You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension,
a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone. Love songs have a habit
of telling us that love will conquer everything, Love will see us through,
and there's nothing that the power of love can't over calm. And this is
all very nice and very inspirational, but it's also not true. It may
be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is
as it appears. Case in point, the senior watching this is not a
hospital, not a morgue, not a mausoleum, not an undertaker's parlor of
the future. What it is is the belly of a spaceship. It is
en route to another planetary system, an incredible distance from the Earth. This
is the crux of our story, a flight into space. It is also
the story of the things that might happen to human beings who take a step
beyond, unable to anticipate everything that might awaken them out there. When we
meet Commander Douglas Stansfield, he is laying in what season science fiction watches like
ourselves will recognize as some sort of suspended on a chamber. But this is
one of those unusual occasions where rod Sailing isn't our only commentator. I remember
things. It's more than just void darkness and consciousness. The line does work.
There are images, patterns, things to recollect. It's not just the
long, deep sleep that comes when the fear has left. The cold is
felt. The slipping away of feeling is noted and then succumbed to the mind
functions. Time is distorted and jumbled telescope to accordion, but there is a
sense of time even so, and I remember things. I remember the way
it began, I remember the way it was in the beginning. And the
purpose of this other narration is to bring us back into the recent past,
and specifically to meet Douglas Stansfield, a man who is about to be sent
into outer space to a point further than any human has ever been. But
does it catch. This system is perhaps one hundred and forty one light years
away from us. That's a rough estimate, but a good one. The
ship will have interstellar drive and an anti bravity device it'll be the fastest man
made object ever conceived of. About the life, it'll go seventy times faster
than the speed of light. But in terms of the space you must conquer,
it'll be like an end crawling across as ahah a short Commander from your
trip to these paratory bodies and back to Earth will take approximately forty years night.
We will take that trip with Douglas Stansfield, a man for whom duty
and ambition mean. He will make the decision to leave behind everything that he
knows. But what he knows, or maybe, to be more precise,
who he knows, is about to change when he faces the long Morrow.
Commander Douglas Stansfield, astronaut, a man about to embark on one of history's
longest journeys, forty years out in the endless space and hopefully back again.
This is the beginning, the first step toward man's longest sleep into the unknown.
Science has solved the mechanical details, and now it's up to one human
being to be life in the blueprints and computers to prove once and for all
that man can live half a lifetime in a total void of outer space,
forty years alone in the unknown this is Earth, the headlines of planet to
his system. The vast region in between is the Twilights on Face, broadcast
on January tenth, nineteen sixty four. Written by Rod Sailing and directed by
Robert Floy. I suppose that the lack of a true sailing in the scene
here is lessened by the fact that the sets throughout this episode are very Samey
we have a whippan over to sailing, which unfortunately breaks up the shot.
But because the set he is in front of is exactly the same as pretty
much everything we see throughout, it at least feels like he could be there.
And I really like the language that Sailing users to introduce this one.
But it's interesting that he doesn't really give any hints as to what this is
truly about. At this point, we don't know whether it could be about
Stansfield encountering an alien or the ship crashing somewhere and becoming damaged. We have
no indication at this point that the damage that will be done is the two
human hearts. So our writer tonight is Rod Sailing. But you may recall
in the last episode I played to you that reading of the Gift of the
Magi by O Henry. Now, I'm sure my mostly American audience will know
this, but for the uninitiated, oh Henry is the pen name for an
American writer called William Sidney Porter, who was born in eighteen sixty two.
Now, I'm not particularly familiar with his work, although I had heard the
Gift of the Magi before. But I was familiar with people commenting on other
stories, sometimes even Twilight Own episodes, saying that they had an Oh Henry
ending, or it was an Oh Henry type of story. And what they're
getting at is that O Henry stories were famous for having a certain type of
twist ending. So the Twilight Zone may take a little DNA from those stories.
But there is a faurther connection in Unlocking the Door to a television classic.
Martin Graham's Junior writes that this is a loose adaptation of that story,
The Gift of the Magi, But Rod Sailing had been involved with an adaptation
of this before. Around nineteen forty eight. He played the male role in
the story himself in a radio adaptation which he also scripted, which was dramatized
at a local station in Ohio, and Martin Graham's Junior goes on to say
that in November of nineteen sixty Rod Sailing was approached by the Board of National
Measures of the United Presbyterian Church of the USA in New US York City to
adapt a teleplay from that short story, and Sailing did do that adaptation and
submitted the script to them in nineteen sixty one, but I'm not sure whether
that was ever made, So not to get too ahead of ourselves here,
obviously the setup and the circumstances are completely different from the Oh Henry story,
but the theme of two people sacrificing something out of love for another but neither
of them ending up winning, is of course where this ship is sadly headed.
Tonight's director is one of some note, but we haven't actually seen him
in the Twilight Zone since season one when he directed Perchance to Dream and The
Fever. So maybe fifty to fifty on quality there, but I'm not sure
how many people could have made the talking slot machine look any better now.
