flawless luck whenever he plays any game of chance.






The only problem is that he soon gets bored when he realizes that this "heaven" hands him everything he asks for, with absolutely no challenges and no variety.

When he finally insists that he doesn't belong in heaven, and he demands to be sent to the . . . other place, Sebastian Cabot laughs and says, "Sir . . . this IS the other place!"
________________________________

Another humorous journey into The Twilight Zone was The Chaser, a tightly wound little yarn about Roger — a love-sick young man who's hopelessly in love with Leila — a sexy, sophisticated, intensely shallow young beauty who won't give him the time of day.

But when Roger purchases a "love potion" for only $1.00 from Prof. Daemon, a brilliant man with thousands of miraculous elixirs, Leila becomes so in love with him that she smothers him with affection and drives him crazy. He goes back to Prof. Daemon and pays $1,000 for a painless, orderless, tasteless poison to bump off his lovely clinging vine.

But just when he's about to serve it her in a glass of champagne, she reveals that she's pregnant and coos to him that they'll live happily together for the rest of their lives. Rolling Eyes



[size=10]
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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #135 - The Long Morrow Empty episode #135 - The Long Morrow

Air Date: 1/10/64 written by Rod Serling Directed by Robert Florey

The plot, minimal as it is, concerns a future astronaut (Robert Lansing) in year 1987 who has been selected to make the first long journey to a star system 140 light years away. This will be a 40-year trip and he will have to make it alone (the reasons for such details are not explained).

One caveat: a new process had been developed which will allow the astronaut to sleep and not age — a form of suspended animation — so he will not have to actually live out those 40 years all alone on a ship. The astronaut looks forward to this mission; it's hinted that he is particularly well-suited for this type of endeavor because he has no ties on Earth and has always been a loner.

Then, the TZ twist.

He suddenly meets a beautiful technician (Mariette Hartley) and falls in love.






He takes the space trip anyway and it all ends on a tragic, depressing note.

The main fault of this episode are the two main actors; they are unable to convey any strong emotion in their brief relationship. They come across as these two cold people — almost robotic with their dialog and speechifying — and it's very hard to muster any sympathy for them.

Serling's script doesn't help — it's overwritten as far as the dialog, but it also scrimps on the details of this momentous mission into space. The story makes it seem that the astronaut's ship will reach its destination and go right back to Earth, with no purpose to the mission except to show it can be done.

Likewise, the astronaut is shown to be sleeping in the ship, as planned; so how did he wake up and turn off the key machines to facilitate this tragic turn in the plot?



Serling's story is like this dark stageplay which is hard to relate to.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10



BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Boy oh boy, Bogmeister nailed the flaws in this episode with deadly accuracy. Considering the fact that its an actual "science fiction" story (a rarity for TZ), it's as weak as watered down beer. Sad

In fact, BoG actually omitted some of its faults. The plot has more holes than a Putt Putt golf course! Shocked

(If you haven't seen this episode, go get a cup of coffee until everyone else finishes reading this post, then come back. Wink)

Robert Lansing decides he's so in love Mariette Hartly that he doesn't want to come back after the trip and still be young, while she's forty years older. So, what does he do?

As BoG said above, he "somehow" took himself out of the cryo-tank and endured the 40-year trip while aging at the normal rate so that he and his True Love would both be in their sixties when he returns.

My, my . . . isn't that romantic? Not to mention dumb as hell.

After all, why was he so sure she'd even be alive in forty years — much less NOT married with a husband, children, and grandchildren! I mean, he never said, "Wait for me, darling. Let's throw away forty years of our lives and spend our last few years as wrinkled old crones." Rolling Eyes

If he HAD said that, Mariette Hartley wouldn't have put herself into cryo-sleep for forty years so she could be revived and look insanely hot in this nice tight silver dress!






Anyway, off goes Robert, somehow staying sane and healthy in a ship designed to support him for just a few months while he explores the star system when he arrives.

But consider the fact that during those forty years he used up much more air than the ship would have been designed to supply. Even if we assume the ship could recycle his air for five years, he would still have suffocated in one quarter of the time it took just to reach the star system . . . never mind the other 35 years!

And let's talk about food and water. The ship would have enough of those essentials for the time he spent exploring the star system. Remember, that's a few months as most, not forty damn years!

On the matter of staying sane for 40 years, how did he do it in ship that was designed to keep him busy investigating the star system for a few month? I doubt that anybody could keep from going nuts in four decades in a small ship without a vast array of ways to stay entertained. And a nice gym would be an absolute must as well.

