I'VE CHOSEN ONE OF THE HOUR TWILIGHT ZONES FOR TODAY'S VIEWING. This is an episode I've always loved since I first saw it sometime in the early 80s. We didn't see much of the hour-length TWILIGHT ZONES back in the day; syndication always played the half hour shows. However, this has always been my favourite of that single hour-long season: "THE THIRTY-FATHOM GRAVE".
It's a particularly creepy episode in which a U.S. Navy destroyer in 1963 sailing off Guadalcanal picks up the sound of metallic hammering on sonar. They soon discover the sound is coming from a sunken submarine. Investigation proves that no sub has gone down in the recent past and that, in fact, the wreck occurred 21 years earlier at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Divers from the Navy destroyer go down and listen at the hull and hear a definite hammering from inside the sunken sub. No one could possibly be alive inside so is it the ghosts of the dead crew? It's soon discovered that the nervous Chief Bell, who has been feeling ill for days, once served on that very submarine and due to an accidental screw-up caused the Japanese to detect and sink the sub resulting in the death of the entire crew EXCEPT Chief Bell. Are the ghosts of the sunken submarine seeking vengeance from beyond their watery grave? A typically fine cast headed by Simon Oakland and Bill Bixby as well as a suitably jittery performance by Mike Kellin as Chief Bell amps up the feeling of unease. There's nothing like watery ghosts for optimal Halloween viewing!
DON'T BOYS LOVE LISTS?
Here's my top 10 favourite episodes of The Twilight Zone. Yeah, I'm talking the ORIGINAL series; nothing else will do. And this list is dedicated to li'l Miss Jenny Penny who not only rescued the complete Twilight Zone DVD box set from limbo at the Hellmouth but also gave me a coupon getting me big bucks off the price. YAY! Also, these episodes are NOT in order of preference but are in chronological order of date of airing. This is simply because I couldn't decide which episode was my absolute favourite. So, get in good singing voice, croon a little "doo doo doo doo" Twilight Zone theme and read on:
Walking Distance -- This is the one starring Gig Young as a stressed executive who goes back to his hometown and meets himself as a boy. Oddly, Rod Serling exhibited disappointment in this episode when asked in the 70's. I don't agree. It's the perfect illustration of why exactly you really CAN'T go home again.
Time Enough at Last -- Of course, this is the old chestnut with Burgess Meredith as a book lover who is the only survivor of a nuclear war. We've all seen it a million times but it STILL remains a classic.
Judgment Night -- This is the one with a squirrelly Nehemiah Persoff stuck on a boat during World War II who is POSITIVE a German U-Boat is going to sink them. The fog, the creepiness of the shipboard setting with blacked out windows and Persoff's frantic panic work for me.
Mirror Image -- this is the one where Vera (Psycho) Miles is stranded in a late night bus station while being menaced by her own doppelganger. The darkened station after midnight is tremendously creepy ... even BEFORE we realize there's an evil twin lurking about.
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street -- this is the one which illustrates all too clearly what the mob mind is capable of when fear overcomes our wits. All too relevant today.
The Hitch-hiker -- This is the one where the tragic Inger Stevens (who died much too young) is driving across country and menaced by an eerie hitchhiker at every turn. The episode was actually adapted from the well-known radio play written by Lucille (Sorry Wrong Number) Fletcher which originally aired on the old time radio show "Suspense" starring Orson Welles in the lead role. The radio show was better but this one's unnerving enough. Inger Stevens' acting is particularly rivetting; you really feel for her as she slowly loses it.
The After Hours -- this is the one where Anne (Forbidden Planet) Francis is locked alone in a department store with all those creepy mannequins. Another faboulously atmospheric set: the darkened store at night. Can't go wrong in the goosebump department.
Nick of Time -- this is the one where the Shat consults a drug store devil's-head fortune telling machine which is all too accurate. I prefer this Shat Twilight Zone over the more ridiculously hammy one with the gremlin on the airplane wing. The Shat tones down his scenery chewing here and it works in the episode's favour.
The Thirty Fathom Grave -- this is the only hour-long episode I chose from the little scene 4th season of hour long shows. This is the one which has a Navy ship encounter a sunken submarine from which eerie ghostly banging can be heard. This is one of the downright scariest Twilight Zones; conjuring up images of rotting, skeletal men banging on the metal walls of their sunken sub on the ocean floor as well as the fear of the Navy guys who have to go investigate the ghostly noises. The perfect TZ episode to watch on Halloween night.
Well, that's it. There are, of course, MANY more fantastic episodes but these have got to be the ones I like the best. Any favourite episodes of yours that I left out??? And now that I've done the Twilight Zone (done it?!?!?! I LIVE IT!!!), perhaps one of these days I'll get around to listing my 10 favourite episodes of Boris Karloff's Thriller or Rod Serling's Night Gallery. I'll tell you one thing: -- I actually DO know what my favourite episodes of THOSE two series are: "Midnight Never Ends" for Night Gallery and "The Hungry Glass" starring the Shat himself for Boris Karloff's Thriller . But that's for ANOTHER day.
