Hit or miss?

[DarleneIllyria]

I've been trying to think up ways to stir up interest in the board. I was wondering what everybody thought of each episode. This is the post where we can play critic. We can list two episodes each day and everybody could post what they liked or hated about the episodes.

If some people are interested, we could do this post. Even if 3 or 4 only want to participate, that would be fine. I won't post any episodes now, but does anybody think this would be a good idea?

[Sean Snow]

I think it's a great idea! I know I would certainly join in on the discussions for the episodes I've seen. :)

[DarleneIllyria]

How about these 2 episodes?

A Stop at Willoughby- (Season 1)Plot: A Stop at Willoughby- Harried by his high-pressure job, an executive falls asleep on a train and wakes at a mysterious stop called Willoughby. Hit- I have to say this is one incredible episode. Actually, I think it was the very first episode of TZ that I watched. I love the ending. When I watched this one for the first time, I did not expect that ending. It just blew me away how this episode was crafted. Out of a 5 star rating, I would seriously have to give this one a 5.

Jess-Belle (Season 4) Plot: Jess-Belle Thrilleresque occult yarn about a woman (Anne Francis) who sells her soul to the Devil to recapture the love of a former suitor (James Best). Hit- Season 4 is pretty weak to me. I don't have many favorites from the 4th season, but I do love this one. It was nice seeing Anne Francis and James Best back. One thing I find hilarious about this episode was the wedding ring. Billy Ben gave it to the blonde girl then he took it away from her and gave it to Jess- Belle. Then when Jess-Belle supposedly dies, Billy Ben picks it up off the ground and later on he gives it back to the blonde. Out of a 5 star rating, I would give this one a 5 too.

Someone else can jump in now and choose 2 episodes for us to rate

[tdr]

A Stop at Willoughby- (Season 1) -- It has been a long time since I have seen this ep, but unlike most TZ eps, I do remember it well, and I read the script from a fan site recently. It's a good idea for an ep, but it doesn't really extend the imagination very much. It's so obvious the protagonist has such a deep longing for a simpler time and place that his subconscious creates it for him in his continuing fantasy dream. And actually getting off is his challenge, with the recent conflicts he has faced. So we know perhaps too well that he is leaving his life of too much pressure, but we just don't know exactly where he is really going.

Jess-Belle-- I don't know this one at all.

[DarleneIllyria]

*If you missed the chance to review the first two episodes, you can still give your review on the first episodes.*


The Fever- (Season 1)- Plot: The Fever- A gambling- hating man named Franklin Gibbs (Everett Sloane) battles a Las Vegas slot machine with a malevolent mind of its own. Hit- I like this episode too. It had a really good storyline and good actors in it. I also love the music they have for this episode. It's another one of my top favorites.

Little Girl Lost- (Season 3)- Plot: Little Girl Lost- A couple can hear their daughter's desperate cries, yet she is nowhere to be found-she's fallen through an invisible "hole" in her wall, and is lost in the fourth dimension. Miss- I'm not really fond of this episode for one reason. The actors playing the parents kind of over acted in the parts. Don't get me wrong, the story was very interesting. I guess I shouldn't give this episode a 'Miss' rating. I guess it classifies as borderline

[tdr]

"Little Girl Lost" -- I definitely agree that the actors who played the parents overacted; especially the mother. The subject itself, though, is 'borderline' (both a pun and a non-pun here) in that it does approach what some papers written by theoretical physicists speculate on... a 4th physical dimension orthogonal to each of the 3 we live in, and an accident of nature makes it in some way accessible. But there is no way to portray such a thing on television, which is 2 dimensions short. So what is shown is something like a hallucination from a crazy dope trip; not 4-dimensional, just a place inaccessible by normal means. We can overlook the unlikelihood of the girl rolling under her bed and through this "opening," and of the couple's friend, who happens to be a physicist who was actually willing to come over and investigate this in the middle of the night [he would think it was a joke by the dad or the little girl paying hide-n-seek]. The ep is simply a good idea and thought experiement which is very difficult to portray without contrivances and impossible sets. On 1 to 5-- if we must choose whole numbers-- I say 3.

