The Key of Imagination

[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.

Another episode whose theoretical abbreviation I would not protest is "The Incredible World of Horace Ford." I have come to like it rather better than the first time I saw it, though.

[Karl Henning]

Another episode whose theoretical abbreviation I would not protest is "The Incredible World of Horace Ford." I have come to like it rather better than the first time I saw it, though.

Watching again, this time listening to Zicree's commentary. I may wind up repenting of disapproving of its length, as curiously, Zicree argues (in concert with a fellow commentator) that it's a great episode.

[Karl Henning]

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.

"On Thursday We Leave for Home" is indeed one of the best episodes of the series. James Whitmore does a splendid job of playing "Captain" Benteen, the man whose determination and versatility kept the colonists alive on a hot rock of a planet, and who has no wish to release the power he has over "my people." He's no George Washington, and the conclusion is heart-searingly pathetic. A superb script by Mister Serling. Whitmore does such a good job, I'd mistakenly thought the role was played by Jack Warden.
The authors of Rod Serling's Night Gallery: an After-Hours Tour, Scott Skelton and Jim Benson were asked to provide a commentary on this episode for the Blu-ray release. They inform us of Serling's own précis of the fourth season. It is from Serling himself that we get the opinion that overall there was padding in shows which "ought to have been" a half hour. In his estimation, "On Thursday We Leave for Home" was the best episode of the season. "Yes, I wrote it, but I over-wrote it." Not at all unusually for such a fine writer, he could at times be overly harsh about his own work.

[relm1]

"On Thursday We Leave for Home" is indeed one of the best episodes of the series. James Whitmore does a splendid job of playing "Captain" Benteen, the man whose determination and versatility kept the colonists alive on a hot rock of a planet, and who has no wish to release the power he has over "my people." He's no George Washington, and the conclusion is heart-searingly pathetic. A superb script by Mister Serling. Whitmore does such a good job, I'd mistakenly thought the role was played by Jack Warden.
The authors of Rod Serling's Night Gallery: an After-Hours Tour, Scott Skelton and Jim Benson were asked to provide a commentary on this episode for the Blu-ray release. They inform us of Serling's own précis of the fourth season. It is from Serling himself that we get the opinion that overall there was padding in shows which "ought to have been" a half hour. In his estimation, "On Thursday We Leave for Home" was the best episode of the season. "Yes, I wrote it, but I over-wrote it." Not at all unusually for such a fine writer, he could at times be overly harsh about his own work.

He was quite self critical.  I think one of the greatest TZ episodes is Walking Distance, which makes me cry every time I watch it.  Serling was quite critical of the writing.  He said in an interview that some of it no longer reads true or authentic to the characters and he would have written it differently later in life. 

Agree with your assessment on James Whitmore, he's a very likable character actor - was so, so good in Shawshank Redemption with another heart-searingly pathetic arche.  He makes a great "everyman" who despite all best intent and effort, fails badly by his own doing. 

[Karl Henning]

He was quite self critical.  I think one of the greatest TZ episodes is Walking Distance, which makes me cry every time I watch it.  Serling was quite critical of the writing.  He said in an interview that some of it no longer reads true or authentic to the characters and he would have written it differently later in life. 

Agree with your assessment on James Whitmore, he's a very likable character actor - was so, so good in Shawshank Redemption with another heart-searingly pathetic arche.  He makes a great "everyman" who despite all best intent and effort, fails badly by his own doing. 

In their commentary, Skelton and Benson beg to differ with Serling. They find "On Th. We Leave...." nearly perfect from end to end. And, agreed on the excellence of "Walking Distance."

[Karl Henning]

It would never be anyone's choice of "best Zone episode," nor of "best Chas Beaumont script," but I'm very fond of "Passage on the Lady Anne." Mitigating against the "too long" argument, I think, is that the story is more about Mr & Mrs Ransome, and whether their marriage will survive, than the fantasy element. We needed to spend the time with this couple, and with their interactions with their fellow passengers to make the last scene work, when Allan Ransome says, "I thought you people cared for us," and his wife Eileen looks around at their faces and says, "they do." Another strong asset of the episode is the cast, headed by Gladys Cooper and Wilfred Hyde-White. I find the episode very touching ever since first watching it at a delicate time in my own life.

[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.

[Karl Henning]

It is from Serling himself that we get the opinion that overall there was padding in shows which "ought to have been" a half hour. In his estimation, "On Thursday We Leave for Home" was the best episode of the season. "Yes, I wrote it, but I over-wrote it."

Even as I posted this, I suspected that the source is Zicree's book (and that therefore, I might have recalled this, myself (allowing for my having read the book sometime before the stroke.)

[LKB]

... I think one of the greatest TZ episodes is Walking Distance, which makes me cry every time I watch it...

