Posted on 07/05/2012 10:50:50 AM PDT by SandyLynn
Twice a year, SyFy runs a Twilight Zone marathon. July 4th is one of those times. I always watch..I am a big fan of Rod Serling..what a brilliant, imaginative man! This year, I wanted to find out if anyone thinks the same as me. Many of the Twilight Zone episodes seem to be somewhat political..anti-big brother type of lessons. I get the impression that a lot of the episodes that deal with this specific sort of a theme are really anti-big government. Does anyone else see this? Does anyone know what political leanings Rod Serling had? So many of these episodes could teach lessons even today..the pitfalls of losing your freedom. The other thing that always catches me..the smoking! Seems you could smoke anywhere back then..in hospitals, on airplanes! Interesting how times have changed!
Nearly all the episodes have a political or moral message.
My personal favorites will always be “The Obsolete Man”, and “The Hunt”.
I honestly can’t pick favorites! There are so many episodes that I just love. Too bad you don’t find this sort of creativity on TV today!
“Back then” you could carry firearms in your carry-on baggage, also.
“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination—next stop, the Twilight Zone!”
He was a pretty complicated guy, imo. Anti-war, but not a lib, I don’t think, just a real anti-war guy. Saw brutal action in WWII and won several medals, was a fighter in the service and golden gloves, a real scrapper. But he did have a talent for pissing people off because he said what he thought. Legendary battles with the censors. Intriguing guy. Died really young, too. Too bad, no telling what he might have done.
To serve man and an occurrence at owl creek bridge have been my favorite I agree that yesterday episodes have been anti big government. The obsolete man mirrors todays government.
The old man in the cave is about what happens to man when he loses faith.
Before he died he produced Night Gallery which was okay but no Twilight Zone.
I LOVE Twilight Zone!! Watched reruns with my dad on Saturday mornings. As an adult I cherish it even more.
Twilight Zone used to scare the heck out of me when i was a kid.One of the best shows with brilliant writing. “The Obsolete Man” is a favorite and the one about the man letting loose Satan,with I believe Barry Sullivan and John Carridine(sp). We watch it on MEtv.
Yep and you can thank such democrat Senators as Lautenberg and McCain for that.
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
I think that was the one, based on an Ambrose Bierce story, that was filmed indpendently in Europe somewhere. Rod saw it and decided that he had to air it as a TZ episode.
He introduced the episode on-screen, explaining its unusual provenance.
I recall its visual impact very much in the manner of the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns soon to be filmed.
I just love the scene in The Obsolete Man where Wordsworth explains that his bible has been hidden for 20 years because its possession was a crime punishable by death.
The chancellor’s desperation to get away lest he face the same fate he had imposed on Wordsworth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA2f4J9uV7s&feature=player_embedded
He was also a genius who created an enduring classic.
My grandfather was the same way about war. He fought in the battle of the bulge and caught the full force of German offensive. Said his artillery battery had been in sight of German soldiers as they leapfrogged backward in retreat. Artillery in sight of enemy infantry is too damn close.
He had no problem with one of my uncles going into the National Guard and the other getting a college deferment during the Vietnam war. He just didn’t want them running off to Canada because he saw it as treason.
It has become a 4th of July tradition for me to catch as many TZ episodes as possible on the SyFy channel.
I remember as a 12 year old watching reruns of the TZ at midnight on Saturday nights. That’s was 41 years ago. Been hooked ever since.
What’s really cool is when I introduced TZ to my teenage daughter a few years ago, she got hooked too. Yesterday we watched a few episodes together and talked at length about the meaning behind the episodes.
You mentioned Sy Fy has the TZ marathon twice a year. When do they do it other than on the 4th of July?
New Years, I believe.
I watch it every July 4th and New Years!! LOVE LOVE LOVE the TZ. My 11 and 13 yr old kids love them too. I like the Devil one, where the people have to let him out, even though he could let himself out.
I also like the nuclear cellar one.
Rod Serling was in the Army 11th Airborne Division. He was trained as a paratrooper and boxed as a flyweight in 17 bouts.
Here is the Wikipedia entry about his military service:
For a variety of reasons Serling was transferred to the 511th’s demolition platoon, nicknamed the ‘death squad’ for its high casualty rate. According to Sergeant Frank Lewis, leader of the demolitions squad, “He screwed up somewhere along the line. Apparently he got on someone’s nerves.” Lewis also noted that Serling was not cut out to be a field soldier. “...He didn’t have the wits or aggressiveness required for combat.” At one point Lewis, Serling and others were in a firefight trapped in a foxhole. As time passed and they waited for darkness Lewis noticed that Serling had not reloaded any of his extra magazines. Another example of how Serling was a dreamer in a harsh reality was that he would go off exploring on his own, against orders, and then get lost.”
Serling’s time in Leyte would shape his writing and his political views for the rest of his life. He witnessed death every day while in the Philippines, both at the hands of the enemy and through random events such as those that killed another extroverted Jewish private named Melvin Levy. Levy was in the middle of a comic monologue as the platoon sat resting under a palm tree when a food crate dropped from above, decapitating him as the men watched. Serling led the services for Levy and created a Star of David over his grave. In his future writing career Serling would set several of his scripts in the Philippines and use the unpredictability of death as a source for much of his material.
Serling marched away from the successful mission in Leyte with two wounds including one to his kneecap but neither was enough to keep him from combat when General MacArthur used the paratroopers as they were intended on February 3, 1945. Colonel Haugen led the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment as it landed on Tagaytay Ridge, met up with the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment and marched into Manila. There was minimal resistance until they reached the city where Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi had barricaded his 17,000 troops behind a maze of traps and guns and ordered them to fight to the death. The next month witnessed Serling’s unit involved in a block-by-block battle for control of Manila. As portions of the town were freed from Japanese control, the civilians showed their gratitude by throwing parties and hosting banquets. During one of these parties Serling and his comrades were fired upon and many people, both soldiers and civilians, were killed. Serling, still a Private after three years, caught the attention of Sergeant Frank Lewis when he ran into the line of fire to rescue a performer who had been on stage when the artillery started. As the troops continued to move in on Iwabuchi’s stronghold Serling’s regiment suffered a 50 percent casualty rate, with over 400 men killed. Serling was wounded, and three of the men he was with were killed by shrapnel from rounds fired at his roving demolition team by an anti-aircraft gun. He was sent to New Guinea to recover but soon chose to return to Manila to finish ‘cleaning up’. Private Serling’s final assignment was as part of the occupation force in Japan. For his service to the U.S. Army he was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Philippine Liberation Medal.
Serling’s Army combat service affected him deeply and also influenced much of his writing. His wartime combat experiences left Serling with nightmares and flashbacks which would plague him for the rest of his life. He was quoted as saying, “I was bitter about everything and at loose ends when I got out of the service. I think I turned to writing to get it off my chest.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Serling
The one where the little girl is stuck under the bed. Also the Anne Francis one where she forgets who (and what) she is.
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