Twilight zone marathon5/6/2023 In "The Shelter," a boisterous birthday party for a beloved town doctor is suddenly interrupted by a radio announcement that informs the partygoers of an unidentified object heading toward their area and urges them to retreat as soon as possible to their bomb shelters. ![]() ![]() The Shelter (Season Three, SeptemDirected by Lamont Johnson, Written by Rod Serling, Starring Larry Gates and Jack Albertson) Science fiction nerds will also appreciate an amusing cameo from Robby the Robot, of "Forbidden Planet" fame, at the end of the episode.ĩ. In light of the recent renaissance of interest in the works of Ayn Rand, this pro-working class message is more urgently required today than ever. Instead, it focuses on the need to make sure that technological innovations don't place such an emphasis on profitability and efficiency that they sacrifice the dignity and welfare of human beings in the process. An obvious commentary on the impact of automation on blue collar professionals throughout America, "Whipple" works mainly because it doesn't succumb to the temptation to preach a downright Luddite point-of-view (something that always strikes me as disingenuous when coming from electronic media, which after all are only possible as a result of technological advances). It tells the story of Wallace Whipple, a smug business executive who proudly introduces new technologies to his factory that lay off thousands of workers in the name of the proverbial bottom line. Helmed by Richard Donner – who, along with directing six "Twilight Zone" episodes (including the legendary "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," in which William Shatner saw a gremlin on the wing of his airplane), would later go on to direct The Omen, Superman, and the Lethal Weapon movies – "The Brain Center at Whipple's" takes aim at the human toll of excessive industrialization. The Brain Center at Whipple's (Season Five, Directed by Richard Donner, Written by Rod Serling, Starring Richard Deacon and Paul Newlan) That is why, in honor of the SyFy Channel's Fourth of July "Twilight Zone" marathon, I have listed what I believe to be the 10 best episodes for political and social commentary.ġ0. ![]() He could do a story about Nazis, about racism in general, about economic plight, about whatever, and fit in within the framework."Ī lot of those stories hold up surprisingly well today. As producer Dick Berg later explained, one of the main reasons science fiction had such an appeal for Serling was that "he had much on his mind politically and in terms of social condition, and science fiction – and 'Twilight Zone' specifically – gave him as much flexibility in developing those themes as he might have had anywhere else at that time." Although suppressed substantive political discussion was discouraged in most genres, televised science fiction was disregarded by censors as frivolous, enabling Serling to "do anything he wanted. "The Twilight Zone" is also notable for managing to inject insightful political and social commentary into many of its stories. Led by Rod Serling – who, along with writing more than half of the show's scripts, delivered the iconic deadpan narrations that accompanied each episode – the series provided an outlet for premiere writing talents of the time, including Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, Montgomery Pittman, and Earl Hamner, Jr. During that time, "The Twilight Zone" transformed television by dramatically increasing the quality of writing associated with the science fiction, horror, and fantasy genres. ![]() The Stephanie Meyers of the world may come and go, but as fans of classic television will happily remind you, only one franchise will ever be truly deserving of the word "Twilight." I refer, of course, to "The Twilight Zone," that timeless anthology of the supernatural that premiered in 1959 and remained on the air for five seasons (156 episodes) before CBS unceremoniously yanked the plug.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |