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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 15, 2014 16:37:21 GMT -5
The Twilight Zone is probably one of my favorite shows of all time. It's pretty much the reason I got into the science fiction genre after I read an adaptation of "The Monsters are due on Maple Street"(my favorite TZ episode). So what are everyone's favorite episodes? Least favorite? When did you first watch the show?  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2014 16:40:28 GMT -5
Couldn't swear to it, but I might've read some of Serling's adaptations in paperback as a kid before I ever saw any episodes of the show, which would've been cancelled a few years earlier. Or maybe I'm thinking of Night Gallery (minus the "cancelled a few years earlier" part, though I can't really recall watching it while it was on).
Or both.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2014 17:31:06 GMT -5
The Twilight Zone is probably one of my favorite shows of all time. It's pretty much the reason I got into the science fiction genre after I read an adaptation of "The Monsters are due on Maple Street"(my favorite TZ episode). So what are everyone's favorite episodes? Least favorite? When did you first watch the show? Have quite a number of favourite episodes, but I'd rank Over and Out as my favourite...a Twilight Zone version of Adam & Eve. I first caught it way back in the 90s on Sci-Fi channel, and it seems to be a New Year's ritual with back to back episodes for an entire day. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 15, 2014 17:31:24 GMT -5
I'm old enough to remember watching the next-to-last season in its original broadcast.That was the year they were one hour long.I think the first show I ever watched was the one they found a submerged submarine from WWII at the bottom of the ocean.And something inside the sub was banging away on and off
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 18:14:05 GMT -5
I'm old enough to remember watching the next-to-last season in its original broadcast.That was the year they were one hour long.I think the first show I ever watched was the one they found a submerged submarine from WWII at the bottom of the ocean.And something inside the sub was banging away on and off I used to think I'd seen every episode, but Twilight Zone is available on Netflix Instant Watch (except for the season with the hour-long episodes) and I know there are a few I haven't seen. I started at the beginning and I'll watch 10 or 20 episodes and then stop for a while. I think I'm in the middle of Season Three. The most recent one I watched was the Buster Keaton episode, which is pretty good.
Ish, that episode with the submarine sounds great! But I've never seen it.
I think my favorite episode is the one with Jackie Cooper as the dude with the evil ventriloquist dummy. At the end, the dummy wants to team up with the little girl (who was later on Dallas, I think).
Or maybe "The Howling Man." Or the Talking Tina episode, with Telly Savalas. Or "To Serve Man." Or the one where Billy Mumy can do anything he wants! (His name is Anthony, which is my first name. When I was a kid, I wanted those powers! I used to dream about sending people to the cornfield.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 18:18:15 GMT -5
This thread reminded me it's probably time to watch more episodes in my Netflix Twilight Zone project. So that's what I'm doing now. Next up: Five Characters in Search of an Exit. I remember this one very well.
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Post by Jesse on Jul 15, 2014 18:44:33 GMT -5
One of my all-time favorite TV series as well. I think that the '83 movie was also quite good. John Lithgow gave an excellent performance in the remake of the iconic William Shatner episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". Plus Burgess Meredith returned as the narrator. Favorite episodes"Time Enough at Last" Burgess Meredith would appear in the series a few times but this is by far the best and one of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes. He plays a bookworm who wishing for more time to read finds himself the only survivor after an H-Bomb explosion. I love the final scene where his glasses break at the end. "The Invaders" one of the best episodes of the series it contains virtually no dialogue. A woman is terrorized when a miniature flying saucer lands on her roof and two tiny robots emerge. Just a fantastic episode with a really cool reveal. "The Obsolete Man" another excellent Burgess Meredith episode set in a dystopia where the State has outlawed books. He plays a librarian sentenced to death that is allowed to choose the method of his execution. Some really interesting commentary on society in this one. "Nick of Time" not William Shatner's best episode of the series but very entertaining. When his car breaks down he enters a diner with his girlfriend and he becomes obsessed with a fortune telling machine that he's convinced can predict the future. "To Serve Man" is worth checking out solely to see what The Simpsons Tree House of Horror episode is based on. It doesn't disappoint despite the ending being spoiled. "Living Doll" another of many episodes parodied by The Simpsons. When the toy doll says "My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you" it's one of the creepiest things in the entire series. "Elegy" When astronauts land on an asteroid they find that it resembles Earth and that everyone else seems frozen in time. Really eerie atmosphere throughout this episode and an excellent reveal. "The Monsters are due on Maple Street" That's easily one of the best episodes of the series I first caught it way back in the 90s on Sci-Fi channel, and it seems to be a New Year's ritual with back to back episodes for an entire day. Syfy Channel still runs a few marathons on holidays. |
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Post by berkley on Jul 15, 2014 18:50:05 GMT -5
Couldn't swear to it, but I might've read some of Serling's adaptations in paperback as a kid before I ever saw any episodes of the show, which would've been cancelled a few years earlier. Or maybe I'm thinking of Night Gallery (minus the "cancelled a few years earlier" part, though I can't really recall watching it while it was on). That's definitely the case with me as far as The Twilight Zone is concerned: read a Rod Serling TZ book as a kid in the late 60s or very early 70s, but didn't see the show until they started playing it late nights on local tv in I think the mid-to-late 70s. Night Gallery, OTOH, I remember watching - and being scared to death by - as a kid when it first aired. The box set of the first season of TZ includes an excellent book with a fairly sustantial bio of Rod Serling (~15 pages - just took it out to check these numbers), plus another 10 pages on the genesis of the show, and then 400+ pages of info on each individual episode of the entire 5 year run. I haven't gotten round to watching it much yet, so my favourite episodes are mostly based on distant memories of when I first saw them back in the 70s. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 19:08:29 GMT -5
I didn't see it much as a kid. But sometimes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I might see it at the house of a friend who had cable, or I might see a few episodes when visiting out-of-state relatives who had more channels than we did in Indiana.
