‘A Dimension Not Only of Sight and Sound, But of Mind’
by Daniel J. FlynnFifty years ago this month the smartest television show of all time first aired. As a writer, I am a sucker for good writing. “The Twilight Zone,” as Michael Anton recently wrote in his commemoration at National Review Online, is nothing if not a writer’s show. Modern sci-fi fans, caught up in dazzling special effects and action, lose sight of the fact that sci-fi, in its radio incarnations “X Minus One” and “Dimension X,” and its later television offerings such as “The Outer Limits” and “Doctor Who,” is the plaything of nerd scribes with creative imaginations. The megastars and big-budgets would come later. In the beginning, there were wordsmiths.
It’s telling that “The Twilight Zone’s” recurring character is not an A-list hearthrob but the diminutive, gap-toothed, akimbo-eared Rod Serling, the show’s chief writer. Rocky Balboa’s trainer, otherwise known as that bow-legged villian of Gotham, is the closest thing one gets to an actor associated with “The Twilight Zone.” Even the theme music steals the limelight from the actors.
A few years ago, I purchased the 28-disc “complete, definitive collection” spanning all five of the show’s seasons. I’m on season five, and I generally watch late on weekend nights after imbibing. The benefits to this are twofold: first, my imagination is more malleable then and, second, it enables me to enjoy the episodes a second time around without deja vu.
After purchasing the series, a friend recommended “The Obsolete Man” as his favorite episode in this his favorite series. Rather than watch sequentially, I skipped to that Burgess Meredith-starring episode. “The Howling Man,” “Eye of the Beholder,” “The Invaders,” and “To Serve Man” are also well done, but “The Obsolete Man” may be my favorite now too. Its set is spartan, the costumes drab, and the budget that of a high school play. Who needs CGI when you have Rod Serling writing the script?
Thirty years before that anonymous man stood up to a tank in Tiananmen Square, Burgess Meredith yelled “The emperor has no clothes!” at the state in “The Obsolete Man.” Life imitates art. Our hero, Mr. Romney Wordsworth, standing before his prosecutor/judge/executioner, vehemently defends individuality against the dystopic conformity of the total state, books against their burners, and God against the hubristic men who would play Him as they deny Him. “You cannot erase God with an edict!” Wordsworth boldly informs the kangaroo court. His interrogator responds, “The state has no use for your kind.” It’s telling that writers would make the hero not a warrior or a saint, but a librarian.
Though Serling was a man of the Left, so much so that he returned the good cheer of his neighbor Ronald Reagan with contempt, several “Twilight Zone” episodes, particularly “The Obsolete Man,” feature distinctly conservative themes. This is true of a few “Doctor Who” episodes (”The Sunmakers,” “Invasion of the Dinosaurs”) and numerous sci-fi films (”Serenity,” “The Island,” “The Invasion”). This certainly doesn’t make the genre inherently conservative; if anything, science fiction tends to lamely absorb the liberal shibboleths of its age (see [hear?] the Cold War moral equivalence of ’50s radio sci-fi) as it imaginatively anticipates the future of science, technology, government, etc.
Other writers have advanced the idea that “Star Trek” and “The X-Files” echoed conservative themes. I find these arguments interesting but ultimately unpersuasive. There’s an impulse to read one’s politics into what one finds aesthetically pleasing. This is ultimately not as harmful as imposing one’s politics on one’s artistic tastes. But it is still a form of mild delusion. Propaganda isn’t art. And good art generally transcends politics.
Fifty years after the first “Twilight Zone,” one is struck by the dearth of writer-driven shows on television. Visitors to the 500-channel wasteland find an abundance of reality television, celebrity news, and game shows–or a combination of all three formats. Is there a place on the twenty-first-century idiot box for intelligently written programs? Rod Serling’s villains often targeted men of letters. A half-century later, television executives have marked writers as “obsolete men.” We are all living in the “Twilight Zone.”
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
76 Comments
It's not that the shows or the writers are coinservative. They are not. But reality is conservative, so all of the best episodes of those series' are fairly conservative. In fact, on Star Trek, all the main characters are liberal, but conservative reality usually teaches them a lesson.
Spoilers:
My latest personal favorite is "And When the Sky Was Opened" — no politics, no sermons, no morals — just a real creep out and truly terrifying.