[DarleneIllyria]

The Dummy (Season 3) .Plot: The Dummy- A cut-rate ventriloquist starts believing that his dummy actually has a mind- and a will- of its own. Hit- I love this episode. The ending is so awesome. It was nice seeing Frank Sutton in this episode (Boy he sure looked different with the hair) and Cliff Robertson as the lead. Some people might think the ending was expected, but I still love the episode. The way they moved the camera around in the last scene made the suspense come to a head. You knew something happened, but what? Then the camera gets in the front and you see the dummy is now man and the man is now the dummy. Awesome

The Bewitchin Pool (Season 5) Plot: The Bewitchin Pool- The last show is about two neglected children who escape their constantly bickering parents by diving into their swimming pool and emerging in a mysterious, but loving, world. Miss- I hate this one. I've always hated it. I have so many reasons why I dislike this episode. It didn't even seem like a Twilight Zone episode to me. I think I discussed why I didn't like the episode before in another post, but I guess I'll speak it here too. As I've already mentioned, it didn't seem like a TZ episode to me. The accents annoyed me. The filler part is pretty weird. The parents tell the kids they are getting a divorce twice. Look at this episode the next time it comes on Scifi. The episode starts out with the parents telling the kids they are separating and the kids run and jump in the pool. They find the happy land and decide to come back. The parents tell them again that they are getting a divorce. It's the same exact words they used the first time. Was it supposed to mean that no time passes when the kids are in happy land? The episode just confuses me a bit with the whole separation bit

[DarleneIllyria]

Ring-A-Ding Girl- (Season 5)- .Plot: Ring-A-Ding Girl- Movie star Bunny Blake (Maggie McNamara) saves her home town from tragedy by heeding a weird ring of hers that predicts the future. Miss- I don't really like this one either. The story line was okay, but the actors just didn't really bring it to life for me. Most of the episodes of TZ had wonderful actors that really made the episodes come alive, but the actors in this episode didn't do that. Out of 5 stars, I'd have to give it 1 1/2

People Are Alike All Over- (Season 1)Plot- People Are Alike All Over- An astronaut (Roddy McDowell) is pleased to find that people on Mars act just like people at home. Hit- I like this one. The ending was kind of scary, but yet funny at the same time. I know, I'm weird. lol- Anyway, the episode had an excellent ending. Out of 5 stars, I'd give it a 5

[DarleneIllyria]

bump for any that want to catch up on reviews

[DarleneIllyria]

Aw man! I've been doing this the wrong way. Some of you guys that want to post reviews might not know the proper titles of some of the episodes. You might recognize a plot, but not just the title. Argh! I can't believe I didn't think of that to start with. Look, I can edit my reviews and put a little plot description in a different color. Remember, you can go back and post reviews about any one of em. If you want to catch up on the first two reviews or whatever, you can do that. Again, I'm so sorry guys. Glad I caught the error while we were still on page 1.

[DarleneIllyria]

Walking Distance- (Season 1)Plot: Walking Distance- Gig Young's acting and a magnificent score by Bernard Hermann highlight this episode. Harried advertising agent Martin Sloane visits his home town and slips 30 years into his childhood. Hit- This is a wonderful episode. Everything about it just makes it so enjoyable to watch. The actors and everybody involved made it what it was today. Rod wrote this episode, and I'm starting to wonder a bit about the whole episode. The weird thing is it kind of parallels Rod's life. I've read a few biographies about Rod and the shows like E! THS that I've seen about him, it kind of sounds like Rod was kind of depressed in his later years. TZ really brought him all of this fame, but I kind of get the feeling that he was sliding downwards after TZ was canceled. The whole Night Gallery experience wasn't what he was expecting and he started lending his name to beer products and other things. If you've read any of the biographies about RS and read about the embarassing experience he had at one award show, you'll see what I mean. I'm pretty sure that Rod kind of wanted to go back to his TZ days and relive it all over again, because he wasn't going to get a chance at anything bigger than TZ. Let me get back to the episode, I would give the episode 5 stars.


Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Season 5)-Plot: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet- A newly-recovered patient (William Shatner) on an airplane flying home peers out the window and sees a bestial creature on the wing, tampering with one of the engines. Naturally, nobody believes his story. Awesome episode. The plot, the actors were excellent. I have one small little nitpick about this episode. The closeup of the monster when Shatner's character sees it face to face went pretty good. However, the far off scenes kind of made the creature look like a gigantic teddy bear or something. Anybody feel the same way? I'm sure some have heard me complain about the 80s TZ movie that they did. Most of the episodes they chose to do kind of sucked. They did include Nightmare in the set, and they had John Ligthow (sp?) doing William Shatner's part. I like both actors, but I do feel the monster they had in the 80s movie was scarier than the monster they had in the series. Other than that small nitpick, the episode was fantastic. 5 stars

[Arfies]

Oo! I have some suggestions: (I'm marking the definite hits that I don't think have already been done)

"The Purple Testament"
"A Penny For Your Thoughts" -Hit!
"The Invaders"
"Two"-Hit!
"I Sing the Body Electric"

(note the cast ;) )

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by Arfies
Oo! I have some suggestions: (I'm marking the definite hits that I don't think have already been done)

"The Purple Testament"
"A Penny For Your Thoughts" -Hit!
"The Invaders"
"Two"-Hit!
"I Sing the Body Electric"

(note the cast ;) )

lol- All Bewitched cast members. May I say, Liz looks so different with dark brown hair. I recognized her still, but she still looks pretty different.

[Arfies]

I know, she does! I think that this was in the era of her dyed-brown-hair phase when she was married to Gig Young. Besides, she looks more (presumably) Russian that way. And it worked- this episode illustrates tensions that exist even today- still proving that maybe, just maybe if we try, we CAN all get along in the end. :)

But that's not the only time Liz was a brunette in the Twilight Zone- did you see the clip I posted under the "Couples" topic? :cool:

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by Arfies
I know, she does! I think that this was in the era of her dyed-brown-hair phase when she was married to Gig Young. Besides, she looks more (presumably) Russian that way. And it worked- this episode illustrates tensions that exist even today- still proving that maybe, just maybe if we try, we CAN all get along in the end. :)

But that's not the only time Liz was a brunette in the Twilight Zone- did you see the clip I posted under the "Couples" topic? :cool:

Yes, that episode does show that if we do try hard enough- we can all get along. It's a great ep.

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by Arfies
Oo! I have some suggestions: (I'm marking the definite hits that I don't think have already been done)

"The Purple Testament"
"A Penny For Your Thoughts" -Hit!
"The Invaders"
"Two"-Hit!
"I Sing the Body Electric"

(note the cast ;) )

I should've remembered to post this last night, I was having one of my ditzy moments and forgot to. I said in my original post that we could all take turns posting reviews. It'd be kind of like the name game thing. Let's say if Arfies posted reviews on Two and The Invaders on the 14th. We could review Arfies eps and wait about 2 or 3 days before we post two new episodes to review.

If you have anything to add to your episodes, you can go ahead and post your review Arfies. If you haven't added anything by 11/14, I can go ahead and do the ones you mentioned Arfies. I still want to have the 2 episodes per review because it seems easier to do 2 per post instead of doing 5 or 6 per post, but we can knock those eps out of the way.

[DarleneIllyria]

Well, I guess I'll post today's review. Thank you to Arfies for making some recommendations. :)

A Penny for your Thoughts- (Season 2)-Plot: A Penny for your Thoughts- Unusual tale about a timid bank teller (Dick York) who suddenly gains the ability to read people's minds after a freak accident. Isn't this a cool episode? The actors were terrific and it had a very interesting story line. I'm sure everybody during one time in their life wishes that they could read peoples minds and see what people really think of them. Dick's character gets to experience this first hand, and it has some very surprising results. I was just thinking of something since this is kind of our 'Bewitched' box set. We had so many actors and actresses that appeared on TZ and then worked together later on. Just from Bewitched we had quite a few of the main people on the show. The only main one that we didn't see was Dick Sargent. I don't remember seeing an ep. with DS. Let me get back to the review- awesome episode and it's def. worth a watch. 5 stars


