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  • The Twilight Zone

    If you wish to share anything about the Twilight Zone episodes or your experiences watching the show... please do.
    I watched it as often as I could as a kid. Always has some moral to think about.

    'He's Alive' is a fourth-season episode of The Twilight Zone. It tells of an American neo-Nazi who is inspired by the ghost of Adolf Hitler.
    A personal passion of Rod Serling, it concludes that figures such as Hitler will always be alive so long as prejudice and ignorance persist.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He%27s_Alive
    Originally broadcast in 1963, 'He's Alive' was Serling's take on hate-mongering. Fifty years later, unfortunately it seems that the episode really is timeless.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIsm97HL0EU

    A young Dennis Hopper played the part of Peter Vollmer.

    It's amazing to me how much hate, prejudice and ignorance still exists in 2012 worldwide.
    Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

  • #2
    Re: The Twilight Zone

    Totally amazing show.
    Each episode touches on deep topics presented as stories so as
    to escape the wrath of the powers that were.
    I put a quad yagi array up in a tall cedar tree and got most of the
    shows from KVOS up in Bellingham.

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    • #3
      Re: The Twilight Zone

      Undoubtedly one of the greatest shows of all time. My favorite is "Time Enough at Last," in which Burgess Meredith plays a henpecked husband who desires only enough time (and solitude) to read to his heart's content. When everyone's killed in a nuclear attack (he is spared because he's reading a book in bank vault), he would seem to be free to enjoy all the reading he desires.

      Such a sad, sad story. I used to show it to my ninth-graders when I was a ninth-grade English teacher.
      But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
      GrouchyTeacher.com

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      • #4
        Re: The Twilight Zone

        The loss of his lenses is unfortunate.
        Within the text of "The Name Of the Rose" is an account of the
        difficulties involved in making glasses.
        At that time glass was something almost unknown.Made of molten beach sand at
        some indeterminate point in history,these transparent lumps gradually evolved
        into the lenses that inhabit our cell phones..
        A goodly part of lens manufacture is the grinding of the optic to ensure
        accuracy.

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        • #5
          Re: The Twilight Zone

          My favorite Twilight Zone episode is called "To Serve Man".... "that book! It's a ...........!"

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serv..._Twilight_Zone)
          I'm still here. Are you?

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          • #6
            Re: The Twilight Zone

            Twilight Zone was epic. I get the idea they gave the writers a lot of freedom, just said, give us the best you got, and they did. So many good episodes. I guess one was where the old street vendor would sell people just "what you need", and the things would always work out well for the people. Except for the last guy.

            Ed Wynn played an old pitch man, also a street vendor, who held death away from a sick child past the critical time, then went along on his own final voyage.

            Then there was the astronaut who wanted to become dictator of tiny people on an alien planet and eventually went down like Khadaffi.

            Great writing, great imagination, one of the best uses of TV ever.

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            • #7
              Re: The Twilight Zone

              Too many favorite episodes to list. But one that I never get tired of watching is Nick of Time, starring a very youthful looking William Shatner. Kind of refreshing to see him in the days before he adopted those Capt. Kirk mannerisms that he was never quite able to shed in all of his subsequent acting roles.
              This post may contain an opinion that may conflict with your opinion. Do not take it personal. Polite discussion of difference of opinion is welcome.

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              • #8
                Re: The Twilight Zone

                Originally posted by Menehune Man View Post
                Originally broadcast in 1963, 'He's Alive' was Serling's take on hate-mongering. Fifty years later, unfortunately it seems that the episode really is timeless.
                The series filmed in black & white makes the stories seem more timeless. This year's Academy Award winning film was in black & white.

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                • #9
                  Re: The Twilight Zone

                  Originally posted by Frankie's Market View Post
                  Too many favorite episodes to list. But one that I never get tired of watching is Nick of Time, starring a very youthful looking William Shatner. Kind of refreshing to see him in the days before he adopted those Capt. Kirk mannerisms that he was never quite able to shed in all of his subsequent acting roles.
                  That's a great one and that the whole episode is in your link! Yes, I just watched it all. Living life with hope and working towards it or living in fear/superstitions or with dread.
                  Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

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                  • #10
                    Re: The Twilight Zone

                    Originally posted by mel View Post
                    "that book! It's a ...........!"
                    ...it's a.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIufLRpJYnI
                    Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

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                    • #11
                      Re: The Twilight Zone

                      Twilight Zone is frustrating in a way because it is such a contrast with the vast wasteland that has been most TV for decades. Consider Lost In Space. The setup offered potential, it did not have to be aggressively insipid, unlike the setups for, say, My Mother The Car or Petticoat Junction: they had absolutely no chance. Lost In Space could have been as good as Star Trek, but it started out bad and only got much, much worse. Even Gilligan's Island had potential with its setup to be an interesting show, with a different title, cast and writers.