"The Obsolete Man" is truly awesome as the man with God goes to his demise with courage while the government man becomes, how shall I say it, Obama like in his cowardice.
Least favorite? Another Burgess Meredith one that virtually everyone loves, but the ending is so depressing, and so cruel to the viewer (after all, we come to really like Meredith's character), that I can't stand watching it: "Time Enough at Last"
But he is deliciously evil in "Printer's Devil" which also stars the delicious Pat Crowley
Wow! Daniel, you got it right on target about 'The Twilight Zone'. Rod Serling was a brilliant writer regardless of his politics. He had a keen sense of what people would say or do in any given situation. His characters are so well conceived and fleshed-out that even B-level actors could not ruin the various episodes. And when he could get people such as Burgess Meridith, Cliff Robertson, and even 'new comers' like Elisabeth Montgomery, Robert Redford, and Charles Bronson – that show was pure magic.
So after fifty years, does that qualify the show for Historic status?
Jim McNaughton
The Obsolete Man has been my favorite episode for over 30 years. Few people seem to know it, but when they see it, they appreciate its worth. "Yes, in the name of God I will let you out!"
I've always counted the episode where a WWI era aviator lands at a modern (circa early 60's) U.S. Air Force base as one of my favorites. Always fun to watch for fledgling actors like Elizabeth Mongomery or William Shatner to turn up pre-fame. Great program.
I miss Rod Serling and I really hate it when TV shows have one good year( with good writing ) then when they get picked up they hire cheaper writers and the plots just all get dumbed down to Soap Opera level.
Rod Serling is the true story of that whole show. I am so very thankful that he was a prolific writer.
I believe that my love of the "short story" was in part due to this show and others like it, and also the actual "short films" of the Stooges and Our Gang fame.
Alot of people don't know that Rod Serling was a United States Army paratrooper and demolition expert during WWII (fromJan. 1943 to Jan.1945). He was seriously wounded in the Pacific Theater, and awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
I remember him always smoking as he did the introduction for most episodes. Although he died of a heart attack at the age of 50, I believe he was suffering from lung cancer at the time of his death.
Regardless, he died too young, and I'm sure he had alot more stories in that head of his.
I'm 51 and my parents were huge Twilight Zone fans, so I literally grew up with the show. I know Rod Serling was a lefty then, but I do not believe he would be a lefty today. Like me – a classical social liberal – I think he'd be calling himself a libertarian-conservative. It's only a hunch, of course, and it's a crying shame he isn't around to tell us what he thinks. The man was brilliant and died long before his time.
Yes, Serling tended to lean towards the left…but he was influenced by his father who was more conservative. "The Obsolete Man" would never be made today because it invokes God and skewers a government that abolishes any difference of thought. The Obama administration is honestly making a conservative "enemies" list : Talk Radio, Internet, and Fox the only news network that offers any type of dissent on the Obama administrations beliefs.Hardly anyone is making an argument over it. I think Serling would have been horrified at this.
Further to the Twilight Zone/Doctor Who writers-fest comparison, I would offer the classic TZ episode "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" with the Doctor Who episode "Midnight". Start with your classic childhood trait of annoying older siblings by repeating the words they say back at them, and put it in an adult setting of a tourist bus on a planet with a poison atmosphere. Have the bus break down. And give the passengers reason to think that aliens- who can't possibly exist on this poisonous planet- are knocking on the outside of the bus trying to get in. Then have people start simultaneously repeating Pi to thirty decimal places, and pointing fingers of accusation at one another in a crisis situation, and you have a really good psychological thriller.
Yes, writers of a liberal stripe do occasionally come up with stories that have a conservative theme to them, and I congratulate them for doing it. It gives me hope that logic and reason, rather than cliched stereotypes, still have the ability to inform writers in this day and age. My ongoing quest is to seek such Sci-Fi stories.
Whenever the topic of The Twilight Zone comes up, I always cite it as an example of storytelling at its finest. There's a reason we watch it repeatedly, even though we know that Meredith's glasses are going to break, what the supposedly hideous young woman under the bandages really looks like and what "To Serve Man" really means.
I was around 7 or 10 when I started watching Twilight Zone. Like the Stooges, and the WB cartoons, they all had the import to me for some reason to cause me to enter the entertainment business. And what this article so purposefully shows me is I liked the story that could be told in bite sized chunks. It was my ADD rearing it's creative head at a young age, I guess.
