Between science and superstition.
Mar. 8th, 2007 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfpangsMost of you already know that I love The Twilight Zone. At its best, it's a work of art. And at its worst...it's still pretty good TV. Also, Rod Serling is a genius. A hot genius. On that note, here is a list of some of my favorites and a list of some of the classics. It's by no means definitive--it's a dip of the toe into the must sees.
Favorites:
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street--A classic, yes, and one of the finest examinations of human paranoia.
People Are Alike All Over--"You're looking at a species of flimsy little two-legged animals with extremely small heads whose name is Man. Warren Marcusson, age thirty-five. Samuel A. Conrad, age thirty-one... They're taking a highway into space, Man unshackling himself and sending his tiny, groping fingers up into the unknown. Their destination is Mars, and in just a moment we'll land there with them."
A Stop At Willoughby--Modern life is noisy and hard and loud and Willoughby is so peaceful. Which would you choose?
The Howling Man--Stop me if you've heard this one before: A man seeks shelter during a storm in a monastery, in which is locked a noisy fellow whom they claim is someone famous. Are the monks crazy or are they right?
Deaths-Head Revisited--A Nazi returns to Dachau. Features perhaps the finest of Serling's opening and closing monologues. Oscar Beregi is good but Joseph Schildkraut is amazing.
Five Characters in Search of an Exit--Exactly what it sounds like. Five characters stuck in a peculiar metal cylinder, with no clue to their surroundings but an occasional loud bell.
Nothing in the Dark--Woman lets a young Robert Redford (no, the real one) in her house. Can you figure out who he is before she does?
The Hunt: If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie and doesn't let me bring my dog(s), I don't wanna go.
Stopover in a Quiet Town--This is why you shouldn't drink and drive.
Classics:
Time Enough At Last--Be careful what you wish for.
I Shot An Arrow Into the Air--A common theme in TZ episodes: The inability to trust our surroundings.
Eye of the Beholder--What is ugly exactly? Who decides?
The Invaders--Tiny men crash land into woman's attic and start shooting at her. What would you do?
It's a Good Life--You don't want to get wished into the corn, do you?
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet--Am I crazy or is there a rabid teddy bear on this airplane's wing?
The Masks--U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi.
Crossposted at Boob Tube because I can.
Favorites:
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street--A classic, yes, and one of the finest examinations of human paranoia.
People Are Alike All Over--"You're looking at a species of flimsy little two-legged animals with extremely small heads whose name is Man. Warren Marcusson, age thirty-five. Samuel A. Conrad, age thirty-one... They're taking a highway into space, Man unshackling himself and sending his tiny, groping fingers up into the unknown. Their destination is Mars, and in just a moment we'll land there with them."
A Stop At Willoughby--Modern life is noisy and hard and loud and Willoughby is so peaceful. Which would you choose?
The Howling Man--Stop me if you've heard this one before: A man seeks shelter during a storm in a monastery, in which is locked a noisy fellow whom they claim is someone famous. Are the monks crazy or are they right?
Deaths-Head Revisited--A Nazi returns to Dachau. Features perhaps the finest of Serling's opening and closing monologues. Oscar Beregi is good but Joseph Schildkraut is amazing.
Five Characters in Search of an Exit--Exactly what it sounds like. Five characters stuck in a peculiar metal cylinder, with no clue to their surroundings but an occasional loud bell.
Nothing in the Dark--Woman lets a young Robert Redford (no, the real one) in her house. Can you figure out who he is before she does?
The Hunt: If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie and doesn't let me bring my dog(s), I don't wanna go.
Stopover in a Quiet Town--This is why you shouldn't drink and drive.
Classics:
Time Enough At Last--Be careful what you wish for.
I Shot An Arrow Into the Air--A common theme in TZ episodes: The inability to trust our surroundings.
Eye of the Beholder--What is ugly exactly? Who decides?
The Invaders--Tiny men crash land into woman's attic and start shooting at her. What would you do?
It's a Good Life--You don't want to get wished into the corn, do you?
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet--Am I crazy or is there a rabid teddy bear on this airplane's wing?
The Masks--U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi.
Crossposted at Boob Tube because I can.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-08 12:41 am (UTC)Serling's represents the world view I most wish I had as my own.
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Date: 2007-03-08 01:06 am (UTC)The DVDs are dumb--something like two per disc--so I just save them to my DVR. Alas, no TV-watching time until June, but I will definitely come back to this post to know what to look out for.
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Date: 2007-03-08 01:38 am (UTC)And Rod Serling was kinda hot.
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Date: 2007-03-08 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-08 02:47 am (UTC)The thing I love about Rod Serling was that he was highly intelligent and lets his real life events dictate what most of his stories are based on. For instence he faught in WWII in the south pacific and many of his episodes reflect that.
Yeah I will freely admit that I love the twilight zone
no subject
Date: 2007-03-08 06:29 pm (UTC)