The Key of Imagination

[Karl Henning]

Next is another Richard Matheson script. "Death-Ship." My position is that all of the shows in which Jack Klugman appears are indeed very good shows: "Passage for Trumpet." "A Game of Pool," "In Praise of Pip," and, yes, "Death-Ship." Before re-watching the show, i.e., just watching Serling's "next week on Twilight Zone teaser, I remember liking and thinking well of the episode.

The story is a kind of time/space conundrum which messes with the heads of the characters, a crew aboard a spaceship orbiting a planet they are still considering landing upon. They do land, finding and seeing very strange things. Actual viewing affirms my recollection of enjoying this one very much.

[Karl Henning]

Since the idea is to test the thesis which of the hour-long episodes may be tedious, I've meant to watch perhaps one per evening. However, from what I recalled, there was no risk of tedium in the next, so I did watch a second episode last night.

"Jess-Bell" is a folk tale by Earl Hamner, Jr with a jealous woman, witchery, hillbilly hag and a cautionary reminder that whether on the set of Twilight Zone or that of Conan the Barbarian, a leopard is a cat not to be trifled with. Overall, a top-tier episode, I think. How could Billy Ben Turner know that you can't kill a witch that easily?

[Karl Henning]

Next is another Charles Beaumont script: "Miniature." Keeping in mind that my theme this go-around is, Is the episode too long at an hour? ... in this case, I think that's the wrong question. Here, the question is, given a show whose central conflict is between Robt Duvall and Wm Windom, who would wish it shorter? Duvall is the central character (or, the central human character) living in a kind of sitcom family: he still lives with his mother, his sister tries to fix him up with a date and his brother-in-law tries to swing him a job at the plant. Windom is the doctor who treats Duvall, whose mental state is in doubt as he is convinced that he has seen a living being in a dollhouse on exhibit at the local museum.

[Karl Henning]

Next is Charles Beaumont's "Printer's Devil." Very nearly on par with Jack Klugman, I find three of the four episodes featuring Burgess Meredith to rank in the Zone's first tier. The exception, "Mr Dingle, the Strong" is one of the comic episodes which, while well shy of an outright turkey, is not great.

In a delightful subversion of a comparable scene in It's a Wonderful Life, Meredith intercepts the editor of a small-town newspaper before he casts himself off a bridge. His linotype operator has quit, to go work for the new syndicate-owned competitor, and the editor ( Doug Winter) sees that loss as the end of his paper. Unlike Geo. Bailey's Clarence, Meredith (Mr Smith) is not really solicitous towards Winter, teasing him on the inefficiency of the method ("you might just wind up with a head-cold.") "If it doesn't interfere with your plans, would you give me a ride into town?"
They talk over a drink, and lo! Mr Smith is himself a linotype operator, as well as a reporter. He "auditions" by punching out a story on the linotype machine lightning-fast (despite remarking that the action is a bit slow, "I'll have to make a few modifications.") Smith goes to work for Winter, the paper's fortunes turn, and as a reporter, Smith has an uncanny knack of getting a story so that they take it to press before the news has time to cool off. There's a delightful devil's bargain scene in which Smith teases Winter for almost seeming to believe that the devil might be real, even as he cajoles Winter into affixing his name to the parchment. So far from the story dragging at an hour, I think it one of the most exciting episodes in the whole series, with the pot sweetened by Winter's girlfriend's life imperiled, and with a time set, and again, we wonder how the desperate Winter is going to get out of the infernal contract, but Beaumont's solution is brilliantly simple.

[Karl Henning]

I've noticed this time around (meaning my viewing the entire series) that there are fewer commentary tracks than I seemed to think before. Maybe my memory on that point got knocked askew by the wealth of commentary on the blu-ray edition of Night Gallery. There is a commentary track on "Printer's Devil." I remember there being one on "In His Image," as well. Hold that thought. In my personal chronology, I watched the series on DVD first, listening now and then to the commentary provided. I believe that it was as a result of listening to Marc Zicree's commentary that I learnt of his book, The Twilight Zone Companion, so my reading this book came after I had already seen the whole series. and therefore had a frame of reference.