The Zone episode that I often think about when reminising, I can't recall the title or the whole story, but the kicker is that the guy is talking to St. Peter outside Heaven. The setting, though, is a field fence gate heading into the woods just off a quiet rural road, and the traveler doesn't know he's dead. Brilliant. Simple. Heartfelt.
I agree, it's really the storytelling that makes Twilight Zone so compelling. I've flipped through channels and then hit Twlight Zone rerun and then I'll flip a bit more and then head back and I'm mesmerized, just caught up by the story.
But what really makes the Twilight Zone stories so chilling and so captivating to me is that they always seem to be about "plain people" … "not so different from you or me" … encountering the Strange or the Outlandish or the Incredible Situation. Human meets Inhuman; Merely Mortal meets Beyond Merely Mortal. The Situation is never just Different, it's some place or situation that mortals aren't meant to encounter. That's the Twilight Zone.
Whew I get chills just thinking about it …
Obsolete man, yes a very good episode. Twilight zone often dealt with isolation and courage. The episode where a LT trades places with his Japanese counterpart. Deep, consider that Sterling served in the Pacific theater. Then there is the truly frightening "The Shelter". Of interest is the actors who were on it, now legends. Burgess Meredith was on twice that I know of. Then one night I'm watching and realize "That's Spencer Tracy!"
And rereading the post, I agree with Daniel. The entertainment world is sorely lacking the descriptive, deep thinking, yet easily watched stories that swept us away, either on TV or in the theatres. It's almost like they were trying to tell us how to imagine things now, not offering any "thinking out of the[ir] box" type of programming. Even the strictly apolitical, good, down to earth type of story isn't allowed anymore, because that doesn't offer any thought, or society, provoking observations to make their way into the discussion.
I love TIME ENOUGH, but it is heartbreaking; especially for anyone who is a rabidly avid reader.
I have so many favorites, though, That I don't think that I could chose just one. A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY, AFTER HOURS, NOTHING IN THE DARK, and THE HOWLING MAN are also right up there; for me.
Whether fictional ( Cyrano ), or for real, mighty wordsmiths have it all over pretty boys or special effects. The problem today is that nobody can write and the interesting shows don't last long! We have so dumbed down Americans, that garbage wins out; whether that's books, movies, of T.V. shows.
It was the old Doctor Who episodes that make one think. Today's DW's stink! They aren't any good for children and they certainly aren't worth the time for adults to watch and why I wasted so much time waiting for the new ones to get better, I don't know.
Most of the TWILIGHT ZONE shows also make you think; but in a different way.
Today's lefties would hate TW, since so many of them deal with GOD, right V. wrong ( with good winning more times times than not ), and the put down of dictators and tyrants.
All the plots of great movies and TV shows were mined from Twilight Zone
To name a few TZ eps one for the Angels=Meet jow Black
The old Twilight Zone and the old Doctor Who were both excellent for the same reason: low budgets. Constraints inspire creativity. When you can't amuse your audience with effects and spectacle, you have to deliver the basics of storytelling and acting.
Many other episodes of TZ were mined for ideas.
I'll have more TZ=whatever later.
The writing in TW is the star of the show without question.
One if my favorites is "The Hunt", written by Earl Hamner of "The Waltons".
One of my favorite lines from the series:
" A man will walk into hell with his eyes wide open; but even the Devil can't fool a dog"
As to science fiction and liberalism, I think that's valid. Liberalism is utopian, and believes in the perfectibility of man. That's a very common thread in SF, too, going back to the founder of the genre, H.G. Wells.
It's also SF's original sin. H.G. Wells was impatient with democracy and yearned for some kind of benevolent rule by "experts" who would get things right, dammit. That's a trope which shows up over and over in SF. Even "conservative" writers like Heinlein have a weakness for "Competent Men" running things because they just know better, dammit. The modern version is Iain Banks, whose utopian socialist-anarchist interstellar society "The Culture" is run by superintelligent computers who just know better, dammit.
I grew up with Rod Serling, but not with "Twilight Zone". I had to discover TZ later, on reruns. The Rod Serling I grew up with was on TZ's much-abused and underrated little brother, "NIGHT GALLERY". Episodes like "Big Surprise", "The Doll", and "There Aren't Anymore McBanes" scared the bejeesus outta me!
