The Key of Imagination

[Karl Henning]

Like "The Self-improvement of Salvador Ross," "Black Leather Jackets," if not among the great episodes, is better than I seemed to remember it.

I find myself mysteriously dissatisfied with "No. 12 Looks Just Like You." Probably a feeling that the theme has been done so much more satisfactorily in other hands. 

[Karl Henning]

In large part thanks to Gladys Cooper owning the central role, Richard Matheson's "Night Call" is one of my favorite shows of the series. 

[Karl Henning]

Tonight, one of my favorite shows from the fifth season: Richard Matheson's "Spur of the Moment." 

[Karl Henning]

I don't say that they alone gainsay the hypothesis that the Fifth Season may generally not uphold the series' reputation, but I'm very fond of "Queen of the Nile" and "What's in the Box?" especially Sterling Holloway in the latter.

[Karl Henning]

The final episode of the fourth season is Rod Serling's "The Bard," a comic script which I consider a success. Jack Weston is well nigh brilliant as the untalented but dogged wannabe writer Julius Moomer who succeeds in conjuring Wm Shakespeare, played by John Williams with all his expected elegance and style. Plenty of "lines from Shakespeare" gags, which still make me smile. I don't know if the phrase "close in" was in general use as an antonym of "far out" or if it was Serling's own coinage, but the really close in element of "The Bard" is the interference by sponsors (especially the wonderful Jn McGiver), a significant factor in Serling's decision to launch The Twilight Zone. A special treat is Burt Reynolds doing an astonishingly sharp imitation of the young Marlon Brando. The show is shy of perfect, perhaps, but length is not any vice here.

"Act Break,"  from the New Twilight Zone in the 80's, starring Jas Coco as the writer (or the surviving writing partner) has a similar premise, though it is Coco who goes back in time to partner with Shakespeare. You need a boy from the Bronx to call the Swan of Avon a "schlemiel." The skit is short enough that it also reminds me of the attempted comic shorts of Night Gallery, only "Act Break" is actually amusing.

[Karl Henning]

Even though I'm not yet done with the fifth season of the original series, I've begun probably only my second run of the New Twilight Zone from the 80's. The opening script is "Shatterday," a wonderful one-man show starring Bruce Willis, based on a Harlan Ellison story, and directed by Wes Craven. It is followed by "A Little Peace and Quiet," which (I did not perceive the first time I watched it) has at heart the same premise as Serling's "A Kind of Stopwatch." I don't think they acknowledge the DNA. These two scripts together comprise the first episode.

[Karl Henning]

"Wordplay" is delightfully subversive. Robert Klein is a businessman who finds one fine day that words don't mean what he thinks they mean. But where this might play purely comedically, his son has a fever which worsens so, that they have to take him to hospital. 

[Karl Henning]

"Wordplay" is delightfully subversive. Robert Klein is a businessman who finds one fine day that words don't mean what he thinks they mean. But where this might play purely comedically, his son has a fever which worsens so, that they have to take him to hospital.

The climax of Episode 4, and (as it turned out) a kind of watershed for the series overall is the stunning "Nightcrawlers," a screenplay by series producer Philip DeGuere based on a Robert R. McCammon short story, directed by Wm Friedkin.

Executive producer Philip Deguere stated that CBS initially told him the show would air at 10 P.M., and therefore the earliest episodes were written with that time slot in mind. The late and unexpected rescheduling of the show to the 8 PM time slot (widely known as Family Viewing Hour, during which most viewers expect to be able to tune in with their whole family to shows which are appropriate for all ages) was considered by Deguere to be inappropriate given the content of the early episodes. He noted that the show dropped from a 30 share to a 22 share between episodes 4 and 5, and attributed this to episode 4 including the segment "Nightcrawlers", which he considered one of the most violent and disturbing works to have aired on television at the time.

[Cato]

The climax of Episode 4, and (as it turned out) a kind of watershed for the series overall is the stunning "Nightcrawlers," a screenplay by series producer Philip DeGuere based on a Robert R. McCammon short story, directed by Wm Friedkin.

I will need to experience this one and the others!

[Karl Henning]

"The Encounter" is an intense two-man show starring Geo. Takei and  Neville Brand as two deeply scarred men in mortal conflict in a crowded attic. It aired once, and then Japanese Americans who were understandably sensitive to the suggestion that Takei's character's father was a traitor at Pearl Harbor (the historical fact is that all Japanese Americans had been faithful to the Stars and Stripes) asked that it be suppressed. So when the series was released on DVD, it was the first time the episode was generally seen for what? 40 years. In a way, the episode is only borderline Twilight Zone, but it is superb, taut drama. 

[Karl Henning]

Finished up Season 5 last night. I skipped some episodes for which I personally didn't recall feeling any enthusiasm, and possibly I slighted one or two, since I found in my survey that some shows I remembered not being crazy about, "Black Leather Jackets," "Mr Garrity and the Graves," e.g. were better than I had recalled. Its flaws notwithstanding (and the commentary with author Earl Hamner, Jr is illuming there) I find I do enjoy "The Bewitchin' Pool." Overall, yes, there are more sub-par episodes in this season than in any of the earlier seasons, but the best of Season 5 rank with the series' best.

[Karl Henning]

"Dead Woman's Shoes" starring Helen Mirren as a frumpy young lady is the first of a number of remakes in The New Twilight Zone of episodes from the original series, in this case a Chas Beaumont script. I think it a very good adaptation, arguably the equal of the original. It's paired with the wonderful "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium." To be clear, unlike the original series, in this new iteration of the Zone, each episode comprises 2-4 stories.