The Twilight Zone Hall of Fame

"And When the Sky Was Opened" CONTAINS SPOILERS

This episode effectively exploits my greatest fear (which John Carpenter's The Thing made me realize, I might add): what if you not only died, but everything that made you who you are went away as well? If anything, it's a study in anticipation for how you're never sure when each astronaut will exit his dimension. It helps that Serling and company leave it up to the audience to explain why this is happening and of course that the actors are so good at expressing the astronauts' frustration and confusion. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard screams of "Harrington!" in my sleep. The episode provides plenty to think about: the hubris of space exploration, who or what anchors one to their reality, etc., but I did so in a different way than I usually do after watching the typical Twilight Zone episode. Whether it's because this one doesn't have a trademark twist or that it doesn't wear its themes on its sleeve, I was more interested in seeing how the story played out than guessing what Serling would say about it at the end. This is hardly a bad thing, though; besides, even though the most popular episodes of the series such as "Time Enough at Last" have plot twists, there are several standouts like this one that do not. I recommend the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Parallels" if you're in the mood for another story like this because it reminds me of it a lot.

It's funny that you should mention STTNG Paralleles as when I was watching And When the Sky Was Opened it reminded me of Star Trek: The Next Generation episode 'Remember Me'. That's the episode where people disappear from the Enterprise and are erased out of everyone's memories except Beverly Crusher's, she can remember them. I always liked that episode.

I should have my next review out by this evening.

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Oh yeah, good call. That's probably a more apt comparison because the people in that episode are also disappearing as if they never existed. Worf, on the other hand, exists in those other realities in which he disappears and reappears. I guess I had it in my head that the astronauts, like Worf, are going to other realities when they disappear, but do we truly know what happened to them? I don't think so.

I liked that Worf one too and I can see the comparison. Geez I need to re-re-re-rewatch STTNG again

Season 3 Episode 10: The Midnight Sun

(SPOILER WARNING)

Time to review my second nomination in this thread. I've seen this episode three times and with each viewing, it impresses me more and more. It has a simple premise (one I find relatable since I generally hate the heat), yet works so many wonders with it.

The exploration of the various ways people cope with the rising heat in this episode is phenomenal. Of course, there's the surface level scene of people moving up North to draw out their fates, but my favorite dynamic to this theme is how Norma copes with the heat by painting. Though she initially paints the sun, she eventually paints a waterfall after her elderly neighbor Mrs. Bronson expresses her discomfort of the former painting. Not only does the waterfall painting foreshadow the ending (in addition to Norma thinking she'll eventually wake up to find it cool and dark), but it shows the two of them trying to find a way to cope with their present scenario. This adds extra emotional power to Norma losing it and blacking out at the same time her paintings melt.

The episode also does a great job at showing the ways an apocalyptic scenario can warp your mind. For instance, a man giving a radio broadcast is forcibly taken off air after he loses control and begins gives messages which may potentially incite panic. The man breaking into Norma's apartment though is the best extension of this theme. I've seen looters represented a bunch of times (mainly in various forms of zombie media), and though one could call this cliché, I find the depiction of the man in this episode well-done. When he first breaks in, he seems threatening, but after he gets some water and calms down a bit, he throws a gun he stole from Norma away, explains that his wife and child recently died, and asks for forgiveness before leaving. As the man explains, he isn't evil. He's just an honest man driven insane by the heat. Overall, it's a truly powerful scene.

The ending is also terrific. On one hand, awakening to find yourself in a cooler setting seems like a catharsis since it's much easier for Norma and Mrs. Bronson to handle the cold than the heat (they weren't wearing heavy jackets, shivering, etc. in the ending). On the other hand though, since the temperature on Earth will keep dropping until it freezes everyone to death, that catharsis will only be temporary. Eventually, Norma and Mrs. Bronson are going to suffer from the cold. So, Norma awoke from a horrible setting only to find herself in another bad, but manageable setting which will keep growing worse.