One disagreement. Television executives have not "marked" writers as "obsolete men". The Marxist school system, which was created by "YELLOW BELLIED" individuals rushing to college so as not to have to defend AMERICA in Viet Nam has created these "obsolete men". For fifty years they have been educating our children, (the future of our Country) with lies, damn lies, to JUSTIFY their "YELLOW BELLIES" and portray themselves as patriots. Yes, television executives have a role in the creation of these "obsolete men" but they were educated by the same "YELLOW BELLIED" educators, especially in the school of so called "journalism!" Now we have "Marxist", "YELLOW BELLIED " men and women partying in the WHITE HOUSE a.k.a. "THE HOUSE OF FREEDOM." (Surly, people will write saying, HOUSE OF FREEDOM?, what about slavery? To them I say, yes slavery was a horrible wrong. But instead of attacking the U.S.A. over slavery put your energies to ending slavery where it still exists! Slavery was not exclusive to Africa. Remember Slovakia?, where the name slave was derived from? Remember the Exodus where Moses freed the Jewish slaves? Remember the millions of African slaves taken by Muslim countries? And where are the descendants of those slaves? In America the descendants are alive and many are living the American dream. How many American's are millionaires that can trace their heritage to slavery in America? Yes the White House is the "HOUSE OF FREEDOM.") "The Obsolete Man" to myself is not only the best Twilight Zone ever made it is the scariest because it is becoming true with the new occupier of the White House. However, at it's inception in 1961 the "Obsolete Man" was "science fiction!" Today's "YELLOW BELLIED" educators who were hiding in college instead of fighting for their COUNTRY are not only teaching our children but are running, (or ruining), of our government. Imagine these "YELLOW BELLIES" who are running rampant in our " WHITE HOUSE" stating Mr. R. Wordsworth's words now:, "I'M GOING TO READ MY BIBLE…POSSESSION OF IT IS A CRIME PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. SO IT IS THE ONLY POSSESSION THAT HAS ANY "VALUE" TO ME." YES, we are living in the scariest Twilight Zone Episode Ever, because it is reality and not science fiction!! God Bless America!!! And may God help our President and his administration find a place to Pray, for forgiveness, in destroying God's Playground: a.k.a. The United States of America.
"you open this door with the key of imagination" from the children diving into the pool to escape their parents, and help frost a cake, to Shatner teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown on a plane. TZ gave us all something that required a suspension of disbelief to take the trip. I still love watching Shatner pump pennies into the devil machine, waiting to find out what to do next.
It's a cookbook…IT' S A COOKBOOK!!! Now that's one of my many favorites another one is "The Bewitching Pool."
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alex Murashko Jr, Big Hollywood and Michael Chavez, Kimberly Cox. Kimberly Cox said: RT @bighollywood: ‘A Dimension Not Only of Sight and Sound, But of Mind’ http://bit.ly/3iQdQZ // AWESOME [...]
I wouldn't say that nobody can write, it's that few can recognize good writing or novel thoughts, after 2 generations of dumbed-down education.
"IT'S A COOKBOOK!"
One thing you may all want to note, Sterling didn't "write" 99% of the shows. They were rewritten by sterling for TV production, but they were originally written by the SF writers of the 40's, 50's, and 60's. They let Sterling put them on the show without credit, because SF was not viewed favorably by the MSM of the day. So, instead of attaching their name to the episode, and possibly drawing criticism of themselves, or the show, they let Sterling take credit for the script. It helped the show succeed, and allowed SF to get to a larger audience. Being an old sci-fi paperback book collector, I have read most of the stories before they had ever appeared on any show, and then was pleasantly surprised when I would view an old re-run of Twilight, or Outer limits, and see the story told visually. I give Sterling great credit for holding to the stories so accurately without editing them beyond all description.
I forgot to add that also, 99% of the SF writers of the day were conservative. They may have been great dreamers, but they anchored themselves with a strong base to reality, instead of like the liberals, the fantasy worlds they created in their minds.
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop, the Twilight Zone."
I always loved that line.
The two truly good scifi movie that I would put up there as "intelligent" as the better old twilight zone episodes would be Serenity and Gattaca. The remaining SciFi Genre movies that come out today seem to be either simply Horror films with a futurists twist or are better categorized as Science Fantasy and not Science Fiction.
