The Twilight Zone (1959-64) - Season 1
My first time venturing into the strange dimension that is known as The Twilight Zone. No better place to start than with the first episode of the first season...
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- DirectorRobert StevensStarsEarl HollimanJames GregoryPaul LangtonMike Ferris finds himself alone in the small Oakwood town and without recollection about his name, where he is or who he is. Mike wanders through the town trying to find a living soul.4.5/5 - For a first episode and a first taste of the legend that is "The Twilight Zone", this was an amazing experience. Such a tense, claustrophobic and universal sort of terror. Magnificent atmosphere, wonderful script by the master Rod Serling and great direction. Fell in love with the show immediately.
- DirectorRobert ParrishStarsRod SerlingEd WynnMurray HamiltonA pitchman is visited by Mr. Death and is forced to get his priorities in order.4/5 - Ed Wynn and Murray Hamilton are absolutely mesmerizing in this episode and they propel it to great heights. There's another fine script here and some strong dramatic touches but it is largely a comedy and it works wonderfully I thought. Such a charming light hearted affair after the rather grim pilot episode.
- DirectorAllen ReisnerStarsRod SerlingDan DuryeaMartin LandauThe town drunk in the old-west faces his past when Fate lends a hand.3.5/5 - Fun if slightly disappointing experience. The idea of the lead character reliving the glory days made for an interesting episode that contained a nice dramatic framework but the episode was also a tad slow. Great fun to see the late, great Martin Landau here, around the same time as Hitchcock's "North by Northwest".
- 1959–196425mTV-PG6.8 (5.1K)TV EpisodeDirectorMitchell LeisenStarsRod SerlingIda LupinoMartin BalsamBarbara Jean Trenton is a faded film star who lives in the past by constantly re-watching her old movies instead of moving on with her life, so her associates try to lure her out of her self-imposed isolation.3/5 - Weak and paled in comparison to even the previous episode. There's some revisiting of themes from the previous episode here (reliving the past, a tortured present, the desire for control in life) but I found them handled much more gracefully in "Mr. Denton on Doomsday". It's an OK episode.
- DirectorRobert StevensStarsRod SerlingGig YoungFrank OvertonA man, fed up with where he's at in life, finds himself not only in his old hometown, but back to the time when he was a boy.3.5/5 - Here's arguably the episode that I need to re-visit at a later stage. For one reason or another, I was not as invested as I probably should have been but it was still an enjoyable experience. The idea of reliving and recapturing nostalgia (an idea that bears particular significance to me) was well done.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsRod SerlingDavid WayneThomas GomezA hypochondriac man sells his soul to the devil, exchanging it for several thousand years of immortality.4/5 - The degree to which I enjoyed this episode pretty much proves how I need to revisit "Walking Distance" at a later stage. I found "Escape Clause" a greatly amusing, fun little dark comedy. Watching the hypochondriac lead character go from obsessively paranoid about his safety to utterly reckless due to the elimination of the fear of mortality made for an incredibly fun episode. Besides a pretty weak punchline ending, this was somewhat of a blast for me.
- DirectorJack SmightStarsRod SerlingJack WardenJohn DehnerA convict, living alone on an asteroid, receives from the police a realistic woman-robot.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsBurgess MeredithVaughn TaylorJacqueline deWitA henpecked book lover finds himself blissfully alone with his books after a nuclear war.