PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Twilight Zone S4D2

Here's another disc with three of the hour long episodes of The Twilight Zone. I've been spacing these out, mostly because I've not got an urge to cram them in by the fistful. I'm just not feeling that spark when I watch them. I almost feel I should like them more than I do. I'm just more excited to see so many other programs. I liked watching Doc Martin much more than I did The Twilight Zone. Even Haven kept me popping the discs into the DVD player one after another. I try not to dwell on all that because I do enjoy them while they are playing out. Here's the episodes. 

He's Alive January 24 1963

Written by Rod and directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Dennis Hopper is a Nazi punk in 1963 USA. He's a frightened angry man who rails against the people he thinks are keeping America from being free. He has little idea on what it means to be free but he's outside yelling his message. One evening Dennis is visited by the spirit of Hitler who offers some advice in his speech giving and attitude. Dennis becomes popular and starts killing people on the Führer's advice. He has a man in his party killed to create a martyr and he kills an old man who opposes him. He'll have a pretty sad ending, never understanding where he went wrong, or where all the blood came from. It's a very timely episode that shows once more how poorly we are in getting our shit together. It was ok but it could have been a half hour show instead of the hour that it runs. I remember seeing this episode in the 1980s when one of the local channels was showing them in reruns. I would have missed most of these when they were originally broadcast, being up in Churchill for a year or so. There's an isolated score and Rod Serling blooper.

Mute January 31 1963

Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Stuart Rosenberg. A group of parents decide to involve their infant children in a language deprivation experiment to trigger telepathy. Most of the families in the experiment are in Europe but this family is in the US. Ten years pass and the parents in the US die in a fire. Ilse is their 12 year old daughter. She doesn't speak but she is telepathic. Sadly a bully of a school teacher and contact with regular folks destroy her abilities. When German members of the group come looking to find out why the US parents don't answer their mail they find that Ilse has lost her abilities. It isn't all bad for Ilse now she has a loving couple for parents. The German parents reveal that Ilse's parents did not treat her as a child but more like an experiment. It was ok but I think another story that might have been better shorter. There's a nice isolated score by Fred Steiner.

Death Ship February 7 1963

Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Don Medford. Jack Klugman, Ross Martin and Frederick Beir are spacemen who land on a planet. They see a crashed space ship that looks like their ship. They find bodies in the ship, ones that look like the three of them, and they freak out.

They have fantasies of their loved ones but Jack keeps bringing them back to the ship. They argue and fight over what it all means and eventually they figure they are caught in a loop, repeating, waiting for Jack to figure it all out. I enjoyed this best of the lot and it's one of the shows that I didn't remember. It's one of the stories that make the program as revered as it is and worth seeing. There's an interesting Audio Commentary by Marc Scott Zicree, a nice Ross Martin interview and an isolated score. I also liked the painting of the house that they used in the episode. Very 60s futuristic.

The Twilight Zone S4D1

The fourth season of The Twilight Zone changed a couple of things on the show. They dropped "The" in the title and they made the episodes an hour long. The show had failed to get a sponsor in the fall and had been replaced on the schedule with an hour long sitcom which failed to get the ratings and got cancelled. They asked Rod to bring back Twilight Zone as the mid-season replacement in the hour long slot. Producer Buck Houghton had left the series when it failed to get on the schedule and Herbert Hirschman was hired to replace him. Serling provided a lot of the scripts but he was pretty much absent during the actual production of the season and the program suffers from all of those changes. I'm curious to see these, I had seen some of them in the mid 1980s when they were on cable, but I can hardly remember anything about them. I don't remember seeing them when they first aired.

In His Image  January 3 1963

Written by Charles Beaumont, adapted from his short story, and directed by Perry Lafferty. George Grizzard is standing on the subway platform waiting for the train. An old lady starts talking to him, wanting to know if he's been saved, and he tosses her under the incoming train. He runs out of the station and we join a woman in her apartment. George shows up there and it turns out he's her fiancé and they are going to visit his Aunt in his hometown. They arrive only to find no one knows who he is, there's no aunt and his university is completely gone. What's up? The fiancé leaves after George gets upset. George encounters a man who looks just like him and that man tells him what's going on. George is a robot and the man is the inventor. That a sucky day George has been having. He battles the inventor to the death and the inventor goes to visit the fiancé to start a new life. Not a bad story but I can already see that it would have been better in the shorter format. There's an isolated score and in interview with producer Herbert Hirschman.