I actually think that hard science fictions is on the decline. Go through a Barnes and Nobles or Borders Science fiction section and there are more Fantasy and Vampire books than true science fiction. I like these genres as well but real science fiction is the genre I favor. This could be because we have reduced teaching science classes as required course work in High Scools and Colleges.
BTW I always thought that the Obsolete Man episode was an answer to 1984, the way Lord of the Flies was an answer to (I forget the book but it fantasized about shipwrecked boys defeating savage islanders). In 1984 Winston Smith is beaten down and overcome by the impenetrable state where as Wordsworth defeats it.
Great Episode….
Art is Dead, killed by Incompetent Whores for Oba Mao.
The one I can't forget is the episode where the young child is in bed, burning up with fever and the epidsode revolves around the fact the earth has moved closer to the sun (the first sign of REAL global warming
).
The doctor and the mother hover over her discussing this terrible situation. It is a dream of course by the patient who is burning up with fever. Then the fever breaks and the mother is relieved, but the doctor tells her none of them will survive since the earth has moved away from the sun and all will eventually freeze to death. I was very young when I saw this episode but it haunts me.
I think the Twilight Zone was more of a reflection of the time in which the show aired rather that from a particular political ideology. I was around 4 years old at that time and the era of Eisenhower to Kennedy was an optimistic time in America. People still believed in working for what they got, and faith played a role in our society. Even "Liberal" John Kennedy would be be an outcast in today's Democrat party. The good guys always won and crime didn't pay on the TV shows of that era and you could invoke the name of God and wish someone Merry Christmas without causing a Congressional investigation. In short, The Twilight Zone was a reflection of American values couple with brilliant writing, story telling, and actors that will make it forever unique.
Spencer Tracy was never on the program.
No one ever likes it when I observe that many of the TZs are obsessively preachy and that many of them have the germ of a good idea badly written.
I've been watching T-Zones since the 1960s and I was more impressed with the series back then than I am today.
The 'comedy' episodes are the worst. The 'Western' episodes are some of the worst. "The Bewitching Pool"? Gab gab gab. (Yet a few people here cited it as one of their faves. Oh, well)
Some of them come out rather well and still look good today, but many are over ambitious or, today, have a cheap look to them.
"Walking Distance" is a wonderful episode, but it is filled with things the viewer must pretend to not notice.
The one with Dennis Weaver redreaming his courtroom nightmare every night still looks good as does his acting.
The hour long episodes are a very mixed bag.
The most controversial episode is the one that ran only one time and never went into syndication when the other did. This powerful episode with Neville Brand and George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) barely qualified as a Twilight Zone and it looks like they had to throw in some mumbo-jumbo to make to seem like one. This episode has something to offend everyone and apparently did. "Women are a dime a dozen. Anyone who's been to the Orient knows that", says the Neville Brand character. It must be seen to be appreciated!
"The Twilight Zone" The Encounter (1964)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734637/
Who can forget the ultimate Serling ending as"he sinks to his knees in the surf, prostrate before the ruins of an anchient statue, cursing his race and god-damning the universe. All this while the girl looks on, uncomprehnding. George Taylor, last man of the Human Race; trapped on a planet of the apes….in orbit somewhere in the dim reaches of the Twilight Zone."
I remember TZ as a kid. I still enoy it today. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think Howling Man along with Obsolete Man were my favorites. I liked the trips back and forward into time too. I was too young then to know anything about politics, left or right. Sometimes I wish that were still true. But I enjoyed Rod Serling and TZ, and I still do today.
I still remember listening to, what I found out later, The Martin Chronicles on Dimension X. Was that the origin of the phrase "When the crickets stop chirping" to denote something bad about to happen?
A few of the "Stars" that appeared early on in their careers, in addition to Burgess Meredith, were Bill Shatner, Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, James Whitmore and Dennis Weaver.
I placed Stars in quotes because using it to define any diminuitive human being term far exceeds reality.
One Step Beyond
The Outer Limits ( the opening of which is indelibly etched into my soul, and even if I do go deaf, I will be able to hear that famous music )
Thriller
there were others around that time that belong in the conversation also, how about The Invaders?
Sci fi is not conservative intentionally, but I understand why it might seem to be. The common themes for Sci Fi include standing up to those who are trying to limit your freedeom, deal in fear, or ar trying to Kill you.
