Before we begin, I want to pimp a review of mine. I normally don't do this but I feel that since this is a horror column, you horror fans will want to know about a good film called The House of the Devil. It's a nice little send-up to the old satanic/supernatural movies of the late seventies and early eighties...after movies like The Exorcist and The Omen were big. What makes this movie stand out? The way it was filmed makes it look like it was made in that same time period.
No real feedback this week, as Lon Chaney doesn't spark as much conversation as lists, it seems. It's a shame.
But it just gives me more time and space to write about one of my favorite television shows.
You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop, the Twilight Zone.
Now I've already written a bit about this show before in my "Television Terror" series, but I think it's time it gets it's very own column, especially since 2009 marks it's 50th anniversary. Happy belated birthday! Anyway, I'm going to give you a history, why I love it so much and then countdown my top ten favorite episodes! We're all about The Twilight Zone love here at ABGT. So let's get started.
Why do I love The Twilight Zone? Well, to that question I will answer with a question: What's not to love? It's the best anthology show of any kind, and one of the best television shows ever. It tells self-contained, dramatic stories with a hint of horror, sci-fi or fantasy attached and a twist at the end that leaves the viewer mesmerized. As always, each episode features the almost monotone narration of Rod Serling, who always sets the mood and prepares us for a trip to
another world. The episode rarely failed to disappoint.
Rod Serling was already riding high before he even began work on The Twilight Zone. He had produced several successful teleplays. After the success of a script called The Time Element, which became an episode of Desilu Playhouse in 1958, he was given full reign to begin work on a show he had wanted to make called The Twilight Zone. The story of "The Time Element was classic TZ fare too, a man travels back in time and warns people about the upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor, but is unsuccessful in stopping it. Some people consider this the unofficial first episode of the series, because it was intended to be the pilot before it was used for the other show.
The first season of the show began airing on October 2, 1959. Even right out the gate the show was getting rave reviews from critics. Unfortunately it's first season wasn't able to find very many viewers and the ratings were lower than what CBS expected. Don't freak out here, but CBS wanted 21 and 22 ratings and got 16.3 instead. I don't think ratings worked the same back then as they do now. The first season featured mostly scripts from Rod Serling, but later seasons would be written by others. The show would reach it's peak in the third season, before focusing on mostly hour-long stories as a mid-season replacement for season four.
By the time the fifth season rolled around, the quality of the episodes would decrease (although my favorite comes from this season, so they weren't all bad). However, it did manage to have critical success and won both an Oscar and an Emmy. How did it do that? Well one episode was a short film from France. The Twilight Zone was one of the only shows in television history to do that.
After the show's cancellation in 1964, The Twilight Zone lived on through reruns and syndication. In 1983 Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante worked together to bring us Twilight Zone: The Movie which had one new story and several updated versions. Two years later the show would be revived on television. The new version of The Twilight Zone would last for another four years, bringing a whole new generation of fans to the series. Twenty years after that, there would be another attempted revival, but it wouldn't be nearly as successful. But every year, Syfy runs a marathon of episodes and they wouldn't do that if there wasn't an audience. The show is still popular and due to it's influence, can be seen in some form through various plot devices and genre concepts. M. Night Shyamalan probably wouldn't be so focused on plot twists if he didn't grow up with this show like the rest of us.
With all of that interesting TZ history out of the way, I'm going to bring you a mini-list of my top ten favorite episodes. These are my personal favorites and probably won't reflect other lists or what are the accepted favorites. Then again, some of them are fairly commonplace. They wouldn't be good if several people didn't like them. If you are a fellow fan of this show, feel free to give your own favorites in the comments section. Onto the list! I should mention that I do plan on revealing twists every so often, so if you haven't seen any of these then take appropriate caution.
#10: The Night of the Meek - This is more of a sentimental favorite than any of the other classic stories but it's really an episode to get me in the mood for Christmas (yes, even a horror fan with a black heart loves Christmas, dear reader). This one is about a drunk mall Santa (played by Art Carney) getting a magical bag that actually allows him to give Christmas presents. It's able to give anything anyone asks, and the man is ecstatic that he's able to help others. When he wishes to do the same thing every year, he's whisked away to become Santa Claus. It's just nice to see an episode that focuses on the spirit of Christmas: helping those less fortunate. Sure it's about giving people stuff, but the fact that the man never wants anything for himself except to give to others. An episode with no real twist or drama, just feel-good moments.
#9: A Penny For Your Thoughts - Dick York plays Henry B. Poole, a man who is able to read other people's thoughts after a coin he flips lands on it's edge. Yeah, it's a silly way to establish the premise, and we never know why that caused this ability, but we don't need to know. That's just the way it happens. He overhears several misdeeds within his workplace, and even learns that a co-worker has feelings for him. His abilities lead him to accuse someone of doing something that they weren't going to do. This gets him fired, but when one of his stories proves to be true, he gets his job back. I just like this episode because of the little twist that just because someone can read minds, it doesn't make them able to know everything.
