The Twilight Zone Hall of Fame

Season 1 Episode 8: Time Enough At Last

SPOILERS!

A classic episode that still holds up as one of the best. All he wants is to be left alone to read, and when he finally gets that time, fate has other plans for him. I thought it was strange that he stacked the library books up in piles based on when he was planning to read them, but I guess we all have our little idiosyncrasies. The moment when he breaks his glasses is devastating. It's such a sad ending.

But if the blast was so bad that the buildings came down, and it disintegrated all the people, would the food really be safe to eat? Would the air be safe to breathe?

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Season 5 Episode 22: An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

SPOILERS!

This was an interesting episode, but it was too predictable for a Twilight Zone episode. Most of the episode had a dreamlike feel to it. The way the woman was moving slowly. The fact that all those soldiers were shooting at him, but none of the bullets hit him. And especially when he finally made it to the house, and his movements were too slow. I was just waiting for exactly what happened to actually happen, and then it did.

Season 5 Episode 31: The Encounter

SPOILERS!

I had heard about this episode, but I don't think I ever saw it before.

Both actors did a good job in this very tense episode, but the episode itself didn't really make much sense to me. Both men seemed to like each other, then they hated each other, then they told each other personal stories about themselves, etc. They just seemed to flip-flop back and forth throughout the episode.

And it seemed like the sword somehow controlled their feelings, but I'm sure that was the Twilight Zone twist part of the story. It was a good concept, but I just don't think it played out very well in the end.

Season 3 Episode 5: A Game of Pool

SPOILERS!

The best part of this episode was the conversation between the two pool players. If you listen carefully, you can hear "Fats" warning Jesse about the danger of "winning". Jesse is just so focused on becoming the best, that he only hears what he wants to hear. It becomes a lose-lose situation for Jesse. If he loses, he dies. If he wins, he loses in the end.

My only question is how did everyone find out that Jesse beat "Fats" and became greatest pool player ever? Nobody was there to see their game, and "Fats" disappeared as soon as the game was over.

As much as I love Jonathan Winters as a comedian, I think this is one of my favorites of his performances.

Wow, seven reviews in under one hour! Nice job, gbgoodies! Takoma would be proud.

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Season 3 Episode 8: It's a Good Life

SPOILERS!

This episode is terrifying. Not only because there is a 6-year old boy basically running the town because of his powers, but because the adults are letting it happen. It makes you wonder, if he's this dangerous as a child, and he has no guidance throughout his childhood, how dangerous will he be as an adult?

I prefer the ending in the remake in the 1983 movie to this ending. In this ending, Anthony stays a "monster", and everyone is still afraid of him. In the movie, someone finally tries to help him and teach him how to properly control his powers.

Thanks. I wasn't counting, but I guess it's eight reviews now.

Season 3 Episode 10: The Midnight Sun

SPOILERS!

This episode does a really good job of making you feel the heat that they're feeling. Just watching the way they move around and sweat, you almost feel like you're in the room with them at times, especially when you see the paintings of the sun.

One thing that bothered me was when the man tried to get into their apartment, and they thought he was leaving, why was Mrs. Bronson so quick to unlock the door? Where was she going that she couldn't wait and make sure that he really left?

I don't know if it was the character's actions, or the way the actor played him, but for some reason, I didn't feel bad for him when he tried explaining that he was usually a good person, but he was just upset about the loss of his wife and child. I was just glad to see him leave.

The ending was a nice twist. It made me wonder how long Norma could live in the freezing cold if her fever didn't break.

I love this episode too - I hope to have my writeup ready later this week - but a similar thought weighed on my mind as well: what about radiation? If his despondence over being blind doesn't kill him, all of that radioactive fallout surely will (gosh, that's the most morbid sentence I think I've ever written).

The more I think on this episode, the more I like the idea of slowly "unlearning" a language. He is increasingly put in the position of someone who doesn't speak a language or who has a severe language processing disability.

I agree that the mechanics are a bit odd. As you say, there's very little reaction from the other people in the episode considering that by the end he's speaking gibberish (from their point of view).

Season 1 Episode 11: And When the Sky Was Opened

This is one of my favourite episodes. I had considered nominating it,but didn't, so I'm glad someone else nominated it. It's a really interesting story about three astronauts returning to earth. The problem is that one of the astronauts has disappeared and has been forgotten. Only one of the two remaining astronauts is able to remember him at all. Acting is really strong here, especially by Rod Taylor. The episode does a great job at building suspense and a sense of dread. I liked that it doesn't explain exactly what happened who or what is behind the disappearances. Very effective and entertaining.

Season 5 Episode 31: The Encounter

A Veteran of World War 2 is visited by a gardener. The two men end up sharing stories from their past while a mysterious sword appears to wield influence. Neville Brand and George Takei are both good here. I didn't find the story in this one as interesting as some of the other episodes. There are some good moments, but it isn't as compelling or satisfying as it could have been.

What, only one rep for my review of It's a Good Life, does anybody read my reviews?

I do! I read all the reviews in these threads.

I know! you're the only one who repped me

I usually don’t read reviews of movies I haven’t seen yet to a) avoid possible spoilers and b) to avoid being influenced on them. Once I finish up, I usually read a handful afterwards, from a few particular reviewers.

I'll use the 10 sock puppet accounts I created to rig the 2000's countdown to upvote all the reviews in this thread.

Nobody tell Thief I said this.

Okay, and here I go....there are spoilers....

Series 1 - Episode 28 : A Nice Place to Visit - In this episode a nasty thief played by Larry Blyden is robbing some poor old fellow who he has knocked out, and takes off as the police arrive. His name is Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine - points to The Twilight Zone for that name alone. He's shot by the cops while trying to escape, and when he comes to, he's helped up by what we're all assuming now is an angel - perhaps God, or perhaps the Devil or some afterlife identity. As usual it takes knucklehead Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine (I'm going to use that whole name every time) an eternity to realize he's dead. His saintly angel, devil, God, or Satan introduces himself as Mr. Pip (played by Sebastian Cabot - a British actor who also lent his voice to many Disney animated films) and behaves as Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine's servant, giving him anything he desires. Voluptuous women, a million dollars - it's all his. He (Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine) can go to the casino and he always wins. The cops here are short by his order, and are demeaned by him. Anything he says goes.

Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine can't believe his luck. This must be heaven! He can't understand it. He has Mr. Pip take him to the Hall of Records to check his record and there is a list of reprehensible crimes under his name - no clues as to why he's been given entrance to heaven. Anyway, for Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine it's back to gambling, women and his gaudy apartment. But...the winning is no fun anymore. He always wins. He has all the money in the world anyway. In fact, the women and all of it - it's meaningless. There's also no thrill in going back to robbing people and burglaries if everything is predetermined by him. Boredom sets in. Heaven is starting to look like torture to Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine - and he begs Mr. Pip to send him to the other place (hell) where he'll surely have fun. But as Mr. Pip explains, Henry Francis 'Rocky' Valentine doesn't understand. "This IS the other place!!!"


Classic episode which really makes use of the phrase "be careful what you wish for" and explains to us that instances of bad luck, pain and adversity are the things that make the good in life so pleasurable to our existence. We all occasionally wish we controlled our own fate - but such a life would be meaningless and in the end worth nothing. Such a twist to have a villain be given everything in the universe and rub his face in it. If there was a hell, such fiendish results would be poetic and worthy of the devil. I'm sure he gets the same kick out of it every time.

Philosophical musings about an afterlife are a rich vein for The Twilight Zone, and this one isn't too bad.

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