Returning to last night, after watching "Printer's Devil" I listened to a interview between Zicree and Burgess Meredith, and I was nearly done and prepared to move on. But somehow, I found myself listening to the commentary, which was given by Zicree and someone else (another writer, and no one specifically attached to the series.) The commentary back-and-forth between them is generally interesting, but I did notice that they both took it as a settled point between them that there is "padding" in the fourth season. Also, that they seemed to agree (without indicating where there was fat to be trimmed) that "Printer's Devil" itself is somehow "padded." A light bulb went off. Without necessarily denying that there may be actual instances of "padding," I consider that the bee was set in my bonnet by Zicree, in commentary and in his book, and his fellow commentator(s) treating it as somehow an established fact. I'm not going to suggest that they aren't entitled to their opinion, and perhaps Zicree was in part trying to avoid coming across as a hagiographer, by having some few negative remarks on offer. Really, I suppose I'm just un-peeling my own onion, as it were. I'm finding myself on the whole pleased that I am finding so little potential tedium in the fourth season, thus far, at any rate.

[Cato]

Hi Karl!

Somehow I have completely missed this topic in the past months!   

Many thanks for your thoughts on these works!

Quickly, you mentioned Burgess Meredith as almost a repertory player for Rod Serling's scripts!

Some, perhaps many, do not know about his excellent performance in the film version of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men matched by the equally excellent Lon Chaney Jr..  The latter was known mainly for B-movies and in particular for Universal's legion of horror movies.

But in this movie Burgess Meredith proved that his strengths as a stage actor translated to movies, and Lon Chaney, Jr. proved that, given "A" material, he was equal to the task, portraying Lenny perfectly as pathetic, dangerous, child-like, and doomed.

[Karl Henning]

Some, perhaps many, do not know about his excellent performance in the film version of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men matched by the equally excellent Lon Chaney Jr..  The latter was known mainly for B-movies and in particular for Universal's legion of horror movies.

I've only just learnt of this via the "Printer's Devil" Commentary. Definitely on the "to scare up" list!

[Karl Henning]

TD:

As against the putative "worst case" of taking a perfectly good half-hour show and distending it out to an hour, for "No Time Like the Past," Rod Serling combines, modifies and mildly expands on "Back There," in which a Washingtonian finds himself in a position to try to foil Jn Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln, and "Walking Distance," in which a frazzled businessman revisits the summer when he was a carefree 12-year-old. The main character in "No Time Like the Past" is Paul Driscoll, profoundly unhappy with the 20^th century. He uses a time machine to intercede in the past, but he fails to convince a police official to evacuate Hiroshima, fails also to shoot Hitler, and has no better luck when asking the Captain of the Lusitania to change course. Having struck out, he decides instead to avoid the darned century altogether, and has his friend/assistant send him to a quiet Indiana town in the year 1881. He and the fetching school-teacher are on the verge of becoming "an item" when Driscoll is reminded that the schoolhouse will burn down the next afternoon, injuring a dozen children. He unsuccessfully argues with himself to let it be, but ultimately cannot help himself, and in attempting to stop the event which is to cause the fire, he winds up being the catalyst, himself. The combination of disappointment in himself in this, and the unbridgeable distance between him and Abbie convince him to return to the time where he belongs, and he resolves to "leave the yesterdays alone and do something about the tomorrows." It's amusing to find that Doc Brown later succeeds (in Back to the Future III) where Driscoll fails/gives up.

[relm1]

That was a good episode.  I liked how Greek tragedy-esque it was, that fate is unavoidable and when we try to change it, our actions themselves are what cause fate to play out as it always would be.

"Back There" was a favorite of mine.  Fantastic score too by Jerry Goldsmith who used a piano in the modern age sequences then a harpsichord in the historic age with those cool major minor 7 chords. 

