The '80's Twilight Zone

Cafe Society
1

I was a big fan of the 2-season-long “Twilight Zone” that aired in the '80’s (ca. '85)

So, recently, I bought the set that contains the first season, fully expecting to be disappointed… you know, memories usually surpass reality.

However, I’m enjoying (almost) every episode, even though the special effects are quite obviously cheesy. I was rather wistfully thinking about the disappearance of similarly themed shows and/or quality of said shows. However, my boss just sent me
this link, and, honestly it’s just as good as a segment on the “Twilight Zone”.

Which got me to thinking: is there a “Twilight Zone” site out there I have missed during all these years?

2

There used to be a great site called something like “The Fifth Dimension.” Scripts, photos, articles, you name it. They got a “cease and desist” from CBS, iirc. All that is left of them is their message board called “The Twilight Zone Cafe.”

There’s a good one called something like “The Twilight Zone Museum.” Sorry, no links right off for either.

I too recently bought all three seasons of the 80s Zone. Loved “Her Pilgrim Soul,” “Paladin of The Lost Hour,” and “A Message From Chairty.”

Sir Rhosis

3

The first two seasons of The New Twilight Zone (as it was called at the time) were excellent – even better than the original (I didn’t see much of the third season, since it was syndicated, not network, but the few I saw were awfully good.

So many great stories: “Nightcrawlers,” “To See the Invisible Man,” “Wordplay,” “Paladin of the Lost Hour,” “Wong’s Lost and Found Emporium,” “I of Newton,” “The Misfortune Cookie,” “Button, Button,” “The Cold Equations” and many others.

They also were smart enough to hire good writers (Harlan Ellison, Rockne S. O’Bannon,* Stephen Barnes, George R. R. Martin, J. Michael Straczynski**) and adapt great stories by great writers (Robert Silverberg, Tom Godwin, Richard Matheson, Henry Slesar, Arthur C. Clarke, Roger Zelazny) and use top-notch directors (Wes Craven, Robert Downey (a prince), William Friedkin, Gerd Oswald, Peter Medak, Theodore Flicker, Joe Dante, John Milius).

It also helped that they didn’t have to fit the stories into a set time; they ran 5-10 minute stories. And, in the case of “Nightcrawlers,” they ran the entire episode without commercial breaks.

Just a great show that, alas, is overshadowed by the original, which was merely good.

*Creator of Seaquest, Alien Nation and Farscape. “Wordplay” was his first TV script.
** Babylon 5 creator. He wrote quite a few scripts for the third (syndicated) season.

4

And have you listened to the commentary? When I bought the package I didn’t even remember any authors (except for the story by Arthur C. Clarke) but I just HAD to listen to anything Harlan Ellison had to say.

Who knew the Grateful Dead wrote the intro song?

5

Jerry’s Guitar is unmistakable. And they used the theme in their concerts.

I’ll have to get these. I agree it is underrated.