Category: Twilight Zone

Categories
1980s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Shatterday / A Little Piece And Quiet

The Twilight ZoneShatterday: Peter Jay Novins, a businessman who is disgruntled with his lot in life, accidentally dials his own home phone number from a bar, and is stunned when he hears his own voice answering the phone. The man on the other end claims to be Peter Jay Novins – a man who is content with his lot in life. Stunned to his core, Peter leaves the bar, determined to take steps to starve his alter ego out of his life. But the harder Peter tries to force the “other” Peter away, the more he traps himself.

written by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Harlan Ellison
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir & Mickey Hart

Twilight ZoneCast: Bruce Willis (Peter), Dan Gilvezan (Bartender), Murukh (Woman at bank), John Carlyle (Clerk), Seth Isler (Alter Ego), Anthony Grumbach (Bellboy)

A Little Peace And Quiet: A harried suburban housewife working in her garden digs up a buried box containing a sundial-like pendant. Later, as her temper reaches a boiling point, she screams “Shut up!” – and time stops. The flow of time is resumed only when she says “start talking,” and only she can move or speak in the interim. Before long, she learns to use this talisman’s supernatural ability to her advantage, but when her world comes crashing down around her, she finds it necessary to stop the clock… and never start it again.

Twilight Zonewritten by James Crocker
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Melinda Dillon (Penny), Greg Mullavey (Russell), Virginia Keehne (Susan), Brittany Wilson (Janet), Joshua Harris (Russ Jr.), Judith Barsi (Bertie), Claire Nono (Newscaster), Elma Veronda Jackson (1st Shopper), Pamela Gordon (2nd Shopper), Laura Waterbury (3rd Shopper), Todd Allen (Preppy Man), Isabelle Walker (Preppy Woman)

Notes: Bruce Willis was already hot property at this point early in his career, with Moonlighting having premiered six months earlier; his breakout movie role in Die Hard was only three years away. Melinda Dillon’s other genre credits include the lead female role in 1977’s Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and the 1985 miniseries Space, a dramatized account of the American space program; she was also Ralphie’s mom in A Christmas Story (1983). Greg Mullavey had a regular role in the 1970s soap spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. The marquee above the movie theater at the end of A Little Peace And Quiet name-checks two Cold War classics, Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
1980s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Wordplay / Dreams For Sale / Chameleon

The Twilight ZoneWordplay: Words are just part of a salesman’s trade, but when those words begin getting switched with other words, resulting in a seemingly nonsensical new version of the English language, Bill Lowery finds himself unable to communicate with anyone at all and must start learning the language all over.

written by Rockne S. O’Bannon
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir & Mickey Hart

Twilight ZoneCast: Robert Klein (Bill Lowery), Annie Potts (Cathy Lowery), Adam Raber (Donnie), Robert J. Downey (Mr. Miller), Brian Bradley (Hotshot), Bernard Behrens (Older Salesman), Anne Betancourt (Admitting Nurse), William Peugh (Man #1), Helene Udy (Woman #1), Mimi Neyer-Craven (Receptionist), Brynja Willis (Secretary), Russ Marin (Doctor), Alexandra Morgan (Nurse #1), Lee Arnone (Nurse #2), Raye Birk (Bearded Man), Joseph Whipp (Doug Seaver), Dwier Brown (Robbie)

Dreams For Sale: A woman’s idyllic dream of the perfect domestic lifestyle – a husband, two children, picnics in the park – is interrupted by the realization that she is not the person in her dreams…and she doesn’t want to be who she is in reality.

Twilight Zonewritten by Joe Cannon
directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Meg Foster (Jenny), David Hayward (Paul), Vincent Guastaferro (Dream Technician), Lee Anthony (Rescue Technician One), Kristi Purdy (Twin), Deanna Purdy (Twin)

Chameleon: A piece of equipment aboard a space shuttle mission exhibits a momentary blue glow in space, and then does so again when it is returned to Earth. The first NASA technician who picks it up vanishes in a flash of blue light, reappearing later while the equipment is studied in isolation. The crew chief who last handled it appears in the isolation chamber and demands to be set free, before changing his shape, repeating the plea for freedom and revealing that it is not of this world. When the scientists it perceives as captors refuse to release it, the being proves that it is capable of more forceful negotiations.

