If you're a first time listener to the twilight Zone podcast and you've chosen this
episode as your first, just awad the warning in the lead up to Sailing
Fest, which has taken place this year in Bingham to New York in September.
The show is on hiatus for the summer, so to keep things taking
over every week and going to be picking shows from the archives over at the
after Hours Club on Patreon at Patreon dot com slash twilight Zone Podcast. Now,
the shows over there tend to be quite different from the main Twilight Zone
podcast over here in that they are more discussion based. And one of the
things that I tackled over there with my co host Emmy was the eighties and
the two thousands Twilight Zone series. Now, the hit rate of the eighties
show was not quite up there with the hit rate of the original show,
but it did have its moments. However, it had some very low moments
too, and although we have encountered some bad episodes in the episode that I'm
about to play you even we were a little flowed by the quality of this
one. So if you are new to the podcast, maybe go back a
couple of episodes to see how the show usually is, but in the meantime,
whether you're a new listener or an old one, please enjoy this episode
from the archives of twilight Zone Aftermath. Tonight on twilight Zone after Math,
we answer the call of the Wild and the call of nostalgia with two more
eighties Twilight Zones. And it's actually the end of season two of the eighties
Twilight Zone, a very short season, and I am glad to be joined
by my co host, Emmy. Emmy, how you doing. I'm so
glad that to be here to talk about this one this evening can't wait.
I have no idea what you might be talking about, but yes, one
of these stories is quite unique. Actually, it's not something I've ever come
across before, and I'm quite looking forward to talking about it. And now,
when we do this, we don't really show our hand beforehand because we
like it to be spontaneous, don't we. We just kind of turn up
and we don't know what the other things. We might agree, we might
disagree, but sometimes the strength of feeling can't be really kept in. If
you know what I mean? Am I right? I would say so?
Yes, I think that there's that are definitely some out there that. Literally
the moment I've watched it and it's left my eyes, I feel they need
to discuss it with somebody. Unfortunately, you were that person in this instance.
Okay, okay, well we haven't went into it too much, but
why don't we get into it now. So let's go with our first story,
which is called Song of the Younger World. I've been watching you.
I know you're gonna tell your father. Why would I do that? I
wouldn't want to get you into trouble. It'd be worth it. You're so
pretty. Does your hair always shine like that? Almost always? I saw
you go into the library. I like to read, well, so do
I books about wolves. You better go. I wouldn't want you punished,
but I want to see you again, talk to you. I don't think
that would be wise. I'm not wise. I'm just hungry for someone.
I'm Tanner Tanner Smith. I've got to go. Wait, well, can
I see you again? Please? We'll have to be careful. First broadcast
on July seventeenth, nineteen eighty seven. Written by Anthony and Nancy Lawrence and
directed by Noel Black. Tanner Smith is a young man who lives in a
home for wayward boys. Tanner likes wolves and girls with shiny hair, so
he's immediately attracted to the daughter of the superintendent of the home, Amy,
a girl whose hair is shiny almost all of the time. One night soon
after they meet, the two or care kissing in a barn by Amy's father,
and they are ordered to stay apart, but Amy has discovered a book
with a strange set of markings that might just be the key to their escape.
Okay, Emmy, I like wolves. I've been to the zoo to
see wolves. I have played the song Hungry Like the Wolf by Jeran Juran
probably you know a couple of times in my life made you know I'm a
pretty pro wolf kind of guy. Mm hmm. I did not expect a
Twilight z own episode about someone who really liked wolves. What are your first
impressions here? So I think the big question is, you know you might
like wolves, you might have been to the zoo bee just to see them.
Have you been a wolf, Tom, Because I feel like unless you
have, I'm not totally sure you're going to get this episode. Maybe that's
what it is. Maybe maybe it's designed for a very particular demographic. I
agree, I really I do actually really like wolves. I really like wolves,
I really like dogs, all that kind of stuff. For me,
I feel like it didn't save it for me. I didn't save this episode
for me, unfortunately. Yeah. I spent quite a lot of time about
this one, trying to think about the things that I really liked about it.
