The aliens not thinking us warlike and savage at all and thus not adhering to the usual trope. Thinking we're not warlike and savage enough just amplifies the old prejudice, as if our striving for peace means we don't know our place in life.
Anyone else watch the Twilight Zone revivals?
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The aliens not thinking us warlike and savage at all and thus not adhering to the usual trope. Thinking we're not warlike and savage enough just amplifies the old prejudice, as if our striving for peace means we don't know our place in life.
I remember watching the 80s revival and 3-4 episodes have really stood out over the years.
There was the episode where the Veitnam vet fell asleep in the diner and suddenly the place became a war zone as his nightmares came to life.
I also liked the story about the trucker taking the souls to Hell then pulling off the road and letting out the ones he felt didn't deserve to go.
The there was the story with Pam Dawber as the secretary who gets transported to a world where secretaries are the most revered people on the planet.
Finally there was the remake of 'A Certain Stopwatch' where in the end the housewife stops time just as the bombs are about to drop and she steps outside to see the missiles suspended in mid flight. That image has always stayed with me.
I was also excited for the 00s revival and I watched every episode but for the life of me I can't remember a single thing about it. The only one I vaguely remember is the episode with Jason Alexander as Death checking himself into the hospital but it felt just like a warmed over story you'd seen a dozen time before and I saw the twist coming a mile away.
There was the episode where the Veitnam vet fell asleep in the diner and suddenly the place became a war zone as his nightmares came to life.
I also liked the story about the trucker taking the souls to Hell then pulling off the road and letting out the ones he felt didn't deserve to go.
The there was the story with Pam Dawber as the secretary who gets transported to a world where secretaries are the most revered people on the planet.
Finally there was the remake of 'A Certain Stopwatch' where in the end the housewife stops time just as the bombs are about to drop and she steps outside to see the missiles suspended in mid flight. That image has always stayed with me.
I was also excited for the 00s revival and I watched every episode but for the life of me I can't remember a single thing about it. The only one I vaguely remember is the episode with Jason Alexander as Death checking himself into the hospital but it felt just like a warmed over story you'd seen a dozen time before and I saw the twist coming a mile away.
What's turned on his head is the morality of the situation. Often in "aliens judge us for being violent" stories we're meant to agree with the aliens that humanity is immoral, which I think can seem self-righteous if done badly. In this story the aliens find us deficient because we're too peaceful, but from the POV of the writer it's humans who are too moral for the aliens because we're less warlike than they are.
The '00 Revival had a sequel to the Original Series It's a Good Life, which starred Billy Mumy all grown up, and his real life daughter, playing the character's Daughter, who had the same powers. It was called It's Still A Good Life
I'm looking at it from the point of view of the audience member who wants to be entertained, not called a pussy by some snobby alien.
You like the episode, you can keep it, along with all the others from that series. I have no use for them.
This is a weird question, but this thread put me on a bit of a Twilight Zone spree and I found this comment:
Her personal opinion on the story non withstanding, has anyone else heard that the original 'Cold Equations' recieved bad reviews? All I can find is some controversy that it's so similar to an old EC comic, and two nitpicks at the physics involved.
Her personal opinion on the story non withstanding, has anyone else heard that the original 'Cold Equations' recieved bad reviews? All I can find is some controversy that it's so similar to an old EC comic, and two nitpicks at the physics involved.
Odd-- I could've sworn the TV adaptation of "The Cold Equations" was on Showtime's Outer Limits, not TZ. But according to IMDb, I was wrong. But it was from 1989, not 1998. There was, however, a full-length movie adaptation on The Sci-Fi Channel in 1996, with Bill Campbell and Poppy Montgomery. I think I saw that one too.
There was also a radio adaptation of it on X Minus One in 1955. That show's episodes weren't always that good, but apparently that one was considered good enough to adapt pretty soon off the bat.
There was also a radio adaptation of it on X Minus One in 1955. That show's episodes weren't always that good, but apparently that one was considered good enough to adapt pretty soon off the bat.
Heh, I did just find this:
Where's the option for 'It's pretty clearly about the fact that there are situations where there are no third options, but they didn't think through the no-win scenario as well as they could have?'
Alot of criticism for the latter Twilight Zone series seems to be about the unhappy endings. A frequent refrain (not on here) is that Twilight Zone is supposed to be about something, and having the villain win the day means...the writers agree with the villains?
I don't really see that. For eg. Evergreen is about enforcing conformity, which sounds appealing for a lot of people when applied to the 'right' kind of person. Except the episode is from the POV of the victim, and you're meant to be repulsed by the villains because of what happens when they succeed. It's the same with John Glover's episode.
