À propos of nothing I figured I'd share my impressions of the four shows that have aired under the title The Twilight Zone. Here goes.
The first (1959-64): This is the one that really makes it. If it hadn't been a success it's unlikely they would have tried to revive it at all, or turn it into a movie. Rod Serling was a great writer for the medium, as well as being a special presence as narrator, despite not being trained as an actor. The writer part also applies to Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. The change to hourlong episodes in the fourth season was a bad move, with the exception of a few episodes. Still, that just proves that Serling had hit upon the right form to begin with.
The second (1985-89): Shakier. Like its predecessor, it had a heavyweight writing staff, led by Harlan Ellison. And some of the stories are very effective. Often seemed to think it was deeper than it actually was, although you could argue that too much ambition is better than not enough. Kind of wild that the Dead did the opening theme song.
The third (2002-03): Aired on UPN with Star Trek: Enterprise as its lead-in. One good thing it did was bring back the onscreen narrator, the position now being filled by Forrest Whitaker. Unfortunately, most of the stories were--what's the word?--bad. Good actors tended to be stranded.
The fourth (2019-20): Created and narrated by Jordan Peele, it first showed on Netflix. Being a streaming show instead of a broadcast show meant they could throw in a lot of swears. It also meant they could pursue a narrower audience. Unfortunately--there's that word again--this meant in practice focusing on Resistance liberals and preaching to the choir. Which I guess is at least a new way to be bad.
So perhaps I'm biased but Serling's original seems to be the one to really hit it out of the park. I'd also note that the two better series--from the 50s and 80s--adapted short stories from print, while the next two didn't. Sometimes "original" ideas aren't.
2 comments:
Interesting topic for consideration. Unfortunately, the only series I have any familiarity with is Rod Serling's original. Not all the episodes were equally strong but enough of them were that the show became very popular in a hurry. The show was ground breaking and thought provoking at a time when questioning the status quo was almost unheard of. People talked about this show and it really made people think.
Gene Roddenberry said:
No one could know Serling, or view or read his work, without recognizing his deep affection for humanity ... and his determination to enlarge our horizons by giving us a better understanding of ourselves.
He wanted humanity to be better. He saw the potential of our greatness and how things like war, racism, censorship, etc were holding us back. He sought to make the world a better place by presenting issues in easily digestible bites to show how idiotic our prejudices were.
As for the three other versions I'm happy to accept your opinion of them. I liked he idea of the Grateful Dead playing the theme music for the second run and Harlan Ellison was a very good sci-fi writer. It's good to know Forrest Whitaker introduced the stories in the third series - I like him but too bad the plays weren't up to his class level. The Jordan Peele series must have missed the Rod Serling's original intentions.
The best Twilight Zones have always been and will always be stories with either clearly sympathetic victims or truly detestable monsters, no matter how well disguised they may be in the storyline. That's what made them enjoyable as well as thought provoking.
It's not that unfortunate. really. Serling's original Twilight Zond is still remembered today for a reason. If I'm honest my opinions on the last couple are based on fleeting impressions. I didn't see all that much of them, so maybe I missed something. But I'm guessing not.
That's a nice quote from Gene Roddenberry. He must have had people he looked up to and emulated, and Serling was a fine choice.
Serling wanted humanity to be better, and he conveyed this to his audience. For the most part this was a good example of "show, don't tell." The messages are against things like war and prejudice, but this is driven home by watching how they play out in these heightened situations.
It's a tall order and I'm not surprised that those who followed have fallen short more often than not.
Burgess Meredith trying to make the most of the apocalypse by getting some reading done and immediately breaking his glasses. Talk about a sympathetic victim!
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