Thought I’d bring this sub thread out of the zimmerman thread for people who are no longer following the zimmerman thread.
Late,
grmpysmrf
Always amazed at the staggering amount of recognizable faces in The TZ episodes…people who were either famous at the time and even more who went on to become famous…or in some cases just went on to do great work…
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every single episode from the original series.
Back in 2001 SyFy would air two Twilight Zone episodes back to back starting at Midnight. (They couldn’t have picked a more fitting time slot).
I think they still do marathons on certain holidays.
There’s so many classic episodes, but I’m going with Eye of the Beholder as my favorite.
I think they still do marathons on certain holidays.
4th of July
I’m a full-blown Twilight Zone junkie. I watch episodes a few nights a week. I have my DVR set to record them so I usually have about 20-30 episodes available at any given time.
I borrowed my friend’s box set one time and I am pretty sure I watched them all the way through from beginning to end. A few of them are snoozers, but all in all they are some of the best pieces of film to ever air.
And Rod Serling is the coolest mofo to ever put on a suit and light up a Chesterfield!
I’ve even come dangerously close to buying one of THESE . . . I found a dude who custom makes them for about $450.00 . . .
[reply]
That was a Shatner episode wasn’t it? I know he did two episodes the thing on the wing and another one… Pretty sure this fortune teller episode was two newlyweds waiting to get their car fixed, right?
Late,
grmpysmrf
I’m ever impressed by Twilight Zone’s ability to still interest following generations. The black and white cinematography is just gorgeous and has kept it from “aging” (for comparison, try watching “Night Gallery” and see how it has held up).
I’m a big fan of the short story sci-fi/horror genre as a whole (“Tales from the Darkside”, “Monsters”, “Tales from the Crypt”, “Outer Limits”, etc.) and ALL of those shows owe EVERYTHING to Twilight Zone.
Twilight Zone also reminds me of how lame our culture is now and how much more badass everything seemed to be back in the early 60’s. The music, the cars, the hair, the clothes. And everyone was smoking and drinking. It just seemed a thousand times better than all the lameass crap today.
That was a Shatner episode wasn’t it? I know he did two episodes the thing on the wing and another one… Pretty sure this fortune teller episode was two newlyweds waiting to get their car fixed, right?
Late,
grmpysmrf
Yes, that’s right.
The episode is called “Nick of Time”. It’s awesome.
I’m ever impressed by Twilight Zone’s ability to still interest following generations. The black and white cinematography is just gorgeous and has kept it from “aging” (for comparison, try watching “Night Gallery” and see how it has held up).
I’m a big fan of the short story sci-fi/horror genre as a whole (“Tales from the Darkside”, “Monsters”, “Tales from the Crypt”, “Outer Limits”, etc.) and ALL of those shows owe EVERYTHING to Twilight Zone.
Twilight Zone also reminds me of how lame our culture is now and how much more badass everything seemed to be back in the early 60’s. The music, the cars, the hair, the clothes. And everyone was smoking and drinking. It just seemed a thousand times better than all the lameass crap today.
Yes,this is an accurate description…TZ had something unique about it that stands the test of time…it captured a strange mixture of odd paranoia and other-wordly scenarios…the movie version never stood a chance at capturing the weird vibe of the tv show…that movie was fucking doomed anyway after Vic Morrow and those two kids were killed…fucked up shit…
I love the Outer Limits and Tales from the Crypt also but even they don’t hold a candle to TZ…the grand daddy of them all…
Anyone remember The Hitchhiker on HBO…? It wasn’t always good but when it was it was an effective show as far as short story sci-fi horror went…
Great show, chock full of Skinny Puppy samples 
1002
TZ had something unique about it that stands the test of time…it captured a strange mixture of odd paranoia and other-wordly scenarios…the movie version never stood a chance at capturing the weird vibe of the tv show…that movie was fucking doomed anyway after Vic Morrow and those two kids were killed…fucked up shit…
I love the Outer Limits and Tales from the Crypt also but even they don’t hold a candle to TZ…the grand daddy of them all…
Anyone remember The Hitchhiker on HBO…? It wasn’t always good but when it was it was an effective show as far as short story sci-fi horror went…
I like outer Limits and the Hitchhiker the best out of all the TZ rip offs. My only gripe with outer limits though is more often than not the episodes dragged on for the whole hour. many of them could have been nixed to a half hour. especially the one that had the nut complaining to the council that aliens had invaded and it turns out aliens had invaded and were on the council. The Jollem epiosde is awesome too with Brent Spiner as a deprogrammer of humans trapped between aliens warring fro control of the earth. But again it dragged on for too long
Serling was just a master of dissecting human behavior and societal behavior and combine those two skills with his fantastic story telling ability and he is just pure genius.
