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Twilight Zone


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So having grown up wit the 80's version of the show, it wasn't until recently I had a chance and the inclination to go back through and watch the original series. Being a nerd forum I guess a fair few people on here would have seen most of it if not the best eps, I'm just making my way through the whole lot and am noticing that the default setting is time-toss'd travellers. Stand out eps for me thusfar are The Monsters are due on Maple St, Time Enough at Last, and The Nick if Time,Will the Real Martian please stand up.

 

By comparison my recollections of the 80's series were pretty terrible, but I'll probably go back and rewatch it when I'm done with this. What I'm finding more and more is that a lot of the movies or TV I find breaks the mold now, are all devices I'm finding here in the Twilight Zone.

Edited by The JZA
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To be fair, The Twilight Zone wasn't the only show like it at the time. Night Gallery and Outer Limits (I don't honestly know who ripped off who, I want to say that Outer Limits was first but I can't recall and am too lazy to check) were both basically the same thing and just as good.

 

Stand-outs for me were Nightmare at 20,000 feet with WIlliam Shatner (based on the Richard Matheson short story), the one about the little kid with the reality bending powers (that thing is still 15-shades of terrifying to this day), and one with a genie that does the usual "wishes granted with a twist" bit.

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To be fair, The Twilight Zone wasn't the only show like it at the time. Night Gallery and Outer Limits (I don't honestly know who ripped off who, I want to say that Outer Limits was first but I can't recall and am too lazy to check) were both basically the same thing and just as good.

 

Stand-outs for me were Nightmare at 20,000 feet with WIlliam Shatner (based on the Richard Matheson short story), the one about the little kid with the reality bending powers (that thing is still 15-shades of terrifying to this day), and one with a genie that does the usual "wishes granted with a twist" bit.

 

Had never heard of Outer Limits, but Wiki tells me it began 3 years after Twilight Zone and was more sci-fi than the twisted hypotheticals TZ deals with. I might check it out once I've finished Twilight Zone. On those eps you've mentioned, I'm apparently just starting on season 3 now and am not far away from those, but given that they're probably some of the more referenced ones, I'm looking forward to seeing the source material.

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Outer limits did focus more on SciFi moreso than fantasy but it was just as much a horror show as Night Gallery and Twilight Zone. You should also check out Alfred Hitchcock Presents, same mould just with more realistic stories. Then the genre kinda bleeds into Tales From the Darkside in the 70s which bridges the gap between Twilight Zone and Tales From the Crypt (Which really wasn't that good).

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Tales From the Crypt had some really great episodes, mixed in with all the really bad ones with terrible episodes filled to the brim with misogyny. Pretty much if Lance Henriksen or Larry Drake showed up you knew you were in for a good time, otherwise you could skip it.

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I was pretty much raised on Twilight Zone, Tales and Night Gallery. Night Gallery was another project Ron Sterling worked on for a while. I never really got into Outer Limits as much but I will say I've stayed up many a Twilight Zone marathon to watch all the episodes.

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Finally made it to 'It's a good Life' which is the much-referenced kid running a small town with fear and his mind thing and holy shit it's dark. Baytor mentioned it earlier in the thread, but man, wow.

 

I first saw that episode when I was like 7 and it freaked my shit out. It is easily the most terrifying episode of the whole show bar none. Joe Dante does a nice little continuing adventures of... in the Twilight Zone movie that's similarly disturbing even if the ending's a little cheery for my taste.

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  • 4 years later...

My last revival of this thread is now among the dead, so time to re-revive it.

 

I jumped in and out of season 1, watching every fourth or fifth episode that my brother put on. Decided to go through the episodes I'd missed. I watched The Escape Clause last night (the hypochondriac sells his soul to the devil) enjoyable, but slots in with those mediocre level episodes that have the predictable endings. But after that I watched The Lonely (Guy stranded on an asteroid in solitary confinement), holy fuck! That was an amazing episode. I don't want to give any spoilers, but if you haven't seen it, rectify it. One of, if not the best I've seen so far.

Edited by alive she cried
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