I loved The Twilight Zone from the first episode I ever saw many years ago. It ranks among my all-time favorite television shows. Besides Star Trek there's virtually no other series that has influenced me in such a profound way. From the way I perceive drama in movies, television shows or books to the way I create my own artwork — all of it is coloured by this black and white show from the early sixties.
But even though I love this show so much, I must admit that I were never able to catch all of its episodes. It was years ago when it ran late in the night on small local channel here in Germany. Since then I watched some more episode here and there online. But I estimate I only saw half of the series.
Today I decided to finally watch the whole series once and for all. And while I'm at it I will try to write a small review for every episode which I will post here. I'm not particularly good at writing these kind of things. Hell, I'm not even sure if I will ever complete this project. I'm not as funny as TheGodBen or as insightful as MEG, but I write this in the hopes of other posters making comments and joining in on reminiscing about one of the best things ever produced for television.
So, let's get started ...
"Where Is Everybody?"
Synopsis: A man who looks, talks and dresses just like Trip Tucker finds himself on the set of Back To The Future, which is stripped of every human being. As he soon figures out, his mind is also stripped of every recollection of who or where exactly he is.
Review: A good actor makes or brakes an episode like this; an episode where the attention of the viewer has to be maintained by a single performance. Fortunately, Earl Holliman is such an actor and Rod Serling's fine script succeeds in making him a likeable character which the audience can easily realte to. That this is done in so little time is very impressive.
But it's also important for the success of such an episode to find ways for the character to express his thoughts to the audience. Where Serling could have made his work a little easier and use internal monolog, he decided otherwise and always tries to find excuses for his protagonist to have a soliloquy. Personally, I think this only works to some degree. In some scences it comes across as natural (when he talks to a recorded message in a phone booth or a mannequin, for examble), other times ... well, not so much. I was especially startled by a scene where he keeps talking to a barkeeper who he already found out isn't there.
As the first episode for The Twilight Zone "Where Is Everybody?" works beautifully. Even though it doesn't involve as much science-fiction elements as later episodes, it has a nice and sound message about lonliness and man's need for companionship at its heart. I just wish Rod Serling had incorporated the second twist he later wrote for a short story adaptation of the episode, where in the end Holliman's character finds a movie ticket in his pocket.
But even though I love this show so much, I must admit that I were never able to catch all of its episodes. It was years ago when it ran late in the night on small local channel here in Germany. Since then I watched some more episode here and there online. But I estimate I only saw half of the series.
Today I decided to finally watch the whole series once and for all. And while I'm at it I will try to write a small review for every episode which I will post here. I'm not particularly good at writing these kind of things. Hell, I'm not even sure if I will ever complete this project. I'm not as funny as TheGodBen or as insightful as MEG, but I write this in the hopes of other posters making comments and joining in on reminiscing about one of the best things ever produced for television.
So, let's get started ...
"Where Is Everybody?"
Synopsis: A man who looks, talks and dresses just like Trip Tucker finds himself on the set of Back To The Future, which is stripped of every human being. As he soon figures out, his mind is also stripped of every recollection of who or where exactly he is.
Review: A good actor makes or brakes an episode like this; an episode where the attention of the viewer has to be maintained by a single performance. Fortunately, Earl Holliman is such an actor and Rod Serling's fine script succeeds in making him a likeable character which the audience can easily realte to. That this is done in so little time is very impressive.
But it's also important for the success of such an episode to find ways for the character to express his thoughts to the audience. Where Serling could have made his work a little easier and use internal monolog, he decided otherwise and always tries to find excuses for his protagonist to have a soliloquy. Personally, I think this only works to some degree. In some scences it comes across as natural (when he talks to a recorded message in a phone booth or a mannequin, for examble), other times ... well, not so much. I was especially startled by a scene where he keeps talking to a barkeeper who he already found out isn't there.
As the first episode for The Twilight Zone "Where Is Everybody?" works beautifully. Even though it doesn't involve as much science-fiction elements as later episodes, it has a nice and sound message about lonliness and man's need for companionship at its heart. I just wish Rod Serling had incorporated the second twist he later wrote for a short story adaptation of the episode, where in the end Holliman's character finds a movie ticket in his pocket.
