Any Twilight Zone Fans?

[launderess]

Ok, am starting another non-appliance related thread...

Anyone else here like the Twlight Zone? If so what were your favourite episodes?

Remember watching them as a child as reruns and most always gave me the willies. So much so was banned from watching them before bed as would usually have bad dreams.

My favs:

The Agnes Moorehead episode where she is being attacked by little spacemen.

The Robert Redford episode about an old woman so afraid of death she locks herself up in her own home.

The one where an invalid woman keeps getting "prank" phone calls, only later to learn they are coming from a dead beau (he died in the car accident that made her a cripple), when a phone line is knocked down onto his grave.

"How To Serve Man", where a group of aliens talk humankind into thinking they can live lives without death,disease and growing old on their planet. Turns out the book/brochure they gave on the matter is really a cook book on how to "serve" man.

Oh there are so many to list, they were all so good!

 

[alr2903]

Was it a TZ episode with the gambling addicted guy, at the end of the episode there was "knock" at the door and a eerie 1940's slot machine was spinning away outside his door. I always think of it because we enjoy playing the TZ themed slot when we get to go to LV. (the music in the bonus is the disco TZ music).

 

[washabear]

I remember an episode where a man got a watch that would stop time, and then he broke the watch and was trapped in stopped time forever. That's the one I always think of.

 

[coldspot66]

One of my favorite episodes features a young Telly Savalas in "Talking Tina".

 

[drmitch]

I loved those shows! I loved the episodes you mentioned, I believe that the one with Agnes Moorhead was done without her speaking a word. I also like the ones with Burgess Meredith one called Printers Devil and one Time enough at last. Great shows by some great writers!

 

[frigilux]

I like the one with the little kid who can 'make people go away'. All the adults around him have to cater to his every whim. Twilight Zone was definitely a classic and it used to scare me when I was young.

Wasn't a very young William Shatner in an episode? I seem to recall he and his girlfriend were trapped at a roadside cafe or something like that....

 

[westyslantfront]

I like the one with the hospital patient taking the elevator to the morgue in the basement where a nurse comes out of the
morgue and says.....
"Room for one more, honey"

Ross

 

[goprog]

Wouldn't it be nice to get old programs back. So much trash
on TV now that they could replace and make a person actually
think. Trying to remember the old names - Playhouse something
or something Theatre? (I was banned from watching Outer Limits
and the Twilight Zone way-back-when along with Thriller - the
Boris Karloff version, not Michael Jackson.)

 

[whirlcool]

William Shatner was in several episodes of the Twilight Zone. He was the original airline passenger in the episode that had a monster out on the wing of a plane and only he could see it.

Monsters on Maple Street was one of my favorites. It scared the crap out of me when I was a kid! It demonstrated how human nature works when a "the martians are coming" scare breaks out on a suburban street. In the end the aliens were on a hilltop looking down wondering about the peculiar behavior they are witnessing.

Periodically, a few of the cable channels run Twilight Zone marathons.

I liked the second version of the Twilight Zone, Night Gallery as well.

Rod Sering was one of those who left us way too early. An excellent writer to say the least!

 

[frontaloadotmy]

alr2903

yes that was the story line of an episode, the slot machine kept saying the guys name; Gibert... Gilbert.... Gilbert.
Remember the one where a young Buddy Ebsen made a wrecked
car right itself, I think that was also a gambling themed one.

Or the one where the department store mannequin gets to be a real person for a day, but then has to return to her frozen
existence.
Or the one where Barbara Berrie has a dream about a society
in the future that is all women and she plays a kind of Queen
brood human named Mother Orchis, she's just a huge fat
cow like person ; when she wakes from the dream (iirc, she had taken some kind of experimental drug as she is a scientist of some sort) she goes about dispatching the scientist that caused the all female society by creating
a bad vaccination. Unfortunately, she realizes too late that his son is "carrying on" his work!

 

[sudsmaster]

Big Twilight Zone fan here.

Oddly, the series never gave me nightmares. Instead, an Abbott and Costello flick did - "Scared Stiff", for some reason. But as toddlers my siblings and I were also banned from watching Twilight Zone after a while. Probably because it upset one or both of my parents.

Favorite episode? The one where another dimension opens up in a wall of a child's bedroom, and the child is lost until her father is able somehow to retrieve her.

 

[sudsmaster]

Shatner also appeared as part of a traveling couple in the episode with the little fortune telling machine in a diner. He becomes convinced the fortunes are true. It's a perfect plot for his overacting, LOL.

I think Serling wrote many of the episodes. It was the golden age of television, when his brilliant work was allowed to air, even with rather modern lessons about morality. That he chain smoked on air and the sponsors were cigarette companies probably didn't hurt, either.

