New Twilight Zone Episode?

Cafe Society
1

There’s a story – I think it was by Ray Bradbury, but I’m not sure – that was, I think, made into an episode of The New Twilight Zone back in the 1980s. I did read the story somewhere, and I did see it on teevee, so I know it exists. Here’s the story; can anyone tell me the title and author?

The story is about a kid in the not-too-distant future who is rather bright. His birthday is coming up in a couple of months and he wants a computer, which his parents say they’ll buy for him. But there may be a problem. It’s time for the standardized tests at school. This society cannot tolerate anyone who is outside of the norm, and the kid may “ace” the test.

The parents are worried, but they try not to let on. They get the kid his computer early, and he wonders why; but they explain it away. Finally the day of the test comes…

***** SPOILER *****

The parents are notified that their son scored very high on the standardized test. How would they like to dispose of his remains?

2

I’ve got almost all the eps of TNTZ on tape, and none of them match the story you mention (I also have a list of eps not shown in syndication). I also found an incomplete guide to Tales From the Darkside, but it doesn’t seem to be that either. Do you rememberrr any more details?

3

Since you’ve got all the episodes on tape, was there one about a Vietnam vet, or maybe someone who didn’t go to Vietnam? I caught, like, the last five minutes – I think there was a dude in a wheelchair – and wondered what the story had been.

4

That one was “The Road Less Travelled”. In it, a man (Cliff DeYoung), meets the man he would have been had he gone to Vietnam. During the ep, he has flashbacks and dreams of being in battle and losing his legs. The Vet version has also been wondering what would have happened if he DIDN’T go to 'Nam. Eventually, the two merge into one being and share memories of both lives.

5

Yes, I remember the story about the kid with the high scores. I am pretty sure it’s a new TZ episode. The the Vietnam vet with the nightmares, (directed by William Friedkin sp? ) is being re-broadcast on TNT in the wee hours. I am taping “Nightcrawlers” (the Vietnam vet episode) for a friend. I believe it shows early on May 18th. This is an extraordinary episode, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Wait, I emailed my friend the TNT TZ schedule, let be get it for you:

TV-PG- “A Game of Pool” - Thursday, May 2nd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-L “The Girl I Married” - Friday, May 3rd @ 4:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Grace Note” - Saturday, May 4th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Nightsong” - Saturday, May 4th @ 6am(ET)
TV-PG- “Rendezvous in a Dark Place” - Sunday, May 5th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Many, Many, Monkeys” - Monday, May 6th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “The Hunters” - Wednesday, May 8th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-LV “The Once and Future King” - Friday, May 10th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Opening Day” - Saturday, May 11th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Ye Gods” - Saturday, May 11th @ 6am(ET)
TV-14- “Love Is Blind” - Wednesday, May 15th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “A Little Peace and Quiet” - Friday, May 17th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-14-V “Nightcrawlers” - Saturday, May 18th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Gramma” - Tuesday, May 21st @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Father and Son Game” - Wednesday, May 22nd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Dead Run” - Thursday, May 23rd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Healer” - Friday, May 24th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Teacher’s Aide/Children’s Zoo” - Thursday, May 30th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “The Crossing” - Tuesday, June 4th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “The Road Less Traveled” - Wednesday, June 5th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Dead Woman’s Shoes” - Monday, June 10th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Word Play/Personal Demons” - Tuesday, June 11th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Red Snow” - Tuesday, June 25th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “20/20 Vision” - Wednesday, June 26th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Take My Life…Please/I of Newton” - Monday, July 1st @ 5:30am(ET)

Check TNT’s site for more information, and also Google for individual episode information.

I recommend “Red Snow”, “Dead Run”, “The Once and Future King”, “Grace Note”…and so many more. Some of the titles are familiar, but I can’t remember the plots real well. Your best bet is to just put them all on timer, and watch 'em all.

6

Yes, I remember the story about the kid with the high scores. I am pretty sure it’s a new TZ episode. The the Vietnam vet with the nightmares, (directed by William Friedkin sp? ) is being re-broadcast on TNT in the wee hours. I am taping “Nightcrawlers” (the Vietnam vet episode) for a friend. I believe it shows early on May 18th. This is an extraordinary episode, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Wait, I emailed my friend the TNT TZ schedule, let be get it for you:

TV-PG- “A Game of Pool” - Thursday, May 2nd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-L “The Girl I Married” - Friday, May 3rd @ 4:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Grace Note” - Saturday, May 4th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Nightsong” - Saturday, May 4th @ 6am(ET)
TV-PG- “Rendezvous in a Dark Place” - Sunday, May 5th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Many, Many, Monkeys” - Monday, May 6th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “The Hunters” - Wednesday, May 8th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-LV “The Once and Future King” - Friday, May 10th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Opening Day” - Saturday, May 11th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Ye Gods” - Saturday, May 11th @ 6am(ET)
TV-14- “Love Is Blind” - Wednesday, May 15th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “A Little Peace and Quiet” - Friday, May 17th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-14-V “Nightcrawlers” - Saturday, May 18th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Gramma” - Tuesday, May 21st @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Father and Son Game” - Wednesday, May 22nd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Dead Run” - Thursday, May 23rd @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Healer” - Friday, May 24th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Teacher’s Aide/Children’s Zoo” - Thursday, May 30th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “The Crossing” - Tuesday, June 4th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “The Road Less Traveled” - Wednesday, June 5th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Dead Woman’s Shoes” - Monday, June 10th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Word Play/Personal Demons” - Tuesday, June 11th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG-V “Red Snow” - Tuesday, June 25th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “20/20 Vision” - Wednesday, June 26th @ 5:30am(ET)
TV-PG- “Take My Life…Please/I of Newton” - Monday, July 1st @ 5:30am(ET)

Check TNT’s site for more information, and also Google for individual episode information.

