The Twilight Zone (1 Viewer)

[Roy Wall]

The set is so worth it. I was going to buy it for myself, but I caught a hint that someone was getting it for me as a gift, so I don't know what it ultimately cost... but it's worth every penny. Been slowly enjoying it over the past year, and it's really like seeing all of these episodes again for the first time. I've only scratched the surface on the bonus features but those are impressive as well. Most episodes have a commentary, and there's all sorts of vintage video clips as well.

I know that I've overstated this...but TZ...I think should be on everyone's top 5....top 10 minimum. No....the Rod Serling estate is not paying me to pimp it. It's just that this show has such diversity in it's storytelling that it has something for everybody. I think it may very well be considered the best TV show of all-time in a hundred years from now...if it's not considered that now.

 

[benbess]

SGR: Well said.

And one of my biggest pet peeves of today's TV is that they think they're being "Twilight Zone-esque" (Fringe, Lost, and so many others), while really missing key elements that made TZ great.

I can think of at least two, but there are others as well. First, Rod Serling wrapped up his stories effectively and often stunningly in 25 minutes. Think of the 21st century shows that have dragged out their "mysteries" for years while still not giving us a very good conclusion. Second, his stories often had a point or a moral. It might have been a bitter, grim or tragic point, but it had a point—intellectually, morally, emotionally, or all three—beyond just "that's shocking, right!?" or "That's amazing, right!?" that most of today's shows imho seem to be going for....

My 2 cents.

 

[TravisR]

And one of my biggest pet peeves of today's TV is that they think they're being "Twilight Zone-esque" (Fringe, Lost, and so many others), while really missing key elements that made TZ great.

Honestly, I think that "It's like The Twilight Zone"-thing comes almost entirely from the media just looking for an easy/lazy way to describe a new show or J.J. Abrams broadly speaking about his influences (rather than actually comparing his show to TZ). I love both The Twilight Zone and Lost but other than that they both have mysteries and twists, there's not that many similarities between the two series.

 

[TravisR]

I've loved this show since I was a kid. Still love it, although I haven't watched it much lately. As we were talking in our other threads about our top shows and favorite episodes of various series, I started turning over in my mind my personal favorites of the Twilight Zone. With 156 episodes it's very hard to limit it to ten, but I'm going to give it a try. Perhaps other fans can list some favorites too?

1. The Midnight Sun
2. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
3. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
4. The Dummy
5. A Game of Pool
6. Third From the Sun
7. One for the Angels
8. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
9. Number 12 Looks Just Like You
10. A Stop at Willoughby

Still many, many favorites left out....

Anyone else?

I don't like ranking them (though The Hitch-Hiker is my favorite) so I'll just pick my 10 favorite episodes in chronological order.

Time Enough At Last
Perchance To Dream
The Hitch-Hiker
The Eye Of The Beholder
Nick Of Time
The Invaders
Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?
To Serve Man
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet
The Masks

I feel like I've left like 25 great episodes off that list.

I'm sure I've listed my favorites somewhere here before and probably at least half of the list was different than I just listed so clearly it all depends on my thoughts at the moment that I'm making the list.

 

[benbess]

JJA himself talks about TZ. Saying stuff like this from the article in wikipedia on the episode Walking Distance below.

So that's what he really admires. And I assume he's trying to do TV as good as that for the 21st century. I just don't think he makes it.

I also have very mixed feelings about what he's done to Star Trek.

We'll have to agree to disagree about JJA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Distance

"Film director J. J. Abrams[color=rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;] said the episode is his favorite, saying, "[The episode] is a beautiful demonstration of the burden of adulthood, told in [/color]The Twilight Zone, which everyone thinks is a scary show, but it's actually a beautiful show," and "The Twilight Zone at its best is better than anything else I've ever seen on television."[1]"

 

[TravisR]

^ Speaking of Walking Distance, I can't believe that I forgot to put that on my top 10 list. And now that I think about The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street and The Midnight Sun should be on my list too. Forget it, it's a 156-way tie for the top spot.

 

[jimmyjet]

LOL - there are quite a few very good shows !!

 

[rjd0309]

Mr. Garrity and the Graves -- tongue-in-cheek fun
It's A Good Life -- a good show. real good

 

[TravisR]

Mr. Garrity and the Graves -- tongue-in-cheek fun

That's an episode that I've seen people criticize but I find it to be a fun episode too.

 

[Roy Wall]

That's an episode that I've seen people criticize but I find it to be a fun episode too.

Vintage Dehner....perfect casting for playing the swindler. Great twist ending and marvelous fifth season entry. Love it...love it....love it.

 

[benbess]

Please help me, fans of the Twilight Zone. I'm trying to remember the title of an episode I haven't seen for maybe 20 years, possibly more. In it, a man is overcome with worry that the world is going to perish in the flames of a nuclear war. He comes up from an underground shelter and sees a ruined city, and breaks down weeping at the fragmentary remains of an abstract modernist fountain. Then we see that, in fact, the city is not ruined. He's gone mad, and is weeping over the fountain which is working perfectly....

Any ideas?

 

[benbess]

It's apparently One More Pallbearer.....

 

[TravisR]

It's apparently One More Pallbearer.....

I'm about 30 minutes late but yeah, that definitely sounds like One More Pallbearer to me.

 

[Lord Dalek]

It's apparently One More Pallbearer.....

Yeah its One More Pallbearer, except it was a jerk who wanted to get revenge on his old schoolteacher, minister, and commanding officer in the army by staging a fake nuclear war and allowing them to stay in the shelter if they appologized to him.

The ending sequence is a nice excuse to reuse the old cyclorama from Time Enough At Last (you can tell because that destroyed bridge for lack of a better word is clearly visible).

 

[jimmyjet]

night call

bad

 

[Roy Wall]

night call bad

You sound very much like Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein"

 

[TravisR]

You sound very much like Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein"

I'll continue that trend and say "Night Call, good."

Seriously though, I do think that Night Call is a wonderful horror episode of TZ and a highlight of the last season. Considering that the old lady doesn't seem to have done anything that bad, the ending is needlessly mean though.

 

[Lord Dalek]

black leather - good

night call

bad

"Occurance At Owl Creek BridgeBoring" in t-minus...

 

[TravisR]

I don't want to say that I like Black Leather Jackets but I enjoy it on the level of so-bad-it's-good. That puts it ahead of other S5 episodes like From Agnes- With Love, I Am The Night- Color Me Black, Sounds And Silences, The Brain Center At Whipple's or even The Bewitchin' Pool.

 

[Craig Beam]

"Occurance At Owl Creek BridgeBoring" in t-minus...

Bloody brilliant, mate.