 

[tolivac]

Yes-Twilight Zone-My favorite would be "Gremlins" that had William Shatner-He was the "Passenger" who kept seeing "Gremlins" trying to sabatoge one of the engines of the plane they were riding.He broke out while the plane was still flying-taking a policemans gun(Guess they let them bring guns in the cabin in those days)and he killed the "Gremlin"After landing the plane they show a shot of the wrecked engine.Very spooky episode-esp when the "Gremlin" looked into the plane window from the outside Scaring Shatner out of his wits-that's when he lost it and went outside to deal iwth the Gremlin.

 

[mrjms]

One of my favorite Twilight episodes was the one called the inheritance(I think), where the old man was dying and the children were gathered around him waiting for him to die so they could inherit all his money. His on stipulation was that they had to wear a mask until after midnight. Turns out the masks actually made their faces look like it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Goprog, would you be thinking of Playhouse 90 or Alcoa Presents? Some of those old shows were shown in live performance. The United States Steel Hour had good dramas as did Armstrong Circle Theater from Armstrong Building Products, The Philco Television Playhouse & Studio One. For music there was the Bell Telephone Hour and the Voice of Firestone. Kraft Playhouse or Theater or Music Hall had commercials that showed how to throw together some treat, often with Miracle Whip.

The SciFi Channel usually has TZ marathons on holidays. One of my favorite episodes is titled I Sing the Body Electric about the family whose wife and mother died and they design a robot grandmother. The father is played by David White, I believe is his name, who also played Larry Tate on Bewitched.

The luck of that old lady having an angel as beautiful as Robert Redford to escort her into the next life. That was sort of a waste. If the Angel of Death showed up for me looking like Robert Redford, I'd be like Deacon Frye's daughter Thelma going after Reverend Dr. Reuben Gregory. I'd have a hold of him and be asking where we were going and couldn't we take our time getting there.

I do not know if anyone ever saw the Arthur Murray Dance Party on TV, but in the opening of the show (I think) Kathrine Murray would jabber about the special guest or whatever then Arthur would take her hand and they would waltz into where the other couples dancing to the Beautiful Blue Danube. There would be a shot from over head down onto maybe 5 couples in a circle. The women wore gowns with big, full (is skirts the right word?) and as they waltzed the movement of the lower parts of the gowns with all of the crinolines, reminded me of how sheets looked and moved during the rinse in our Roto Swirl Kenmore. This was B&W TV so the image was not broken up by the different color gowns; it was just tones of gray.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The TZ episode with Robert Redford as the Escort Angel is titled Nothing in the Dark and our LC Employees'Film Society is showing it tomorrow at noon. Pretty neat.

 

[eluxomarty]

My Mom

tells the funny story (laughing the hole time) about the William Shatner episode where he is on the plane. My parents are visiting my relatives and everyone is watcing TZ. Poor William is being terrorized by the ape/monster on the wing of the plane. When he opens the shade on the window the music sounds and there is a close up of the monster in the window, Mom lets out this blood curdling scream and scares everyone in the room!!!

I also like "Talking Tina" We like to do her in the nurses station at work! " I'm your nurse Talking Tina. Be nice to me or else!"

 

[zipdang]

How To Serve Man

Laundress, I remember the "How To Serve Man" episode vividy, and was actually thinking about it just the other day. Those scientists worked feverishly to crack the alien code, but by the time they figured out it was a cookbook it was too late, and scores of people had already been beamed to the spaceship.

Creepy stuff!

 

[goatfarmer]

Ed Wynn, where he tries to keep his old clock running. If it stops, he dies. He was also in several other episodes, including one where he's a peddeler, selling things from his suitcase.

 

[mickeyd]

I'm already tingling with remembered fear.

When the woman's face is all bandaged up after a total last ditch effort to make her beautiful because she was hideous. Finally, they remove the bandages, give her a mirror, show her her face, and she screams bloody murder and all the nurses and the doctors gasp.

She is of course "gorgeous" but the medics are pig-faced monsters, which in the "Twilight Zone" is true beauty while her Marilyn Monroe looks are monstrous. The fact that you never see the medics faces till the end goes unnoticed, then their faces are revealed as well, as they gape back and forth at how the operation didn't work. It's horrifying .

Is this next a TZ or something else. A man hates people and loves only books; he wishes everyone would vanish. They do. It's just him and the library, after a nuclear holocaust, but on the way down the steps of the library he breaks his glasses and, nearly blind without them, he screams for someone to help him. Ha ha. Guess you needed people after all, Mister Misanthrope, but we're all gone.