Wow, okay, probably probably more actually probably more about this episode than
I have about any of the rest of them. And actually I didn't come
up with much. Okay, that suggests you came up with something. Yeah,
the wolves at the end literally maybe five seconds of footage where there was
actually wolves, and it was like, oh, that's quite cool. Okay,
But unfortunately, no, it didn't. It didn't capture me on a
number of levels. There was kind of a few issues with it that I
had right from the get go, which didn't set a very good tone for
me. What were initial thoughts coming into that episode, I'll be honest,
that initial conversation between the two characters, let me get the names up here,
hold on, the names are Tanna and Amy, and that initial conversation
they had with the talk and he's like, you've got really shiny head.
There's a chant like that all the time. And she's like almost all the
time. And then I like books about wolves, I thought we're in trouble.
I think we're in trouble. Yeah. When I first watched that,
I literally, I think I must have thought for about a good twenty seconds.
I was like, is this bad writing or is it bad acting?
And I really I couldn't tell, because I thought, you know, sometimes
you genuinely can't tell, Like sometimes under you know, a fantastic actor,
really terrible writing can seem all right, and vice versa. I actually think
it might have been both, though I don't I feel that that might have
been. It came across as a very kind of slightly creepy, more than
slightly creepy scene, you know, this kind of weird vibe about him talking
about or shiny hair, and yeah, it just was. It wasn't a
good opener for me. Now, I'm not saying this out to jest.
I'm not saying it to make a joke at anyone's expense. But do you
think these characters are supposed to be, you know, impaired in some way,
have some sort of learning difficulty because they they speak like I mean,
they are adults by all intents and PEPs as you could say, maybe the
sixteen to eighteen you know, in Hollywood standards or whatever. But they speak
like a pair of five year olds. Do you know what I mean?
Do you think they're supposed to be? Is that what they suggesting here?
I don't know. I think you're being very generous. I don't think so.
I think because and I would kind of believe that to an extent of
you know, that it had been the writing and the dialogue and things had
maybe been different for some of the other characters, I think they would have
been an obvious divide there. Unfortunately. Yeah, I think you just I
really appreciate your optimism. I think that's fantastic. Maybe I'm just really cynical,
but uh yeah, I think I mean, don't get me wrong.
I think one of the things that I think I might have got from it
is that certainly he is obviously supposed to be somebody who does a lot of
reading, you know, and this is maybe where a lot of his way
of speech comes from. You maybe, you know, we all kind of
know that person that reads a lot and speaks in a very flowery way because
they think that, you know, this makes them sound intelligent and smart thing.
So I suppose I could maybe get behind that. Okay, yeah,
if we're kind of looking to justify why they speak like that, then yes,
perhaps the thing is the opening narration mentions Jack London. Now I haven't
read and is it Jack London? I think it was Jack London. Yeah,
Now I haven't read any of his books. I've heard of White Fang.
I looked on Wikipedia and he wrote something called Call of the Wild.
So I could imagine that two people in the situation where they feel very trapped
could draw inspiration from this. Maybe it's a bit of a cliche, the
kind of troubled kid who's actually very well read and knows poetry or reads books
or whatever. Maybe that's a bit of a cliche. But had he been
that and he didn't just say I like books about wolves, you know,
and actually said, god, you know this place I want to be free,
like in one of the books I read by Jack London, where you
know, it's all about freedom and the wild and like, you know,
and there's been some actual explanation for it, probably not as bad as I
just said it, But had there been something where they actually talked about this
rather than him saying I like books about wolves, and then next minute you
see him cutting out a picture of a wolf and putting it on the wall.
I think maybe that would have actually added a bit to it. I
wouldn't have saved it, but it might have at least made it a bit
more comprehensible. Do you know what I mean? Yeah? I do.
I mean, I don't know. I think that I think that we're definitely
I think we possibly are looking for facets of it that aren't there, because
that not suggesting that you are you're seeing these things aren't there. But I
kind of went through this when I watched it as well. When I was
I was trying to find a bit of a deeper meaning in it, you
know, And I was trying to find where is the depth to this episode?
You know? What are they trying to tell us? What's the message?
Maybe I'm just being very negative about it. I totally appreciate that might
be, but I'm not sure I even saw that depth, to be honest.
Well, no, I think that's what it needed. Well, what
it needed was someone to pick up the script and go what and just throw
it out? But they introduced this thing Jack London as if everyone should know
it you know, and I never heard the name to the to the best
of my knowledge until I read this and then sought, Oh, White Fang,
I've heard of that. I haven't read it or seen the movies,
but at least I know it exists. So to say the name but then
just not expand on it in any way, it's just it just seems ridiculous
to me. I think Jack London may have been maybe more of an influence
in the States than he is here, because I've I have heard of him,
but not you know, like you say, not in any such a
way that you could just absolutely immediately say his name and I would. He
could rattle off like five or six books he'd written, which is obviously what
the intention was of using that name. So no, I think he may
be. You know, it's probably one of these authors that Americans study and
English lit and stuff growing up. So we have Amy with her shiny hair
Tanna who loves wolves, and then just as you know, you think,
oh my god, what's going on here, you get Hokey sort of sneaks
into Jennifer's bedroom and what is this character is just ridiculous. I don't know
what to say about him. He just sort of creeps back and forth between
them. I guess he's there to be a go between because they're separated,
so they need someone to pass things between the two characters. But that's the
only reason I can think for this character to be here. And then Amy
calls him like a stupid old bomo or something when he goes into a room,
and it's just, oh, my terrible performance. I mean, this
guy there's been in loads of stuff, Paul Benedict, he's you know,
he's been in tons of stuff over the years, but this is probably a
pretty loud point for him. Yeah. No, I couldn't understand. I
mean, like, obviously having him there, it was so that you could
have this connection, particularly towards the end of the episode. But and then
I may have missed something. I watched it twice, but I might have
missed it. I don't understand why he was necessarily there. Is he's you
know, like why that character was established as being the way it was.
I don't know whether it was because you know, it's obviously and this was
something else that I didn't think. It was terribly created for us as well.
It's obviously a home for you know, boys with troubles, and I
didn't know whether he was supposed to have kind of been there for years and
you know, he's just never left. Turns out he's a ghost. That's
the episode. But no, it just it fell a bit flat because,
yeah, I didn't know why he was there either, and I felt like
that there was probably a lot of better ways they could have established the connection
between the two of them than this random guy who just kind of seemed to
think it was okay to go into her bedroom and sit on the bed with
her, you know which, another creepy moment. I don't want to sit
here kind of flogging a dead horse about this episode and just giving her a
kicking because obviously we both think it's awful. But one final thing I guess
to talk about is the means of their escape. You know, she's sitting
in the library. She comes across this book with these lines in it,
and it's just such a random thing in a sense. Okay, and I've
given it way more credit than it deserves here, But in a sense,
this is Willoughby, isn't it. This is someone who wants to escape to
a different place, a different time, a different way of living in Willoughby.
A stop at Willoughby. It was the town of Willoughby. Here he
wants to stand on a mountain as a wolf. We've all been there,
so it's but the method of them getting there, it just seems so out
of the blue to me as well. It did with me as well.
And when I looked at I sort of looked a little bit more about it
online and it did kind of seem to expand that it was a book called
the Eiching Okay, which is a very famous text which I don't know anything
about and I literally hadn't heard of until I went and did some research,
kind of like the Jack London of the book world. But I didn't,
you know, and I think that this is this is supposed to be a
fairly established part of this about you know, leaving yourself and you know,
leaving your mind and your body. That might actually be a part of that
that book, which but again that wasn't established very well, you know that
was It took me literally until I went away and did research on the episode
to find out that that was the case. And that kind of just smacks
a bad writing, unfortunately, because you should be able to watch the episode
as a sort of self contained entity and understand everything that's going on. It
did make more sense when I went away and I did a bit of research
and I found out about it, But still it was a bit of a
leap no one. No one had that conversation. Did it was like the
Jack London stuff, Like you said, no one had that conversation. Would
it have saved the episode? Absolutely not. It's it's awful. I mean,
I don't. We won't go into anymore because I don't like to be
negative too much. You know, it happens sometimes you can't help it,
But yeah, we won't. We won't just carry on kicking this this dead
wolf. I absolutely I would love to hear if people have comments about really
enjoying it. I would actually particularly really like to hear them, because it
does happen. There's times where you kind of go into these things, and
certainly with this episode for me, I did. I found a bit of
a struggle to get through and I very rarely find that the twilight zone.
