Syndication Files 10.21.09: The Twilight Zone
Posted by Porfirio Diaz on 10.21.2009
Submitted for you approval: You have entered through the dimension of the 411mania universe. What lies beyond this link is a place filled with videos and information about the fifth dimension of no return. Take the journey into another wondrous edition of the Syndication Files. This teaser is telling you to click this link. Loading now…the Twilight Zone!
First off, my condolences go out to 411mania Games and Boxing editor, Ramon Aranda. I was switching channels between Heroes, Chargers-Broncos, and Dodgers-Phillies when I just caught the last few seconds of the baseball game. L.A. was leading 4-3 and looking to tie the series when Jimmy Rollins said "not today" and hit one down the middle to bring in two runs to win the game. What a devastating loss that turned out to be. No doubt Ramon is drowning himself in a bathtub full of Jack Daniels.
As for me, I couldn't be happier. Watching the Dodgers choke again brings me great joy. I would also like to point out that as a Giants fan, I'm bitter about the team not making the playoffs and I'm being immature about it. Since all of my favorite teams range from below average to crap, the only source of happiness I find during the playoffs is watching teams that I hate lose. Now if only the Yankees can lose their next two games...
Halloween is quickly approaching but then everyday can be Halloween if you just go to the grocery store and buy yourself a fun pack bag full of candy. But for the next two weeks, I'm going to look back at two of the scariest pieces of television I remember watching as a happy little delinquent. Next week is all set up but like the Philadelphia Eagles, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.
Submitted for you approval: You have entered through the dimension of the Internet galaxy. What lies beyond is a heavenly place filled with an unlimited supply of online information where people can express themselves freely while at the same time hiding anonymously behind a monitor. This very power of incognito allows the nameless face to comment on anything they so desire and allows them to obtain the riches of the Internet world such as free music, video and porn without consequences. While moving through the link searches between harsh reality and innovative fantasy, between the depths of the blue darkness and fire(fox), time ceases to exist and you become frozen upon this protocol suite creation. You've allow yourself to be caught by the unholy grip of the web. You look for self-control but receive nothing but "404 Not Found" messages. There's a pop-up window ahead telling you to bookmark this page. Get a drink, pull up a chair, be comfortable; you'll be here for eternity. Loading now…the Twilight Zone.
Syndication Files #16
Twilight Zone
A tune most familiar to all
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.
Eh…my introduction was better.
The Twilight Zone was first introduced as a teleplay (plays written for television) in 1958. CBS purchased the rights of the teleplay called "The Time Element" and got famed television writer Rod Serling to produce it. Serling, who was one of the hottest writers in television by the mid-1950s, took the task hoping he could one day create a weekly series from it.
Here's the plot to the unofficial pilot (or lost pilot) episode of The Twilight Zone. As you read through the plot and watch the ending, you'll start to see bits and pieces of the essential elements that would eventually distinguish this series from any other science fiction show.
The story was about a man trapped within a rift between time travel and his dreams. Jensen tells his strange dilemma to psychiatrist Dr. Gillespie about how he continues to have recurring dreams about waking up on December 6, 1941. If you knew your history, that was the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For Jensen however, his dreams are no mere dreams as he really is drifting back and forth through time back to that time period. Of course no one takes him seriously when he tries to warn the public about the imminent attack. Dr. Gillespie also does not believe him but he calmly plays along anyway. As he told Dr. Gillespie, Jensen's dreams always end with him watching the Japanese planes approach the harbor as he screams at those who didn't believe him. He never went beyond that, but the thought of that happening one of these nights was always there. You see where I am going with this. Jensen takes one final snooze before waking up, this time at the end of his dream…
The horror of napping
It was a little crude, but this was some brilliant writing. Combining that with the awesome narration, the fantasy theme, and the surprising twist ending, you could already see the concept of The Twilight Zone being formed. Unfortunately the executives frowned upon stories that didn't have a happy ending, so the plan of airing this special was scarped and shelved immediately. In 1958, Desuil Productions (Ricky Ricardo!) bought the script and finally showed The Time Element to the public, where it was met with overwhelming satisfaction.
Rod Serling took this positive response and turned the pilot special into his very own anthology series, The Twilight Zone. He even became the on-screen host and off-screen narrator of the show, and expanded his popularity. The series made its official debut on the CBS network on October 2, 1959.
Episode Title: Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (mini-episode) - Yes, this one
The Twilight Zone uses the basic elements of that pilot and expands them to the point of really freaking out your fragile mind. The series is base in an alternative universe (or a fifth dimension) where each complex episode is a mixture of science fiction, suspense, and fantasy. In fact, one could say that it was the first real adult science-fiction anthology series to appear on television. Each episode presents a different story with a different set of characters. The protagonist of each episode usually has to deal with strange circumstances and disturbing events surrounding their own lives, aka entering the "twilight zone".
This series focuses on imaginative themes as the base for their story. Among the many recurring themes found are time, fantasy creatures (aliens, monsters, etc), nuclear war, death, greed, and desire. Now take those themes, break them up into little different pieces, and make even more stories out of them. Take for example the time theme, the seemingly most popular theme in this whole series. Serling narrates "time" in different ways so that every single episode with the same theme is different. For an example, here's a sample list of episodes with the time travel theme (descriptions cited from Wikipedia):
Judgment Night: A former U-boat commander is condemned to relive his past.
