Tandava's Guide to the Zone--2015-16--Part I: December 30th 7pm to New Year's Eve 7am

Welcome back to the Zone!!

This year, the SyFy channel has outdone itself!! While they usually air between 80 and 90 episodes of that land between shadow and substance, of things and ideas -- this year they are showing the whole series -- yes, all 156 episodes of The Twilight Zone from start to finish, in order!!!

Some of these episodes have not been aired in the Marathon since I've started doing this blog a few years ago. And one, in particular, has not been aired since it was first broadcast over fifty years ago!

Now, to accommodate this double-load of Zoney fun, the SyFy channel is starting a day earlier than usual (tonight, December 30 at 7pm, when it usually starts 7am on December 31) and ending over a day later than usual (January 3 at noon, when it usually ends January 2 at 6am), and while there is no "Paid Programming" this year, SyFy is treating us to two hours of WWE Smackdown on New Year's Eve from 8pm to 10pm.

Now, I usually do the Guide in three parts, but this year I am breaking the list down into seven parts, which will go from 7pm to 7am and vice versa, until we get to the hourlong episodes of Season Four, where I will extend to noon and go to midnight, and vice versa (don't worry, it'll make sense when we get there)

You can view the official SyFy schedule here, where unlike prior years they have included the season/episode designation ("S#.E#), but someone at SyFy had a few copy-paste issues and a few of the numbers are incorrect, And a few other episodes have blurbs that refer to the 80s Twilight Zone remakes -- but I am going to bet this is an error and that the original 60s versions will be aired.

I will point these out as we come to them, but for now let's just concentrate on the First Season, which contains some of the best!

Of course all ten of Time Magazine's Top Twilight Zone Episodes will be featured (as they are every year); they are in red -- and it's interesting to see how they come up through the seasons. While the First Season is quite strong, many of the gems appear in later seasons.

The lesser known favorites will be featured in green, and the ones that are not perfect, but have notable performances, are in blue. I'm also adding a category this year for episodes that have not been aired in the marathon these past few years (possibly not ever). They will be in purple.

Happy Zoning!!

My Favorites – Short List
(Click the time to jump to the episode description.)

7:00 PM – Where Is Everybody?
7:30 PM –  One For The Angels
8:00 PM – Mr. Denton On Doomsday
8:30 PM – The Sixteen-millimeter Shrine
9:00 PM –  Walking Distance
9:30 PM – The Lonely
10:00 PM – Time Enough At Last
11:30 PM – Judgement Night
12:00 AM –  And When The Sky Was Opened
2:30 AM – The Hitch-hiker
3:30 AM – The Last Flight
4:00 AM – Elegy
1:30 AM -- Mirror Image
5:30 AM – The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
6:00 AM – A World of Difference
6:30 AM – Long Live Walter Jameson

Full List – With Descriptions

7:00 PM – Where Is Everybody? – S1.E1 | Guy finds himself alone in an empty town, with hints of residents recently present (lit cigarette in ashtray, etc.). Eerie and amusing, most worth watching because this is the pilot that sold the series to CBS.

7:30 PM –  One For The Angels – S1.E2 | One of TZ's more successful dark comedies features Ed Wynn as a fast-talking salesman who must use his skills to save a child's life. Features the third of three cameos of Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot (miniature, in this case) in the TZ; others include "Uncle Simon" (9:30 PM 1/2) and "The Brain Center at Whipple's" (10:00 AM 1/3).

8:00 PM – Mr. Denton On Doomsday – S1.E3 | Touching old west tale about top-gunslinger-turned-town-drunk finding redemption. Fine performances by Dan Duryea, Martin Landau and Doug McClure.

8:30 PM – The Sixteen-millimeter Shrine – S1.E4 | Luminous Ida Lupino stars as a reclusive aging movie star, immersed in the films of her youth. Sunset Boulevard, served up Zone-style with a bittersweet dose of wish- fulfillment. Score is by Sunset Boulevard's composer/conductor Franz Waxman. Catch Lupino's deft direction in "The Masks" at 6:00 AM 1/3.

9:00 PM –  Walking Distance – S1.E5 | I LOVE this episode, a classic (#2 on the Time list) about a frustrated exec who, longing for his boyhood days, visits his hometown – only to find himself a grown-up amidst his own childhood. Insightful lesson about valuing the present and not romanticizing the past.

9:30 PM –  Escape Clause – S1.E6 | I'll usually watch this one because I like David Wayne, but it’s not a great episode, just a grim morality play about the value of mortality. *Yawn!*

10:00 PM – The Lonely – S1.E7 | Convict Jack Warden spends lonely days on an asteroid until his supply ship pal brings him a realistic robot – in the ethereally beautiful form of a young Jean Marsh (best known as Rose from Upstairs, Downstairs). A touching, romantic story. Features Ted Knight as an obnoxious crew member.