Yes L, et al. The Agnes Morehead and the Shatner/ Gremlin episodes are my all time favs along with the two episodes mentioned. "United States Air force" AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. AHHHHHHHHHHHH. ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. EEEEEEEEEEEEE. Remember? It was so over the top. And when her giant butcher knife went missing and the little robot, after her, slashing. So So Scary. Thanks for the treats, All

This is a blast. Ten bucks says Sweet Robert uploads us some clips if he's not too busy. Could it be any more vintage?

 

[goprog]

I think I saw the one with the children waiting for the grandpa
to die (or at least I saw something where masks became faces.)

And I remember seeing the "beauty is hideous" episode a number
of times.

tomturbomatic

almost all of those sound familiar (and wonderful). Alcoa
Presents I always enjoyed. Kraft Playhouse was another - that
might be what I was thinking of instead of Playhouse 90, but
I might have seen that too.

And Arthur Murray Dance Studio sounds familiar too, but didn't
see much of it (or I'd remember it better.)

Of course this was all dependent on what Mom and Dad wanted to
watch (and how many stations we could get.) Once we moved
when I was in third grade, we only got one station (NBC).
Visiting grandparents I could see ABC, CBS, and NBC.

 

[drmitch]

My absolute favorite is the one of a country store run by Andy Devine. Very funny! It aalso has Floyd the barber from Andy Griffith and Dabbs Greer. They have an encounter with aliens.

 

[launderess]

Ed Winn

As a peddler:

IIRC that was another "death" episode where Mr. Death (played by a suave cool looking and handsome man, comes for a little girl who is sick in bed. Mr. Death has to make his quota and the girl must die before sunrise. The peddler who never has made a big sale, or much of any sale/big difference in his life for that matter, goes into the best routine of his life; keeping Mr. Death so busy that by the time sunrise comes, it is too late to take the girl so she will live. Mr. Death explains to Mr. Winn that he was "won" and the girl will live, but he must make his numbers so someone has to go, and that someone is Mr.Winn. Mr. Winn gladly goes along to his maker, knowing he has done at least one good thing with his life.
Most touching part of the episode is at the end as Death and Mr. Winn are walking away, Mr. Winn goes back for his suitcase of goods and says: "you never know, someone might need something up there", pointing and looking towards heaven. "Am I going, up there?" Mr. Winn asks death with a concerned look, and Death responds "yes, you have made it". Made me want to cry.

Those sort of Twilight episodes always got to me because as a child was very frightened of death. Those episodes made it seem a tad less spooky, but never the less still wasn't crazy about Mr. Death.

 

[launderess]

Robert Redford

Yes, know it was only a television episode, but:

The whole point of Death being a young, goodlooking blonde/blue eyed man was to counter what the old woman feared about dying. She was afraid her death was going to be a hard, horrid affair; but Death proved her wrong by helping to "ease" her fears so she would leave this world peacefully. In the end that is all any of us can hope for isn't it?

L.

 

[mickeyd]

"still wasn't crazy about Mr. Death"

Who is, Dearest?

The childhood thrill of fear and horror is one thing that does not age well.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Laundress, it is a shame that most religions have so filled people with hate and fear that most people look at death with fear. If religions were not so busy trying to exert power over adherents by keeping them ignorant and afraid, the true message of the Creator could go out to let people know that love is the only eternal force of creation and we are loved, always. Our spirit bodies came to this world from the source of love and to that source our spirits return. There is nothing to fear about death. The dying part is often unplesant, but the place after death is wonderful and beautiful beyond words. After my own near death experience, I read many other accounts and they all emphasized love, light, reunion, supreme joy and lack of judgement or punishment, but then these people were not criminals and neither are most of us.

Laundress, I hope that in the years since childhood, you have been able to find something to dispel your fear of the transition. I think that it was admirable of Rod Serling to try to convey a non-threatening image of death. One thing I loved about Touched By An Angel was the message spoken to the person they were trying to help each week "G-d Loves You." We do not hear it enough. The show featured Andrew, a very kind and pleasant looking Angel of Death who tried to comfort and remove fear from those who were about to go with him. He was not Robert Redford, but certainly a messenger whose appearance and manner would inspire calming trust rather than fear.
Tom

 

[mickeyd]

I'm dying to hear about your near-death experience!

Please tell it.

Thank You, Tom

Mike.

Personally, can't wait to cross over, but have too much work left to do. If only He'd just let us visit, although glimpses do come through from time to time in dreams, but you've had the real Mc Coy.

Again, would you share it please!

 

[launderess]

Like The Lady Says:

Cosmo I just want to tell ya, no matter what you do you're going to die, just like the rest of us.

*LOL*

 

[mickeyd]

You kill me

Always when one least expects it, the Sphinx speaks!

I still believe because I see dead people.

 

[sudsmaster]

Another memorable episode is the one in the old folks' home, where an old radio plays old shows as if it were still the 20's and 30's. As I recall, it also helps listeners regain their youth.