But I did hear, and I did. I kind of came away from
it thinking that's got to be somebody's favorite episode, right, Like, that's
got to be something that somebody really really loves and you know, I want
to hear that. I want to hear that somebody really liked it, because
I've liked some rubbish in my time, you know, and I will stand
on a mountain and die on that mountain by that rubbish, So I do.
I kind of want to hear from somebody who really loved it, and
to hear what it was that they loved about it, because it can't just
be all negative. If you are out there, please write a comment on
the Patreon letters. Know, and not for the sake of obviously making a
joke, but oh what absolutely ought. Yeah, it happens in life,
doesn't it Sometimes does this received wisdom as well? You know, the Internet
will tell you that something's terrible and then you watch it and you think,
actually I quite like that, and vice versa. So yeah, it would
be really interesting to hear from someone who liked this one. Unfortunately I'm not
one of those people. So, Emmy, was it good in its own
right? And was a good Twilight Zone? No and no? Sorry,
no need to expand any further. For me, it was a no and
no as well. Well, we will leave those two lovely wolves on that
Mountain, one of them wearing a little necklace as well, which was nice,
so because we would never have known that that was her if she hadn't
been wearing that necklace. So thank you writers. I see the way they
linked that together. That was brilliant. That was brilliant. Okay, so
let's go on to our next story, which is called the Girl I'm Married?
Could you believe it? You wanted to know if I was having an
affair with the girl in the picture? And what did you say? What
do you think it? Like? I said? I said, Marvin,
you, yes, that's my wife. You didn't even recognize me. Well,
come on, sweetheart, you mean you're just a girl back then?
Oh? I see. In other words, now I look so much older.
Oh no, you're more mature now then you were. You were flighty
silly? Here are cute? What am I now? Quasi motive? So
that's why you're always moaning over that picture? Of course, not sweetheart,
That's not what I meant at all. It's just I don't know. Back
then, things were different. I was different, you were different. We
were kids. Would you really still rather be driving around in that stupid old
van of yours searching for ourselves and finding who knows what kind of body like.
Don't tell me you don't miss those days, you said so yourself.
I couldn't get enough of you in those days. I was insatia More certainly,
it wasn't my sense of style that attracted you. It looked like a
bag man, okay. Written by Jay M. Dematius Tomatius, directed by
Philip dege Ira. Richmond is a middle aged man seemingly obsessed with the picture
of a younger woman, so much so that one of his colleagues thinks he's
having an affair, but the picture is actually his wife, Valerie. Ira
is nostalgic for the life he used to have and the values he used to
hold, so when a younger vasion of Valerie suddenly appears in his life,
he wonders whether this might be a second chance at happiness. So completely different
story. I suppose people yearning for things from the past again in a different
way. Bit of a link there may be, So let's just get into
it. Emy. What do you think of this one? I mean,
it was by no means perfect, but I did there was definitely some questions
and things presented in this episode that I did. I did like to kind
of think about, and you know, I did like to mull over myself.
Let you say, it's obviously about looking back to the past. One
of the interesting things that really threw up for me was, you know,
what you imagine a successful person to be when you're a teenager versus what you
imagine a successful person to be when you're an adult, And you know what
your teenage or younger self would say if they could look at you now,
and what their opinion would be of you. So yeah, it kind of
on the surface, I don't think it doesn't come across as a terribly deep
episode, but it certainly kind of opened up some interesting questions for me to
think about. I think this is a writer who has looked at and I'm
actually friends with this guy on Twitter. I've not spoke to him about it,
to be honest, because I knew he wrote an episode, but I
hadn't seen it or couldn't remember seeing it. So in case like it might
have been the Wolf one and that would have been an awful conversation. So
I'm actually quite glad to have watched it now and find it to be I
think it's someone who has looked at the twilight Zone, looked at the Twilight
Zone and what it does, and created an episode which in a way is
a bit of a ticki box episode, you know, a bit it is
a bit Twilight Zone by the numbers, but it's also pretty good, and
it does sort of delve into a very real thing that a lot of us
face. You know that the younger versions of ourselves and the older versions of
ourselves. Like you said, what would those two people say if they could
meet just to go off on a tangent emmy? You know, if you
spoke to your younger self, what would that conversation be? Like, I
don't know, I'm kind of I always knew i'd turn it a sell out
tom, So it doesn't surprise me at all in any way that I've gone
this way, you know, I don't know. I think that it's not
quite the hippie thing when I was personally, when I was younger, I
was very artistic and very creative. I think could probably be disappointed that I
hadn't done something a bit more with that. But then, kind of in
the similar vein to the characters in this episode, I look back on that
now and I realize that that was maybe best kept as a hobby and that
that wasn't necessarily something to center my life around. And I suppose that is,
you know, looking at it with the sensible head of an adult who's
got, you know, twenty additional years of experience on that teenager, I
don't think i'd been mega disappointed with myself. But it's really difficult because it's
basically like two completely different people speaking, isn't it. So yeah, what
about you? Do you think that your teenage self would have approved as you
as an adult? Yes or no? Yes? And no, I do
remember being seventeen, you know, playing the guitar and thinking I'm never going
to get a job. I'm just I'm just going to you know, I'm
just going to play guitar in a band, and you know that's what I'm
going to do. So but like you said, it's it's a nice thought,
but the naivety of actually the world is made this particular way and playing
the guitar doesn't pay the bills unless you're really good at it or in a
great band or what have you. And I was neither of those things.