#8: The Hunt - An old man is on a hunt with his dog when he jumps into the lake to save the dog from drowning. They wake up the next morning and the old man discovers that he is dead. When he's denied entrance to the "Elysian Fields" with his dog, he decides he can do better and wonders down the road. This ends up leading him to the real Heaven, where he is informed that dogs can smell brimstone. I always thought this was a neat episode about the bond between a man and his dog. He would have turned down Heaven (or what he thought was Heaven) because they wouldn't accept the dog as well. As you can tell, my favorite episodes aren't that horrific to start.
#7: Time Enough At Last - You should know exactly what this one is about and what happens. It's one of the most famous episodes of the show's entire run and features a great performance from Burgess Meredith. I don't know what I could say that you haven't heard already. A man finds he's the only one left in the world and decides to devote the rest of his time to reading all of the books he ever wanted to read. And if you don't know the ending by now, you must have lived your entire life under a rock. It's an absolute classic and one of the best episodes.
#6: It's A Good Life - Another fairly famous episode, and the first one to be horror oriented. It's about a spoiled kid. But he's spoiled for a reason. He has a mental ability to do anything that he wants, and make your life a living hell. What's worse is, he can make you enjoy it. The episode displays a group of people who have to survive in this nightmarish world and conform to a child's every whim...and we know how fickle children can be. There's a lot of "child from hell" stories out there, but this one tops them all. This kid is only limited by his imagination. That's a terrifying concept that made for a chilling episode.
#5: The Hitch-hiker - This is a classic ghost story that made it's way to our televisions thanks to this show. Nan Adams has a traffic accident and gets it repaired. As she drives on through her cross-country trip, she finds that the same strange hitchhiker is following her. He appears ahead of her multiple times, and it's unknown as to how he is doing this. But the tension builds the entire episode as she tries to escape from her tormentor and get ahold of her family. But then of course, there's a twist. A great story that has been repeated through stories, urban legends and other television programs. Every time there is a marathon on Syfy, this is aired and I always try to catch it.
#4: The Howling Man - This one is all about what lurks in the shadows and how man can be deceived. A traveler comes to a castle where hears a wolf-like howl every night. He begins talking to a man who has been imprisoned by what he believe is an insane man. It doesn't help that he is told the man locked up is the Devil. He doesn't believe in this, so the story continues and the conclusion is obvious but disturbing. I really like this one because it's scares come from man's own skepticism. Would you believe someone who said he had Satan locked up in a room? You can't blame the man for disbelieving, but at the same time you don't like the mistake he makes.
#3: To Serve Man - This is certainly the most iconic on the list, in my opinion. The plot twist is another that has been parodied and referenced to death, but in this case it comes out of left field. The story concerns a group of aliens who delivered gifts to Earth and promise to take us to their planet to show them what wonders they have. You never are given any reason to doubt these aliens and so when it is revealed what is going on, instant terror hits the viewer just as it does the man about to board the ship. I think that the startling revelation would make any one of us become fearful and try to escape.
#2: Little Girl Lost - This is a simpler story that I always loved because it's a supernatural incident without any explanation that is contained in this episode. In this case, a little girl falls through her wall and disappears into another dimension. Her parents are terrified and try everything to find out where she is and get her back. I think the idea of being trapped in another dimension like that is scary enough, but also to put yourselves in the shoes of the parents make this episode something altogether more tragic. Little girls being lost in nothingness is one thing, but my pick for the best episode is something else entirely.
#1: Living Doll - The scariest moment ever on television is when Talky Tina declares "I'm going to kill you". The man then begins a quest to destroy this tiny doll who can do nothing but talk, yet is pure evil. His family thinks he's lost his mind and for all we know, he might have. But there's just something about this doll, around long before the Chuckys of the world, that threatens to do something like that. What is controlling the doll? How is it able to do this? That's the best part of the episode: we don't know. All we know is that it's evil. The scariest episode of this show also happens to be the best one, in my opinion. Here's a clip to end the column with.
I hope you enjoyed this look at The Twilight Zone. It's one of my favorite shows and hopefully one of yours as well. Hit me up with your favorite episodes in the comments section. I'll see you next week.
Those are all great episodes. Here are some of my favorites:
Eye of the Beholder- The iconic reveal of the woman in bandages and her doctors is iconic.
Both of the William Shatner episodes. You know what I'm talking about.
A Game of Pool- Jack Klugman and Jonathon Winters in a concept so simple it's brilliant.
To See an Invisible Man- This is from the 80s revival. A man is sentenced to a year of "invisibility" (in actuallity it's simply mark on his forehead) for being cold, and as a result the population ignores him, which he loves at first, but it eventually starts to unerve him. The ending is classic Twilight Zone.
Mr. Wong's Lost and Found Emporium- This is also from the 80s revival. A man finds a store of lost things like memories, emotions, etc.
This was a great column. Any chance of doing an column on Serling's other creation "Night Gallery?" While not as good as TZ, there are some pretty good episodes here. I've been watching it on the RTN network and have been getting into it. You can also watch it on HULU.
Posted By: JLAJRC (Guest) on November 12, 2009 at 08:05 PM