Twilight Zonewritten by James Crocker
directed by Wes Craven
music by Merl Saunders and The Grateful Dead

Cast: Terrance O’Quinn (Dr. Lockridge), Ben Piazza (Dr. Heilman), John Ashton (Brady Simmons), Steve Howell Bassett (Gerald Tyson), Iona Morris (Annie), Alma Martinez (Teresa Rojas), Chad Hayes (Peter Iverson), Lin Shaye (Woman in Tank)

Notes: Terrance O’Quinn is better known as Terry O’Quinn, future star of Lost and future guest star on Tales From The Crypt, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, Earth 2, and Alias. If Bernard Behrens doesn’t look familiar, maybe he sounds familiar: he was the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in NPR’s 1980s radio adaptations of the Star Wars saga. Chameleon saw The Twilight Zone Twilight Zoneusing a special effects resource that simply didn’t exist during the first season of the original Twilight Zone: NASA footage of astronauts working in space. Since the footage includes flights of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), this narrows down the real missions in question to STS-41B, STS-41C, and STS-51A, all flown in 1984, the previous year. That’s the same year that Wes Craven’s horror megahit A Nightmare On Elm Street landed in theaters, making the director a superstar, and a major coup for the new Twilight Zone.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
1980s Season 2 Twilight Zone

Time And Teresa Golowitz / Voices In The Earth

The Twilight ZoneTime And Teresa Golowitz: Uninspired Broadway songwriter Bluestone has a visitor who identifies himself only as Prince…and Prince points out that Bluestone is actually lying on the floor dead, rather than his spirit, which is still sitting at the piano. Offered one visit to any event or place in time or space before judgement is passed on him, Bluestone opts to go back to 1948, a party in his senior year of high school, where he hopes to convince his high school crush to sleep with him. Unimpressed, Prince grants the request, but when he arrives in 1948, Bluestone is fixated on another classmate: a shy, awkward girl whose fate he doesn’t remember. When Prince reminds him that this night, this party, convinced Teresa Golowitz to end her own life, Bluestone decides to change his plans for the evening, along with history…whether that pleases any higher powers or not.

teleplay by Alan Brennert
based on the short story by Parke Godwin
directed by Shelley Levinson
music by William Goldstein

Twilight ZoneCast: Gene Barry (Prince), Grant Heslov (Blaustein), Kristi Lynes (Teresa Golowitz), Paul Sand (Bluestone), Gina Gershon (Laura), Beau Dremann (Bob), Heather Haase (Mary Ellen Cosgrove), Wally Ward (Nelson Baxley), J.D. Roth (Boy at Party), Laurel Green (Girl at Party)

Voices In The Earth: An aging academic heads up the last scientific expedition to the ecologically ruined, abandoned planet Earth before the planet is scheduled to be strip-mined to its core. Unsure of precisely what it is he seeks, he explores abandoned structures on foot and keeps encountering glowing people who appear to be from the past, people who implore him to join them. They claim to be the spirits of the last Earth-born humans, the ones who were left on the planet while those who had the means to do so fled into space…and they need a host body to avoid being destroyed with what’s left of Earth.

Twilight Zonewritten by Alan Brennert
directed by Curtis Harrington
music by William Goldstein

Cast: Martin Balsam (Professor Donald Knowles), Jenny Agutter (Jacinda Carlyle), Wortham Krimmer (Leader), Tim Russ (Archer), Dennis Haskins (Bledsoe), Ted Lehmann (Old Man), Eve Brenner (Old Woman), Sandra Ganzer (Girl), C’Esca Lawrence (Young Woman), Christopher Lofton (Middle-Aged Man)

Notes: The short story on which Time And Teresa Golowitz was based, “Influencing The Hell Out Of Time And Teresa Golowitz”, appeared in January 1982’s Twilight Zone Magazine; that segment features early career appearances for Gina Gershon and Grant Heslov (Hulu’s Catch-22). The second segment is packed with genre fan favorites, including Martin Balsam (The Six Million Dollar Man), Jenny Agutter (Logan’s Run, Red Dwarf), Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager), and Wortham Krimmer (Babylon 5), along with future Saved By The Bell star Dennis Haskins.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
2010s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Comedian

The Twilight ZoneStruggling comedian Samir Wassan bombs on stage with his usual brand of political humor, and then has a chance encounter with one of his comedy heroes, a man who had it all and then all but vanished from public view. He can’t resist asking for pointers, and is told to use more personal anecdotes from his life…and then to be ready to let those stories go forever. Part of Samir’s next routine concerns his dog…who has disappeared by the time he gets home. In fact, his girlfriend doesn’t remember ever having a dog. Her nephew, after helping him post flyers for his lost dog, accompanies him to the comedy club the next night, and becomes part of the act as well…only to vanish from existence when his name is mentioned. After overcoming an initial wave of guilt, Samir begins mentioning more names in his act, settling old scores, and each time, erasing someone from existence. It’s too late to stop and return to his dead-on-arrival political humor, but Samir’s only beginning to discover how erasing people from history with a mere mention can change the history of those around him. His comedy career on the rise, even Samir’s skeptical peers admit he’s killing it. They just don’t realize how many he’s killing to do it…until someone discovers his secret.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Alex Rubens
directed by Owen Harris
music by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts
original Twilight Zone theme by Marius Constant