I don’t think I’ve seen the whole Movie all the way through. I wasn’t impressed with what I saw though. I didn’t know there was any controversy connected to the movie. The attempt to resurrect TW in the 80’s was pretty weak as well. I think the only one I really liked was one where this guy’s wife is raped and the cops can’t do anything and one day on the way home from therapy she points out to the husband some guy walking on the street “there that’s him” husband parks the car leaves his wife there in it and follows the guy on foot and kills him. he goes back to his wife tells her he’s dead and can’t hurt her anymore all is right with the world, until they pass another guy waking on the street and she goes hysterical “that’s him that’s him!!!” and then another guy walks by “that’s him that’s him!!!” and turns out any man she sees is the rapist and husband realizes he just strangled an innocent man.
I like the hitchhiker A LOT. i never caught the HBO version. I just thought it was a Show on kcal channel 9. Apparently 25 years later I’m learning kcal ran edits from HBO. But I loved the story twists at the end. best thing going at the time.
I don’t mind crypt and darkside but they alays came off as more comic booky/hokey than smart twists. Same with Amazing stories
Late,
grmpysmrf
“Twilight Zone” was dogshit for a number of reasons, none of which have to do with helicopter crashes or people dying on the set.
It was a slap in the face to Twilight Zone purists. It took classic episodes and then recreated them as shitty 80’s color versions of the same thing. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and “It’s a Good Life” were already PERFECT episodes. It’s like asking why the remake of “Psycho” with Vince Vaughn and some other buttnuggets didn’t do well. Why? BECAUSE YOU JUST DON’T F***ING REMAKE THIS F***ING STUFF, THAT’S WHY!!!
“Kick the Can” wasn’t a particularly amazing episode originally, if you ask me, but it sure wasn’t going to benefit by being recast with the stars of Coccoon or Murder She Wrote or whatever.
I don’t even remember what the other story was. There was one original tale and it obviously didn’t have much of an impact on me or I’d at least be able to remember what it was (I sort of recall a guy having 'Nam flashbacks or something, but I might be thinking of a different film).
There were plenty of decent 80’s anthology movies . . . . “Cat’s Eye”, "Creepshow"s 1 and 2, “Tales from the Darkside”. “Twilight Zone” the movie does not measure up to any of them.
There was one original tale and it obviously didn’t have much of an impact on me or I’d at least be able to remember what it was (I sort of recall a guy having 'Nam flashbacks or something, but I might be thinking of a different film).
The little boy that could think for and get whatever he wanted. for example he sealed his sisters mouth shut cause he got mad at her… the only tale from the movie I saw.
Late,
grmpymrf
The little boy that could think for and get whatever he wanted. for example he sealed his sisters mouth shut cause he got mad at her… the only tale from the movie I saw.
No, that one is “It’s a Good Life” which is a remake. “Wish it into the cornfield, Anthony! Please! Wish it into the cornfield!”
And one of my favorite lines of all time, “Be dead! Gopher, You be DEAD!!!”
Yeah,there was the Vic Morrow episode where he is a racist who transported back to Nazi Germany…the horrible Speilberg one with the old farts…the little kid who is terrorizing his family with his super-natural abilities(Makes them feed him his favorite sugar filled goodies,zaps his sister into the tv set,all while trying to impress his school teacher who is over for a visit…and then the remake of the Shatner airplane one with John Lithgow as the lead(the best of a sorry bunch)…
I love Creepshow 1,seen it a million times(favorite is The Crate)…Creepshow 2 not as much but still some funny moments:“Thanks for the ride lady”…
Just saw Cat’s Eye again the other night…had been a while since I saw it…love watching Alan King terrorize James Woods…and The Ledge with Robert Hays is a load of fun…
Yeah, the Quitters, Inc. episode is brilliant.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every single episode from the original series.
I’m a huge fan of the second revival series - the one that was made in the late 80’s. I used to watch it religiously as a teenager.
Need to get it on dvd. Thanks for reminding me!
I’m a huge fan of the second revival series - the one that was made in the late 80’s. I used to watch it religiously as a teenager.
The 80’s one was the first reboot. The second was in the early 00’s and was hosted by Forrest Whitaker. I don’t remember who the host/narrator for the 80’s one was.
Most of the modern relaunches were done for hourlong segments, I believe. As Grumpy hinted at earlier I think the longer format caused some dragging.
[reply]The little boy that could think for and get whatever he wanted. for example he sealed his sisters mouth shut cause he got mad at her… the only tale from the movie I saw.
No, that one is “It’s a Good Life” which is a remake. “Wish it into the cornfield, Anthony! Please! Wish it into the cornfield!”
And one of my favorite lines of all time, “Be dead! Gopher, You be DEAD!!!”[/reply]
Wow, perhaps there is an original I have not seen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.
I’d love to pick up the whole series on blu ray but even used people want over a hundred bucks for it, so that’s out.
Late,
grmpysmrf