For a show as ambitious as "The Twilight Zone," with seemingly so many storytelling opportunities to choose from, it's vital to maintain a bit of structure. Not only did the first three seasons stick to a clear 22-minute format with narration and act breaks happening right on cue, but there were clear guidelines on how speculative they should get and how much they should always be asking of their audience. According to the producer Buck Houghton in his 1991 book "What a Producer Does," he and creator Rod Serling established a list of rules that every episode needed to follow. An episode could be about nearly any speculative premise, they decided early on, as long as it remembered to do a few things:
"Find an interesting character, or a group, at a moment in crisis in life, and get there quickly; then lay on some magic. That magic must be devilishly...
"Find an interesting character, or a group, at a moment in crisis in life, and get there quickly; then lay on some magic. That magic must be devilishly...
- 3/23/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Although plenty of spooky movies and shows would do a twist where the main character turns out to be dead the whole time, none of them handled it quite as gracefully as "The Twilight Zone" did back in 1960. The season 1 episode follows Nan (Inger Stevens), a young woman driving alone across the country who finds herself being stalked by a strange, unsettling stranger. The guy teleports from place to place, defying all known laws of physics, and it doesn't seem like his intentions are good.
It's only at the very end, when Nan tries to call her mother, that we figure out what's going on: Nan actually died right before the start of the episode from the minor car accident we saw her brushing off. She was told in that first scene she was lucky she hadn't died in the incident; at the end when Nan hears about her mother...
It's only at the very end, when Nan tries to call her mother, that we figure out what's going on: Nan actually died right before the start of the episode from the minor car accident we saw her brushing off. She was told in that first scene she was lucky she hadn't died in the incident; at the end when Nan hears about her mother...
- 8/26/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Before I began writing for Shadowlocked in early 2010, I used to jot my media-related thoughts down on a humble little personal blog of mine. Though the blog itself will remain nameless, as such self-promotion would be unseemly, I can say that two articles contained within were far and away the most popular and most read pieces. Both were lists on The Twilight Zone. I have wanted to revisit the Zone for some time and various ideas have ever simmered on the back burner while I have written for Shadowlocked. Happily, it would seem that I've managed to stumble into that vaunted Fifth Dimension once again.
Something about the little sci-fi show that could has held a special place in the hearts of countless fans of classic TV, suspense, and the supernatural for decades. Rod Serling's incredible creation could terrify, amuse, and titillate, but perhaps was on the top of...
Something about the little sci-fi show that could has held a special place in the hearts of countless fans of classic TV, suspense, and the supernatural for decades. Rod Serling's incredible creation could terrify, amuse, and titillate, but perhaps was on the top of...
- 9/19/2011
- Shadowlocked
The first of these two episodes is among the most strongly moral and critical episodes of the series; piercing and biting words from the heart of its creator. The second a less moralistic tale but no less skillfully compiled, personifying that which every person fears and some may not even know has happened.
Season 1, Episode 15 – I Shot An Arrow Into The Air
Originally aired on January 15, 1960
Written by: Rod Serling (story by Madelon Champion)
Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg
Practical joke perpetrated by Mother Nature and a combination of improbable events. Practical joke wearing the trappings of nightmare, of terror, of desperation. Small human drama played out in a desert ninety-seven miles from Reno, Nevada, U.S.A – continent of North America, the Earth, and of course the Twilight Zone.
“… it fell to earth, I know not where.” Or so goes the poem from which the title of the episode derived its name.
Season 1, Episode 15 – I Shot An Arrow Into The Air
Originally aired on January 15, 1960
Written by: Rod Serling (story by Madelon Champion)
Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg
Practical joke perpetrated by Mother Nature and a combination of improbable events. Practical joke wearing the trappings of nightmare, of terror, of desperation. Small human drama played out in a desert ninety-seven miles from Reno, Nevada, U.S.A – continent of North America, the Earth, and of course the Twilight Zone.
“… it fell to earth, I know not where.” Or so goes the poem from which the title of the episode derived its name.
- 7/1/2010
- by Phil Ward
- JustPressPlay.net
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