I am a fan of the old "The Twilight Zone" CBS television series, and it's one of the few television series that I've seen all of the episodes of. So, when I heard that "The Twilight Zone" was being shown in the West End as a play, I had to get tickets to it. I saw the matinée performance of the show as a walk-up and got a decent seat four rows from the front in the stalls (the pricing band underneath premium) for a discount.
So, why do I like "The Twilight Zone", and why should you like it? I actually don't actually watch much television, but I watched some of these episodes when I was younger and then bought the full DVD set when I was at university. What I enjoy about this series is that the writing is creative, and the film-making is actually done very well; the stories are engaging and the film-making is done correctly to add suspense. Some of the episodes are actually extremely disturbing and frightening, even though they are nearly 70 years old. I don't like all of the episodes, but some of them are actual classics. Some have actually had much impact in television and film-making as they have been referenced or re-used in modern films/television. How many films/television episodes today have this kind of exposure and status? People even known the show by name; even if they have not watched an episode, they know the meaning and use the term to define something as "strange".
"The Twilight Zone" got rave reviews when it was on at The Almeida theatre in Islington. It is adapted as a stage play by award-winning Anne Washburn, and eight of the original episodes by Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson. Not all of the eight episodes were used entirely, but we had "Eye of the Beholder", "Little Girl Lost", "The Shelter", "And When The Sky Was Opened", "Perchance to Dream", "The Long Morrow", "Nightmare as a Child", and (I think) "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up"? We also had one with a ventriloquist, but I am not sure if it was a particular episode, although living doll episodes and the living ventriloquist dummies are in a couple of episodes. And the alien from "To Serve Man" made an appearance too, with a credit to that episode.
And because I enjoy "The Twilight Zone", I thought that I'd list some of my personal favourite episodes (in no order). Of course, there are other episodes that are not great or have not dated well, but the below selection should help you find a good episode to watch. And, of course, everyone will have their favourite episodes too.
Quite a few of the episodes feature war; World War II had ended a little more than a decade before the first episode was shown, so this war and episodes about prisoners or victims played on the mind of writers. Also, Rod Serling was from a Jewish family, so some of these were personal for him. The 1950s/1960s were also a time when people were dreaming about space and exploring space, and aliens were in popular culture. Robots and technology and automating the life were also constant themes of this time when people feared they would be lesser important and machines would replace them. Cold war with nuclear weapons was also a fear, and some of the historical political and social events (JFK assassination, Martin Luther King civil rights issues and assassination) were explored. Some of the stories are ahead of their time.
"The After Hours": A shop mannequin comes to life and is on a mission to find a thimble for a gift during the day. She is transported up to the ninth floor, which is a back room. At the end of the episode and when the shop closes for the day, she realises that she is a mannequin as are the others. This idea was actually explored and used in a 1980s film. It's actually a really creative episode.
"Eye of the Beholder": Throughout the episode, we see a woman with a bandage over her face/head. They are trying to give her plastic surgery. It isn't until the end that we see what is happening. The woman looks like an average human, and the nurses/doctor look like aliens. She wants to look like one of them so she is not "ugly". This one is full of suspense because we don't know what is wrong with the woman, and we never see any faces until the end.
"Walking Distance": One of my most favourite episodes, this episode features a man who goes for a drive after a difficult adulthood; he somehow time travels to his childhood idealistic town, modelled after writer Rod Serling's hometown. He meets his childhood self but causes an accident, which does make him have a limp forever but also makes him happier as an adult because he had a fulfilling childhood. This episode is a sad one because who doesn't wish to go back to their childhood again and maybe give some advice?
"The Invaders": This episode has one of the best uses of suspense that I have seen used in a story. An old lady lives alone, and she hears UFO noises at night. The episode is of the old lady without much speaking through the duration on the episode, frightened by the invaders. The invaders do turn out to be aliens, but at the end, we find out that they are miniature. This is because they are humans, and she is a giant alien.
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet": One of the most iconic of the "Twilight Zone" episodes, this one features a young William Shatner. He is afraid to fly and believes he sees a "gremlin" on the wing, trying to tear it apart. It turns out he does see this. The idea is terrifying, especially the creepy scenes of the "gremlin" on the wing!