The Thirty Fathom Grave  January 10 1963

Written by Rod Serling and directed by Perry Lafferty. A navy ship hears a noise from a sub 30 fathoms below. They send a diver down and discover that the sub was sunk in WWII and there's something making noise inside. The Chief has been acting weird since the ship got into the area. He was the only survivor of the sub. He dropped the light that showed the Japanese destroyer the subs location and his guilt has been eating him up for 20 years. He jumps into the sea and disappears. The don't find his body and that's the end of the show. Another one that could have been better shorter. Nice performances from Mike Kellin and Simon Oakland. Keep an eye out for Bill Bixby and John Considine. The extra is an episode of the TZ radio drama.

Valley Of The Shadow  January 17 1963

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Perry Lafferty. A reporter, Ed Nelson, stops for gas in a small town. He wants something to eat but the restaurant is closed. Before he gets his change his dog jumps out of the car to chase a cat. A small girl makes his dog disappear with a small device she had in her pocket. James Doohan plays the little girls dad. He brings the dog back. More odd things lead Ed to the secret of Peaceful Valley. A hundred years ago someone or thing brought a great technology to them and they have kept it from the world until they are ready. The guy now has to stay or die. He stays but soon as he gets a chance he kills the mayor and his pals and tries to escape. They have the ability to defeat death and the mayor and his pals are ok. They erase his memory and send him back into the world. Another story that might have been better shorter. There's an interview with Morgan Brittany who played the little girl. There's an isolated score.

I think the episodes lack the punch of the half hour format. Not sure why they didn't just do two shorter stories? By the time I get to the end of the hour long story I'm way ready to move on. There are only 18 episodes in the half season, three each on the 6 disc in the set. Eventually I'll finish them off.

The Twilight Zone S3D5

This is the last disc in the 3rd season. There are only 5 episodes on this disc but they do add a few extras to fill it up. The Extras include The Famous Writers School Promo, SciFi Channel Marathon Spots, Night Gallery Promo Spots, Season 3 Billboards, Season 3 Photo Gallery, The Twilight Zone Comic Book.

The Dummy  May 4 1962

Written by Rod and directed by Abner Biberman. Cliff Roberston has a ventrilquist dummy that controls his life. By the end of the episode he becomes the dummy and the dummy is a real man. Sucks for Cliff, huh. I remembered the episode from when I was a kid. I'm not too keen on this one but it's ok. There's a commentary by Cliff Robertson, an isolated score and a TW Radio Drama of the story.

Young Man's Fancy  May 11 1962

Written by Richard Matheson and directed by John Brahm. A stupid woman marries a man who's obsessed with his dead mother. How can people be so stupid? She waited 12 years to marry him and loses him to his dead mother and her house on their wedding day. I didn't remember this one but it's pretty forgettable even for a Matheson story. I would have expected better from him but there you go, can't hit a homer every time. There's an isolated score by Nathan Scott.

I Sing The Body Electric May 18 1962

Written by Ray Bradbury (based on his short story) and directed by James Sheldon and William Claxton. I don't know if I had read the story that Bradbury wrote before I saw the episode but I doubt it. I might have seen it when it was new, we were still living in Winnipeg at that time. Later in the year we'd move to Churchill and not see any tv for a year. I enjoyed both the story and the tv production. I often wished I had an electric grandmother. There's an isolated score by Van Cleave and an interview with Buck Houghton.

Cavender Is Coming  May 25 1962

Written by Rob and directed by Christian Nyby. Carol Burnett is a clumsy young lady and Jesse White is her cigar smoking guardian angel. He has to help her or he won't get his wings. Carol just lost her job and she's behind on the rent. Cavender tries to help her by making her rich. He puts $23,367.19 in her bank account. He tires to move her into the upper class society but that doesn't go so well. She really would like to go bowling with her friends. I didn't remember this one but I enjoyed the sillyness of it. Donna Douglas has a small cameo. There's an isolated score and a clip from The Gary Moore Show.

The Changing Of The Guard  June 1 1962

Written by Rob and directed by Robert Ellis Miller. An old professor, played by Donald Pleasance, is told he's being let go. He decides to kill himself because he can't go on but the ringing of a bell at the school stops him. When he gets to his old classroom some men appear to tell him he helped them grow up to be men. He's moved by their stories and can move on to his retirement. I didn't remember this one either but enjoyed it. Imparting knowledge is a good thing. There's an isolated score.

The Twilight Zone S3D4

 

I had been busy for one reason or another most of the last few sundays and hadn't made the time to return to The Twilight Zone. I'm still on the third season with two discs to go. Most of the discs have 8 episodes on them. Most of these have isolated scores for the extra.

The Fugitive  March 9 1962

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Richard L. Bare. J Pat O'Malley is an alien who lives on earth. He hangs out with the children of the neighborhood. Jenny is his best friend and she's got a leg brace on. Her aunt is a shrill woman played by Nancy Culp. Someone is looking for J Pat. He turns out to be the king from another planet. His subjects are looking for him, they want him back, he's a good king. I did remember the episode and that J Pat was the ruler of a planet before he told his secret to Jenny. It's all rather slight but mostly enjoyable.