So so you're better off then head on? Yeah, absolutely, And I
do think that it's there's nothing wrong with it as well, that kind of
naive optimism of being a teenager, and you know, it's lovely and thank
god you are like that you're entire do you like at some point in your
life because if you were a cynic, glow bugger like me your entire life,
well that would just be boring. So you know, there is a
lot to be said for that element of teenager. I know everything, and
you know I couldn't possibly be wrong. There's you know, you need to
be like that, you need to be that person in order to become the
sensible, successful adult that you do become. I think, Emmy well Port,
I think that's a good point. So back to the episodes we well,
we get into this situation where Ira meets his his wife, his younger
self and they start. One of the first things they do is to jump
into beds, and to be honest, you would wouldn't. Yeah, that's
what you would do, So telling us a lot about yourself there at all.
So that's what they do. But I think the good thing about this
episode is it does touch on this stuff, but it doesn't get ultra heavy
about it. It keeps it pretty light. Doesn't it. Yeah, And
that's that's kind of what I meant by it doesn't go into it too deep
about, you know, the questions it poses. It kind of just leaves
it to you to think about it in Mulla Over, which was appreciated because
I think that had it been a very deep and heavy episode, it wouldn't
have been as fun, you know, and it wouldn't have just been as
you wouldn't have wanted to come up with thinking about some of the questions as
opposed, because you would have been so bogged down by all. So as
the episode goes on, they kind of it's funny. They hang out a
lot, they go to bed sometimes, they go to yoga class, all
these things, all these things. But then there's this subplot about the wife
as well. And I think the moment he walked in and she was reading
and said she had the TV on, you kind of knew what the other
side of this coin was, didn't you. You could kind of see it
a mile off, couldn't you. Absolutely? I mean, you know,
why should he be getting his kicks when she can't as well? So clearly,
yeah, it did. It was it was a little bit of a
cliche. It was very obvious where it was going, but not necessarily in
a bad way. I mean that scene was pretty I assume intentionally comedic,
wasn't it. You know what this called the silliness about the book and things
like that. But I suppose that just kind of established a little bit about
their characters. It's like they're not just stuffy and boring stuff. There is
still this little edge to them, the side to them that they had when
they were teenagers. So I quite liked it, even though it totally gave
the game away. Yeah, I did like that little. Then. I
do think the episode as a whole is quite predictable once it starts to get
into motion and you see what it's getting a and how this thing is move
and I do think you could pretty much write the end in yourself. Now
that's not to say that's bad. Like you said, it's still kind of
warm and comforting. But when you said it wasn't perfect, have you got
any sort of little niggles about it? No, I think it was just
I mean, the acting was pretty good in it, the story was fine.
I think it mostly was, like you said, the predictability of it.
You know, it wasn't there was no great twist in this episode,
but I don't think I really wanted there to be, you know, I
think with every wonderful episode with a completely unp predictable twist at the end,
there does have to be these sort of more gentle, almost filler episodes I
suppose that are just kind of nice and just the story's kind of nice and
the acting is kind of good. And the one thing we've not talked about
is the scene where he's dropping acid or is he supposed to be dropping acid?