The heros in Sci Fi often have to stand up and fight for their priciples against incredible odds (Like Luke Skywalker or Neo). They understand evil exists and know who is bad. These charcters understand that Peace is not the absence of conflict. They are willing to fight for what they believe. Fighting for what you beleve makes for good concflct and good sci fi.
Liberals and progressives tend to have positions, not priciples. Their postions are flexible for many reasons and can be chaged. When you have a flexible postion, its harder to define evil. Its hard to create good verus evil conflict when there is no fixed postion for the good, no line in the sand that can't be crossed.
I belive this is why sci fi appears conservative.
The original Star Trek was quite conservative, not necessarily because the writers were intentionally conservative but because of the time in which they lived. I can go on about this for some length but I think the biggest reason was that the original Star Trek was created while adults were still in charge and before children and adolescence became romanticized. Again and again, the original Star Trek shows us children and teenagers in power (Charlie X, Miri, And the Children Shall Lead, The Squire of Gothos) and again and again, the results are horrific or end badly. The original Star Trek promoted self-control and responsibility over self-fulfillment and getting in touch with one's emotions (The Naked Time, This Side of Paradise, The Paradise Syndrome), had distinctly pro-life themes (The Devil in the Dark and Friday's Child), is unashamedly pro-American and pro-Western civilization (The Omega Glory, but also every other episode where Kirk sang the praises of the Federation over the Klingons), is against collectivism and benevolent dictatorships and the loss of freedom (The Return of the Archons, The Apple, Who Mourns for Adonis, I, Mudd, Metamorphosis) was pro-intervention in Vietnam (A Private Little War), treated racism in a very conservative way (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield wasn't about victim and victimizer but about the destructiveness of hatred in both directions), and has perhaps the best slap-down of moral relativism in science fiction (in The Conscience of the King, when Lenore asks Kirk, "Who are you to say what harm was done?" Kirk responds, "Who do I have to be?").
Yes, there are some exceptions and odd notes (The Mark of Gideon) but, overall, I think the original Star Trek was quite conservative, even if the creator wished it had been more liberal and may be rolling in his grave with me saying that.
Some science fiction is utopian, other science fiction is dystopian and how it treats an issue can come from what Thomas Sowell calls the constrained or the unconstrained perspectives.
And, yes, the dictator who knows better (whether it be a superman or "superintelligent computers" reveals the attraction that totalitarianism holds for the left and why well-intentioned leftists revolutions for the people so often end in totalitarian bloodbaths that threat the people like resources to be used and consumed.
Not to mention a good proportion of Simpson's Treehouse of Horror episodes.
Interesting.
Thx!
Um, I thought we were talking Twilight Zone here…not Star Trek.
My favorite (and I can refer to all of them by their names) is "Five Characters in Search of an Exit". Even less of a budget than "The Obsolete Man", intensely creepy for the most part, then surprisingly heartwarming at the end.
I have to agree with L.B. about the quality of some of the episodes. Some of them are just terrible. And some ("Black Leather Jackets") are so bad, they're good again. In conclusion, five best Twilight Zone quotes:
"You're not going to leeeave me here, arrrre you?"
"It's good that you done that…it's real good"
"No pain! No pain!"
"My name's Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you."
…and my favorite…
"Room for one more, honey."
Andre – sorry. We can't all recall the proper titles.
"Black Leather Jackets" – that one is especially bad.
And going against the grain – "The Obsolete Man" is one that I have never warmed to…and I saw it very recently and felt the same way. Too preachy and too much dead horse flogging once the concept has been floated.
Trivia question – cheapest twilight zone episode ever in the series. (This is a trick question.)
America's school systems have been dumbing down students for far more than 2 generations, but I'm old enough to know good writing when I see or hear it.
If there are good writers out there, few of them are writing for T.V., the theatre, or the movies and great books are nonexistent.
"The Shelter" was my favorite because it was completely believable. There was no fantasy or sci-fi elements, just stark realism of a possible, and at the time probable, scenario. It was also an unintentional indictment of leftist ideology. A mob demanded the possession another man's hard-earned property during a time of crisis, eventually destroying such property and making it useless to everybody.
Us kids tried to never miss The Twilight Zone. I don't recall anything else that excited such anticipation as the show came on. And no one spoke with more authority than Rod Serling. We knew it was special, but never imagined it was timeless. We liked The Outer Limits but thought it was a pale imitation of the real thing.