Little Girl Lost  March 16 1962

Written by Richard Matheson from a short story published in his 1953 collection The Shores of Space and directed by Paul Stewart. I read that collection and it was pretty good. Some parents wake up to a cries of their daughter. They can't find her but they can hear her. They get their physicist friend to come over and when the dog disappears they  figure out that she fell into another dimension. Now they need to figure out how to get their daughter out. One of the episodes that I remember more clearly than most. 

Person Or Persons Unknown  March 23, 1962

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by John Brahm. Richard Long wakes up after an evening of drinking only to find out his wife doesn't know him. Everything he had is missing from their place and no one knows him at his job. I didn't remember this one but it was pretty good. It would be pretty scary wake up and no one knows who you are. 

The Little People  March 30 1962

Written by Rod Serling and directed by William Claxton. Two astronauts are on a planet repairing their space ship. One of them finds a race of tiny people and lords it over them. He terrifies them into building a life size statue of him. He forces the other astronaut to leave so he can be the god of the little people. He'll soon get his as size really doesn't matter in TTZ. This is another episode that I remember, especially the statue.

Four O'Clock  April 6 1962

Written by Rod Serling, adapted it from a story by Price Day from the 1959 collection Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 14 of My Favorites in Suspense, and directed by Lamont Johnson. Theodore Bickel is a crazy crank who believes the world is filled with evil people. He fights against them by harrassing their employers. It's not getting results so he develops a plan to make everyone evil 2 foot tall at 4 PM by sheer will alone. He's pretty sad when he shrinks. I didn't remember this one. It's ok but it's not going to be one of my favorites.

Hocus-Pocus and Frisby  April 13 1962

Written by Rod Serling, adapted from an unpublished story by Frederic Louis Fox, directed by Lamont Johnson. Andy Devine is a small town store owner who tells tall tales. When some aliens hear his tales they think he's the real thing and kidnap him for their zoo. Luckily for Andy he manages to escape. Of course no one believes him when he tells them what happened. It's another that I remember. Pretty silly to say the least.

The Trade-Ins  April 13 1962

Written by Rod Serling and directed by Elliot Silverstein. An old couple wants to trade in their old bodies for new ones. The husband tries to make money by gambling and nearly loses all his money but for a sentimental opponent. He takes the cure and when he sees how it affects his old wife he changes back. Not one of my favorites.

The Gift  April 27 1962

Written by Rod Serling, adapted from his original script I Shot an Arrow Into the Air, and directed by Allen H Miner. An alien crash lands near a small village in Mexico. A cop is killed accidentally when he encounters the alien. The alien is wounded and he gets some help from the villagers. The bartender turns him in and he's killed. His gift, a cure for cancer, is ruined by their ignorance. Typical kind of Rod irony type of story which I remembered from when it was new. That sort of irony would have been pretty new to me at the time. Same with how shitty people are, a lesson learned over and over again.

Not a bad bunch of stories for the most part. I really must take more time to finish this series off. I might have some time during the holidays.

The Twilight Zone S3D3

Another 8 episodes from the third season and I remembered a few of them, especially the last one on the disc. The rest might not be as iconic but several are rather entertaining.

One More Pallbearer  January 12 1962

Written by Rod and directed by Lamont Johnson. A creepy millionaire gets three people who wronged him to visit him in his big fancy bomb shelter. He tells them that the bombs will be falling and they can all join him in the safety of his bomb shelter. He's surprised that they would rather leave and get blowed up than stay with him. Some people sure are douche bags who just don't get it. I didn't remember this one, it was ok, it had a nice twist at the end. There's a Twilight Zone radio drama as an extra. I haven't listened to any of them but one. Maybe in the future.

Dead Man's Shoes  January 19 1962

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Montgomery Pittman. A homeless guy sees some gangsters toss a body into an alley. He steals the dead man's shoes and gets possessed. The dead man wants some revenge and he's willing to kill as many of the homeless as he needs to get it. Reminds me not to wear a dead man's shoes. I didn't remember this one but I liked it, even if it is a bit slight. Hard on those homeless guys, though. There's an isolated score and a clip from the 1985 remake.

The Hunt  January 26 1962

Written by Earl Hamner Jr and directed by Harold Schuster. Arthur Hunnicutt is an old man who lives in the backwoods somewhere. Jeanette Nolan is his wife and she doesn't care for Rip the dog coming into the house. Rip saved Arthur's life and he wants the dog with him. They go off coon hunting and both drown. On the road to heaven they're tempted by the devil's minion. Since the devil doesn't allow dogs in hell it pretty much means that Rip saved Arthur's life again. I remember this one fondly from seeing it as a youngster. I don't believe in a heaven but it would be nice if there were dogs there. Earl Hamner Jr is the guy responsible for The Waltons. I watched that show for a while but tired of the sameness. There's an interview with Earl and an isolated score by Robert Drasnin as extras.