But starting in the 1980s, I watched it a lot more. Between Nick at Nite and TV Land and those TZ marathons in L.A. (one of the channels showed TZ all day Labor Day for years. They might still do it) I went through long periods where I watched TZ regularly for years.
As I've been going through the Netfix episodes, I've come across ten or twelve episodes that I don't remember at all. The episodes I've never seen aren't the particularly good ones. (Except for the Art Carney episode. That's a really good one that I'm sure I had never seen before.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 19:13:21 GMT -5
Favorite episodes"Time Enough at Last" Burgess Meredith would appear in the series a few times but this is by far the best and one of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes. He plays a bookworm who wishing for more time to read finds himself the only survivor after an H-Bomb explosion. I love the final scene where his glasses break at the end. "The Invaders" one of the best episodes of the series it contains virtually no dialogue. A woman is terrorized when a miniature flying saucer lands on her roof and two tiny robots emerge. Just a fantastic episode with a really cool reveal. "The Obsolete Man" another excellent Burgess Meredith episode set in a dystopia where the State has outlawed books. He plays a librarian sentenced to death that is allowed to choose the method of his execution. Some really interesting commentary on society in this one. "Nick of Time" not William Shatner's best episode of the series but very entertaining. When his car breaks down he enters a diner with his girlfriend and he becomes obsessed with a fortune telling machine that he's convinced can predict the future. I forgot some really good ones! Burgess Meredith and William Shatner are a couple of great repeat offenders on TZ. (I especially like "Nick of Time." The devil on the fortune-telling machine is a riot! And this is one of the episodes where I sometimes wonder what happened to the main characters. Did getting out of that town lead to a normal life? Or did they have weird existential adventures for many years?
Another repeat offender is Jack Klugman.
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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 15, 2014 19:16:15 GMT -5
Other all time favorites of mine:
"Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" - Very similar setup to TMADOMS. The setting of the diner allows for a great mix of character types and the twist at the end is great.
"I Show an Arrow into the Air"- Astronauts crash land their ship on what appears to be a barren asteroid. Slowly, paranoia and fear overcomes them as they fear they may not have enough supplies to all survive. The ironic ending is both humorous and saddening.
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Post by Jesse on Jul 15, 2014 19:23:06 GMT -5
I think the first show I ever watched was the one they found a submerged submarine from WWII at the bottom of the ocean.And something inside the sub was banging away on and off "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" with Bill Bixby is an excellent episode. "I Show an Arrow into the Air"- Astronauts crash land their ship on what appears to be a barren asteroid. Slowly, paranoia and fear overcomes them as they fear they may not have enough supplies to all survive. The ironic ending is both humorous and saddening. I like that one too. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 19:25:16 GMT -5
The guy who played The Major in "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" is William Windom, who was in a lot of stuff, but he is probably most famous for playing Commodore Decker in the Star Trek Episode "Doomsday Machine."
"Five Characters in Search of an Author" is another episode where I wonder what happened to the characters. Did they form a more complex society as more dolls were added to the charity bin? Did the Tramp ever assert himself and say he preferred being called the Hobo? Were the original characters split up when the dolls were eventually distributed to the orphans? Did the Major and the Ballerina get married? (You can tell they had a thing.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 19:33:45 GMT -5
Other all time favorites of mine: "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" - Very similar setup to TMADOMS. The setting of the diner allows for a great mix of character types and the twist at the end is great. This is another really good one. I do believe this is the only episode I've gone back and watched again since starting the Netflix TZ project.
I forgot how much I love "The After Hours" with Anne Francis, and the one with Vera Miles in the bus station. So creepy!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 15, 2014 19:46:41 GMT -5
Up next: A Quality of Mercy
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