Overall, this is a terrific episode and I'm happy I got to rewatch it for this thread. Whoever nominated it deserves a hug

Next Up: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

We've reached my favorite part of this Hall as, since you all have exactly a month before the deadline, this means I get to start annoying you all with reminders

@Allaby (10/18)
@edarsenal (5/18)
@gbgoodies (16/18) - List Sent
@PHOENIX74 (10/18)
@Siddon (1/18)
@Torgo (11/18)

And of course, I'm at 11/18 reviews.

Insert slacker joke here []

Citizen and Takoma are the only ones to avoid my shenanigan's altogether since they finished early.

The only reason Citizen and Takoma finished so quickly is because they cloned themselves and their clones watched all the episodes for them. It sounds far fetched, but anything is possible...in the twilight zone.

Season 3 Episode 10: The Midnight Sun

I thought this episode was pretty good, but not great. Two women are apparently alone in an apartment building as the heat increases to dangerous levels. I though both women did a fine job in their roles and the interaction between them was good. As other reviewers have commented, you as the viewer can almost feel the heat with them. The story was good, but didn't blow me away the same way some of the other episodes did. The twist at the end was alright, but not as impressive as I would have hoped. I liked The Midnight Sun, but didn't love it as much as some did.

It happened in an original Outer Limits.

Season 1 Episode 22: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
(spoilers)

This was a great episode. Strange occurrences happen on Maple Street,leading to suspicion, hostility and violence. Is it monsters? Aliens? Human beings? Or something else? The writing in this episode was really sharp and smart. Performances were uniformly strong across the board. It's suspenseful and interesting and keeps you guessing. The twist at the end works on several levels: there were in fact aliens involved, but that they just messed with the electricity and technology,and the people were the ones responsible for turning on each other. I had initially suspected that there would be no alien involvement and that it would end up being a completely natural explanation. I was wrong, but I like it better this way. The message is clear. People can be prejudiced and suspicious of others and this leads to harm. Sometimes, we are own worse enemy. One of the best TZ episodes.

A lot of us have talked about the twist endings...Some of the TZ episodes would be better without them. Other episodes don't really need the patented TZ ending. Whilst other episodes are made special by the very present of the twist ending....

Some of my thoughts about various twist endings. Just for fun, as I'm not working today I'll rate the twist as neutral, positive, negative

A Game of Pool...Twist-Neutral The twist was OK...it made me ponder what his afterlife in heaven would be like. Actually it didn't seem much like heaven, maybe that's not where he went, ha.

A Nice Place to Visit...Twist-Positive The Twist with Pip laughing at the criminals predicament in the afterlife was priceless and made the show.

A Passage for Trumpet...Twist-Neutral Not sure if finding out that the trumpet player had been in the land of the dead made the episode better or not, but it worked.

A Stop At Willoughby...Twist-Positive Hell yes, the twist at the end hit like a ton of bricks but was balanced enough to leave hope too.

The After Hours...Twist-Positive The whole episode was a twist and so the ending was perfect and left a good feeling in what could have been a sad story.

And When the Sky Opened...Twist-Positive Like After Hours the entire show is twist based so the ending is perfect for the story.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge...Twist-Positive The classic TZ ending, on a first viewing it really hits ya.

The Encounter...Twist-Negative As much as I love the concept and acting the last scene blows what the episode was trying to achieve.

The Invaders...Twist-Positive On a first watch the ending is very clever and it still works wonders on repeat viewings.

It's a Good Life...Twist-None The strength of this one is no twist ending, no hope only constant terror. Perfect because of the lack of the usual TZ ending.

The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street..Twist-Negative As much as I like and respect this classic episode the reveal of aliens causing the mysterious power outage IMO undermines the importance of the story: hysterics-fear equal mob role.

The Midnight Sun...Twist-Neutral I love this episode for so many reasons and I suppose from a literary sense it needs the twist, but to me the twist ending just takes up a couple minutes that could've been devoted to furthering the story of a world heating up.

Nothing in the Dark...Twist-Positive Without the classic twist resolve the story just wouldn't work, so it's perfect.

One for the Angels...Twist-Positive The Twist here feels well written into the story and is an intricate part of the third act.

Time Enough At Last...Twist-Positive But the story would've worked equally well if Burgess Meredith did really have all the time he had always wanted to read books.