10:30 PM – Time Enough At Last –  S1.E8 | Burgess Meredith at his lovable best as a devoted bookworm constantly thwarted by his boss, wife, and everyone else – until a touch of armageddon gives him new lease on life. #10 on the Time list.

11:00 PM – Perchance To Dream – S1.E9 | Neat psychodrama with some freaky felinesque dream sequences. Not bad; not great.

11:30 PM – Judgement Night –  S1.E10 | Nehemiah Persoff just knows a nearby U-boat will blast his passenger steamer. But no one one board will believe him! (And exactly how does he know anyway...?) Excellent performances, great ending and a sweet cameo by The Avengers' Patrick MacNee.

12:00 AM – And When The Sky Was Opened – S1.E11 | Well played, creepy episode about astronauts returning to earth… or did they? Or were they ever here? Or were you?? TZ makes us question our grasp of reality.

12:30 AM – What You Need – S1.E12 | Magical peddler who can give people exactly "what they need" moments before they need it is menaced by a small- time thug. Comeuppance awaits the thug, and the   peddler reveals a refreshing hint of cold- bloodedness, uncharacteristic of the Zone. Mixed feelings about this one mostly due to the script's weak dialogue. Based on a superior short story by Lewis Padgett.

1:00 AM – The Four Of Us Are Dying – S1.E13 | Guy who can change his face learns he can’t change his scumbag nature.

1:30 AM – Third From The Sun –  S1.E14 | Trigger-happy world leaders have their finger on the button! Doomsday is near! Time for a select few to secretly gather their families to escape to a nearby planet. Hm... now what planet would that be..?

2:00 AM – S1.E15 | I Shot An Arrow Into The Air –  Three astronauts survive a crash on an asteroid (where the atmosphere and gravity are the same as on Earth, but no one notices this). Limited provisions stir bloodthirsty behavior. One of TZ's oft-repeated morality plays; People in crisis are just no darned good.

2:30 AM –  The Hitch-hiker – S1.E16 | A driver keeps seeing the same hitch-hiker thumbing a ride as she heads west…. A deliciously Hitchcockian morality/mortality play about fear and acceptance of the inevitable. #5 on the Time list.

3:00 AM – The Fever – S1.E17 | Well-acted but ultimately hokey morality play about gambling addiction.

3:30 AM – The Last Flight –  S1.E18 | During a hopeless dogfight, a World War I pilot abandons his best friend by flying into a cloud–and 42 years into the future, landing at a modern airfield. A touching, beautifully acted tale of cowardice, duty, and heroism at the last minute. A rarely-aired gem. And check out the vintage 1918 biplane!

4:00 AM – The Purple Testament –  S1.E19 | Mediocre tale of a WWII soldier who sees a portentous "light" on his comrades' faces. Basically an anti-war story which offers only the resigned observation that in war people die and you can't save them (or yourself); title is from Richard III: "He has come to open the purple testament of bleeding war." Notable only for a good performance by a pre-Bewitched Dick York.

4:30 AM – Elegy –  S1.E20 | So-so tale about three astronauts who land on an asteroid which, like an awful lot of TZ asteroids, has an Earth-like atmosphere and gravity (though at least the astronauts recognize this as strange). Even stranger is the idyllic town they find -- populated by motionless folk in unusually cheerful situations -- winning a beauty contest, an election, a game of poker. So what's going on? Ask the town's caretaker, Wickwire, the one animated (and enjoyable) character who delivers a sort-of surprise ending. This one has never been shown in the Marathon, though I recall seeing it in the 80s reruns. Worth watching just to say you saw it.

5:00 AM  –  Mirror Image –  S1.E21 | Frightened bus traveller Vera Miles (best known as Janet Leigh's distraught Psycho sister) is sure an evil doppelgänger is trying to replace her. Top-notch acting and direction. This one hasn't been in the Marathon since 2011!

5:30 AM – The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street – S1.E22 | #4 on the Time list. The story is included in grade-school anthologies. Beautifully written masterpiece about fearing thy neighbor. The brilliant Claude Akins is considered the lead, though it is a true ensemble piece. Don’t miss it.

6:00 AM – A World of Difference –  S1.E23 | A content businessman hears a director call "Cut!" and looks up to discover that his office is really a soundstage (a nice effect achieved by silently sliding the walls away as the camera pans around, similar to the "revelation" scene in the original Manchurian Candidate), and that he is really a beleaguered, alcoholic actor with a shrewish ex-wife. An interesting idea about the nature of identity, reality, and the manner in which one may "exit" one's life, sadly burdened by a medium script and one-note performances.

6:30 AM – Long Live Walter Jameson – S1.E24 | TZ's most successful rendering of the "morality of mortality" theme features fine performances, a strong script and a touch of righteous revenge.