The Twilight ZoneCast: Kumail Nanjiani (Samir Wassan), Amara Karan (Rena), Diarra Kilpatrick (Didi Scott), Ryan Robbins (David Kandel), Tracy Morgan (J.C. Wheeler), Marc Joseph (Deven), Toby Hargrave (Joe Donner), Danny Dworkis (Pete), Jacob Machin (Bartender), Briana Rayner (Candy Gower), Darcy Michael (MC), Sean Hewlett (Will), Brendon Zub (Gabe), Harry Han (Finance Bro #3), Melanie Rose Wilson (Waitress), Bryron Bertram (Murray), Lesley Mirza (Marjorie), Khamisa Wilsher (Drunk Woman), Willy Lavendel (Drunk Man), Ryan Beil (Ventriloquist), Jane Stanton (Standup Comic #3), Jordan Peele (The Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
2010s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Nightmare At 30,000 Feet

The Twilight ZoneInvestigative journalist Justin Sanderson, fresh from a nightmarish assignment in Yemen and turbulence in his personal life, takes on a new reporting assignment in Tel Aviv, boarding Northern GoldStar Flight 1015. Justin finds an MP3 player left behind by a previous passenger, containing a podcast…about the mysterious disappearance of Northern GoldStar Flight 1015 over the Atlantic. He begins listening and is alarmed when such events as a bird striking one of the plane’s engines is described more or less in real time, and he starts trying to alert the plane’s crew and fellow passengers to what he believes is imminent disaster. But for all the disturbance he causes, the only threat perceived by anyone is Justin himself. One fellow passenger, however, does believe him. Claiming to be a former airline pilot himself, he has the skills necessary to turn the plane around and avert disaster…if only Justin can help him break into the cockpit.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Marco Ramirez
story by Simon Kinberg, Jordan Peele and Marco Ramirez
based on the teleplay and short story Nightmare At 20,000 Feet written by Richard Matheson
directed by Greg Yaitanes
music by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts
original Twilight Zone theme by Marius Constant

The Twilight ZoneCast: Adam Scott (Justin Sanderson), Chris Diamantopoulos (Joe), Dan Carlin (voice of Rodman Edwards), Katie Findlay (Flight Attendant), Nicholas Lea (Captain Donner), China Shavers (Air Marshal), J. Cameron Barnett (Flight Attendant), Nabil Ayoub (Fawwaz Khalidi), Hana Kinani (Sadeen Khalidi), Greg Zach (Suspicious Punk), Vladimir Ruzich (Tsezar), Alexander Mandra (Igor Orlov), Demelza Randall (Mandy), Emanuel Mokhtari (Fadi Khalidi), Arkie Kandola (Omesh Singh), Tarun Keram (Tanveera Singh), Tim Howe (TSA Agent), Brea Schneider (Gate Attendant), Jordan Peele (The Narrator)

The Twilight ZoneNotes: Among the wreckage that has washed onto the shore from the downed plane is a stuffed animal of the gremlin glimpsed in the original Twilight Zone episode Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (1963). That original episode – which wasn’t made and aired until early in the original series’ fifth and final season – had already been remade once in the 1983 Twilight Zone movie. This is a much more significant reworking of the story, bringing in such 21st century elements as “true crime” podcasts, TSA patdowns, and suicidal airline pilots. We eagerly await Enigmatique’s podcast on the mystery of Oceanic Flight 815.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
2010s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Replay

The Twilight ZoneAttorney Nina Harrison is on her last road trip with her son Dorian, en route to take him to his first day at college. She intends to document everything with a somewhat outdated camcorder she inherited from her late father. But en route to the school, the Harrisons are pulled over by a white police officer who seems determined to give them a ticket for something – and he becomes particularly agitated at the sight of the camcorder recording him, reaching for it. In the struggle, Nina hits the “rewind” button by accident, but it’s not the videotape but time itself that rewinds. Determined to avoid letting the same sequence of events replay itself, Nina tries to do things differently – repeatedly – but despite taking different routes, or even getting off the road altogether, the policeman is always there, and with each successive attempt to change the course of events, he becomes more aggressive and violent toward Dorian. Nina has it in her power to rewind through the past, but can she ever change Dorian’s future?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
directed by Gerard McMurray
music by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts
original Twilight Zone theme by Marius Constant

The Twilight ZoneCast: Sanaa Lathan (Nina Harrison), Damson Idris (Dorian Harrison), Steve Harris (Uncle Neil), Glenn Fleshler (Officer Lasky), Candus Churchill (Mabel), Zari Diango (Dorian’s Daughter / Dream Daughter), Keon Boateng (Dream Son), Henry Mah (Medical Examiner), Samantha Spatari (Morgue Assistant), Jocelyn Panton (Lottery Announcer), Blake Stadel (Police Officer), Jordan Peele (The Narrator)

LogBook entry by Earl Green