The Invaders- (Season 2) Plot: The Invaders- In this classic episode, an old womann in an isolated farm house must battle a horde of extraterrestrial invaders. In the end, Agnes Moorehead takes an axe to their starship and demolishes, in reality, FORBIDDEN PLANET'S famous space cruiser! This one is another interesting episode. I thought it was very good. I get the feeling that if they showed the episode on the new TZ that it would get horrible ratings. Why? Most people prefer dialogue on tv. It's kind of like when people say that they hate black and white tv shows because it isn't in color. The Invaders doesn't have any dialogue until the last few minutes. Like I said, I like the episode. I think it was a great idea to only have one person in the whole episode. You ever notice that? Some of the TZ episodes have only one or two people on the entire episode at times. I give this episode 5 stars too.

[Arfies]

Cool reviews!:cool: And you're right, Dick Sargent was never on TZ. But I think that there was one time on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" where one of Dick York's (many) episodes was shown, then the next week, Dick Sargent guest starred. Way before BW.... yet another cosmic coincidence.

I'd review episodes, but what I thought of some episodes is pretty much already in Zicree's Twlight Zone Companion. So I'll just post my thoughts on one episode, just to get me started::wave:

"I Sing the Body Electric": I've ALWAYS been paranoid of robots, even NICE ones, ever since I read "Invitation to the Game". :crazy: And this episode is no exception.

The "Build Your Own Grandmother" idea of Ray Bradbury's has, like many of his stories, creeped me out. (But isn't that what some episodes of TZ, and sci-fi in general, are supposed to do? They make the viewer think.) So with the exception of the two Cardboard Children (though fortunately the third, and main girl, does a great job):) And David White, aka Larry Tate, actually plays the good guy here, after being cast as the heavy from "The Apartment" to "Bewitched" to the 1970s "Spider-Man."

Overall, a very well-done episode, but one that leaves me feeling rather uncomfortable. I love both my grandmas very much, and part of me yells "No! Robots can't really love you like a human! They're PROGRAMMED to do that!" and another part says "Well, so what? The 'grandma' in this story saved her 'granddaughter's' life! If she WAS human, she would have died doing so, but since she's a robot, she lives one until she's taken back to be taken apart in ther factory she was 'born' in. And her 'grandchildren', now grown, actually do love her." I'm just torn.

Yet again, it's my own personal bias talking, but I'd only give this episode a 3 or less. Well done, but makes me wince.:(

[DarleneIllyria]

Originally posted by Arfies
Cool reviews!:cool: And you're right, Dick Sargent was never on TZ. But I think that there was one time on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" where one of Dick York's (many) episodes was shown, then the next week, Dick Sargent guest starred. Way before BW.... yet another cosmic coincidence.

I'd review episodes, but what I thought of some episodes is pretty much already in Zicree's Twlight Zone Companion. So I'll just post my thoughts on one episode, just to get me started::wave:

"I Sing the Body Electric": I've ALWAYS been paranoid of robots, even NICE ones, ever since I read "Invitation to the Game". :crazy: And this episode is no exception.

The "Build Your Own Grandmother" idea of Ray Bradbury's has, like many of his stories, creeped me out. (But isn't that what some episodes of TZ, and sci-fi in general, are supposed to do? They make the viewer think.) So with the exception of the two Cardboard Children (though fortunately the third, and main girl, does a great job):) And David White, aka Larry Tate, actually plays the good guy here, after being cast as the heavy from "The Apartment" to "Bewitched" to the 1970s "Spider-Man."

Overall, a very well-done episode, but one that leaves me feeling rather uncomfortable. I love both my grandmas very much, and part of me yells "No! Robots can't really love you like a human! They're PROGRAMMED to do that!" and another part says "Well, so what? The 'grandma' in this story saved her 'granddaughter's' life! If she WAS human, she would have died doing so, but since she's a robot, she lives one until she's taken back to be taken apart in ther factory she was 'born' in. And her 'grandchildren', now grown, actually do love her." I'm just torn.