Showdown With Rance McGrew  February 2 1962

Written by Rob and directed by Christian Nyby. Nyby had directed The Thing From Another World a few years earlier. Larry Blyden plays a flashy fake cowboy on tv. He's a big pain in the ass who comes across the real Jesse James in the TZ. Arch Johnson plays Jesse and he puts Larry in his place. Robert Cornthwaite plays the director of the tv show. Some of you would remember that he was the annoying scientist in The Thing From Another World. I remembered this one, it's pretty goofy. There's a nice audio commentary with Robert Cornthwaite and an isolated score.

Kick The Can  February 9 1962

Written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Lamont Johnson. Some old people live in a retirement home. One old guy discovers the secret of kick the can and turns a bunch of them young again. I remember this one from the earliest watching. It's ok. There's an isolated score.

A Piano In The House  February 16 1962

Written by Earl Hamner Jr and directed by David Greene. A horrid theater critic gets a piano that makes people tell the truth. I didn't remember this one and don't much like the cruel theater critic even if he gets his comeuppance. It seems kind of ordinary. There's an interview with producer Buck Houghton, another with Earl Hamner and an isolated score. 

The Last Rites Of Jeff Myrtlebank  February 23 1962

Written and directed by Montgomery Pittman. James Best plays the Jeff who's had his last rites. He wakes up in a coffin at his funeral. People are pretty freaked out. Jeff seems to have changed, he works more, he wants to marry his girlfriend, it's confusing to the hill folk. They conclude that he might have a demon in him and maybe they're right. I didn't remember this one, I did like it. There's an isolated score by Tommy Morgan.

To Serve Man  March 2 1962

Written by Rod, who adapted the story To Serve Man by Damon Knight, and it's directed by Richard L Bare. I do remember this episode and I've read the story by Damon Knight. Lloyd Bochner tells the story of a visit from an alien race. He was too late to get saved when they discovered that the aliens were harvesting humans for lunch. Poor sap, glad he isn't me. I liked the episode and liked that they give the alien a lie detector test. So silly but still fun. The late Richard Kiel plays the alien. There's an interview with Richard L Bare. The Wikipedia tells us where all the ships used in the episode came from:

The full-size lower portion of the Kanamits' transport spaceship is the adapted version, with retractable stairway, of the saucer-shaped United Planets Cruiser C-57D, seen in the MGM film Forbidden Planet (1956). The ship used for the episode is also seen on the episode "Third from the Sun", and shots of the ship or stairway also appear in the episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby", "The Invaders", and "Death Ship".

Stock footage from the film The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was also used in the episode for the shots of the Kanamit spaceship arriving in New York City (although landmarks of Washington, DC, are seen).

The Kanamit ship seen taking off near the end of the episode is the distinctive Ray Harryhausen-animated ship from the film Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956).

Twilight Zone S3D2

Another disc with 8 episodes. There's a nice variety of story types and interesting locations and settings. They did well in that regard. They put stuff on tv that you wouldn't normally see. When they were new they were quite different but stories were still about people trying to get along.

Death-Head Revisited  November 10 1961

Written by Rod Serling and directed by Don Medford. Oscar Beregi Jr was a Nazi. He ran away at the end of the war and hid in South America. He's homesick and he returns to the town of Dachau and the concentration camp he helped run. It's all run down but it's still inhabited with the dead. The men Oscar killed, they want justice, they try him and sentence him to insanity. It was ok but it won't be my favorite or anything. I didn't remember seeing it as a kid. There's an interview with Buzz Kulik and an episode of the TZ Radio Drama.

The Midnight Sun  November 17 1961

Written by Rob and directed by Anton Leader. The earth has moved in it's orbit and everyone is being roasted to death. Lois Nettleton and her landlady are pretty much alone in their building. It's the end times for them. Or is it? There's a bit of a switcheroo at the end. I didn't remember this one either. It's ok but like several others I find these to lack any impart. I suspect when I was younger and the stories were new they would have had something that would make me go woo. There's an audio commentary by Lois Nettleton that was entertaining. There's also an isolated score by Van Cleave.

Still Valley  November 24 1961

Written by Rod who adapted from the short story The Valley Was Still by Manly Wade Wellman and directed by James Sheldon. Some confederate soldiers are watching a town. Yanks are supposed to be massing there but it's too silent. One of the men goes into the town to see what's up. He finds all the Yanks frozen, posed in the middle of what they were doing when they stopped moving. He finds an old man who tells him he did it with witchcraft. He's dying so he passes along the book of spells. The scout takes the book back to the troups but they burn it rather than use it. I didn't remember this one either but it was interesting. I'm not a big Manly Wade Wellman fan so I hadn't read the story. There's an isolated score by Wilbur Hatch and TZ Radio Drama.

