The Twilight Zone Hall of Fame

Tools    





I don't really have an interpretation other than Rod Sterling when writing this went for the tried & true near-death-expierence change of reality, which suits TZ so well. I can image Sterling thinking to himself, 'it would be a unique twist if the people who can't see or hear Joey do so not because Joey is dead, as that's been done before, but they do so because they're the dead ones.'
I've been watching the Hitchcock shows on late at night (on ME TV in my area).

It's funny how some of his episodes COULD have been TZ episodes and how some TZ's could have been on Hitchcock.

When I was a kid I had no interest in the Hitchcock shows - mostly because I was told he was "scary."

So I grew up thinking he was spooky scary and didn't realize he was really making thrillers and murder mysteries.

There are a few in his series with a supernatural bent (although most end up being more like Scooby Doo - with a logical explanation). There are even a couple with a bit of a sci-fi bent (there's one with Dick York that takes place in the "future" - I think the fictional year was 1981)! But most are murder or crime plot stories. I find them to be hit or miss. Some are excellent, some not so much, and some have great build-ups that lead to really stupid or unsatisfying endings.



With a rewatch, I've finally decided that my all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode is from the considerably less popular season 4.

On Thursday We Leave for Home
__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd



Season 1 Episode 30: A Stop At Willoughby

(SPOILER WARNING)

This would be a relatable episode for everyone who's ever felt overwhelmed at work, doesn't like their job, and wants to find a way out. Gart Williams, the subject of this episode, has an emotionally abusive boss and wife and (from what we see) appears to have no friends who can provide him with an escape from that. An escape, however, comes when he starts having dreams about an 1880s-themed town called Willoughby. Life in that town seems peaceful and everyone in it seems friendly. It seems like the perfect escape for him. I enjoyed the scenes where his bosses words echoed into his head such as the repetition of "push, push, push". Those scenes do a great job at putting you in Williams' head and showing you how overwhelmed he's getting as the episode goes on. Though I've never had a mentally exhausting job like Williams, anyone who's ever had one should be able to relate to his character. Halfway through the episode, it seems like Williams will eventually escape to Willoughby, but once you watch enough episodes of The Twilight Zone, you learn to never trust a happy ending. Personally, I find the cruel twists in the snow very memorable. I think it's clear Williams didn't willingly commit suicide in the ending, and given the Willoughby & Sons funeral home we learn about at the end, perhaps there was a supernatural entity at work here that was trying to "help Williams out" by getting him to the afterlife. Of course, Williams certainly had other options to improve his life besides dying, but if there was a supernatural entity at work, it's clear that it wasn't playing fair to him. Williams clearly had no say in what was going to happen to him and was being tricked into getting off at the town (which could represent the afterlife). Assuming Williams gets to stay in the town, his life will likely be better than it was on Earth, but whether the supernatural entity or whatever was behind the recurring dreams made the right call is up for debate. Overall, I found this to be a terrific episode and it's my favorite from season 1.

Next Up: The After Hours



Its definitely a creative scene and, to a degree, I kind of admire its appearance in that episode. I just haven't been able to connect it with the main characters' arc or discern a correlation between the two. Perhaps, it would've fit another episode better. Who knows.
It was OK for me, but it didn't do much either way. I was more focused on the acting and the pain that Joey felt, that I thought was top notch. Oh I liked the mood, the setting at night in an alley.



I've been watching the Hitchcock shows on late at night (on ME TV in my area).

It's funny how some of his episodes COULD have been TZ episodes and how some TZ's could have been on Hitchcock.

When I was a kid I had no interest in the Hitchcock shows - mostly because I was told he was "scary."

So I grew up thinking he was spooky scary and didn't realize he was really making thrillers and murder mysteries.

There are a few in his series with a supernatural bent (although most end up being more like Scooby Doo - with a logical explanation). There are even a couple with a bit of a sci-fi bent (there's one with Dick York that takes place in the "future" - I think the fictional year was 1981)! But most are murder or crime plot stories. I find them to be hit or miss. Some are excellent, some not so much, and some have great build-ups that lead to really stupid or unsatisfying endings.
As a kid I remember seeing Hitch do his shadow of Hitch in the show's opening, but that's all I remember of the show. I should check some of those out.



With a rewatch, I've finally decided that my all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode is from the considerably less popular season 4.

On Thursday We Leave for Home
I had considered that one as one of my noms, but didn't go with it as it was longer than the other episodes...but yeah damn good one.



Dead Man's Shoes is a pretty interesting episode. Good performance by the main actor (he played the spaceship's Dr. in Forbidden Planet!) as he keeps switching personalities when he puts on or takes off the shoes.