[Karl Henning]

Next is "The Parallel," another Serling script. Earlier in the series, "Person or Persons Unknown" by Chas Beaumont features a chap who wakes up late to work after a party the night before, and oh, doesn't he wish he merely suffered from a hangover. His wife fails to recognize him, seems not even to know who he is, and is about call the Police. Hey, wouldn't you? In Serling's story, an astronaut goes up into orbit, contact with ground control is lost briefly, and later when he finally lands, everything is just over the fence from normal. Unlike the Beaumont story, Mrs Astronaut knows her husband, but he does behave differently (the most superficial thing being, he went up into space at a lower rank) and he freaks out his own daughter.

That said, the earlier episode with which "The Parallel" shares the most DNA is Serling's stunning "Mirror Image," in which first Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) and then the well-meaningly helpful Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner) are by turns tormented, then apparently replaced by their counterparts from a parallel earth. In "The Parallel," while in orbit, Major Gaines somehow jumps tracks and returns not home, per se, but to the parallel Earth, where no one at Ground Control knows who "President Kennedy" is (the show aired 14 Mar 1963.) It is this Senator's opinion that "The Parallel" is, simply, a solid hour show.

This evening I listened to Zicree's commentary (I watched the episode itself last night) and ... not to deny him the right to his own opinion, and he obviously put a lot of work into his book, and I think he may have been a key motivator in organizing the series' release on DVD back when. My working hypothesis is that he feels Twilight Zone is inherently a half-hour show, and he takes it as read that the hour-long shows are not unusual, but a genuine aberration (why do I think of Procrustes?). So, he remarks more than once to the effect that "The Parallel" would make a zippy 30-minute show, but IMO doesn't tell us where the supposed "fat" is. He says he'd love to see "a fan's" half-hour edit, but where he'd like to benefit from someone else doing the work, he just assumes that that is the desired result. Anyway, my purpose is to see for myself if I believe there are hourlong episodes which I find tedious, and which they are, or not.

[relm1]

Next is "The Parallel," another Serling script. Earlier in the series, "Person or Persons Unknown" by Chas Beaumont features a chap who wakes up late to work after a party the night before, and oh, doesn't he wish he merely suffered from a hangover. His wife fails to recognize him, seems not even to know who he is, and is about call the Police. Hey, wouldn't you? In Serling's story, an astronaut goes up into orbit, contact with ground control is lost briefly, and later when he finally lands, everything is just over the fence from normal. Unlike the Beaumont story, Mrs Astronaut knows her husband, but he does behave differently (the most superficial thing being, he went up into space at a lower rank) and he freaks out his own daughter.

That said, the earlier episode with which "The Parallel" shares the most DNA is Serling's stunning "Mirror Image," in which first Millicent Barnes (Vera Miles) and then the well-meaningly helpful Paul Grinstead (Martin Milner) are by tormented, then apparently replaced by their counterparts from a parallel earth. In "The Parallel," while in orbit, Major Gaines somehow jumps tracks and returns not home, per se, but to the parallel Earth, where no one at Ground Control knows who "President Kennedy" is (the show aired 14 Mar 1963.) It is this Senator's opinion that "The Parallel" is, simply, a solid hour show.

This evening I listened to Zicree's commentary (I watched the episode itself last night) and ... not to deny him the right to his own opinion, and he obviously put a lot of work into his book, and I think he may have been a key motivator in organizing the series' release on DVD back when. My working hypothesis is that he feels Twilight Zone is inherently a half-hour show, and he takes it as read that the hour-long shows are not unusual, but a genuine aberration (why do I think of Procrustes?). So, he remarks more than once to the effect that "The Parallel" would make a zippy 30-minute show, but IMO doesn't tell us where the supposed "fat" is. He says he'd love to see "a fan's" half-hour edit, but where he'd like to benefit from someone else doing the work, he just assumes that that is the desired result. Anyway, my purpose is to see for myself if I believe there are hourlong episodes which I find tedious, and which they are, or not.

Zicree's background is as a screenwriter as he wrote a few scripts for Star Trek TNG and the subsequent shows.  He is thinking in terms of strict story telling rather than an audience.  I generally agree that the one hour shows lose something in pacing on the original 30 minutes but still enjoy quite a few of them.  I always loved the long pacing of "on thursday we leave for home" feeling if it was 30 minutes, you would lose the natural unfolding of how the delusions and disillusionment gradually overtake Benteen how badly you wish the rescue ship made one last attempt to rescue him.