The Jungle  December 1 1961

Written by Charles Beaumont, adapted from his own short story, and directed by William Claxton. John Denher is an oil executive who had been in Africa supervising a big project. It will put some tribes out of their homes but he thinks it's just progress. They will adapt and eventually prosper. Wanting revenge, a tribe has their witchdoctor put a curse on John. It works really well. I'm batting a 1000 so far on not seeing any of these episodes and while I think they are ok stories they are kind of average for the series and not as memorable as other ones were.

Once Upon A Time  December 15 1961

Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Norman Z. McLeod with an uncredited sequence by Les Goodwins. Buster Keaton lives in 1890 and he's rather unhappy with his surroundings. It's too noisey and crowded. He's a janitor for an inventor. The inventor has created a new time travel hat and Buster thinks he can escape the hussle and bussle by popping it on his head. Turns out that 1960 isn't any better. It's a pretty silly episode and you'd think that I'd remember it but I don't. The 1890 parts are all filmed silent film style with title cards for the dialog. Stanley Adams plays a man who befriends Buster in the modern world and Jessie White plays a repairman in a little shop. There's an isolated score by William Lava.

Five Characters In Search Of An Exit  December 22 1961

Written by Rod Serling from the story The Depository by Marvin Petal and directed by Lamont Johnson. William Windom, in one of his first tv roles, plays a soldier who wakes up in a giant round tube. There are 4 others there with him. He organizes an escape and manages to get over the rim. I do remember this one and it's not a favorite. I'm not sure I understand the point of it. There's an interesting audio commentary by William Windom, an isolated score which was reused from A Hundred Yards Over the Rim, and an interview with Lamont Johnson.

A Quality Of Mercy  December 29 1961

Written by Rod from a story by Sam Rolfe and directed by Buzz Kulik. Albert Salmi and
Leonard Nimoy are soldiers on an island in the Pacific. I'd say I was more fond of Albert as an actor than I was of Leonard. The two of them are part of an American troup of soldiers observing some wounded Japanese hold up in a cave. Dean Stockwell is the new Second Lieutenant and he's green and stupid. He wants to assault the cave and kill, kill, kill. Kill everyone until the war is over. Of course, he's seen no combat and he has no idea what he wants. Because he's in the TZ he winds up as a Japanese guy in the same situation. It sure changes his mind. It was ok, I sort of remember this one but not who was in it. There's a real short audio commentary by Leonard Nimoy and an isolated score. The title is from Shakespear and Rod reads the same quote that G'Kar read in the Babylon 5 episode that has the same title. Here's the quote on Rod's show: 'The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.' Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, but applicable to any moment in time, to any group of soldiery, to any nation on the face of the Earth - or, as in this case, to the Twilight Zone.

Nothing In The Dark  January 5 1961

Written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Lamont Johnson. I do remember this one. An old lady is afraid to go out of her apartment. She figures death is out there and she doesn't want to meet him. A wounded cop shows up on her doorstep and she brings him inside to help him. Robert Redford plays the cop and Gladys Cooper plays the old lady. I thought it was a good story when I first saw it and I still think so. There's an interview with Lamont Johnson and another with George Clayton Johnson. There's an isolated score also.

I'm kind of sad I'm just not enjoying these as much as I thought I might when I ordered the dvd set. I guess my mind has made these shows bigger than they've turned out to be. I don't think The Twilight Zone will get into my top ten shows and that's kind of sad, some how.

The Twilight Zone S3D1

The first disc of the third season disc starts off with 8 episodes. There are 37 of them in the season and a few are those iconic episodes that people remember.

Two  September 15, 1961

 

Written and directed by Montgomery Pittman. Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson are the last couple of people left in a town after the atomic war finished off the rest of the citizens. He's from the home team and she was part of the invading army. They are slow to get along but they get there in the end. I remembered this one. I liked it then and still like it. Sadly Montgomery Pittman would die the following year of cancer. He did a lot of tv I would have watched as a kid. He'll return later in the season. There's an isolated score by Van Cleeve to listen to. Here's a snip from the Wikipedia page about the episode: This episode was actually filmed on the back lot of Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, which was literally falling apart, due to mismanagement and disuse. (The facilities were finally torn down in 1963.) Very little set decoration was needed to embellish an "abandoned city" here.

The Arrival  September 22, 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Boris Sagal. A plane lands with no one in it. Mr Sheckley comes to investigate it. Harold J Stone plays Mr Sheckley. Turns out he's gone round the bend and wound up in the Twilight Zone. I learned you shouldn't take your work so seriously and there are always mysteries in life. I don't remember this one but enjoyed it well enough. Even at it's worse the zone episodes are better than a lot of it contemporaries. Variety thought the show was running out of inspiration and this episode isn't that strong. There'll be better episodes down the line.