Yet again, it's my own personal bias talking, but I'd only give this episode a 3 or less. Well done, but makes me wince.:(

Plot: I Sing the Body Electric- A girl comes to understand that a grandmother can be a tender, thoughtful, caring, loving woman. Even if she is a robot. I agree with you Arfies. This episode deserves a 2 1/2. The funny thing is that most of the sites I've been to that has star ratings next to the episodes, this episode always gets a 1. Some people even state that it's the worst episode of the entire series. I disagree with that, but that's just my opinion. TZ had a bunch of hits. Most of the episodes are hits, but we have a couple of bad eggs in the batch too. I'm def. not one of the obsessed fans that claim every episode was terrific and you are so stupid to believe that every episode wasn't terrific. I'm just not one of those people that insults somebody for not liking what I like or for liking something that I don't like. I've ran across numerous people that act that way and are so obsessed that the obsession kind of blinds the way they think about every episode. It kind of takes guts to admit that every episode of FOL or TZ or any other show had it's worst episodes. I hope that made sense. I do admit when I see an episode that was pure awful. Let me get back to the review. Geez, it seems I get off topic in every single one of my reviews. lol It's worth watching, but it isn't my top favorite. 2 1/2 stars

[DarleneIllyria]

"The Purple Testament"
"A Penny For Your Thoughts" -Hit!
"The Invaders"
"Two"-Hit!
"I Sing the Body Electric"

Okay, lets knock the next two reviews out of the way. We've already done A Penny For Your Thoughts, The Invaders, and I Sing the Body Electric. Today will be The Purple Testament and Two. Let's start with Two.

Two- (Season 3)
Plot: Two- In this contemporary Adam and Eve story, the two lone, frightened survivors of a nuclear holocaust must start the world afresh. This episode has another star from Bewitched. This time we have Elizabeth Montgomery. This is a pretty meaningful episode. This is also the better episode if you compare it to another Adam and Eve related story. I believe the other Adam and Eve episode was called 'Probe 7 Over and Out'. The story is pretty real life too. Elizabeth's character and Charles Bronsan characters were enemies to start off with because they wore different color uniforms. Charles thought it was pretty useless to still have an enemy when they were the only two people left. Elizabeth's character still didn't trust him until the very end. Like I said before, it's a very good episode. It's too bad we didn't have Liz back for another episode. Dick York was in 2 TZ episodes and it would've been really ironic if Liz and Dick were in an episode together. I give this episode 4 stars.

The Purple Testament- (Season 1) Plot: The Purple Testament- Powerful tale about a lieutenant with the ability to predict which men in his outfit will be killed in battle. This is a very good episode. I like it. It holds your interest until the very end where you're sitting on the edge of your seat and then it pows you right in the stomach with the ending. TZ has that effect on me. It just has that edge of your seat excitement and then when you see the ending, it holds such power. I think I've been watching TZ ever since I was about 14 years old. The endings and the episodes are still fresh and I could never get tired of it. I just get so swept up into the episode that everything else ceases to exist. Let me get back to my review. As you can tell from the plot, a lieutenant has the ability to predict which men in his outfit will die. Can you imagine how that would be if this was true and a person did have the power to predict death? I think sometimes it is true. I remember a long time ago I was watching some show on TLC, I think. It was talking about this person that wanted to get on this elevator and when the doors to the elevator opened and he could see the other passengers faces, he noticed something very odd with their faces. I think he saw some kind of rainbow light on everybody's face. He let the elevator go without getting on, and it turns out that something happened to the elevator and every passenger on the elevator died. It's odd, but yet fascinating at the same time. You could say the same thing with TZ. It's odd, but yet so fascinating at the same time. I'm gonna give this episode 4 stars. Excellent episode.

[DarleneIllyria]

bumping back to the top for those that want to post reviews