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                      • #12
                        Re: The Twilight Zone

                        I love the one where society is dictating that everyone should look like this pig like creature (facially at least) and this woman isn't responding to the treatments to make her that way.
                        Gives thought to if it would make for less prejudice, hate and judgement if we all looked alike.
                        If anyone on Oahu is NOT happy , feel free to trade places with me.

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                        • #13
                          Re: The Twilight Zone

                          The Lateness of the Hour is the best of the 6 TZ episodes that were originally shot on video. While the production values of this show do not match the spit-and-polish of the filmed episodes, this has to rank as one of Rod Serling's best writing efforts.

                          If you haven't seen it yet, then it is highly recommended that you watch it first before reading on.....

                          TZ stories inspired many a TV show or movie in later years. I really do think that this particular Serling tale must have been something that Arthur Clarke had seen, before writing 2001: A Space Odyssey. In both stories, the character that is most "human" in behavior and thought (Jana and HAL 9000) are machines, while the actual living-and-breathing people they co-exist with have been dehumanized to a great extent.
                          This post may contain an opinion that may conflict with your opinion. Do not take it personal. Polite discussion of difference of opinion is welcome.

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                          • #14
                            Re: The Twilight Zone

                            The connection seems too remote to believe it exists, IMHO. It boils down to one thing - 'mad machines'. The people in the TZ episode are entirely human.
                            May I always be found beneath your contempt.

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                            • #15
                              Re: The Twilight Zone

                              Originally posted by salmoned View Post
                              The connection seems too remote to believe it exists, IMHO. It boils down to one thing - 'mad machines'. The people in the TZ episode are entirely human.
                              On first glance, it may appear so. But a more careful examination into the storyline reveal that Serling wasn't just presenting a tale about a "machine gone mad."

                              Watch this episode again. For this first 20 minutes or so, before the twist in the plot is disclosed about Jana's true origin, her character is the only one who possesses human characteristics, such as curiosity about seeing the outside world, meeting new people and experiencing new things that just weren't possible by staying caged up at home 24/7. The desire for personal growth, discovery, and taking on new challenges were a sharp contrast to Dr. Loren and his wife, who were merely content to just sit in their comfy chairs and to have every bit of physical labor and thinking be taken care of by their robots. True, the Lorens are middle-aged and have experienced what life was like outside the carefully constructed house they now live in. But even in old age, people who absolutely lose any desire to keep busy, stay physically active, keep their senses stimulated, and to learn new things put themselves at greater risk for senility and other maladies.

                              Call Jana's behavior that of a "mad machine," if you want. But when she learned about the truth of her existence, her outburst was remarkably human. Tell me that a normal person wouldn't experience an emotional upheaval if they suddenly had their world turned upside down by a revelation that the mother and father that someone had always thought of as their biological parents are, in fact, adoptive parents instead. And in Jana's case, multiply that emotional crisis by learning that she is not a human organism, her childhood memories did not actually happen, and that she cannot experience the human desire to marry a mate and to have children of her own.

                              Ironically, while Jana was in the midst of this identity crisis, the Lorens finally begin to display a strong showing of emotion, as the robot who they had always treated as the child they could not conceive, was suffering through this turmoil. The relationship they had with Jana could no longer be the same again. And yet, the Lorens still cared about their synthetically created daughter. So what was the solution? This is the most chilling part. They kept Jana's body intact,.... but they totally replaced her personality with that of Nelda, the domestically capable (but emotionally devoid) maid. Jana, their only child, was effectively dead and gone, with only an outer physical shell remaining. And how did the Lorens deal with all that? Well, Mrs. Loren is last seen enjoying a massage from her maid while Dr. Loren is relaxing in his chair, engrossed in a book. IOW, they're still living the same lifestyle of comfort and leisure as they had from the beginning of the story, without missing a beat and not missing their daughter at all. This is what I meant by the Lorens being dehumanized to a great extent.

                              As to this story's similarity to 2001, watch Kubrik's film again and pay attention to the interaction between HAL and the two members of the Discovery One crew (Dave and Frank). Out of these 3 characters, who acts the most human of them all?

                              This theme about people becoming increasingly dehumanized amidst the creation and development of artificial intelligence,..... I maintain that Arthur Clarke didn't write his story in a vacuum that excluded exposure to Serling's Lateness Of The Hour.
                              Last edited by Frankie's Market; March 7, 2012, 06:58 PM.
                              This post may contain an opinion that may conflict with your opinion. Do not take it personal. Polite discussion of difference of opinion is welcome.

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