[Karl Henning]

Zicree's background is as a screenwriter as he wrote a few scripts for Star Trek TNG and the subsequent shows.  He is thinking in terms of strict story telling rather than an audience.  I generally agree that the one hour shows lose something in pacing on the original 30 minutes but still enjoy quite a few of them.  I always loved the long pacing of "on thursday we leave for home" feeling if it was 30 minutes, you would lose the natural unfolding of how the delusions and disillusionment gradually overtake Benteen how badly you wish the rescue ship made one last attempt to rescue him.

Interesting. Yes, some of the hour shows are simply good hour shows, and not ... whatever. I don't recall seeing Zicree credited on TNG (and I would have thought that his name would strike my eye.) Do you recall any episode that he wrote, offhand? Also, I'm a composer, but I might find it time and energy misspent, contemplating a piece of music which is of itself well written, thinking, how would I do it differently, to reduce the duration?

[Karl Henning]

I was mildly surprised by "I Dream of Genie." On one hand, I found myself thinking the episode rather uninspired (which accorded with my recollection) or, let us say, generally uninspired save for the ending. I hadn't remembered the ending until it was upon me, a refreshment which I want to honor. Still, the bottom line is: I'll stipulate that this would have done better as a half-hour show.

[relm1]

Interesting. Yes, some of the hour shows are simply good hour shows, and not ... whatever. I don't recall seeing Zicree credited on TNG (and I would have thought that his name would strike my eye.) Do you recall any episode that he wrote, offhand? Also, I'm a composer, but I might find it time and energy misspent, contemplating a piece of music which is of itself well written, thinking, how would I do it differently, to reduce the duration?

This is him. 

  I see him all the time randomly, like at a movie or concert.  I actually frequently do story/music criticism - partially how I was trained was after any work got performed, the teacher would ask the class - what could have improved it?  That question was asked so often, I internalize it always wondering, how could it be better?

He wrote TNG S4.15 "First Contact" where Riker is disguised as an alien whose species is very suspicious of progressive ideas, except for the scientist alien.  He also did DS9 S6.13 "Far beyond the stars".

[Karl Henning]

This is him. 

  I see him all the time randomly, like at a movie or concert.  I actually frequently do story/music criticism - partially how I was trained was after any work got performed, the teacher would ask the class - what could have improved it?  That question was asked so often, I internalize it always wondering, how could it be better?

He wrote TNG S4.15 "First Contact" where Riker is disguised as an alien whose species is very suspicious of progressive ideas, except for the scientist alien.  He also did DS9 S6.13 "Far beyond the stars".

That was a good TNG episode. 

[LKB]

I watched " Mute " several days ago. I detected bits of padding here and there, but nothing fatal. My biggest criticisms would be in the casting and structure areas.

I thought the young actress was too old for her reactions and behavior ( It might be argued that being sequestered by her parents could arrest her development, and l think that may have even been suggested during the episode ).

I also think the German would-be rescuers should have been introduced considerably earlier. It would have allowed their outlook to evolve more naturally to its final state. As it is, their change of heart seems sudden and not entirely logical.

Not a bad episode, and l had the pleasure of recognizing the agreeable Oscar Beregi from an earlier season.

[Karl Henning]

Oscar Beregi

Great character actor!

[Karl Henning]

Much as I love to see Martin Balsam in Twilight Zone, and while "The New Exhibit" is beautifully shot, I'll stipulate that this would have been sharper as a half-hour show. 

[Karl Henning]

Much as I love to see Martin Balsam in Twilight Zone, and while "The New Exhibit" is beautifully shot, I'll stipulate that this would have been sharper as a half-hour show.

John Brahm directed it so exquisitelt]y, I still have to call it very good. The arrival to the ending isn't really convincing.

[Karl Henning]

Very fond recollections of "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville." Another episode which is simply a good hourlong show.