Do you think a mind devoted to liberalism, can write a story where the antithesis of what he believes is the driving factor of the Protagonist? To write of these ideals, and draw the readers conscious to believe, feel, and hope for the "hero", takes a mind that believes in the ideals un-equevically. I have never read a good story written by a liberal that uses conservative ideals to promote the hero intelligently, they always read as morally or ideally fake, or have little character development in the key hero or heroes. One must remember, that to write sci-fi and sell, you must understand science and be able to extrapolate logically with the science available to speculate on a future. The top writers from the 40's – 60's all had a firm background in science, and all were associated with the engineers and scientists of the day. Knowing that liberalism is based on emotional feelings and context, whereas conservative ideals are more notably associated with logic and "common sense", this is why most SF writers were and are conservative. Asimov had 2 degrees and wrote more books on science and chemistry than he wrote Sci-Fi. Heinlein had an engineering degree, earned 2 more, and was ex navy. Clark had 3 degrees and predicted such things as comm sats, cell phones, 30 years before it became even physically possible to consider such ideas. These three men were 2 conservatives and one libertarian. They are also considered the greatest sci-fi writers of the 20th century, and the most influential on their genre.
One day soon, George Lucas' or Stephen Spielberg's successor will turn David Weber's books into the next SF Movie Megahits. If that successor does it true to Weber, he'll do to SF what JK Rowling did to kiddie fantasy.
IIRC it would be when Rod Serling bought the rights to "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" and brought the show under budget with at $10K expenditure.
That line got me when I saw "To Serve Man" for the first time.
Good point.
Like JFK, Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would be exiled by modern liberals, i.e, Progressive/Statists, because of his clear convictions. The fact an atheist like Roddenberry would use an episode to portray Christianity positively as well as mention Jesus' name ("Bread and Circuses) would be too much for the Statist's mind.
And let's not start about Roddenberry's habit of branding genetically superior humans (e.g., Khan) and their creators as villains instead of "enlightened." Even the spin-offs of the original series continued this theme, which led the shows taking conservative stances on assisted suicide, human cloning, and euthanasia.
In short, Trek is conservative only because liberals gone SO far to the Left.
You got it!
Off topic a bit – National Lampoon Radio Hour once did "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge", prefaced by the announcer saying "edited for radio". So you hear the horses ride up, the gallows door pops open, the horses ride away. Hahahaha!!!
I think it's more than the left going further to the left. I think the original Star Trek has genuinely conservative episodes and themes that would be at home coming out of the mouth of Rush Limbaugh. Looming large in almost every episode is the idea that people need to be free to struggle and solve their own problems rather than have a benevolent computer or overlord do it for them.
The original article mentioned Doctor Who, Star Trek, and the X-Files as well as the Twilight Zone. Maybe if I also mentioned "Nightmare at 20000 Feet "?
If that successor does it true to Weber, he'll do to SF what JK Rowling did to kiddie fantasy.
That's the problem. It's more likely they'll have ships shooting at each other from visual range and rocket exhausts on the ships.
That and something like the Honor Harrington books would work better as a mini-series or similar. Even if you skipped past the infodumps, there's a lot of stuff going on in those books.
(…of course, it's possible they'll maybe explain exactly what Shannon Foraker did in her infamous "Oops" moment. Lot of guesses, but no real answer from Mad Wizard Weber. The bastard.)
Liberal vs. Conservative in SF:
Or, John Varley and Robert Heinlein. RAH seemed to me to be mostly conservative, as in "Starship Troopers", and his advancing of the competent man (and woman.) But he could advance liberal ideals, such as "Stranger…" and "I Will Fear No Evil". Varley, touted pre Hollywood as the new Heinlein, gave us Cirocco Jones (see her view on evil in "Titan") or the touchy feely, but great, "The Persistance of Vision".Indeed, almost every SF writer who has a self sufficient hero has inherent conservative principles.
But mostly I don't care about the political angles such as the anti consumerism in WALL-E, but can enjoy the story. I have read all these stories before, from environmental disaster to over population to religious governments to whatever. Good SF will go anywhere, and the great writers will incorporate all viewpoints honestly.
This is, at heart, why Varley has fallen off; he is an unabashed far left liberal (good for him), but is still trying to write with noble and heroic characters. His original characters had these qualities in abundance, but the polarization of our political standings have gotten in the way.