There are many reasons not to like the revivals, but that criticism just stood out as being odd. Especially when the original series did have its fair share of episodes that were just about scary shit ruining lives (nearly any episode involving vanishing astronauts, killer dolls, or Shatner in a plane.)
Where's the option for 'It's pretty clearly about the fact that there are situations where there are no third options, but they didn't think through the no-win scenario as well as they could have?'
Alot of criticism for the latter Twilight Zone series seems to be about the unhappy endings. A frequent refrain (not on here) is that Twilight Zone is supposed to be about something, and having the villain win the day means...the writers agree with the villains?
I don't really see that. For eg. Evergreen is about enforcing conformity, which sounds appealing for a lot of people when applied to the 'right' kind of person. Except the episode is from the POV of the victim, and you're meant to be repulsed by the villains because of what happens when they succeed. It's the same with John Glover's episode.
There are many reasons not to like the revivals, but that criticism just stood out as being odd. Especially when the original series did have its fair share of episodes that were just about scary shit ruining lives (nearly any episode involving vanishing astronauts, killer dolls, or Shatner in a plane.)
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^^ And bad guys winning, such as in "Number 12 Looks Just like You."
"The Cold Equations" is one of the all-time classics of the genre. It's about exactly what the title says it's about: The universe doesn't care about you. All these exercises in postmodern deconstructionism only serve to illustrate the embarrassing stupidity of hipster-generation politics.
"The Cold Equations" is one of the all-time classics of the genre. It's about exactly what the title says it's about: The universe doesn't care about you. All these exercises in postmodern deconstructionism only serve to illustrate the embarrassing stupidity of hipster-generation politics.
Actually one review boils down to that
http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2014/03/cory-doctorow-cold-equations-and-moral-hazard/
I quite liked the eighties version. Especially the one that Robert Duncan McNeill was in. He played a present day teen who was communicating with a girl from the 1600's.
Another good anthology series from that same time was Amazing Stories.
Another good anthology series from that same time was Amazing Stories.
Amazing Stories was mostly disappointing to me. The only episode I remember at all at this point was the one with Christopher Lloyd.
I never cared for it. It was more a director-driven show than a writer-driven one, and as such, the episodes tended to be creatively directed and visually impressive but with very weak writing. So many Amazing Stories episodes were style over substance, and some of them were just incredibly stupid, pointless, one-joke plots, like "The Main Attraction" and "Remote Control Man." There were a few good ones -- like "The Doll," which was based on an unfilmed Richard Matheson script for the original Twilight Zone -- but overall it was pretty lowbrow and uninspired. I doubt NBC would've kept it on the air for as long as they did if it hadn't been for Spielberg's clout at the time. He was able to get them to buy a guaranteed two seasons up front, before it even premiered -- and it only ran for two seasons.
Zefren Cochrane was in that same episode aka James Cromwell.
Reminded me a bit of Roots: The Gift except their two characters didn't interact.
I vaguely remember Mark Hamil being in an episode of Amazing Stories but I can't remember much about it.
That was "Gather Ye Acorns," which was a pretty depraved story if you ask me. Basically, a troll tells a young man (Hamill) to give up his career ambitions and hold onto his dreams, so the man spends the next 50 years homeless and indolent and then sells his old comics and toys and gets really rich, and that's supposedly a happy ending. The theme is supposed to be "The world needs more dreamers," but the guy's dreams don't benefit anyone except himself when he finally gets rich after decades of misery, and ultimately the only value the episode ascribes to his dreams is a dollar amount. So it's a completely shallow story that misses the point of its own attempted moral. It's a classic example of how Amazing Stories episodes tended to be conceptually lacking and poorly thought out despite having really good production values (the episode got Emmy nominations for its age makeup and period costumes and an Emmy win for hairstyling).
I remember him being in old age make up and being bored with it before it was half over. I must have changed the channel.
Someone mentioned an updated version of The Outer Limits. I think I remember seeing one episode of it (at least I think it was The Outer Limits). David Ogden Stiers played a man who had a baby cloned from cells found on the Shroud of Turin.
I can't remember if it was before or after seeing that episode, I read a book that had practically that same plot point. Only in the book, the person cloned ended up becoming the Anti-Christ.
I can't remember if it was before or after seeing that episode, I read a book that had practically that same plot point. Only in the book, the person cloned ended up becoming the Anti-Christ.
The Outer Limits remake had some awesome episodes (such as "Tribunal", one of the greatest eps ever) and some real stinkers as well.
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