The Last Flight: A British World War I fighter pilot lands his Nieuport biplane on a 1959 American airbase after flying through a strange cloud.
Back There: A man who has traveled back through time tries to stop Lincoln's assassination.
Static: A man's old radio plays programs from the past that only he can hear
Extra Innings: Ex-baseball player Ed Hamler, lame from an injury and forced to retire early, is given a baseball card from the early 1900s that transports Hamler to the past to be the player he used to be.
All of those episodes deal with different adaptations of time: time travel, reliving the past, and time alteration. Time is used to return to former glory and memories (Static, Extra Innings), to change the future (Back There, The Last Flight), or even used as a life-threatening punishment (Judgment Night). Obviously there's a lot more and all of them are fascinating to watch.
Episode Title: Time Enough At Last - The most famous ending of the series
The Twilight Zone formula as follows: meet protagonist, weird things surrounding protagonist occur, extend previous sequence, enter happy/weird/sad panda ending here. Repeat 200+ times. It's a simple process that's met with a complex system. At the beginning, the viewer knows about as much information as the protagonist does until the end, when the show pulls open the curtains to reveal the awful truth for both the viewer and the protagonist. That's not always the case, but it happens more often than not. Simple execution, complex journey. It's almost as similar to Tetris: simple to learn, hard to master. I say almost. In Tetris, the blocks go faster and faster as you go towards the higher levels. In Twilight Zone, the episodes may be complex but the stories slowly pace themselves so that any viewer can easily follow any episode from beginning to end. I have even read complains that the series moves a little too sluggish by today's standards. As a faithful Heroes follower, I agree! But I only felt that way towards the one hour long episodes. One hour just seems to be too much time for a show of this format.
If anything, Tetris applies to Heroes a lot more closely than Twilight Zone does. Come on, who's with me?!
Okay, that's enough video game-television show comparisons for one column.
Episode Title: Living Doll (mini-episode) - Fans dub this as one of the best of the series
The series doesn't use a lot of flash or sprinkle. There are no big action sequences, explosions (sorry Michael Bay), or special effects. Like I said before, Twilight Zone uses suspense and psychological methods to engage the viewer's emotions deep into the plot. Twilight Zone puts their characters to a variety of tests, whether it be the test of their will, trust, emotional state, or all of the above. Some characters usually end up bargaining more than they could handle. Some try to fix mistakes from the past. Some even use their paranormal discoveries as a advantage in further themselves in life. Most of them don't regain their normal lives again, if they're even granted another chance at life at all. There are a lot of psychological techniques here that Alford Hitchcock himself is ultimately known for and the effects to the viewer are just as powerful.
That brings me to the tipping point of Twilight Zone: the unexpected twist ending! Twilight Zone is renowned for using this method of screwing with the minds of the viewers. Viewers probably have a better understanding of what to expect now, but even some endings just came as a total surprise for me.
The twist endings come in many forms but most of the time it's the protagonist that gets screwed. Out of the five episodes earlier listed, all of them ended with a surprise twist and the protagonists had their lives altered in one form or another. I won't give away any endings but I say that three out of the five were really screwed, with the Extra Innings episode having an asterisk (tee-hee) next to it. That depends on what you've version of "screwed" means to that particular protagonist. If you really want to know, just go to Wikipedia for the plot and ending though I would recommend viewing these stories. I've spoilers a couple of these episodes to myself already and while I found the endings to be interesting, they don't have the impact of watching the whole plot fold in front of your eyes.
Episode Title: To Serve Man (mini-episode) - What a happy ending
There are very few happy endings found in this series. Sometimes the protagonist dies or suffers great consequences for their actions. It doesn't matter if the protagonist is good or bad. The actions of the protagonist tell more than just the story, but also their fate as well. Then the show ends, leaving the viewer to use their own imagination to determine the fate of the protagonist and/or their new altered world. Twilight Zone sure knows how to make us feel sympathetic towards these characters. The world thing is fictional television but you still can't help but feel bad for some of these individuals.
Twilight Zone did fairly well with audience and critics alike. There were several bumps during the show's lengthy run, including two show cancellations. Fortunately the show was revived back on television twice within a 44 year period. There are three parts of Twilight Zone series: the original series (1959-1964, 156 episodes), the first revival (1985-1989, 65 episodes), and the second revival (2002-2003, 44 episodes). That's not including Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994) and Twilight Zone: The Movie. Who knows if there will be a third revival but I think that's pushing it. I still want to watch some more of the original! So many Twilight Zone, so little time.
The Twilight Zone is definitely a classic that still holds up well today. This series is so huge that many other shows rip ideas and concepts out of them. Simpsons, South Park and Futurama has done their own fair share of parodies and jokes from it. The Scary Door, anyone? Treehouse of Horror alone has used many similar stories from this series as well. Twilight Zone's place in the world of pop culture is well deserved.
Excellent writing, psychosomatic premise, and twist endings that actually make sense. You hear that, The Village? Ignore the limitations of color in this series since I think the black-and-white display helps perverse the psychological nature like Hitchcock's movie did.
So ends another journey of the Syndication Files. But there is no end on the journey through Internetland. You're just surfing on the never-ending highway of information…that is until the blue screen hits. That's when you've really entered the Twilight Zone.
