Despite owning every episode of Twilight Zone on DVD, when the Sci-Fi Channel (sorry, the name change to Syfy was just dumb) runs a marathon on holiday weekends, I have to watch. As much as I enjoy seeing the "classic" episodes like Eye of the Beholder, though, one of the great pleasures of the marathons is seeing episodes you wouldn't necessarily tune in for on their own reputation. Certainly. not all Twilight Zone episodes are created equal, and a few are pretty bad. That said, some of these lesser known stories are in their own way just as compelling as some of the program's touchstones and deserve a little extra attention. Moreover, they include some of the finest acting performances ever seen in the series, which is to say in the history of film and television.
Nick of Time: William Shatner's other Twilight Zone appearance, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, is more famous, even getting a remake in 1982's Twilight Zone movie. Shatner's earlier appearance, though, is a gem that really shows why he was once regarded as one of Hollywood's best young actors. There's no supernatural element here, just a taut character drama about taking charge of one's own fate with a final twist that shows how flexible the format of Twilight Zone was.
Night of the Meek: Reportedly, this story was the product Rod Serling's desire to do a Christmas story with Art Carney as Santa Claus. The end result found Carney playing Henry Corwin, a down on his luck soul whose job ad a department store Santa is the outward expression of his wish that both he and Christmas could be something finer. Carney gets his wish, courtesy of the Twilight Zone.
The Changing of the Guard: Numerous protagonists entered the Twilight Zone and found themselves out of their own time. In Changing of the Guard, a man who feels that time and the world have passed him by has the Twilight Zone come to him. Played marvelously by Donald Pleasance, Professor Ellis Fowler laments that his years of teaching failed to move or motivate any of his students. As he contemplates suicide, Fowler is visited by the ghosts of his former students and learns that he left a much deeper mark than he'd ever imagined. While Rod Serling's script isn't terribly original, it gives Pleasance enough to work with so that the actor's absolute conviction can make this episode something truly special.
The Masks: The only Twilight Zone episode directed by a woman, Ida Lupino (who starred in the episode The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine), The Masks is another concise character piece in the vein of Nick of Time. Lupino, who directed a number of feature films, has an unsurprising affinity for working with actors. As with Nick of Time, though, it's possible that the lack of supernatural undertones may be one of the key reasons this episode is less well-regarded than some other less substantial (and more cliched) episodes of the program.
Printer's Devil: Described in The Twilight Zone Companion as "a fairly run of the mill deal-with-the-devil story", Charles Beaumont's adaptation of his own short story "The Devil You Say?" is admittedly not the most original of episodes, even in comparison to others from the show's later seasons. It's elevated above the ordinary, though, by Burgess Meredith's performance as the, shall we say, title character. Among the highlights is the scene where Meredith's "Mr. Smith" first makes his deal with the struggling newspaper owner, comparing their soul to a vintage wine. Printer's Devil was Meredith's fourth and final appearance on Twilight Zone, which brings to mind the actor's first appearance on the show.
The Honorable Mention for Most Overrated Episode goes to...Time Enough at Last: The twist ending with Meredith's unassuming book-worm Henry Bemis breaking his glasses is probably the most iconic moment in the program's history. That undeniably good twist has helped camouflage for decades that the other 20-odd minutes of Time Enough at Last aren't themselves really all that good. It's obviously a fine showcase for Meredith and he gives it his all. Beyond that, though, there really isn't much more to it. The characters who are disparaging of Bemis and his love of books seem to do so simply because it's what he script requires, and Bemis himself doesn't have much more dimension either. In fact, what stands out most about this episode is how obvious it all feels. It's a twist worthy of The Twilight Zone that its best remembered story is actually one of its least interesting.
You're dead-on about "Time Enough at Last." Everything is telegraphed from the first scene onwards, and the ending falls flat once you start thinking about it. Could Bemis be both farsighted and nearsighted? Could he possibly find his way to an optometrist's and find a prescription pair at least somewhat close to his own? And while I love books as much as the next bespectacled geek, anyone who spends that much time post-apocalypse stacking up his or her reading list deserves to have their glasses broken.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite less-often mentioned episodes are:
"Mirror Image" -- Vera Miles runs into a familiar face in a bus station. I find this one incredibly frightening. It veers into Twin Peaks/David Lynch territory way ahead of the game.
"Third From the Sun" -- It's not a terribly original idea, the material having probably been trod upon in multiple pulp and comic magazine stories over the years *before* this episode, but it's bristling with energy and directed ingeniously. None of the angles are natural, you'll notice. Everything's at a slight cant or shot from a strange vantage. It keeps you uneasy and dovetails nicely with the closing revelation.
"Night Call" -- This tale of mysterious phone calls from a most unusual location ruins the ending of one of Matheson's best and most terrifying short stories, but I still find it enjoyable.
"The Grave" -- In which Lee Marvin is dared to stick a knife into the grave of the man he was hired to kill. Serling liked setting these things in the Old West. And this, along with "Mr. Garrity and the Graves," is his best attempt at this cross-genre pollination.
Anything with Jack Klugman, I've found, makes for superior viewing. Doesn't matter how hackneyed the storyline, Klugman makes it work. He's more than a man. He's a Klug-Man!
Worst episodes: anything Serling wrote in an attempt to be funny or to launch a comedy series. "Mr. Bevis," "Mr. Dingle, The Strong," "Hocus Pocus and Frisby," "Cavendish is Coming"...yeccch.