50 Years of The Twilight Zone

[TGTheodore]

Hard to believe it's been that long! But not hard to believe it remains so popular with so many generations.

It was the first "smart" show I remember watching as a child. And I loved the idea of Serling being an "on site" narrator.

Wish someone could pick up the show and do it properly. The last two incarnations really reflected the dumbing down of television programming ... the lack of vision that Serling originally had, and the lack of stories and writers of such amazing quality.

Plans for this golden anniversary.

Submitted for your approval,

--Ted

 

[Klaus]

I love the show, though I do think it has the widest range between good and bad episodes of any show I've ever seen...* the best ones are among the finest work anyone has ever done on American TV, and I wouldn't show some of the bad ones to terrorist detainees on humanitarian grounds ... but its heights remain unsurpassed IMHO.

*-Maybe TOS competes in the distance between "City of the Edge of Forever" and "Turnabout Intruder"?

 

[Greg Cox]

The eighties revival is underrated. They did a lot of good adaptations of stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny. George R. R. Martin, etc.

But it's amazing how well the original show holds up, even after fifty years!

 

[Mistral]

Fifty years. Amazing. The wife and I taped a marathon on Memorial day and watched episodes over the summer. The show certainly didn't feel 50 years old. We really enjoyed the experience.

 

[Harvey]

I've been watching the original series off and on from the library (in tandum with The Outer Limits). I find myself enjoying it a great deal. The cinematography, Serling's narration, the cast--it's all spot on, even in the "bad" episodes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The eighties revival is underrated. They did a lot of good adaptations of stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny. George R. R. Martin, etc.

The 80's version was my favorite out of all three. Not even the original could top stories like Dead Run, Profile In Silver, or even A Little Peace And Quiet...

 

[Greg Cox]

Fifty years. Amazing. The wife and I taped a marathon on Memorial day and watched episodes over the summer. The show certainly didn't feel 50 years old. We really enjoyed the experience.

This is the part where I shamelessly plug the great Richard Matheson, who wrote many of the most famous TZ episodes--and is still writing today, fifty years later.

I hope I'm still as creative at 83 years old!

 

[TGTheodore]

The eighties revival is underrated. They did a lot of good adaptations of stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny. George R. R. Martin, etc.

But it's amazing how well the original show holds up, even after fifty years!

Oh, I agree the 80's version had some tremendous stories. Particularly the first half-season.

It was just so odd seeing TZ in color!

--Ted

 

[davejames]

What I love about the original is that it was quiet and subtle. Every episode was like a little stage play, with the black and white really giving the stories an added sense of mystery and menace.

The remakes made everything way too slick and colorful. It's no wonder they didn't work (except for a few episodes here and there).

 

[Mistral]

Fifty years. Amazing. The wife and I taped a marathon on Memorial day and watched episodes over the summer. The show certainly didn't feel 50 years old. We really enjoyed the experience.

This is the part where I shamelessly plug the great Richard Matheson, who wrote many of the most famous TZ episodes--and is still writing today, fifty years later.

I hope I'm still as creative at 83 years old!

Own most of his books-you are singing to the choir!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Wow. Fifty years. That makes me feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Definitely one of the best shows of all time and an American classic. The 80s revival was quite good, but nothing can match the original. If they do another revival, they should do it right; quiet, subtle stories in eerie B&W.

Happy Birthday, TZ. I love ya.

 

[Admiral2]

I'm surprised there's so much love for the eighties version. I gave up on that after the first season.

Happy B'Day, real Twilight Zone.

 

[serdogthehound]

I Just started watching the classic and I love it.

The eighties revival is underrated. They did a lot of good adaptations of stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny. George R. R. Martin, etc./QUOTE]
I just would like to make a quick note here Martin was a staff writer but none of his stories were adaptated he did how write one or two original stories for the series

 

[Ward Fowler]

Words can scarcely express the regard in which I hold The Twilight Zone. I certainly in hope it will be watched for the next 50 years.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The remakes made everything way too slick and colorful. It's no wonder they didn't work (except for a few episodes here and there).

Colorful, maybe, but I would hardly call the 80's version "slick". Oftentimes it felt rather threadbare.

The 2002 version, though...I prefer not to even think about. Although the one with Ethan Embry was pretty cool.

 

[Starbreaker]

I just got the first season. I'm going to watch them in honor of the 50th. The pilot is very good, and it's realistic. I even got to watch Rod Serling pitch the series for about 10 minutes.

 

[23skidoo]

I just got the first season. I'm going to watch them in honor of the 50th. The pilot is very good, and it's realistic. I even got to watch Rod Serling pitch the series for about 10 minutes.

Yeah, that stuff is fun to watch. I got a sweetheart deal about 6 months ago that allowed me to get the whole series (including a book that came with one of the volumes).

I don't know what it is about the original series, but it really did seem more substantial than the later versions, even though as noted the 1980s version - which had its charms - used some pretty big name writers. I do think some of the 1980s episodes would have fit in well with Serling's original - Harlan Ellison's Shatterday (which is where most of us saw Bruce Willis for the first time), the one where a pre-Voyager Robert Duncan MacNeill communicated with a teenage girl from 200 years earlier, and a few others. But it never really had the spark. And as for the most recent version I knew it was in trouble when they started to remake stories from the original series which meant they'd given up trying to make classics of their own.

Alex

 

[Mistral]

The episode that stands out for me was "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" . We were actually shown that in school in Lit class. It was years before I realized it was The Twilight Zone as it was some weird educational copy that had all of the Serling parts stripped off.

 

[Greg Cox]

The episode that stands out for me was "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" . We were actually shown that in school in Lit class. It was years before I realized it was The Twilight Zone as it was some weird educational copy that had all of the Serling parts stripped off.

Actually, that's a special case. "Occurence" was a short independent film, based on a story by Ambrose Bierce, that was not originally filmed as part of the tv series. The Twilight Zone bought the film and tacked on the Serling stuff to turn it into a TZ episode.

Presumedly, you saw the original version . . . .

 

[FluffyUnbound]

What I love about the original is that it was quiet and subtle. Every episode was like a little stage play, with the black and white really giving the stories an added sense of mystery and menace.

The remakes made everything way too slick and colorful. It's no wonder they didn't work (except for a few episodes here and there).

I have to agree with you.

I think the "staginess" of the original helps individual episodes and images to really plant themselves in the memory. The black and white helps that too.

The 80's version had good individual episodes but because the production values were so typical of the 1980-1995 time period the show as a whole ends up being interchangeable with other similar shows. "Was that new Twilight Zone, or new Outer Limits? Or maybe Amazing Stories?" I can never remember and that makes it much less iconic for me.