So was Ross trying to say that by pretending to be Clark Kent Superman had become Clark Kent, or the reverse?
Favorite Twilight Zone episode except these...
- Thread starter Vanyel
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So was Ross trying to say that by pretending to be Clark Kent Superman had become Clark Kent, or the reverse?
The Lonely. The very first TZ to be broadcast got the show off to a strong start. It's the one where Jack Warden plays a guy exiled to an asteroid with only a sexy robot (Jean Marsh) for company.
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. This condemnation of Cold War anti-red propaganda could have just as easily have been written after 9/11. Someone ought to make a movie out of this one.
Mirror Image: A woman's life starts to be taken over by her lookalike.
Mr. Dingle the Strong: I like this one because it's silly, and has probably the most ridiculous-looking alien ever depicted on American television. I only hope it was intentional! But get beyond that, this was well written and well acted by Burgess Meredith.
An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge: A fascinating and unique episode that was actually a short film made in France that won an Oscar, and which Rod Serling added to TZ as an afterthought; it ended up being one of the last episodes. I actually studied this film in university Film Studies, not knowing until later that it had also been a TZ episode.
Two: Charles Bronson and a pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery perform an almost completely silent drama of two survivors of a war playing a cat and mouse game.
There are so many others I could name -- the disqualifications at the top aren't a handicap at all!
Alex
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. This condemnation of Cold War anti-red propaganda could have just as easily have been written after 9/11. Someone ought to make a movie out of this one.
Mirror Image: A woman's life starts to be taken over by her lookalike.
Mr. Dingle the Strong: I like this one because it's silly, and has probably the most ridiculous-looking alien ever depicted on American television. I only hope it was intentional! But get beyond that, this was well written and well acted by Burgess Meredith.
An Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge: A fascinating and unique episode that was actually a short film made in France that won an Oscar, and which Rod Serling added to TZ as an afterthought; it ended up being one of the last episodes. I actually studied this film in university Film Studies, not knowing until later that it had also been a TZ episode.
Two: Charles Bronson and a pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery perform an almost completely silent drama of two survivors of a war playing a cat and mouse game.
There are so many others I could name -- the disqualifications at the top aren't a handicap at all!
Alex
The former. Ross was trying to say that by disguising himself as Clark Kent for all these years, Superman was, in fact, more Clark Kent than he was really aware of.
In other words, Clark Kent was more than just a mere disguised for Superman. Clark was really a part of him, maybe a lot more than he realizes.
Conversely, the 2002 remake *was* written *after* 9/11, and was obviously derived from it:
The aliens, this time, are not aliens. They are soldiers who are using the town to gauge people's reactions to a terrorist attack and thus provide a defense against one.
I have 4 words for you: Torchwood: Children of Earth.
I remember that. That was the real low point of the 2002 remake. It wasn't enough that 90% of their own episodes were crap. They had to do terrible remakes of some of the best episodes of the old series too. "The Monsters Are on Maple Street" removed absolutely everything that was interesting about the original.
They also did a remake of "Eye of the Beholder." The script was exactly the same as the original. The only differences were that it was in color and the make-up at the end was far less extreme.
The EOTB remake sucked the proverbial donkey unmentionables and byproducts, but TMADOMS kinda hit a chord with me--it seemed at least they were trying, unlike the horrendous pilot. All in all, 2002 TZ should be regarded as an extended TZ ep all in itself :
*Portrait of a network in its dotage. It cancelled the two or three original and viable things it had, meddled in a franchise's destiny, and gambled poorly on a seeming sure-thing pickup. Now, it seeks to revive its flagging fortunes by bringing back something even its genius creator had trouble keeping fresh. Reviving the dead can be a real problem, as UPN finds out, in the Twilight Zone. Also, what is up with that host? No menace at all! Wasn't he Robin Williams' little pal from Good Morning, Vietnam?*
While I agree that 'Good Life 2003' was a good story, I agree with the poster who said that no one should have survived Anthony's childhood. I hope they got to the big city, were overwhelmed by the amount of thoughts, and then someone got off a sniper shot. Danger, Will!
Let me add some more :
Mirror Image - Despite the fact that it contains the infamous "I read something about this" cliche. Scary little notion of being replaced by--yourself.
The Trouble With Templeton - a warning about idealizing the past.
Back There - Russell Johnson messes up history, and Bob Denver is nowhere in sight. Really, he's terrific, and I think he brings to the Professor what Reeves brought to Superman; class. Overqualified, but lending that to his roles.
Static - A second chance is offered, and we get one of several episodes wherein a domineering parent does their best to thwart happiness.
The Passerby - Creepy even when the reveal is made.
Still Valley - A group of Confederate officers choose the greater good over victory. Serling knew how to show an 'honorable enemy'.
The Hunt - Based on a legend from India, and showing that no one is to be dismissed.
Young Man's Fancy - The fact that he willingly enters back into a smothering arrangement makes it all the more chilling. The queen of the domineering TZ parents. Some of these writers did not get along with their Moms.
Quick question for the experts here:
Was there an original TZ ep that dealt with a man who has the power to "trade attributes" with others - and gets people to trade money for youth, age for intelligence, etc. - and then takes away someone's compassion, and the compassion-less guy promptly murders him?
Or was that an Outer Limits episode?
Was there an original TZ ep that dealt with a man who has the power to "trade attributes" with others - and gets people to trade money for youth, age for intelligence, etc. - and then takes away someone's compassion, and the compassion-less guy promptly murders him?
Or was that an Outer Limits episode?
Thanks. That's a good one, too, then.
I been trying to remember one episode and I finally found it. I couldn't find it because I'm a horrible speller and tried to spell "mannequins" with a "C".
The After Hours, I really liked that one.
The After Hours, I really liked that one.
True, it's not Forrest Whittaker's best work. He can occasionally do menacing, like in Street Kings or The Last King of Scotland. However, he's generally better at playing the hapless everyman who suddenly finds himself plunged into a life-or-death situation, like in Phone Booth, Species, or Vantage Point.
Although, I don't think Rod Serling was very menacing either. If anything, there may have been an unsettling sense of dread from Serling's matter-of-fact description of the upcoming horrors. But with The Twilight Zone, I generally don't think being scary was the main point.
It reminds me of an Outer Limits episode that was on recently. An alien comes to Earth in human form to study humanity. He has no emotions. So to study emotions, he takes the emotions from an ambitious scientist in exchange for the formula to create some kind of disintegration ray.
I have always believed they found a loving home at last.
Actually, you may be thinking of an episode from the 70's CBS Radio Mystery Theater - I just listened to that very story a couple weeks ago (I bought the anthology on Amazon). You might have heard it on the radio years ago and now have a vague rememberance, thinking it was something you saw on tv. It happens to me from time to time
Planet of the Apes...
Hah! Good one. I've often thought of POTA as the biggest, most ambitious TZ episode of all time. All it needs is Serling walking onstage at the end.
"Submitted for your approval: a man out of time, who has just discovered that evolution can take an unexpected turn into . . . the Twilight Zone."
Long Distance Call
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734587/ No matter how many times I see it, it still gives me chills.