"Number 12 Looks Just Like You": This episode explores a loss of individuality in which people can decide to change their appearance to look like a selection of dolls. Everyone looks like a version of everyone else. It discovers what is seen to be attractive and unique and a loss of identity.
"A Stop at Willoughby": A harassed man on a train sees the stop Willoughby, an idyllic town. The next time he goes onto the train, he stops here, but we find out that he jumped off the train and died.
"The Midnight Sun": A woman has a dream that the Earth's orbit has changed, and the Earth is heading toward the sun. They will eventually burn up. Then, she wakes up and realises that it's actually the opposite; the Earth is moving further from the sun, and it is getting colder. This is a very frightening episode because our only home is Earth, and we could easily be destroyed by the sun or lack of it if something catastrophic were to happen. This is a feeling of helplessness.
"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street": The community is worried about aliens, and the paranoia makes them dangerous as a mob where they single out others. This idea was explored in later episodes and one of the stories that is used a lot outside of "The Twilight Zone".
"Come Wander With Me": Folk music singing leads a young man who loves music and wants to be a star into the woods to find a beautiful girl and to learn his fate. The song is used throughout the story, and I just thought it was a unique episode.
"An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge": This was a short story that I read in school, and we watched the episode after reading it. It is a story about a man who is about to be hanged during the Civil War. While he is being hanged, he believes the rope broke and he is free; however, it is just an illusion. It's honestly a great book and referenced in writing and has inspired other stories. I think the episode is mainly without voices, focusing just on the sounds and senses.
"Five Characters in Search of An Exit": Five unique characters (clown, ballerina, major, bagpiper, hobo) find themselves trapped in a pit. They all have an idea how they got there, but the events surrounding are foggy. The major tries to escape and falls outside the cylinder they are trapped in. It turns out that they are dolls in a box given away as gifts, and they soon realise this inevitability. They realise that they are not real and have no control over their fate.
"It's a Good Life": A little boy has alienated his home town, and if he does not get his own way or does not like someone, he will transform them and make them go away. The boy turns the man into a jack-in-the-box, which we see as a shadow on the wall. It is very disturbing and the thing of nightmares.
"Where is Everybody?": Originally, this episode was meant to be a story where people were killed after 60 because they were no longer any use. Instead, this story is about a man who finds himself alone in an abandoned village. He's actually preparing for a lonely trip to the moon. The episode explores loneliness and paranoia at being alone.
"Black Leather Jackets": A gang of teen boys wearing leather jackets enjoys life in a small town. One falls in love with a girl. They are actually aliens. Although this episode fell short, I feel that it could have done a lot more with the story.
"Stopover in a Quiet Town": A man and woman find themselves in an abandoned but picturesque town with plastic wildlife. Actually, it turns out that they are in a little girl's play town/railroad set/dollhouse.
"Long Distance Call": A little boy receives a telephone from his grandmother before his birthday, and she passes away. Yet, he is able to communicate with her over the phone, and there is an accident. Being able to communicate with the deceased is just disturbing. It's a good episode but not one of my ultimate favourites.
"To Serve Man": Aliens promise to help (serve) humans on Earth, but they actually have another agenda for humans, and that other agenda is a play on the word "to serve". The book "To Serve Man" is a cookbook. And we're all apparently next on the menu. I'm sure this one frightened a lot of children during the decade where space aliens were popular.
"The Hitch-Hiker": A woman was in an accident but does not know that she's actually dead. She keeps seeing a hitch-hiker and believes he is following her. The realisation comes at the end of the episode, and the hitch-hiker is also going her way to the afterlife.
"A Nice Place to Visit": The idea of this episode is classic. A criminal dies, and his punishment is to have everything he has ever wanted without a challenge. Of course, this turns out to be Hell.
"The Little People": Tiny astronauts find themselves on a distant land, and they find a tiny species of people that starts to worship them as gods. One of them is mean and destroys some of their village; a larger species comes along and does away with the mean one. This story was used in "The Simpsons".
Of course, there are other episodes that I am sure that I've forgotten that I have enjoyed or parts that have stuck with me, but the show produced six seasons originally (1959-1962) and over 150 episodes! It was then rebooted in the 1980s and again in the early 2000s, and it's also had a more recent reboot as well. Some of the stories in the reboots are original, and other ones are remakes of the popular original stories.
"The Twilight Zone" is on at Ambassadors Theatre near Seven Dials until June.
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