The Shelter  September 29 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Lamont Johnson. Families turn rabid over a bomb shelter when they think the nukes are on the way. Another one that's a bit heavy handed but it did stick in my head when I saw it all those years ago. Lots of good actors in this one.

The Passersby  October 6 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Elliot Silverstein. James Gregory is a Confederate Army Sergeant who's marching home after the Civil War has ended. He stops to talk to a woman in a damaged house. She tells him her husband is dead. When the Yankee soldier who saved his life comes by James figures out that the road isn't filled with soldiers going one, they are going on. That Yank was killed by some shrapnel to the eye. It's a weird one, almost pointless, I know war is hell. I didn't remember it and don't feel too bad about it. There's an isolated score by Fed Steiner and a TTZ Radio Drama.

A Game of Pool  October 13 1961 

Written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Buzz Kulik. Just Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters in this one. Jack is a pool player who thinks he's the best. He feels overshadowed by the late Fats Brown who was the best around there. He feels he could beat Fats and he's given the chance to try when Jonathan comes back from the grave. I didn't remember this one but liked it fairly well. Nice work by the two guys. Jonathan has a commentary that was recorded just before his 80th birthday. It's kind of sad and maudlin and I really enjoyed it. There's an interview with Buzz Kulik and producer Buck Houghton. Jonathan reads the alternate ending from the original script and there's a video clip from the 1989 remake that uses that same ending.

The Mirror  October 20 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Don Medford. Peter Falk is a Castro type revolutionary. He's won the capitol and kicked the man in charge out. The old leader tells Peter that the mirror in his office will show him his enemies. Turns out everyone is his enemy. He kills everyone he sees in the mirror. All alone he does himself in and that's the end of the revolution. Not a very interesting one. I didn't recall the story.

The Grave  October 27 1961

Written and directed by Montgomery Pittman. The men in a small western town gun down a man in the street. Strother Martin, James Best and Lee Van Cleef play the three men. Lee Marvin is a bounty hunter they had hired to kill that very same man. They offer Lee the reward money if he will defy the dead man's curse and go stick a knife in the dirt that covers his grave. He goes out the door and the next morning they find him dead by the grave. His knife is in the dirt, stuck through his coat, pinning it to the grave. Kind of a slight story but ok. I don't remember it but I enjoyed watching all those fine actors work. There's an isolated score on this one.

It's a Good Life  November 3 1961 

Written by Rod from a short story by Jerome Bixby and directed by James Sheldon. Here's an episode that I do remember. I also remember reading the Jerome Bixby story that it's based on, though I am sure that came some years later. Billy Mumy is a horrible little boy with too much power and too little of anything human. He's isolated the town and the people are scared of him Nice bit of mommy action from Cloris Leachman. I remember this one quie well. If I lived there I'd want to go in the cornfield. There's a commentary by Bill Mumy, a clip from the 2002 sequel and an isolated score. Time Magazine called this the third best episode with Time Enough At Last and The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street beating it. In 1997 TV Guide ranked the episode number 31 on its 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time list.

Not as strong a batch of stories as the first few discs had but there are a couple that stand out. I don't think they've run out of ideas yet and there's a lot of good stories to come. Hopefully I'm not in the cornfield next weekend and I can find out.

Twilight Zone S2D5

The fifth and final disc in the Season 2 DVD set has 5 episodes and some extras. Rod Serling is the creator and host. He writes a good number of the episodes. I sometimes find his stories a bit heavy handed but I'm not the one that needs to be learning that lesson.

The Silence  April 28 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Boris Sagal. Franchot Tone is a member of a business men's club. Johnathan Harris is his lawyer. Franchot arranges a wager with a loud talking guy who is always trying to borrow money and never shuts up. If he can keep quiet for a year Franchot will give him half a million dollars. The loud guy takes the bet and gets stuck in a glass cage for a year. When he wins Franchot tells him he has no money. The loud guy cheated too, he cut his own vocal cords so he can't talk. What a bunch of jerks. The lawyer is the best guy there. That's the Twilight Zone for ya. I don't seem to remember this one but it wasn't too bad.

Shadow Play  May 5 1961

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by John Brahm. Dennis Weaver has the same dream each night. He's on trial, gets convicted, sentenced to death and tossed on the electric chair all in one snooze. He's really tired of the dream but he's stuck in the TZ. Sucks to be that guy. More interesting than a lot of the season's entries. Dennis Weaver is pretty darn good. Nicely directed too. I didn't remember this one but I did like it. There's a ok commentary by Dennis Weaver on the dvd as well as an isolated score.