You know? With all this so I assumed this is what this was,
where they're doing all these weird cut screens with the boxes that we I
mean, it made me feel like I was dropping acid because I was so
confused when I watched this part. But yeah, that was It was a
very interesting I don't know who would make that choice on that is like an
editing choice, is a directing choice. It was I don't know, but
it was. That was a very interesting moment in the episode for me because
I couldn't decide whether it was brilliant and effective showing all the weird things that
were going on with his brain, or it was just total eighties like Clisi.
It was definitely a bit out the blue. I wasn't sure what was
going on really the first time I watched it as well, and then I
thought, is this to show? Is this the part of the episode that's
really saying you can't go back because he's in yoga class, he can't really
do it if they're playing frisbee, and the frisbee turned out okay. To
be honest, I thought he was going to keel over or you know,
hit his knee or something like that. But I wondered whether that was the
part of the episode to say, man, you're knocking around with this younger
woman. You're not a young guy anymore. And it was just a bit
of a montage, but I didn't realize it. I might be wrong,
Yeah, drop an acid, but you might be right. I don't know.
That was the impression. I'd be giving a bit too much of myself
away here. The impression that I got was that it was this supposed to
be because it was the music and stuff as well, wasn't it. It
was that real kind of sixties guitar twangy music that came with it, So
maybe I just made the connection. It wasn't supposed to be like that,
but I did assume this was supposed to be, you know, like your
brain on assets, which it did sern with you like at some point.
I don't think there's a whole lot more to say about it. I do
think it's a great kind of topic for a Twilight Zone to cover, because
it is it is a universal thing, and it's not controversial in any way
that we are different people at these two stages in our lives, and the
naivety of youth and the wisdom of old age they're not kind of mutually exclusive,
and you should try and bring a bit of that from your youth to
your middle age, a bit of the joy of life, a bit of
the spontaneity and some of the values before the world sort of kicks you into
submission. So I really like that message about it. Yeah, I did
as well, And I did it was kind of if they were going to
have learned anything for the end, then you know, yeah, bring that
into themselves. Remember that they can still be sensible people, but remember themselves
as the dreamy teenagers who thought the world was their oyster. So in the
end, we we find out that Valerie was also cheating on older Ira with
younger Ira. So we have this sort of face off with the younger version
of themselves and the older version of themselves. And that's when older Ira has
the moment where he's kind of like, no, okay, I'm happy where
I am, you know, get out of here, and the younger versions
of themselves disappear. Now, if it was me, I'd have had some
kind of crazy four way before that before they disappeared. But you know that's
just me. I'm learning so much about you. But it was it was
a good It was a good sort of gentle twist, I suppose. And
they sit and they hug at the end and say, you know, let's
to bring a bit of that youth back into our our middle age. So
is it good, Emmy? And is it good? Twilight Zone? Before
before I answer that, do you remember what they said they were going to
do to bring some of the joy back into their life. At the very
end, what her suggestion is he was going to go and work for like
a sort of pro bono law firm or something, you know, something like
that. I can't remember going. She basically kind of says, let's reliver
our care free amazing things. Let's have a baby and I'm sitting there thinking,
oh, dude, anybody who's ever had a baby, you knows that
that's not the way to bring a care free time in your life. So
yes, sorry, that was That was the only standout moment for me where
I thought, have they learned nothing from this? The thing to learn from
this is to enjoy your almone time, not to bring a baby into it.
Could you imagine in ten years time, they'll do it. They'll have
another little episode where the older them will meet them now just before they had
the baby. Don't have the baby. Don't do it. Sorry, that
was the Sorry I took that off on a tangent. There is it good?
Twilets? Well, yeah, isn't it? Because like you said,
it's Twilet's own but the numbers, see, there's got everything that you would
expect to twilet its own episode to have. I suppose it is quite it's
quite acutely story in its own right. It's not groundbreaking, but at the
same time it sent me away with questions, you know, thinking about sort
of introspective things like myself as a teenager, like you said, you know,
the teenager that really just wanted to paint all day and you know,
make a career out of being a painter and all this rubbish. So yeah,
in that sense, I did. I did enjoy it, you know.
