3 favorite (and least favorite) original "Twilight Zone" episodes EVER!

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by ricebear, Sep 7, 2012.

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  1. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I know! Aunt Tee! written by Earl Hamner Jr!
     
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  2. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    There are so many I love! I can't really isolate three, but i'll play anyway. My top three picks:

    "The Shelter"- "Always been my favorite. Your town is about to get nuked and your "friends" are racist, selfish a-holes. Blew my mind as a kid and still does." - ricebear

    "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" - like "The Shelter", it looks at how friends and neighbors turn on each other when confronted with things they don't understand. Fear brings out the hate and racism in people.

    "Time Enough At Last" - Burgess Meredith masterfully plays the role of a book nerd who finds himself the last man on earth with time to do anything

    Honorable mentions:

    "Where is Everybody?" - The classic first episode where an astronaut enters a psychotic state during a space flight rehearsal.

    "The Obsolete Man" - Everyone has a breaking point. Where's yours?

    "The Redemption of Salvadore Ross" - It's about the young man who finds he can buy anything he wants to win a woman's desires, but he overplays his hand.

    I forget the title, but it's about a caravan traveling west for a better life in the 1800s, and a man who takes off walking to find help for his dying son, but winds up in the present day.

    The one that brings a smile to my face is the one about the man and his dog who drown while hunting at night, only to find themselves being tempted by a man at the gates of hell, but the dog warns him not to go in.

    My least favorite? I have them, but I cannot devote time thinking about them right now.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2015
  3. BILLONEEG

    BILLONEEG Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Favorite: I Sing The Body Electric, To Serve Man, Third From The Sun

    Least Favorite: Kick The Can, The Hitch-Hiker, The Last Rites Of Jeff Myrtlebank
     
  4. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Interesting that none of your three worst were written by Rod Stirling.

    I've always presumed [but could be wrong] that 'Elegy' was inspired by [and was intended as a warning against the work of ] J.B. Watson and/ or B.F. Skinner. So, "child abuse" might not be that far off the mark.
     
  5. Wondering

    Wondering Well-Known Member

    I have seen just about all of them on Netflix over the last few years. Wow, they look fantastic in HD!!

    I need about a half hour to look up titles and put down the ones I like best!
    Not sure if my favorites will be the same as what I think is mostly guys, but will give it a try!
     
  6. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    Love this one, not least because it was the inspiration for a great Simpsons Treehouse of Horror spoof, when Homer was lost in the third dimension.

    Marge: Do you see towels? If you see towels, you're probably in the linen closet again.
    Homer: Just a second... No, it's a place I've never been before.
    Selma: The shower?
     
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  7. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    "Little Girl Lost" was one of my least favourite episodes... the actress playing the wife was terrible, and the constant sobbing of the little girl was downright annoying. The only good thing about this episode (as the previous poster mentioned) was that it inspired a classic Treehouse of Horror segment on The Simpsons.
     
  8. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    fave is "Eye of the Beholder"

    as for the rest, don't feel like listing a bunch of stuff
     
  9. buzzzx

    buzzzx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cal.
    "Bewitchin' Pool" is bad. Taking the little girl from "To Kill a Mockingbird" and dubbing in the voice of one Rocket J. Squirrel was a strange idea. Good story, though.
    My favorite is Anne Francis as the mannequin. Scared the hell out of me as a kid.
     
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  10. Too bad that Matheson didn't sue.
     
  11. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I won't do least favorites, because I like most of them. They are all special in their own way. Three of my favorites would be:

    To Serve Man
    Living Doll
    The Dummy

    All three creepy as heck.
     
  12. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I just watched that one yesterday, and I thought it was one of the weakest episodes.... the premise wasn't terribly interesting to begin with, and that ridiculous ending ("Banzai!") just clinched its sub-par status in my book.
     
  13. Bryan

    Bryan Starman Jr.

    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    My three least favorite episodes? That's easy: just choose at random any three of the hour-long season four episodes.

    Much harder to pick my three favorites.
     
  14. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
  15. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    I'm one that generally balks at making best-of or worst-of lists. In the case of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, there are so many good episodes, I'd have a hard time picking 10, let alone 3. But I'd like to give some kind words, at least, to a much-maligned episode, "Mute".

    I'm old enough to have been around for the original showings of THE TWILIGHT ZONE on CBS. When it premiered in 1959, I was 8 years old, and when "Mute" aired, I would have been 12. So much of that episode registered with me that I've always had a tough time reading the harsh reviews it gets.

    First off, there's the German connection. My family is of German descent, and right away, the episode opens in Düsseldorf, Germany. Next, the story shifts to "German Corners, PA"; I spent most of my life in Pennsylvania, and my mother's family is of PA Dutch descent. While not called "German Corners" there is certainly a lot of German influence in the PA Dutch country. Finally on the German front, I had just begun junior high school and in 7th grade we started taking language classes - and mine was German.

    Then there's the effect that young Ann Jillian had on this 12-year old boy. I think I was quite smitten with her. Then add the special effect of the garbling of the adult voices that Ann Jillian was supposed to be hearing, and it all added up to a very special hour of television, with quite a poignant ending. As a result, "Mute" was always high on my list of TWILIGHT ZONE episodes.

    Harry
     
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  16. Platterpus

    Platterpus Senior Member

    Boy, this is very hard to choose just 3 faves:

    What You Need
    It's a Good Life
    Living Doll


    Besides the WWII and other military episodes that I don't care for, I really don't have many others that I don't like:

    The Shelter
    Little Girl Lost
    Black Leather Jackets
     
  17. Rocker

    Rocker Senior Member

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I agree that the dubbing is pretty awful. I was wondering why the girl's voice was dubbed only during certain scenes (the shots by the pool with the parents), while her natural speaking voice was used during other scenes (the shots inside Aunt T's house), and here's what I found on IMDb:

    There was noise interference on the MGM back-lot during the pool sequences, and everyone had to be called back for post-dubbing, but actress Mary Badham wasn't available. June Foray was brought in to dub her lines. It was a "sloppy" job, and Rod Serling knew it. It was held until the very end of the season as the "final" show (where, it was figured, most people wouldn't notice, having tuned out of the series).
     
  18. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    Favorite Top 5
    (Sorry: impossible for me under 5)
    And When The Sky was Opened
    The Hitchhiker
    Will the martian please stand up
    Five characters in search of an exit
    Stop at willoughby

    Least favorite
    Black Leather Jackets
    Uncle simon
    What's on the box

    It still remains one of the most imaginative and impressive TV series ever. Classic.
     
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