I recommend “Red Snow”, “Dead Run”, “The Once and Future King”, “Grace Note”…and so many more. Some of the titles are familiar, but I can’t remember the plots real well. Your best bet is to just put them all on timer, and watch 'em all.

7

yosemitebabe, the ep “Nightcrawlers” was about a 'Nam vet who had abandoned his men in battle and was haunted by their ghosts.

Nice monster double-post, BTW :smiley:

8

I did NOT simulpost. I only clicked submit once. How bizarre.

9

Mr. Blue Sky: Possibly we are talking about the same epsisode, I am not sure. This episode I know well, and I do know that it is about a Vietnam vet’s nightmares. It is a particular favorite. Some URLS on it:

http://tzone.the-croc.com/ntzeplist/crawlers.html

http://www.geocities.com/backblast.geo/loripetty1/TheTwilightZone.html

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/EpisodeGuideSummary/showid-1702/season-1

10

Oh, and while I’m on a roll: Johnny LA, here it is: (from the last URL I listed above)

  1. Examination Day gs: David Mendenhall (David Dukes) Christopher Allport (Richard Jordan) Elizabeth Norment (Ruth Jordan) Ed Krieger (Clerk #1) Myrna White (Clerk #2) Jeffrey Alan Chandler (Clerk #3)
    In the far future, twelve-year-old Dickie must pass the government intelligence test. He is very nervous about the outcome of the test as are his parents.

b: 01-Nov-85 w: Philip DeGuere s: Henry Slesar d: Paul Lynch
NOTE: This episode is based on the short story “Examination Day”, by Henry Slesar. The story was first published in Playboy (February, 1958).

11

Just checked my old tapes (I KNEW they’d come in handy some day) and it’s definitely “The Road Less Travelled”.

Big thanks for the TNT info! Whenever I search TVGuide.com, for “New Twilight Zone”, I get no hits. It’s just listed as “Twilight Zone”. I’ll be able to pick up three eps I’m missing!!

One of those is “Dead Run”. In it, an out-of-work trucker gets the unenviable job of transporting souls to hell. He soon realizes that it’s not just evil people who are being sent there. This episode is notable for two of its performers: Brent “Data” Spiner and John “Q” DeLancie!

12

Thanks, yosemitebabe! That’s just what I was looking for.

Okay, here’s another one. The Shadow Man. I don’t think it’s a Zone. In this one, a nerdy kid discovers the “Shadow Man”, a bogeyman who kills kids, is living under his bed. “I am the Shadow Man, and I never harm the on under whose bed I sleep,” says the apparition, who then disappears out of the window. When the nerdy kid realizes he has nothing to fear from the Shadow Man, he tries to use the Shadow Man to get back at the “jocks” who tormented him.

13

Was the man a deserter?

And how many legs does the merged being have? Two, none … or one?

14

And then…

**************SPOILER AHEAD…

He winds up being attacked by a Shadow Man who lives under someone else’s bed. !

15

Does anybody remember another NTZ episode called “The Cold Equations”? It was quite sad.

***********SPOILER coming…

A man wound up having to eject a young female stowaway from his little shuttle because he couldn’t land with the extra weight, and I don’t recall some of the plot details, but there was no other way out of the predicament.

16

friend blue sky,

you seem to be exactly the person who may have the answer to the question asked at work today.

in the twilight zone movie, i am pretty sure that the gremlin on the airplane was seen by john lithgow. a co-worker said that it was william shatner, and when i chimed in with my lithgow opinion, the co-worker said that i was right. lithgow was in the movie, but it was shatner in the original tv episode. i don’t remember shatner in this part, but i may be wrong. i can’t seem to remember who it was.

you seem to have a much better handle on this than i. your help would be greatly appreciated.

17

I remember that one. She stowed away to see her brother on the colony the ship was going to. The ship was carrying a cure for a deadly plague. They used a laser to cut out chairs and other parts of the ship to compensate for her weight – seems like that shoulda worked – but weren’t able to make enough of a difference.

18

Yes, that was it! I also recall that there was quite a fight between the producers and the network over this. It seems the network execs wanted a happy Hollywood ending, where both would survive. They even suggested that the man cut off his legs to get rid of more weight. After a fierce battle, the episode was shown just as intended–he has to send the gal to her death and he mourns.

19

Why is it that I seem to remember two versions of this? Was one a new “Outer Limits” and one a “NTZ”?

I remember the NTZ one (it was when TZ went to syndication, was no longer being carried by CBS…right?) It starred Terrence Knox (“St. Elsewhere”).

I am not 100% sure, but I thought I saw a also similar story with Bill Campbell (“Once and Again” or one of these “and Again” shows). Am I deluded? I have a scary memory for obscure TV shows, but I am far from being certain on this one.

20

THis episode was based on a short sci-fi story called The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. In fact the events of one media to the next are almost identical. The thing I like most about this story is the bittersweet ending.

I remember watching this episode as a child, and it intrigued me very much. Of the other TZ episodes I remember, there is one in which an older guy and a younger guy (father & son?) break into a warehouse where light makes a spider grow very big, and it eventually eats one of them ( the older guy I think). Does anyone remember this one? If so, please fill in the plotholes.