Walking Distance...Twist-Positive This one doesn't rely on a big twist, the viewer knows more or less what's up from the start and that's good.

Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?...Twist-Positive The ending is the big payoff and for a comedy episode the twist is right in line with the comic theme.

Wordplay...Twist-Positive I really liked the gentle nature of the last shot of the husband reading his child's book and learning the 'new language'.

Dreams For Sale Twist-Positive This was so short at 9 minutes I can't really say.

Chameleon Twist-Neutral The ending on this one just kind of there and so it's neither a plus or a negative.

Comments, complaints...let me know! I love to hear anyone's thoughts on this. I don't claim to be right, just right for me

I have several complaints... (just teasing)
I've liked most of the twists.

I agree with you about A Nice Place to Visit, A Stop At Willoughby and An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge.

A Game of Pool would be twist positive for me. I like the idea of the results of his fame impacting his afterlife.

A Passage For Trumpet is twist positive. Him being in the land of the dead did make it better for me.

I agree with you on The Encounter being twist negative. It didn't fit with the episode and wasn't as well executed as it could have been.

The Midnight Sun is the only other twist negative for me as it didn't really improve the episode and I would have liked a better, more surprising twist.

I disagree with you on The Monsters Due on Maple Street twist. I liked it because I assumed they were going to reveal that there was no alien involvement. I think the point of the episode is still clear though.

I would agree with you on the other episodes you mentioned that I have seen.

I wouldn't say that episode even has a twist.

I love the twist in that episode. It probably would've worked just fine without it, but I love the concept of

Yeah, I think the episode needed the ending to

Yeah, that was one of my 'twist-negative' verdicts too. Most of the others are good, but I went against the one in The Invaders as well - that episode was good enough alone not to have a big twist at the end.

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"The Invaders" CONTAINS SPOILERS

What's the deal with stories about tiny invaders in a home that makes for edge of your seat entertainment? Whether it's the "tiny Ash" segment of Army Darkness, the “Battleground” episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, the finale of The Gate or this, I can't keep my eyes off the screen while watching. My guess is it's because of the drama found in adding a chaotic element into the place where we want to have total comfort and control. In other words, it's like that time when there was a pest in your home you just couldn't get rid of. It's no coincidence that the invaders find themselves in places like mouse holes and cupboards. Besides this, the episode succeeds for having one of the best twists I've seen so far. It gives indications that the invaders are products of the lonely old woman's imagination - the welts caused by their little ray guns possibly her way of coping with illness, for instance - which made me expect a UFO-free rooftop when it was all over. However, it ends up being a story that asks if our first extraterrestrial visitors might be us and without discounting anything that happened before. While I was surprised that Rod Serling didn't write the episode because of the episode's similarities to Planet of the Apes, I was also not surprised to see sci-fi legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, the episode “And When the Sky Was Opened”) in the credits instead. All in all, it's a delightfully scary and thought-provoking episode that I wish had gone on longer because I was having so much fun.

Season 1 Episode 22: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

This is a powerful episode about the dangers of mob mentality that still holds a lot of relevance today. In the opening, Maple Street seems like a peaceful portrait of middle class America, but as the episode goes on, we watch as the residents let their paranoia guide their actions more and more and begin making all kinds of fantastic accusations about each other. Within this portrait of mob mentality lies a handful of compelling characters. The first of which is Charlie since he adds the most fuel to the fire throughout the episode. You grow to hate his character the most. Les is another compelling character as, being the butt of most of the paranoia, you get the sense that his neighbors are slowly closing in on him. I also liked how Steve, who attempted to be the voice of reason throughout the episode, grew less and less effective at controlling the group as the day unfolded. Most of the secondary characters were also memorable as, even though some of them were less significant to the plot than others, I got the sense that they were willing to believe anything in order to find a scapegoat. Granted, I did think the episode introduced the possibility of an alien invasion way too early and, as a result, it felt really forced. I also agree with a couple other posters that the ending is unnecessary and doesn't add much to the episode. In spite of these flaws though, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. For the most part, its flaws are trumped by its compelling social commentary.

Next Up: Nothing in the Dark