This is also how l respond to the episode, a result of strong writing and performances, Bernard Herrmann's score, and the wistful story, which l connect with on a personal level.

( My eleventh year was one of the best l ever had, and when I'm feeling particularly old, or life is uncomfortably complicated, or the world seems to be filled with sorrow and threat, my yearning for that golden year  is a very powerful force, if only briefly. )

It is also poignant to view the episode knowing how Gig Young ended up, years later.

[Karl Henning]

This is also how l respond to the episode, a result of strong writing and performances, Bernard Herrmann's score, and the wistful story, which l connect with on a personal level.

( My eleventh year was one of the best l ever had, and when I'm feeling particularly old, or life is uncomfortably complicated, or the world seems to be filled with sorrow and threat, my yearning for that golden year  is a very powerful force, if only briefly. )

It is also poignant to view the episode knowing how Gig Young ended up, years later.

A wonderfully touching episode, and the score is certainly a key element (no pun intended.)

[Karl Henning]

I'd forgotten that Herrmann scored "Living Doll."

[relm1]

I'd forgotten that Herrmann scored "Living Doll."

Yes, scored for a very small ensemble of bass clarinet (always at its lowest register), 2 harps, and celesta. Crazy how TZ it sounds with such a small ensemble.

[Karl Henning]

Yes, scored for a very small ensemble of bass clarinet (always at its lowest register), 2 harps, and celesta. Crazy how TZ it sounds with such a small ensemble.

Aye, both Herrmann for Twilight Zone and Jerry Goldsmith for Zone and Thriller worked expertly with small ensembles 

[Karl Henning]

"Ninety Years Without Slumbering." Serling bought the idea from Geo. Clayton Johnson, and farmed the screenplay out. Might be the last of the Herrmann soundtracks for the series. And a great performance by Ed Wynn.

[Karl Henning]

In my survey of season 5, I wasn't going to watch "Ring-a-Ding Girl," but I compromised by listening to the commentary by Jim Benson & Scott Skelton. They try to make a case for the episode, largely based on sympathy for the principal actress' personal struggles, and in her putting in a good performance, carrying the episode, but I'm not sold on it. The next episode is "You Drive," which I remember pretty much liking, even while I mightn't call it a great episode. In a way, it makes me smile, in anticipating in some respects Stephen King's Christine. I love finding instances of this, as King has been famously snobby towards TZ. I mean, he's clearly a great success, so why rag on something generally regarded as a classic?

[Karl Henning]

I do really like "You Drive," which Earl Hamner, Jr wrote to express indignation at a real-life hit-&-run accident which killed a boy. The author himself felt that Edward Andrews did a superb job as the unconscionable motorist, and felt this was his favorite from among his own TZ shows.

[LKB]

I'm a long way from any sort of " Stephen King expert ", but it seems to me that when a successful, high-profile personality within any field is dismissive towards another person or product of equal fame and/or historical standing, it may well denote an insecurity of some kind.

Twilight Zone has been regarded as iconic for decades... perhaps Mr. King fears he'll be forgotten after a similar span of years. ( Mere conjecture on my part, I haven't read anything by King since the '80's and haven't a clue as to his current relevance, or lack of same. )

[Karl Henning]

I'm a long way from any sort of " Stephen King expert ", but it seems to me that when a successful, high-profile personality within any field is dismissive towards another person or product of equal fame and/or historical standing, it may well denote an insecurity of some kind.

Twilight Zone has been regarded as iconic for decades... perhaps Mr. King fears he'll be forgotten after a similar span of years. ( Mere conjecture on my part, I haven't read anything by King since the '80's and haven't a clue as to his current relevance, or lack of same. )

The last time I actually tried reading King was when I had summer work at the Viking-Penguin Distribution Center (then in East Rutherford, NJ, subsequently moving to Tennessee.) King is/was their hottest author and that was when It was the latest. The writing just didn't draw me in. That said, I've found several movies/series based on his work that I like a lot.

[LKB]

"Ninety Years Without Slumbering." Serling bought the idea from Geo. Clayton Johnson, and farmed the screenplay out. Might be the last of the Herrmann soundtracks for the series. And a great performance by Ed Wynn.

Agreed, I just re-watched the episode. Ed Wynn steals every scene ( as usual ), and I remembered the score well enough to expect the clarinets accompanying the clock.

When it comes time to acquire one of my own, I'll have to stipulate the chimes in B-flat...

[Karl Henning]

I didn't remember any details of "The Self-improvement of Salvador Ross," but only a vague remembrance of disappointment in it. Maybe it's mostly registering the author's depiction of the title character and his inability to improve his soulless materialism. Or, perhaps a feeling that the fable is a shade too heavy-handed.