The Mind And The Matter  May 12 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Buzz Kulik. Shelley Berman is a tired business man who hasn't much love for humanity. He gets a book on mind over matter and makes everyone disappear. For some reason he is lonely and he gets them all back. That's just crazy. It was so quiet there, the subway was so empty, what's not to like. I enjoyed it but I'm a Berman fan from my youth. Shelley does a nice commentary about his time on the show and his career in tv and doing his stand up act. I used to play a couple of his comedy albums frequently when I was in my teens. I just didn't have that many comedy albums then so they got played often. There's an isolated score on this one.  

Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?  May 26 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Montgomery Pittman. Some highway patrol men see something fall out of the sky. They think it's a meteor and it fell in the lake. Until they see the tracks in the snow. They follow them to a diner where a bus waits outside. The bus driver says he has 6 passengers but there are 7 people there. Oh, oh. John Hoyt, Jean Willis and Jack Elam play some of the passengers and Barney Phillips plays the counter guy in the diner. The paranoia ramps up as they try to figure out why there are 7 instead of 6. The bus leaves, with 7 passengers aboard, only to crash in a river. Everyone is killed but the alien. He makes it back to the diner and gets a big surprize. I did remember this story. I'll always remember that third eye. It's not the best makeup but it was effective at the time. There's a TZ radio drama and an isolated score.

The Obsolete Man  June 2 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Elliot Silverstein. Burgess Meredith is a librarian who's been rendered obsolete as the totalitarian state has eliminated books. Made them a crime in fact, just having a Bible will get you the death penalty. The Chancellor is his judge and after the guilty verdict he gives Burgess the option to choose his execution. They're quite a bunch of dicks, that state, I sure wouldn't like them much. Burgess invites the Chancellor, played by Dennis Weaver, to his apartment a hour before the execution. Burgess has chosen a bomb as the way to go and he wants it televised. Burgess locks Fritz in with him. Fritz holds out until the very last moment, when he breaks down, begging God for mercy. Burgess lets him out. Boom. Burgess gone. The next day as Fritz comes to work he finds he's been made obsolete. Ha ha. Not a bad one, a little heavy handed. I love the court room set. I remember this one too. There's a TZ radio drama and an isolated score.

  

There are a few Extras on the disc that aren't tied to a specific episode. Rod often appeared on talk shows and occasionally on other comedy shows. Here are there of his tv appearances. The Mike Wallis Interview September 1959, Tell It To Groucho, The Jack Benny Show. In the latter Rod takes Jack Benny into the Twilight Zone. There are some Season 2 Billboards, which are the short sponsor announcements as the show goes to commercial. There's a Twilight Zone comic book in PDF format. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the DVD.

   

 

Twilight Zone S2D4

I got to another disc of The Twilight Zone, it's the fourth of the second season and it's got 6 episodes.

Mr Dingle The Strong  March 3 1961

Written by Rod Serling and directed by John Brahm. Burgess Meredith gets super strength due to the meddling of a two headed Martian. Don Rickles plays an annoying bar patron. The Martians remove Mr Dingles strength when he gets on tv. Luckily for Mr Dingle some Venutians show up and make him super smart. Rod closes the show hinting that there are more aliens out there and Mr D is in for some more visits. It's a goofy one, I liked it, and I remember it from the olden days. There's a 3 minute commentary by Don Rickles and an isolated score.

Static  March 10 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Buzz Kulik. A sentimental and sad story about an older man, Dean Jagger, who lives in a rooming house with a woman who he nearly married 20 years ago. An old radio gives him a second chance in the TZ. In order to save money the show was recorded on videotape and transferred to film. Not one I remember but it sure is a Rod type show. There's a 13 minute interview with Buzz Kulik where Buzz talks about shooting the show on tape. There's an isolated score and a clip of the production slate.

The Prime Mover  March 24 1961

Written by Charles Beaumont and directed by Richard L Bare. Buddy Ebsen is a cook in a diner that has telekinetic powers. Dane Clark takes him to Las Vegas to win a lot of money from the casinos. Buddy controls the games that Dane bets on. Buddy gets tired because Dane pushes too hard. Dane's girl leaves him and Buddy looses his powers at a critical point in a big crap shoot with some gangsters. Things get back to normal for Buddy and Dane. Just the ilolated score as an extra.

Long Distance Call  March 31 1961

Written by Charles Beaumont and William Idelson and directed by James Sheldon. Billy Mumy plays a little kid who loves his grandma. She gives him a toy telephone so she can talk to him any time he wants to. After she dies he still talks to her. This causes problems when Billy wants to join her. Philip Abbott plays the dad. I sort of remember this one but hadn't remembered that Billy Mumy was in it. I'm currently watching him, credited as Bill Mumy, in Babylon 5. There's an audio commentary with William Idelson and Bill Mumy and the production slate.