Dead Man's Shoes is a pretty interesting episode. Good performance by the main actor (he played the spaceship's Dr. in Forbidden Planet!) as he keeps switching personalities when he puts on or takes off the shoes.
That's a good one, almost noir like. He also was in Star Trek...he played an alien from Andromeda galaxy that crushed the cubed form of the young woman ensign into dust.



That's a good one, almost noir like. He also was in Star Trek...he played an alien from Andromeda galaxy that crushed the cubed form of the young woman ensign into dust.
Yes! Forgot about that!

His name was Warren Stevens.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828838/?ref_=tt_cl_t_1

Speaking of noir, I was going to mention the gangsters (such a great little revenge plot).
The different acts are so good - you've got the bums as the bookends, the middle in the apartment with the beautiful "gun moll" (this part is great as he keeps changing identities) and the confrontation with the gangsters toward the end. A nicely put together little supernatural noir story all within a half hour!



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
The function of that middle act is to show him wandering around and slowly sliding into despair, priming the story for the moment he discovers the library. I just didn't think it did a great job of it. The dialogue was far too artificial sounding and the staging lacked subtlety (at one point he actually says something like "I'm here and I'm alive. But do I even want to be alive?" and then Meredith looks right in the camera and it holds for a few seconds).

I like something that I read about how the episode demonstrates the difference between loneliness (when he is unhappy alone) and solitude (when he is content having found the books). I just didn't enjoy the first two acts, and the ending felt cruel, iconic though it is. I can't imagine myself watching this episode again.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. It's one of my favorite episodes.
__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
If someone else hadn't beat me to it, I would have nominated this episode. It is one of my favorites because, despite being depressing, it does show for better or for worse the behavior of people who are in a no-win situation.

Also, speaking as someone whose brain disconcertingly often incorporates the sounds and sensations around me into my dreams, this episode actually captures a dynamic like that---the heat from the fever and what she knows about an orbital disaster creeping into her fever dream.

We may have to agree to disagree on this one too. "The Midnight Sun" has never been one of my favorite episodes. I don't dislike the episode, but I just never felt that it had a Twilight Zone "feel" to it.



We may have to agree to disagree on this one too. "The Midnight Sun" has never been one of my favorite episodes. I don't dislike the episode, but I just never felt that it had a Twilight Zone "feel" to it.
Since that episode is one of my nominations, it looks like I'm going to kick you out of this HoF to boost its chances of winning

jk



...I just didn't enjoy the first two acts, and the ending felt cruel, iconic though it is. I can't imagine myself watching this episode again.
I'd say Time Enough at Last is quintessential Twilight Zone...but I totally can see how you could feel that way about it. I haven't rewatched it yet for this HoF...but I remember disliking Burgess Meredith's character as being kind of a wormy little whiner. It is a cruel ending, but he kind of deserves his fate.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. It's one of my favorite episodes.
Strange that you would like this episode so much as it is a very negative story with an unhappy ending. It just doesn't seem like your kind of episode.

I guess I'll have to watch Time Enough at Last, next and see how I feel about it.



I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. It's one of my favorite episodes.
I know I'm in the minority here, but it's just honestly how I feel about the episode.

I'd say Time Enough at Last is quintessential Twilight Zone...but I totally can see how you could feel that way about it. I haven't rewatched it yet for this HoF...but I remember disliking Burgess Meredith's character as being kind of a wormy little whiner. It is a cruel ending, but he kind of deserves his fate.
I wouldn't say he deserves his fate, but it is true that he's terrible at his job (shortchanging customers repeatedly, and *accidentally* sexually harassing women by staring at their chests to "read their buttons").

The Twilight Zone has plenty of people who just don't belong in the life they are living (Last Stop at Willoughby is another example of this plot, both featuring men with nagging wives and unsympathetic bosses).

I guess one thing I'd say is that I don't respond as positively to stories where there isn't really character growth or a compelling emotional arc. I think I would have liked the episode better if there had been more emphasis on how he copes with finding himself alone. But since he didn't seem to have much use for other people from the get-go, the loss of literally every other human being feels rather slight.





A Passage for Trumpet, Season 1, Episode 32, 1960

SPOILERS, YOU DARLING STARFISH!

Joey Crown (Jack Klugman) is a trumpet player trying to make it in the city, but hampered by his reputation for alcoholism. Unable to find employment, Joey despondently pawns his trumpet and then steps in front of an oncoming vehicle. But as with many characters on this show, death is not the end . . .

I will say this for watching a lot of episodes of this show back to back: it is really fascinating to see how similar themes are explored through different permutations, sometimes even taking a different stance on certain existential questions.