Near the end of the episode, the men who were now in charge of the space program (forty years after Robert left) stated that faster-than-light starships had been developed, and they'd inverstigated the star system even before Lansing arrived! They found it contained no life.

They also stated that Lansing's communications "must have gone out shortly after he departed", so nobody was ever able to contact him.

That was a puzzling bit of dialog for Serling to include. When did they expect to contact him? While he was asleep? While he was in the star system, light years from Earth? I have no idea. Confused

As for the schmaltzy ending, the elder Robert Lansing tells the still sexy Mariette Hartley that he won't agree to spend the rest of his life with her, after she offers to so because they're both so in love.

Frankly, Mariette dodged a bullet there, because if Robert had agreed, she'd have ended up caring for an old codger who was her grandfather's age — not to mention a man too dumb to realize that expecting her to wait 40 years for him was extremely unrealistic, not to mention egotistical as hell!

I'll end my rant with this: good old Rod could have plugged all the plot holes with this simple alteration.

The mission included ten people on the ship, not one, and they were all in cryo-sleep. But the cryo-tanks failed, and everybody but Robert died. The ship had ample food and water for the ten people, with a healthy reserve in case of emergencies. Robert somehow managed to stretch the supplies WAY beyond the limit. (That part might need a bit more thought . . . )

However, in my version Robert did NOT deliberately (somehow) take himself out of the cyro-tank and endure forty years of boredom just because he was such a stupid, love-sick fool. His old age at the end wasn't his fault.

But he survived and made it back. Mariette is young and lovely at the end because she was smart and extended her life to be with him when he returned, still young and studly. Very Happy

But she's heartbroken by the fact that he didn't return to her as the young man he would have if the tragic mishap hadn't occurred.

The End




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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trivia for "Eye Of The Beholder" (November 11,1960) TZ makeup artist William Tuttle told director of the episode Douglas Heyes that the makeup would simply be too expensive to do on a television budget.

Tuttle had just completed working on the H.G.Wells classic "The Time Machine" creating the makeup for the subterranean Morlocks for producer George Pal.

Heyes and Tuttle worked closely on this production. Heyes went to Tuttle's department and observed some of the pieces that Tuttle had used to create the Morlocks.

Heyes then asked Tuttle if he (Tuttle) could just make pieces and paste them onto the actors? It would save money instead of creating a more elaborate makeup, especially considering that more than one actor needed to appear in the alien makeup.

In Rod Serling's original script the doctors and nurses were portrayed as unsympathetic. Heyes felt that might tip~off the audience and decided to have the actors play their roles as caring staff.

Side Note } On Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" TV anthology series he wrote the episode "The Different Ones" December 29,1971. It is a variation of "EOTB."
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________

episode #137 - Number 12 Looks Just Like You

Air Date: 1/24/64 written by John Tomerlin, based on story by Charles Beaumont Directed by Abner Biberman



Set in some future (Serling's intro arbitrarily suggests the year 2000), this depicts a society in which people select perfect-like bodies for themselves upon reaching adulthood (18 years old).

There are only a few different models for females and males — meaning that most people look alike — so we see different characters played by the same actors (mostly Richard Long and Suzy Parker).

A young woman (Collin Wilcox) has just reached that age, but resists the pressure from family and professionals to make the decision on a model/body, mostly due to her relationship with her dead father, the rare citizen who prized individuality.

This was a commentary on the then-already-big fad of plastic surgery and cosmetics to prettify everyone. But it goes far beyond just those superficial medical techniques, projecting what eventually will happen with political correctness and conformity.

In this future society, anyone who is different must be changed to match the majority, thereby costing the person his/her identity and individuality. It ends up as a reflection of our real modern world, with people increasingly placed into clumps and out-of-control partisanship to satisfy the needs of various groups. People behave more like drones or robots rather than human individuals. The ending is suitably downbeat and pessimistic — society doesn't change for the better in such scenarios.

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10



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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bogmeister is right that there's an important moral to this episode, despite the fact that it just sort of seems sort of silly these days. Unlike the long-lived beautiful people in the story, this episode doesn't age well . . .

One thing BoG didn't mention was the frequent use of "Instant Smile", a drink that these witless citizens slug down several times a day to keep them happy and empty headed. Rolling Eyes

Having watched this episode just two days and thinking it was not one of the better ones, I must admit BoG's review gave a better appreciation for it.

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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
episode #138 - Black Leather Jackets

Air Date: 01/31/64 written by Earl Hamner Jr. Directed by Joseph M. Newman



Another tale of alien invasion, resembling low budget sf films of the fifties, but beginning as if it's emulating Brando's The Wild One (53).