In terms of whether it was a good episode or not, I guess
it depends on whether you know how you're going to define that. But for
me, it left me with some sort of nice thoughts and questions, so
I would say it was a good episode. Yeah, yeah, me too,
both counts. I think it fits the bill, makes you think without
really sticking the boot in or really sort of raking you over the calls about
anything. It's light, it's fun, and I think it's a good closer
to season two. So season two, I mean, we won't go too
deep into it and have a big, massive recap or anything like that.
But it was a strange one in that it's only eleven episodes long, and
like seasons of television in the eighties tended to be like twenty four episodes or
something like that. So I think the writing was probably on the wall for
the show, which I'll talk about in a second. But looking down the
list, demmy any favorite anything stick out to you? Yeah, there definitely
was, And I think that what was quite interested about this season for me
is there were some really high points, like really what I would consider to
be very very good writing and acting, and then literally next door to some
not wonderful episodes of television, and it was that real contrast that stood out
to me, you know, And obviously you get that with anthology shows because
you get different writers, you get different directors every single episode and stuff.
But the standout ones to me, my very favorite one of the whole season
was probably Shelter Skelter. You know, I went into how much I loved
that one. When we did that episode, I really enjoyed it. I
still think it's you know, it's definitely got flaws, but I really really
loved it. And then the Toys of Caliban as well. You know,
it's definitely it was very dark, it was very grim. It's not something
you would necessarily watch a lot of times, but it's one of these ones
that really sticks with you, and you know, you'll get to twenty years
in the future and you'll still kind of randomly think about that Twilight episode you
watched once that was, you know, and probably for sentimental reasons as well.
After ours remake, you went with me when we've done that one,
were you no, No, I wasn't it was, actually it was.
It was, Yeah, so no, it was. It was. The
After Hours is one of my very favorite episodes of the original series, and
the remake was actually the very first episode I ever saw of the eighties series,
and it was because because I loved the original so much, but also
it had Terry Farrell in it, who was indeed nine, which we've established
I really love, and I was kind of watching it as much for that
as anything else, and I was really pleasantly surprised about it. I can't
actually remember what you what you guys thought of it when you did the episode.
Do you remember who it was that did the episode with you? Was
it Zach? It was Brandy. I think we were both fairly positive with
it, probably more positive than a lot of opinions you'll see out of there
about it, because I think it's The After Hours in the eighties. It
goes an eighties way, which I think was quite right for it to do
if they're going to do this at all. So yeah, I was more
positive than moust about it. Probably, Yeah, there was definitely, I
mean, there were bits of it that I mean, I can't remember when
I first watched it, but it was a long time ago, and I'll
still I will always remember her turning into the mannequin, you know, the
bits of her body turning into plastic parts of the mannequin and things. And
I completely agree. You know, you couldn't have had a direct remake of
how it used to be because you know, the department store itself was almost
like another character within that story, so you had to change that character as
well. And you know, eighties department stores were so different from originals that
they absolutely had to make the change and fit it into the time. But
yeah, that was probably one of my favorite ones from the season as well.
And it's sometimes is hard to tell with these things whether you love it
because of nostalgia and you love it because it's you know, like you say,
it's a good episode in its own right, or is it just because
you really enjoyed the story the first time so much that you're desperate for another
version of that same story and for it to be remade. But no,
I really loved it, and like I said, it was an introduction to
me to the eighties twilight Zone. So at least I started with a fairly
positive episode, I would say, But those are probably those are probably my
highlights from the second season. There were ones I didn't enjoy as much,
but obviously those are you know, those aren't as important as the good ones.