A Hundred Yards Over The Rim  April 7 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Buzz Kulik. Cliff Robertson is leading a small wagon train to California. His kid is sick, they are about out of everything, including their lives. He takes a trip over the rim and winds up in the future. He gets some penicillin  and goes back to his own time. His son will be saved. John Astin plays one of the men in the wagon train. I remembered this one but not that Cliff and John were in it. There's a commentary with Cliff Robertson, an interview ith Buzz Kulik, an isolated score by Frew Steiner and a TZ radio drama.

The Rip Van Winkle Caper  April 21 1961

Written by Rod and directed by Jus Addiss. Some criminals rob gold bullion from a train and hide in a cave where they plan to escape the law by using suspended animation chambers. They wake up 100 years in the future with one of the chambers broken. Simon Oakland plays the jerkiest of the crooks, he kills one of the survivors right away and then wrecks the truck. Oscar Beregi Jr plays the brains behind the outfit. It winds up with the two of them out in the desert carrying the heavy gold. Oscar loses his canteen and has to pay Simon a bar of gold for a drink. That greed doesn't go so well for either of them. The car that Robbie The Robot drove in Forbidden Planet makes an appearance at the end of the episode. I guess it's what the people 100 years from 1961 are driving. I sort of remember this one too. It's kind of a typical Rod story. Still entertaining. There's an isolated score.

All in all a good batch of shows. There's one more disc to watch in this season and I'll try for that next week.

The Twilight Zone S2D3

I'm not sticking to my disc a week plan very well. I did remember to get back to it today and watched the 3rd disc of the second season. It's got 6 episodes on the disc and one of them is one of the better known ones. I enjoyed the batch of shows and will hopefully get back to watching another disc each sunday .

Back There January  13 1961

 

Screenplay by Rod Serling and directed by David Orrick McDearmon. Russell Johnson is playing cards and talking with some other business men in the Potomac Club. They're talking about time travel and changing the past. Since it's the TZ when he leaves he's back in time. It's the evening of President Lincoln's assassination. Russell tries to stop the shooting but he's drugged by John Wilkes Booth and fails. He wakes up back in his own time and there are some changes. Not a bad story, kind of typical for Rod's work. I don't remember ever seeing this story. There's an isolated score by Jerry Goldsmith.

The Whole Truth  January 20 1961

 

The 50th episode of the whole series is written by Rod and directed by James Sheldon. Jack Carson is a car dealer. All the cars he sells are junk but he's got a patter and a willingness to stretch the truth. At least until he buys an old car that's haunted. Jack laughs at the man's warning but he soon learns that the car is indeed haunted. It might be better to think of it as cursed, it makes the owner tell the truth. It's a crippling blow for a salesman like Jack. It made me laugh. I've always been a fan of Jack Carson and it was nice seeing him. Sadly he would die a couple of years later. Arte Johnson plays a saleman on the staff. The extra is a film clip of the original production slate.

The Invaders  January 27 1961

 

Richard Matheson wrote the script and Douglas Heyes took the director's chair. Agnes Moorehead is the only actor in the episode though director Heyes did a voice over. It's one of the more famous episodes. Agnes is a woman invaded by a tiny spaceship with a spacesuited invader. It's pretty entertaining and I do remember this one from seeing it as a boy. There's a nice interview with Douglas Heyes and an isolated score by Jerry Goldsmith.

A Penny for Your Thoughts  February 3 1961

George Clayton Johnson wrote the humorous script and James Sheldon directed. Dick York is a guy who works in a bank. On the way to work he flips a coin into the coin box of a newspaper seller. It stands on end. When Dick arrives at the bank he discovers he has a new power. He can hear what people are thinking. That sort of power leads to trouble and Dick mixes up a fantasy robbery for a real plan and gets fired. Don't worry it's all good, Dick gets a better job and a girl. I didn't remember this one but I did enjoy it. I usually like the light hearted episodes better than the more serious message ones. There's an interview with George Clayton Johnson and an isolated score.

Twenty Two  February 10 1961

 

Rod wrote the script and Jack Smight was the director. A woman is in hospital where they are telling her that the dream she had was just that, a dream. Since it's you know where the woman's dream keeps her safe. I don't remember the story but enjoyed it. Not the top of the favorites list. The extras have a pdf of rod's script with his own notes, isolated score and production slate clip.

The Odyssey of Flight 33  February 24 1961

 

Rod wrote the script and Justus Addiss was the director. A flight goes back in time and gets stuck there. Whoa, harsh, TZ. I think I might remember this but I can't be sure. It was ok. Sucks to be those passengers. There's an interview with Bob Serling, a TZ Radio Drama and an isolated score.