"The Twilight Zone" Shatterday/A Little Peace and Quiet (1985)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers:

Alan Brennert (segment)
James Crocker (segment)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1985)

Original Air Date:

27 September 1985 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller | Horror

Plot:

Shatterday: Bruce Willis calls his home, only to hear himself answer at the other end. A Little Peace and Quiet: a harried housewife struggling with rambunctious children, a demanding husband, and the stress of modern life, finds relief from an unusual source that brings both power and responsibility. |

Plot Keywords:

Ingratitude | Can | Theory | Morality | Immorality

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Peter Jay Novins (segment "Shatterday")
Dan Gilvezan	...	Bartender (segment "Shatterday")
Murukh	...	Woman at Bank (segment "Shatterday")
John Carlyle	...	Clerk (segment "Shatterday")
Seth Isler	...	Alter Ego (segment "Shatterday")
Anthony Grumbach	...	Bellboy (segment "Shatterday")
Melinda Dillon	...	Penny (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet")
Greg Mullavy	...	Russ (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet") (as Greg Mullavey)
Virginya Keehne	...	Susan (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet") (as Virginia Keehne)
Britanny Wilson	...	Janet (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet") (as Brittany Wilson)
Joshua Harris	...	Rusty (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet")
Judith Barsi	...	Bertie (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet")
Clare Nono	...	Newscaster (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet") (as Claire Nono)
Elma V. Jackson	...	First Shopper (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet") (as Elma Veronda Jackson)
Pamela Gordon	...	Second Shopper (segment "A Little Peace and Quiet")

Trivia:

"A Little Peace and Quiet" has no closing narration.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: [narration] Some push for what they need; some push for what they want. Some people, like Peter Jay Novins, just push. If they do it hard enough and long enough, something might just push back... from the Twilight Zone.

Movie Connections:

References Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

An Identity Crisis will haunt if your other side makes you feel guilt. And a stop watch can stop you to live in frozen time!

This was the first episode of "The New Twilight Zone" and both episodes rank as the best in the series and are great morality tales of the characters identity crisis.

First up is "Shatterday" with Bruce Willis this was a couple of years just before Bruce would become a big movie star. Willis is Jay Novins a city slicker in New York, who's just not happy and seems out of place. Until one day things seem stranger, when he dials his phone number only to have a surprise when the phone is answered by guess who Jay Novins! As the viewer sees this is another side of Jay it's like a split personality that makes him feel guilty about his life and the way he's treated others. Little by little Jay goes down and down to a certain point that his other side takes over and forms the Jay Novins he always wanted to be, but the ego guilt was in the way. Really a good character tale that proves people must deal with the guilt and throw away ego to let their real side live on.

The second half was even better and maybe one of the best from the 1985 series that's "A Little Peace and Quiet" a tale that proves you can't always have things your way and it ends with the central character to have to make a big decision. It stars Melinda Dillion(from "A Christmas Story" fame) as a suburban housewife in California with four children who's over worked and just stressed out. I mean this woman has to do everything from cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, shopping, and babysitting it's just too much! She never has a moment of silence or time for herself. Then one day in the lawn she finds a golden stopwatch and puts it around her neck only to find it has special powers it can freeze time and motion! Now that finally is something she can use to her advantage. This episode really captured the times of 1985 from a political and cultural standpoint also, with the arms race between the U.S. and Russia a hot topic and the threat of missile and nuclear war this episode took from that making it a nice watch for history buffs the way it's done. So when the media tells of the missile that's headed for earth, only the mighty stopwatch can help, it's came in so handy for peace. Yet as the old saying goes you can't always get what you want and things come to an end. As the episode ends it serves a good purpose but this is a moment that will stay frozen forever. It ends as the viewer thinks what decision should be made. Both episodes were well done by Wes Craven, good tales of morality and he shows that these characters let guilt and social impact overtake them. By far two of the better of the 1985 season.