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One thing I did for myself over this vacation was treat myself to the complete Twilight Zone. All 5 seasons on DVD. Can't wait to get it in the mail.
Man I love that show! It was on from 1959 to 1964, and being between 5 and 10 years old at that time, I wasn't in a position to enjoy their original airings, but did catch--and fully appreciate--the shows in all their beauty some 10 years later.
Our world was quite a different place(or at least a different-looking one)back in '59-64. You had the Cold War, McCarthyism, cool jazz, the beginning of the Space Age, and the very beginnings of the "hippie" revolution which would happen of course full-fledged later in the 60's. All these things found their way into the Twilight Zone's episodes, in one way or another.
Creator Rod Serling lamented the pressure from network censors as far as being able to make reference to the political climate of the time(remember, this was the era of Senator Joseph McCarthy!), but I think this served as a blessing in disguise. It would've dated, and thus seriously devalued, the show.
What makes a show like this endure--and for a half-century and counting-- is not its reflection of the times in which it was made, but rather its transcendence of them. The most effective Twilight Zone episodes, the ones people still talk about 50 years later, were the "morality plays" which dealt in universal human themes, questions which plague every age of man. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, and then some..
There were a goodly number of episodes about space exploration, but they pretty much left me cold. Too rooted in the '60s and that said, their flying saucers are pretty comical by today's standards. Might as well have everybody wearing Nehru jackets..
The shows dealing with extraterrestial life were way cool though, especially of the "aliens among us" variety. My favorite is the one where the Martian lands his ship near a Diner and makes his way in along with 6 other folks getting off a bus(thus becoming a mystery as well as science fiction thriller). I won't spoil the ending for you if you haven't seen it, but it's highly recommended viewing.
Another favorite is the one with Telly Savalas, entitled "Living Doll". He plays a grouchy guy whose stepdaughter brings home an expensive doll from the store. Talky Tina is the doll's name. To everyone else she just says, My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much. But to crabass stepdad, she has quite a different vocabulary. Things escalate between them until he finally ties a sack around Talky Tina and puts her in a garbage can. He goes back into the house, settles in front of the TV, and the phone rings. He answers it.
The voice on the phone says, My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you.
Fuuuuuuck. Normally I don't use profanity here at Roger U Roundy, but an intense little moment in TV history. Sometimes 'fuuuuuuck' is the only word that'll do.. As my brother told my nephew, in reference to viewing it, "this show will change you".
Looking forward very much to having all the episodes of The Twilight Zone on DVD. I like watching shows "in bulk", and similarly can sit through an entire season of The Sopranos--the only danger there is that I start to talk like the characters on the show after a few hours of viewing. Fugettaboutit!
So in what I hope will be a very short amount of time--a week or so--I'll be the proud owner of 5 years worth of some very well-written, directed and acted stuff. Made while I was still in short pants, but still entertaining to me now as a 50-something-year-old. Nice that some things stand the test of time.
Man I love that show! It was on from 1959 to 1964, and being between 5 and 10 years old at that time, I wasn't in a position to enjoy their original airings, but did catch--and fully appreciate--the shows in all their beauty some 10 years later.
Our world was quite a different place(or at least a different-looking one)back in '59-64. You had the Cold War, McCarthyism, cool jazz, the beginning of the Space Age, and the very beginnings of the "hippie" revolution which would happen of course full-fledged later in the 60's. All these things found their way into the Twilight Zone's episodes, in one way or another.
Creator Rod Serling lamented the pressure from network censors as far as being able to make reference to the political climate of the time(remember, this was the era of Senator Joseph McCarthy!), but I think this served as a blessing in disguise. It would've dated, and thus seriously devalued, the show.
What makes a show like this endure--and for a half-century and counting-- is not its reflection of the times in which it was made, but rather its transcendence of them. The most effective Twilight Zone episodes, the ones people still talk about 50 years later, were the "morality plays" which dealt in universal human themes, questions which plague every age of man. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, and then some..
There were a goodly number of episodes about space exploration, but they pretty much left me cold. Too rooted in the '60s and that said, their flying saucers are pretty comical by today's standards. Might as well have everybody wearing Nehru jackets..
The shows dealing with extraterrestial life were way cool though, especially of the "aliens among us" variety. My favorite is the one where the Martian lands his ship near a Diner and makes his way in along with 6 other folks getting off a bus(thus becoming a mystery as well as science fiction thriller). I won't spoil the ending for you if you haven't seen it, but it's highly recommended viewing.
Another favorite is the one with Telly Savalas, entitled "Living Doll". He plays a grouchy guy whose stepdaughter brings home an expensive doll from the store. Talky Tina is the doll's name. To everyone else she just says, My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much. But to crabass stepdad, she has quite a different vocabulary. Things escalate between them until he finally ties a sack around Talky Tina and puts her in a garbage can. He goes back into the house, settles in front of the TV, and the phone rings. He answers it.
The voice on the phone says, My name is Talky Tina and I'm going to kill you.
Fuuuuuuck. Normally I don't use profanity here at Roger U Roundy, but an intense little moment in TV history. Sometimes 'fuuuuuuck' is the only word that'll do.. As my brother told my nephew, in reference to viewing it, "this show will change you".
Looking forward very much to having all the episodes of The Twilight Zone on DVD. I like watching shows "in bulk", and similarly can sit through an entire season of The Sopranos--the only danger there is that I start to talk like the characters on the show after a few hours of viewing. Fugettaboutit!
So in what I hope will be a very short amount of time--a week or so--I'll be the proud owner of 5 years worth of some very well-written, directed and acted stuff. Made while I was still in short pants, but still entertaining to me now as a 50-something-year-old. Nice that some things stand the test of time.
posted by Roger U Roundly at 2:23 PM
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