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.
Witness three podcasters, all awestruck by the same television show from over 50 years ago. A show that has become legendary, and has inspired generations of creative minds. Yes, in this episode of Planet 8, we will be talking about - Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.
Larry, Bob, and Karen each came up with a short list of episodes that really spoke to them, so they sat down and discussed what made them so special. Twilight Zone had some wonderful stories, and the twist endings have become well-known. But they were also capable of subtlety and beauty. And the actors! Watching the show is a real treat, as so many now-famous performers appear in the early days of their careers. Robert Redford, Carol Burnett, Telly Savalas, and of course, William Shatner, all appeared on the show before they became household names.
Why do we still love Twilight Zone? What is the secret of its longevity? The stories have a timeless appeal -we relate to them because they speak to the most basic qualities of the human condition, things that do not seem to change -for better or worse.
Wrapping up the episode is our Sensor Sweep, Larry shares a plethora of Twilight Zone items. Foremost is the Twilight Zone Companion, by Marc Scott Zicree. It's loaded with tons of behind the scenes information on the episodes. Another great treasure is the 4 CD set of the 40th Anniversary edition of the Twilight Zone soundtrack. From the 60s,we have From the Twilight Zone, a book by Rod Serling collecting adaptations of Twilight Zone episodes. Finally, Larry shares Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, a collection of Richard Matheson short stories, some of which were made into TZ episodes, including the title one which became the famous William Shatner episode with the gremlin on the airplane.
All right friends, give the episode a listen and tell us what you think. We covered 12, count 'em, 12 Twilight Zone episodes, but there were so many more we would have enjoyed talking about! Maybe we will do a follow up show. Let us know what you thought of the episodes we discussed, and tell us about your favorite episodes. You can leave comments here, or at our other receiving stations:
Wrapping up the episode is our Sensor Sweep, Larry shares a plethora of Twilight Zone items. Foremost is the Twilight Zone Companion, by Marc Scott Zicree. It's loaded with tons of behind the scenes information on the episodes. Another great treasure is the 4 CD set of the 40th Anniversary edition of the Twilight Zone soundtrack. From the 60s,we have From the Twilight Zone, a book by Rod Serling collecting adaptations of Twilight Zone episodes. Finally, Larry shares Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, a collection of Richard Matheson short stories, some of which were made into TZ episodes, including the title one which became the famous William Shatner episode with the gremlin on the airplane.
All right friends, give the episode a listen and tell us what you think. We covered 12, count 'em, 12 Twilight Zone episodes, but there were so many more we would have enjoyed talking about! Maybe we will do a follow up show. Let us know what you thought of the episodes we discussed, and tell us about your favorite episodes. You can leave comments here, or at our other receiving stations:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Planet8Cast
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Planet8Podcast
Thanks for listening!
My wife and I have been kinda binge watching TZ on Netflix the past few weeks.
ReplyDeleteThis is very timely. Thanks everyone.
Glad to be of assistance. This is definitely a show that is very addictive. When SyFy has its TZ marathons, I just put it on and let it run all day/weekend.
DeleteGreat show, everyone. And yeah, it could have went on for hours, because Twilight Zone is a virtually inexhaustible source of discussion (as you'll see by the length of my comment).
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have to say I agree with Bob about the ideal length of episodes: a half-hour is perfect for the type of stories that the show told. I think The Outer Limits did much better with the hour-long format.
Second, yeah, it's really interesting seeing all of the recognizable actors, some at the beginning of their careers, who filed through the Twilight Zone. And speaking of playing roles against type, I always think of James Best, who probably gained the most fame playing the goofy Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in Dukes of Hazzard. In two different episodes of Twilight Zone, he played a backwoods heart-throb who stole the hearts of the local country girls.
Interesting that you mentioned "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" - in my high school English class, we watched that very same film (without the Twilight Zone packaging) when we were covering Ambrose Bierce. And speaking of Bierce, I'd argue that he, along with Poe, was a direct infleunce on Serling and other writers who contributed to Twilight Zone, to say nothing of many comic book writers like the EC guys in the 1950s (on that latter aspect, Will Eisner said as much an interview once).
As to the episodes you all chose to highlight - I loved all of them. I'd count several of those as my favorites, too, esp. the "Howling Man" (geez, I remember that one making the hairs on the back of my head stand up the first time I watched it) and "Monsters are Due on Maple Street." And yeah, "A Stop at Willoughby" really packs a gut-punch - and makes me think that the creators of Mad Men should have ended the series with Don Draper jumping in front of a moving subway train after shouting Willoughby.
I found your discussion of "The Old Man in the Cave" interesting. Personally, what I got out of that was the dangers of mistrust of science and expertise by an uniformed and/or poorly educated general public. Something that's more relevant now than ever before, I think.
O.k., I'll cut this off here before this turns into a journal article. Looking forward to more Twilight Zone chats...
Edo Bosnar
Darn it! Long my previous comment is, I just realized that I didn't mention some of my own favorite episodes (over and above the ones you guys discussed):
Delete"The Big Tall Wish" (season 1), in which Ivan Dixon plays a boxer at the end of his tether whose fortunes suddenly, mysteriously turn around. This is such a low-key and bittersweet episode, but it that really stuck with me.
"The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" (season 3), starring the aforementioned James Best, in which he apparently rises from the dead, which leads to much consternation among the residents of the local village. It turns out there's a rational explanation for it all (or is there?!). I like this one because it has some good performances and it's one of those unusual light-hearted episodes.
"Steel" (season 4), starring Lee Marvin set in a near future in which boxing by humans is outlawed, so human-looking robots do the fighting instead. Another sad and tragic one...
Edo Bosnar
Great episodes Edo! I agree with your assessment and I especially agree with you on the episode “steal“, it was really hard to watch Lee Marvin go through what all he did in that episode. I’m sure will cover twilight zone again in the future, I for one am looking forward to it as this is one of my favorite series of all time!
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