Interestingly, this is an example of an episode where the "twist," while interesting, is not actually the most essential thing to the heart of the story. As Crown wanders the streets, he quickly comes to assume that he is dead, because no one can see or hear him. It's only after a conversation with a man (John Anderson) that Crown discovers that all of the "normal" people are the dead ones and that he is currently in a sort of limbo. But the people out and about being dead--and having to be put into their everyday routines to help them cope--isn't ultimately so important, for me. After all, Crown could just as easily observe living people going through soulless routines. What is important is the question of whether or not Crown wants to get back out there and try to find joy.

I did appreciate the end, which isn't about Crown miraculously becoming professionally successful. Instead we simply see Crown reconnecting with the happiness of playing his trumpet and the way that this happiness leads him to a human connection.

A very sweet little episode.






The After Hours, Season 1, Episode 34, 1960

Marsha White (Anne Francis) is browsing a department store looking for a gift for her mother. She ends up in an elevator alone with a man (John Cornwell) who directs her to the 9th floor that is abandoned except for a strange saleswoman (Elizabeth Allen) and a single item---the gold thimble Marsha was hoping to purchase. When the saleswoman makes some strange statements, Marsha ends up speaking to the store's manager. The problem is, as the man explains, there is no 9th floor . . .

So big kudos to whoever nominated this episode, because I think it is really, really excellent. I have seen this episode multiple times before, but I never fail to find it eerie and thrilling and exceptionally well made and paced.

I love that from the first moment, Marsha is a bit off and agitated. It's not exactly an in media res beginning as with And When the Sky Was Opened, but from the jump we can tell that something is not right. The first half of this episode just builds in lots of wonderful examples of things that are sort of scary, but not "big moment" scary. Things like ending up in the elevator alone with the elevator man, or the saleswoman knowing her name. Marsha's confusion and her reactions are completely understandable, leading to a brilliant shock right at the episode's halfway point.

This is also an episode that brilliantly layers in details that make you think you know what's happening. A floor in a store that has only the one item that you need? Well, that feels very "be careful what you wish for," doesn't it? Oh, the mannequins seems to be speaking? Is this a horror story about mannequins coming to life?

And maybe I'm just a sucker for a happy(ish) ending, but I love it when something that seems to obviously menacing turns out to be not that at all. If there's one thing that Twilight Zone directors seems to really understand, it's the eerie power of an overhead or from-behind shot of starkly lit people standing still. With the use of literal mannequins, this dynamic is only heightened. The scene where all of the mannequins are whispering to Marsha is really spooky. And yet then we learn that they are actually a supportive little community. The strange saleswoman gives Marsha a much-needed hug. The man who seemed so menacing just moments before kindly asks Marsha if she enjoyed her "vacation".

I also have to note that this time around I really noticed just how great the lead performance from Anne Francis is. As the episode progresses, watch her hands and arms. Look at how she's arranged as she sleeps on the couch. Whenever there is a down moment, her hands and arms seem to find their way into a mannequin fashion pose.

A really excellent episode.






The Invaders, Season 2, Episode 15, 1961

SPOILERS, DARLING MUSKRATS!

A woman (Agnes Moorehead) living along in a very rural farmhouse must fight for her life when an alien spaceship lands on her roof.

Oh, hey, big surprise everyone! I really like this episode that I nominated!

It's been just long enough that I cannot say with certainty, but this is either the first episode of the show that I saw as a kid or it was one of the very first. It is certainly the first episode that I remember seeing. And friends, this 23 minutes of television blew my mind.

Anyway, this episode combines a lot of things that I love in a story anyway: very limited cast, an intriguing limitation (in the form of having zero dialogue until one line at the very, very end), and a final subversion of expectations.

Agnes Moorehead is really excellent as the only character we really see for the entire runtime. Outnumbered and terrified, she must find a way to defend herself from creatures who seem to have incredible abilities for their small stature. It is a deeply unflattering, "all in" performance: grunting and grimacing, and at one point clinging to an axe as drool runs from her open mouth. The first time I watched this episode I was like, what is with this woman?! But it's great because the whole point is . . . she isn't a woman. From the very beginning her performance is a bit askew, and while it might seem like a bit of a "cheat" that she seems so human, this show is full of alien races and characters who are very human-like, so I don't mind it one bit.

I also really enjoy the dynamics of the twist in this episode. In a lesser presentation, we'd be asked to see the woman suddenly as a villain. But the structure of the episode doesn't go there. They arrive on her home. They started out the encounter by attacking her with some sort of powerful weapon. While I do feel bad for the astronauts, I appreciate that our sympathies stay with the main character even after we understand what is really happening. Further, I like the touch that the astronaut says that there should not be an attack on her or her planet. She was only defending her home and it would seem like an unnecessary cruelty.

Simple but effective, and one of my favorite episodes.