I think it was Heinlein who said "Forget Marx and Engels. Science fiction is truly subversive literature." One should acknowledge that TZ had a crack STAFF of writers in addition to Serling, who adapted some of his scripts from works of others and was not always pleased with his own work. Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson penned some of my favorites like "A World of Difference" and "Shadow Play." Of Serling's scripts, my favorites are "Eye of the Beholder" and "It's A Good Life."
Regarding Burgess Meredith and "Time Enough At Last":
The first time I saw this episode as a youngster, I didn't see any tragedy in it. Like the central character, I was a severely myopic geek with a voracious appetite for the written word. But when it ended, I sat there thinking, "Yeah, and . . . that's IT???" When it was explained to me, I felt cheated. Even though I couldn't see without my glasses, I wasn't blind. Sometimes I would read at night holding the book close to my face, and loved the intimate contact with the printed page shutting out everything else. (Because I was so nearsighted, I didn't need as much light to read at night, another advantage,)
I recently rewatched that episode and had pretty much the same reaction — only total blindness would have deterred me from this new reading adventure. But then I saw the real tragedy in that scenario — the bookworm couldn't discuss what he had read with anybody else. It's one thing to read a great book and take pleasure in it, but a great book must be shared. either physically or by discussing its content. A really great book is a shoutout to the world, and if there is no one there to appreciate it — does it matter?
Just a little trivia, Serling was born and grew up in Binghamton, New York, near where I live. One of my brother's best friend's Dad went high school with him. He said he was the strangest kid he'd ever met. Many of the names of places were taken from Binghamton. There's even a local tour guide book that shows you where I think 29 places that are referenced among the shows. Like Recreation Park.
Just a couple of weeks ago there was a big TZ festival celebrating it's 50th anniversary, which included live actors recreating two episodes.
As far as Star Trek goes, it's got a strong conservative theme recognizable in the opening statements. "Boldly go where no man has gone before."
Not to apologize, not looking for hand outs, not trying to spread multi-culi or diversity. But rather to boldly go, to project human exceptionalism.
At least that's my opinion.
"ships shooting at each other from visual range and rocket exhausts on the ships."
My fear exactly. Could be an awesome miniseries, but you would need a filmmaker with real vision, given that much of the action can only be observed in a holo tank. And there´s a challenge to get in the subtext that the Democrats are doing their best to turn us into People´s Republic of Haven.
I think that the writer reigned supreme during the early years of television because they had to sell the medium to people who didn't perceive that they needed it. Now everyone has television–they have us right where they want us, and they don't need to sell us on it with content. Now they can just fill the endless number of channels with drivel–that's why we exclaim when we actually see something good on TV–it's such a rarity these days. Sadly, I don't think we'll see the like of Serling again–it's an investment in quality that execs don't think they need to make.
I don't think the Peeps had "Hope" and "Change" posters plastered all over the place, but they probably had something similar.
i was at an airport a couple of years ago. spent some time talking to a gentlemen who was born and lived in the town that rod sterling was born. he said that mr. sterling featured his town in many of the story lines. the street names were used often. i think it was upstate new york somewhere. thought i would add to this feed…
they celebrate his birthday and consider him an icon. he had one of the most memorable deliveries and his voice was remarkable. he was cool before cool.
They might have at one point – what we are seeing are the results of the decline of a once great Republic. They have a rewritten constitution, self-appointed elites (the legislaturists), machine politics, a vast and permanent underclass and cradle-to-grave welfare state. And what is a dolist manager if not a community organizer?
"…that I can't stand watching it: "Time Enough at Last"
One of my favorites. As an avid reader, this strikes a real chord with me, and, as a writer, this episode is a perfect lesson in Irony.
This is still my all-time favorite tv series… I've got the "Definitive Edition" for Season One on DVD & would like to get the others down the line. They had all those dvds out a while ago but they were collections & the episodes were out of sequence… In one of my high school classes we were studying Ambrose Bierce & we got to see "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", A TW episode that wasn't a Serling creation. Serling, oddly enough, was the definition of "cool" to me – his monologues were my favorite part of the show & he had such a unique delivery. Requiem for a Heavyweight was good too, I've only seen the Anthony Quinn version "Don't make me no stumblebum!" & I did enjoy Night Gallery too. I was always surprised how "mainstream" the occult stuff in NG was, still don't see that today.
You must be logged in to post a comment.