I'm going to say I have a soft spot, and I don't think
you've seen this one. The first episode a source of loneliness. The actual
episode itself is one of my favorites, but I think Shelley Duval is amazing
in it. She just gives this heart wrenching perform and she is just so
good that that one always sticks out to me. I mean, it's a
generally good episode. I think I just like others more, but Shelley Devalla
is just amazing in it for me. Then after that, let's see,
they all seem quite recent because it's just such a short season. So after
that, for me, I would probably say, you're right. The Toys
of Caliban definitely. Hi, Will I ever watch it again? I don't
know, because it's pretty grim, but definitely right up there. I don't
think I can choose a favorite, but I do think there are a handful
that really seem to get what the Twilight Zone is about, and The Girl
I Married is one of them. Time and Theresa Golowitz was a good Twilight
Zone. So yeah, few, there's a few in here that are actually
pretty decent for such a short season. So have you actually seen any of
season three that you can recall? Emmy? I think I must have years
ago, because I think I saw lots of these when I watched them first
time round. But like I said, we're talking about maybe twenty years ago,
so I don't remember any of them. So given how awful my memory
is, I'm going to go into this with a fairly clean slate, I
would say, because I don't remember any of Like I've had a quick look
through the synopsias of them, and I don't remember any of them off the
top of my head. So I'm going to assume it's going to come as
a bit of a surprise to me when I first watched them. Well,
there are a couple of changes in season three. I think the show was
pretty much doomed by this point. Now. For a start, there's a
new narrator in season three. I can't recall his name, but Charles Aidman,
who was in the original show, bows out. I think maybe he
saw the Wolf episode and was like that's enough. I've I don't know,
not read in my contract. Bye guys, So he goes. But the
whole I don't really understand American syndication the way that works. But I think
shows need to get to a certain point so you can then sell them so
they can be repeated on other channels. I think that's the gist of it.
So after like one and a half seasons, there wasn't enough Twilight Zones.
Now in the early days of the twilight Zone podcast, I spoke to
a guy called Paul Chitlick on the show. It's the only eighties Twilight Zone
interview I've ever did, and him and his writing partner, a guy by
the name of Jeremy bertrand they both become kind of showrunners if you like.
I think the title is story Editors or something with Jay Michael Strazinski. So
the three of them, Jeremy Beatrand and Paul Chitlick as a duo and Jane
Michael Strazinski sort of take over the show if you like. Now, although
his episodes haven't always been the best, I do like Jane Michael Strazinski.
I think he's a good writer and I'm looking forward to seeing what he brings
to it, and I think Paul Chitlick. When I spoke to him,
he said, yeah, basically we made the season to make up of the
numbers. And I think although these episodes aren't as plush as we might like
a Twilight Zone to be like the original show, I think you will really
notice the kind of drop off in quality when we get to season three.
So just to give your heads up on that one. Wow, that's that's
quite the introduction to the season. There's joy might just binge them. There
seems to be quite a few more though it was a full season, was
it. Yeah, there's like thirty of them. Jeez, that's a lot
of subpart. While it's one for me to get through, I'm looking forward
to it. Maybe I've sort of said that the wrong way. I think
production wise is where you will see there's just not as much money being spent
on it. Story Wise, I think we might be okay, and it's
probably better than I remember it being. But it's really the production that takes
a bit of a nose dive. Okay, But yeah, we know that
you don't necessarily need high production to make a good episode. I mean,
look at look at a game of pool, that was two guys. I'm
on a conversation in a room, so my fingers are firmly crossed for seeing
some gems in season three. Well, speaking of a game of pool,
you'll see a remake of that in season three. Really, that's because they
didn't have any budget for anybody more than two characters in a room. Yeah,
exactly. But there's also one that I'm really interested in because it's got
a story by Rod Sailling and it's called ar Selena is Dying. But J
Michael Strazinski does the teleplay, and I think that's going to be really interesting.
But going into season three, there are thirty episodes, but they seem
to just do singles, like they went old school with it and just did
a single episode, sorry, single story episodes. So I think when we
cover it, we will just double up, so we're not doing it for
two years. We'll double up and do two episodes per episode of this show,
so quicken things up. Yes, good, Okay, Well we'll leave
it there. Emmy, thank you so much for joining me for season two.
I hope you've enjoyed it. I have. I've loved it. I've
loved revisiting some of them and then seen some other ones with fresh eyes for
the first time. So it's been it's been a lot of fun, good
good. I've enjoyed hosting with you as well, so long may continue into
season three. Now there will be a bit of a fun or my change,
but to be honest, with the next episode, you will see that,
but it's not reinventing the wheel. The basics of the episode will be
the same. It will be me and Emmy talking about an eighties twilight Zone.
But how that will manifest you will find out soon. Okay, so
that has been twilight Zone Aftermath and it's goodbye for me and me to speak
to you guys soon. Bye for now. Pat