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To: HitmanNY

I think so too, but you have to admit, Twilight Zone to this day is highly entertaining. :)


32 posted on 09/16/2005 11:48:45 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Liberalism is a form of insanity)
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To: BigSkyFreeper
Yes, it is, mostly on the strength of the acting and in some cases, the writing (usually by Richard Matheson, but sometimes by others, and seldom by Rod).

I am in a minority of the SF fan community - I think about 5-7% of Twilight Zones are excellent and stand up proud against the best that series television has had to offer. That being said, the typical TW's story and punchline can usually be conveyed in under 30 seconds. Very often they stretched it to get to 30 minutes, and if you want an exercise in pain, try watching the TWs that expanded to an hour. I'm certain the US Government used those to crack soviet spies in the '60s. :-)

Serling is overrated, I have concluded. His stories are 30 seconds long. Once you know the basic gimmick, it's not difficult to predict the ending. People hail his dialog: I think it stinks. People talk 'at' each other and seldom authentically interact. Characters exchange brief speeches rather than converse. The speech is often too deliberate and stilted: by the time 20 minutes rolls around, it's stale.

Did you ever see his 1st draft for 'Planet of the Apes?' It suffered from a lot of what I have said above. Also he had the ape civilization almost exactly like our civilization: clothing, technology, etc. It was ditched and refined: in the final film, the apes are evocative of us. They are not like us, but they are like us; they have their own way of doing things, but it reminds us of the way we do things. That subtlety is beyond Serling's skill, I am afraid.

Still, Requiem for a Heavyweight is awesome. And some of his Zones are excellent. Usually the best Zones are not by Serling, though. I prefer The first season of Outer Limits (actually both seasons) as much better crafted science fiction. It hit the mark far more often than TZ did.

This puts me in a small minority, I understand. I just never worshiped at the temple of Serling.
33 posted on 09/16/2005 11:58:14 PM PDT by HitmanLV
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