JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonThe Twilight Zone: Seasons 1 to 5 (1959 – 1964)
July 18th 2008 00:05
Take A Leap of Intellectual Faith.
Each Season available individually in Australia. Box Set available on amazon.com
“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone” – Rod Serling
Omnipetent Lord Rod Serling
The Twilight Zone is the classic sci-fi anthology series that opened fervent minds and fed ravenous imaginations. Designed to twist consciousness, confronting audiences in the 1950’s and 60’s now it stands as a monument of inventiveness.
Premiering on network television in 1959 The Twilight Zone was the brainchild of former pugilist and WWII paratrooper turned television playwright Rod Serling (Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May). Serving as your host to an alternate dimension Serling carried psychological and physical battle scars, sharing his own complex existence on the page by penning 92 of the 156 episodes made.
Rod Serling opens The Twilight Zone
Demanding the viewer think about philosophical and sociological conundrums very much a part of our own real world. Seldom venturing into space, most of the stories take place on Earth in the mid 20th century, the same time as production.
Upon release it was never the ratings bonanza that its prestigious vintage suggests, in fact it was cancelled twice. Reworked and adapted numerous times since inception each stand alone 27 minute tale seems to have become the foundation for endless streams of movies, books and television series.
William Shatner in Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and other classics
John Doe says:
An elixir for inquisitive minds, watching the show in reruns as a child triggered an explosion of fresh brain cell activity, leaving young Doe obsessing over each episode’s riddles until the following week’s surreal injection. (The Outer Limits also deserves a mention here)
Shot in moody black and white, the stylistic tone shifts from bleak to magical, macabre to spiritual and between many other adjectives. What’s amazing is the sneaky optimism that sometimes shrouds the revelations in each slight of hand conclusion. There is a soothsayer quality in the subject matter that often makes the show truly prophetic.
Attracting a varied cavalcade of talent in front and behind the camera, Serling’s, regular writing collaborators included Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Duel) and Charles Beaumont (The 7 Faces of Dr Lao).
Commanding the set as Directors were names like Richard Donner (Superman, Goonies, Omen, Lethal Weapon), Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Killers, Dirty Harry) Stuart Rosenberg (Cool Hand Luke, The Amityville Horror) Lamont Johnson (The Ground Star Conspiracy), Jack Smight (Harper) and Elliot Silverstein. (A Man Called Horse)
Future stars and respected character actors are frequently centre stage. A few personal highlights: Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen, Point Blank), Warren Oates (The Wild Bunch, Two Lane Blacktop) Cliff Robertson (Spiderman, Three Days of The Condor), Burgess Meredith, (Rocky, The Penguin on Batman) Jack Klugman, (Quincy) William Shatner (Boston Legal, Star Trek) and Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Mission Impossible).
Selecting an outright favourite episode is as futile as the ability to see your own unchangeable destiny. As a kid JD procrastinated on The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, now again he finds himself doing the same. A study of the human races primal destructive mechanism that dwells on our evolved reliance on technology to keep suburban packs civilized.
The pot boiling Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Also from Season 1 Mirror Image stands out. It’s all about a smart, independent woman (Vera Miles) who is either going insane or has an identical counterpart ghosting her as she waits in a bus station.
From Season 4, He’s Alive starring Dennis Hopper as a needy extremist NAZI who gets an audience also seems to be wedged between the gray matter.
To Serve Man arrives in Season 2, Aliens come to Earth and promise peace and a sharing of ideas and technology. Hoping to better comprehend the visitors intentions a linguist attempts to translate their language using a book that could be titled “To Serve Man”.
Hail the opening 10 minutes of "To Serve Man"
Johnny was taken by surprise when he revisited Season 1 on DVD. Firstly the much parodied memorable opening score is nowhere to be seen until the following year. Watching each new series in succession you notice that Rod Serling’s enchanting monologue alters annually, becoming shorter, punchier.
All preconceptions of golden age quaintness were removed the instant the disc glided into the player at 1Am on a Saturday night. Every yarn dealing with timeless issues, many of the morality themes more prevalent today than the era they originally catered for. Some of the more confronting concepts may have been more richly mined since, but still the intelligent simplicity, economic telling and resonating effect remain as admirable and powerful as ever.
Now if only Rod Serling’s gothic and ghoulish counterpart Night Gallery can get a release.
A Top 20 compilation compiled by a diligent Twilight Zone fan
Plummett with the opening 10 minutes of a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
Steal a glimpse at Time Enough
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