"The Twilight Zone" Living Doll (1963)

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (written by)
Rod Serling (creator)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

1 November 1963 (Season 5, Episode 6)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A frustrated father does battle with his stepdaughter's talking doll, whose vocabulary includes such phrases as "I hate you" and "I'm going to kill you". |

Plot Keywords:

Doll | Talking Doll | Broken Neck | Stepfather Stepdaughter Relationship | Winking

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Jan. 1

5:01 PM

SYFY

Living Doll

#5.6

Cast

Telly Savalas	...	Erich Streator
Mary LaRoche	...	Annabelle Streator
Tracy Stratford	...	Christie Streator

Runtime:

26 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Cayuga Productions

Trivia:

Tina and Christie are both nicknames for Christina. The doll and the child share a name, so among many other interpretations it could be argued that the doll is a proxy through which Christie expresses hostility toward her stepfather and protects her shy, frightened mother.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Eric pulls Tina from the trash can after he agrees to return her to Christie, he unwraps the cord from around her neck twice.

Quotes:

Talky Tina: My Name is Talky Tina and I am going to kill you.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror III (#4.5)" (1992)

You'd Better Be Nice to Me!

This entry has stayed with me my entire life. I think it's the cute little doll face, expressing venom without a change in expression. Telly Savales is a mean man who has married a woman with a little girl. They make the girl so darned cute that when Telly goes ballistic, it seems even more cruel. The doll has some great lines and the expressions on Savales's face are priceless. No kindly, old lady loving Kojak here. We just know that this doll has an agenda and she's not going to stop. When Telly can't cut the things head off with his table saw, he knows that something just isn't right. The die has been cast and there's no going back. The concluding line is great and it sets up all kinds of possibilities.