felser Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 I just finished working my way through the five seasons of the original series. Here are my 10 favorite episodes, in approximate order. "Two" and "A Passage for Trumpet" are definitely #1 and #2 for me. The others can shift around. Not saying these are the 10 best (famous episodes like "To Serve Man" and "Eye of the Beholder" would belong on that list), but the ones that hit me the hardest. I cry at the end of "Two" every time I watch it, because I just totally get where both of the characters (Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery) are coming from on a very deep level. Montgomery is just brilliant in this - she has one word she says the entire episode, and that word is in Russian, yet I can totally "get" and care about her character. Same with Jack Klugman's character on "A Passage for Trumpet", you feel him. Two - Pittman A Passage for Trumpet - Serling Walking Distance - Serling Static - Beaumont A Stop At Willoughby - Serling Five Characters In Search Of An Exit - Petal/Serling On Thursday We Leave For Home - Serling I Am The Night - Color Me Black - Serling The Big Tall Wish - Serling Nightmare at 20,000 Feet -Matheson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 BTW, the hour long season 4 episodes came because TZ was not renewed after season 3 due to lack of sponsors, and they replaced it. But the replacement show, which was an hour long, bombed. So network offered Serling the opportunity to fill out the rest of the season following that cancellation (I assume sponsors must have been found), but the shows had to be an hour long. Serling hated the hour long format, and I agree that even the best of them ("On Thursday We Leave For Home", "Valley of the Shadow", "He's Alive", "The Parallel") would have been stronger in the 30 minute format. I'm up to date on a lot of the details of the show and of the DVD sets (the quality full-season ones are now available cheaply) if anyone has questions after all these years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 Is it not 1959? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 1 minute ago, rostasi said: Is it not 1959? It is. 1959-1964. With three subsequent revivals. I'm working through the 1985-1989 first revival right now. And they are splendid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 Just a note to say that my opinion on the Twilight Zone music has not changed since 2008, except to say that it is among my favorite music ever, not just favorite TV music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 1 hour ago, felser said: It is. 1959-1964. With three subsequent revivals. I'm working through the 1985-1989 first revival right now. And they are splendid. I was very pleasantly delighted by most of the recent-ish Jordan Peele seasons. Might be worth "skipping ahead" to get to those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 4 minutes ago, JSngry said: I was very pleasantly delighted by most of the recent-ish Jordan Peele seasons. Might be worth "skipping ahead" to get to those. Good to hear. I have them in the house (as well as the 2002-2003 Forest Whitaker ones), but have never seen any of them. Planning to get to them all over the coming months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 Yeah, Peele brought a real contemporary voice to them, something that I didn't always get from the other reboots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 Fans of the original Twilight Zone should check out The Black Mirror, if they haven't already. It does a great job of speaking to contemporary anxieties, just as TZ did with postwar anxieties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said: Fans of the original Twilight Zone should check out The Black Mirror, if they haven't already. It does a great job of speaking to contemporary anxieties, just as TZ did with postwar anxieties. I saw that doing some research, will try to get hold of it. How about Electric Dreams ? Any thoughts on that one? And older shows Amazing Stories, Outer Limits, Ray Bradbury Theater, and Thriller? I remember Outer Limits as a kid, but have never rewatched as an adult. Never saw the others. Edited February 1 by felser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 22 minutes ago, felser said: I saw that doing some research, will try to get hold of it. How about Electric Dreams ? Any thoughts on that one? And older shows Amazing Stories, Outer Limits, Ray Bradbury Theater, and Thriller? I remember Outer Limits as a kid, but have never rewatched as an adult. Never saw the others. Electric Dreams has some similarities to Black Mirror. I don't think it's quite as good, although as with any anthology series, particular episodes will be better than others. As for The Outer Limits, the first season was very good, but the second season was dumbed down. The network or production company basically cleaned house after the first season, and hired a new staff for the second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 I watched one episode of the 1980s revival and hated it, I never watched another episode. It was the idiotic rewrite about the story where a man found a stopwatch that caused everyone to freeze in place. The revised episode had a housewife yelling "Stop talking!" to freeze everything in place, which made even less sense. I figured if the rewrites were going to be that bad, I wasn't going to waste my time with the revived series. Surely Rod Serling wouldn't have approved had he lived. I was fortunate to get to hear Rod Serling in person when he visited Tulane University in 1974, the year before his death. He was absolutely fascinating and he had a great sense of humor as well. One of the funniest memories is when he stepped to the podium and said, "Good evening," there was a vocal response of amazement at hearing his famous baritone speaking voice that so many of us had grown up hearing on Twilight Zone reruns and his narration of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries. Night Gallery was a mixed bag because he didn't have creative control of the scripts and he hated the blackouts that were inserted as filler. Far better is the one season western he created starring Lloyd Bridge called The Loner, it is available on DVD. I need to watch the rest of the episodes, one guest starred Allan Sherman as a phony Civil War hero appointed sheriff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 13 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said: I watched one episode of the 1980s revival and hated it, I never watched another episode. I watched a few and didn't care for it either. Part of that may be my inherent distaste for the 1980s, but I didn't think it captured the mood or atmosphere of the original at all. Maybe if it had been titled something other than Twilight Zone, I might have received it differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvopedz Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 12 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said: I watched one episode of the 1980s revival and hated it, I never watched another episode. About 20 years ago I watched an episode that featured Jessica Simpson - she was beautiful, but I never watched another episode again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted February 1 Report Share Posted February 1 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Ken Dryden said: I watched one episode of the 1980s revival and hated it, I never watched another episode. It was the idiotic rewrite about the story where a man found a stopwatch that caused everyone to freeze in place. The revised episode had a housewife yelling "Stop talking!" to freeze everything in place, which made even less sense. I figured if the rewrites were going to be that bad, I wasn't going to waste my time with the revived series. Surely Rod Serling wouldn't have approved had he lived. I was fortunate to get to hear Rod Serling in person when he visited Tulane University in 1974, the year before his death. He was absolutely fascinating and he had a great sense of humor as well. One of the funniest memories is when he stepped to the podium and said, "Good evening," there was a vocal response of amazement at hearing his famous baritone speaking voice that so many of us had grown up hearing on Twilight Zone reruns and his narration of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" documentaries. Night Gallery was a mixed bag because he didn't have creative control of the scripts and he hated the blackouts that were inserted as filler. Far better is the one season western he created starring Lloyd Bridge called The Loner, it is available on DVD. I need to watch the rest of the episodes, one guest starred Allan Sherman as a phony Civil War hero appointed sheriff. I loved the original series, saw some of the original broadcasts as a child. Was overall disappointed by the Night Gallery series, though I watched much of it. Passed completely on the '80s revival because I assumed it couldn't be anywhere near the original. Edited February 1 by T.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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