Three young motorcyclists ride into town, wearing black leather jackets; their intentions seem most benign — purchasing a house. But the audience is quickly made privy to their telekinetic powers, showing that they're aliens.

The family next door has no clue, of course — even when the aliens' machines cause interference in TV & radio reception, the father is simply hypnotized to forget the matter. Then, the daughter falls for the youngest member of the alien trio and so complications ensue. But, will love win out in the end?



This one does defy expectations for the conclusion, so it does have some edge, but it's pedestrian overall. It specifically resembles alien invasion films such as Invaders From Mars (53), It Conquered the World (56) and I Married a Monster From Outer Space (59), meaning a mostly quiet and unobtrusive invasion of suburbia.

But the short length of such a TV episode and the non-budget actually work against the concept. There's no time for the story or the characters to develop appreciably and the ending is therefore abrupt.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I finally watched this episode, but it was very disappointing. The story was too simple and the ending was weak.

Certainly NOT not one of the better TZ episodes. Sad

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" is based on a short story. In the story the girl is brought to court, and put on trial to make her comply with the rest of society.

The TV episode is more scary. Sure you have a choice, we just have to find out why you won't make the correct choice, and fix you so that you do.

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 2:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud and I had a great time watching a few TZ episodes in the All Sci-fi chatroom tonight and we really looked at a few of the episodes that didn't fall into the hard SciFi category.

Really, most of Serlings' stories fell more deeply into the category of "Science Fantasy" than that of straight "Science Fiction".

Wikapedia gives us great definition for the genre of Science Fantasy :

"Science fantasy is a mixed genre within the umbrella of speculative fiction which simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy.

In a science-fiction story, the world is scientifically possible, while a science-fantasy world contains elements which violate the scientific laws of the real world. Nevertheless, the world of science fantasy is logical and often is supplied with science-like explanations of these violations.

Distinguishing between science fiction and fantasy, Rod Serling claimed that the former was "the improbable made possible" while the latter was "the impossible made probable".

As a combination of the two, science fantasy gives a scientific veneer of realism to things that simply could not happen in the real world under any circumstances. Where science fiction does not permit the existence of fantasy or supernatural elements, science fantasy explicitly relies upon them. "

This really makes moot any discussion of the scientific reality presented in the TZ stories. The point of these stories is meant to be more emotional and visceral than based upon strict scientific reality.

I think that that's why Serlings TWILIGHT ZONE was ultimately so very successful and all those imitators were such failures. They were based on what we emotionally "felt" rather than what we intelligently "knew".

It certainly made the original "Zones" so classically memorable and the others so very forgettable.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 19, 2019 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

It was very enjoyable indeed, Gord, and I agree with you about the quality of The Twilight Zone.

I'm certainly looking forward to our next get-together! Of course, it would be great if other members joined us in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room.

Interested members can PM me or Gord, and we'll be sure to let you know whenever we're going to share something. Very Happy

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 21, 2019 5:57 pm    Post subject: episode #49 - Back There Reply with quote

____________
episode #49 - Back There

Air Date: 1/13/61 written by Rod Serling Directed by David Orrick McDearmon

___________________________ Back There


__________


A prototypical if minor venture into the realm of time travel.

At a men's club in 1961, immediately after a conversation about the possibilities of time travel, a young professor (Russell Johnson) suddenly finds himself back in 1865, on the day of Lincoln's assassination. Now he can put theory to the test — about whether the past can be changed.

He has several hours to effect a change, which he attempts to do with warnings, but he is placed in jail for his erratic behavior. Just as suddenly, he has a mysterious benefactor who gets him released, which suggests that he has a chance to succeed.

But, he is drugged and awakens too late. It turns out that the mysterious benefactor was none other than John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin. The professor returns to his present time, sobered by the conclusion that the past cannot be changed. But a slight TZ twist awaits him back at the men's club.

_______________
_______________

This episode is composed of mysterious occurrences, to the detriment of the story. It comes across as mostly clumsy and contrived. In other better episodes, when the big turn happens, there's the suggestion of cosmic forces, of something out there!

Here, when the professor shifts in time, it just happens — for no reason.

And then there this; why does Booth go through the trouble of getting the professor released from confinement? Curiosity? It's never explained. It just happens to provide some lopsided tension. And besides that, why would the police release the professor into Booth's custody? Again, it just happens to further the contrived plot.

I did like the little twist at the end. It's these types of twists that nudge many TZ episodes above most other similar TV fare.

rivia From the Zone: actor Johnson would go on to play a similar professor character in the comedy series Gilligan's Island. The site Buzzfeed didn't like this one very much, ranking it 20th worst episode of the series..

_______________
_______________

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10




BoG
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