Although I thought it was pretty cool that it mainly featured black actors, the plot was horrible.
Both “The Bewitching Pool” and “Black Leather Jackets” were written by Earl Hamner, and I’ve found that you either like Earl Hamner episodes or you don’t. He also, btw, wrote “The Hunt”, “A Piano in the House”, “Jess-Belle”, “Ring-a-Ding Girl”, “You Drive”, and “Stopover in a Quiet Town”. I like a lot of his stuff, and love “The Hunt”, but I can see why some people wouldn’t.
What episodes don’t I like? “The Odyssey of Flight 33”. I also didn’t really like… I forget the name of the episode, but it was one where this guy gets some cursed African idol or offends a witch doctor or something and ends up getting eaten by a lion. I don’t remember the name.
Oh, I liked “Piano in the House.” It’s bizarre but fun. “Stopover in a Quiet Town” is pretty good, too. He’s definitely not my favorite writer. Richard Matheson was my favorite.
I never saw it on TV but read it in a Twilight Zone anthology. The way it was written, at least, I thought it was very touching and sad.
There’s the point where the boxer and kid are talking, the kid tells him about the wish and the boxer of course rejects it, which is fine, but they turn it into a drama where the kids is begging him to believe and he’s angrily going on how he can’t believe, his life has been too hard, there’s not such thing as magic, blah, blah, blah.
Again, it’s not his rejection of the wish, it’s the over-dramatic way he does it, along with the kid begging and pleading for him to believe that just seems silly and ridiculous to me.
The really sad thing in the written version was how the kid accepts it, saying you’re right, it’s time I grew up, there’s no such thing as magic after all.
There’s a DirecTV ad with an African American guy as a boxer and a little kid as…I don’t know, a mini boxer. It’s on Sci Fi now and I’m always reminded of the Big Tall Wish when I see it.
As for the OP, I remember one silly one that was a transparent criticism of McCarthyism or something like that. There was some schizophrenic busybody who kept pestering the FBI and the police, trying to report his neighbors for being people up to no good. At one point he gets the kooky idea that “at noon today, all the evil people in the world will be only two feet tall.” He repeats this again and again, manically, even telling it to a G-man who has come wearily to his door to respond to yet another of his complaints. “At noon today, all the evil people in the world will be only two feet tall.” And once he’s alone, he eagerly watches the clock and again cackles to himself: “At noon today, all the evil people in the world will be only two feet tall. Hooo hoo hoo hoo!!”
And the clock finally reaches 12:00 noon. And he looks around and realizes
He himself is only two feet tall!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
I actually saw one today that I had never seen before, “Mr. Bevis.” It had a great cast: Orson Bean, Henry Jones and Charles Lane. But it was just dumb. A happy-go-lucky guy decides he wants to be a happy-go-lucky guy. That’s a surprise.
But a lot of them are just fantasies, and involve the supernatural. Or else they just incorporate some future unexplained technology like faster than light travel as necessary to the plot. So it’s fair to allow them some suspension of disbelief.
“I Shot an Arrow” took place in the near future (as of then) and didn’t involve any exotic technology. In the circumstance, the astronauts’ lack of knowledge of basic science was ridiculous.
I was a teenager when these episodes first aired, and many of them that now seem predictable or over-the-top were not originally viewed that way. There was nothing to compare them to, and written sci fi wasn’t nearly as widely-read as it is today. Even the predictable ones were, in many ways, groundbreaking.
And much of the audience didn’t miss an episode. We thought we’d never get another chance to see them.
I’d say my least favorite would be "Hocus-Pocus & Frisby with Andy Devine. I was just hoping the damn aliens would have kept him.
I’d say my least favorite would be “Hocus-Pocus & Frisby”, with Andy Devine. I was just hoping the damn aliens would have kept him.
So horrible that Hollywood is turning it into a film…
Fair enough. It just didn’t work for me, I guess. I knew immediately that he was really in hell, not heaven. Sometimes, even when you can see the twist coming from a mile away, the journey to it can still be entertaining, but I didn’t find that to be the case with this one.
True. Admittedly, I saw this ep first as teenager so I think it was creepier back then. A lot of the ones that seemed like huge whoa moments when I was younger now seem so obvious to me.
I saw Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge for the first time on insta watch last night and guessed the ending within a few minutes so even though I appreciated it for what it was, it felt like a long journey to get to the pay off.
I know it’s not prudent to say so, but I really didn’t care for “The Invaders” with Agnes Moorehead. I thought it was about 25 minutes too long and entirely predictable.
I have to agree. I tried to watch it again and felt bored and couldn’t even admit to myself that I didn’t like it. The idea is OK, but sitting through all that wordless action to get to the twist feels a little pointless, especially when you already know what’s coming.
Don’t remember the title, but it’s a young woman horseback riding who sees an older woman dressed in black on a black horse who screams at her and charges her. Turns out it’s her future self trying to warn her from choosing the wrong man. Barf.
Spur of the Moment. I think it’s my all time favorite, actually. 