I would hope that back in the day I did a bit of a bio
on Flori, but just in case, here in his last episode, let's
do a mini recap. Florie was born in the year nineteen hundred in Paris,
France, and he was sadly orphaned when he was very young and subsequently
went to live in Switzerland, where he was brought up. In his teenage
years, he developed a fascination with films, and American films in particular,
and he subsequently found work as a film journalist, which ended up taking him
to the US, and while there he worked in a variety of management roles,
such as European advance manager for Rudolph Valentino. So he had this very
steady entry into the business, a business that he went from reporting, gone
to working in. In the early nineteen twenties saw him becoming an assistant director
on several pictures, and the later twenties saw him stepping behind the camera himself
on several films. Now, this era of film isn't my area of expertise,
but clearly Florie was having some success because the thirties and forties saw him
cranking out picture after picture after picture, and he even had a brush with
one of the most famous horror series of all time when he shot a screen
test with Bella Lagosi playing Frankenstein's monster for the movie of the same name.
Now, of course, the job ended up going to Boris Karloff and James
Wall, but in another dimension, I would have been very curious to see
Florrie's version. But although he didn't direct that movie for Universal, he did
direct Maders in the Room Morgue for them, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's
work, which starred Bella Lagosi. So Florie was a very prolific director of
movies, and one of the other notable credits on his resume was Tarzan and
the Mermaids, starring not the fast on screen Tarzan, but certainly the most
famous Tarzan, Johnny Weismuller. But nineteen fifty saw Florri transitions seemingly overnight from
a hardworking movie director to a hard working TV director, and he remained extremely
prolific. He directed thirty eight episodes of Four Star Theater, thirty three episode
of Schlitz's Playhouse of Stars, and many many other things. And here we
actually see him directing the second to last thing that was ever released with him
as a director, because following this he directed an episode of The Outer Limits
called Moonstone, and then that was that. Now I haven't seen that one,
but it's not a bad way to go out directing a couple of episodes
of two of the most famous science fiction and fantasy anthologies of all time.
So while flori retired from directing in nineteen sixty four, he passed away in
nineteen seventy nine, So I hope those fifteen years in between were a happy
retirement for this most prolific director. So for your services to the Twilight Zone
and movies and television in general, Robert Florrie, we salute you. While
we're in the realms of directing, there is a very particular look about this
episode that we will come back to, but face letters ponder for a moment.
The opening, Rod Sailing's opening narration begins straight away, but it's one
of those narrations that doesn't finish in one go. In fact, it's not
until six minutes in that we see Rod Sailing on screen to deliver the end
of his narration, And during that time we see Commander Stansfield laying down in
that ship that will take him further into space, further than anyone who's gone
before. And then we get a flashback to the conversation that Stansfield had with
Dr Bixler, who delivered the news to him about the mission that he was
selected for. I like this assignment very much as precisely why you were chosen.
Of course, will be the usual dangers, usual unknowns. In the
past, you've had leading your showers to contend with. You've had the usual
calculated risk of mechanical difficulties, landing difficulties, ejection travels, and the rest
of it. Well, have those compounded. We have another factor here,
another problem. Distance distance. This system is perhaps one hundred and forty one
nine years away from us. That's a rough estimate, but a good one.
The ship will have interstellar dride and an anti gravity device. It'll be
the fastest man made object ever conceived are brought to life. It'll go seventy
times faster than the speed of light. But in terms of the space you
must conquer, it'll be like an ad crawling across as a horror. A
short commander, your trip to these planetary bodies and back to Earth will take
approximately forty years. Now, this shows us that Stansfield is a career man,
a man who is accepted that missions like this are going to be the
main thrust of his life, and that there's no thought to relationships or being
linked to any other human beings in any way beyond a professional one. This
is a man who is accepted that he will probably live the rest of his
life alone. Now, when he does learn how long he's going to be
away for, he has naturally taken aback, but he still takes the mission
because that's who he is. His duty comes first, and once he takes
a job, he will keep it and there's no one on earth who will
tie him to it. So with the mission locked down, we are then
introduced to the third of our cast of characters, Miss Sandra Horn, who
is walking down the corridor in the facility and drops some papers that she's carrying.
And as we know from a million movies and TV shows, there's no
better way of meeting someone that you're attracted to than either dropping a bunch of
papers or helping someone pick them up. I don't believe we've met. Are
you permanently stationed here? I'm with the Space Agency and your Stansfield commander you
is him? Oh, you're the one. I don't know whether I should
thank you for that or report your friends abordination. I've always wanted to meet
you well, and I've always wanted to meet you. Now, that's true.
I have a ESP and I a long time ago, I woke up
early one morning and some inner voice told me with some intensity that I would
meet a girl with a stricken look who would drop papers and corridors. And
did your ESP tell you the name Sandra Horn? So notice in this scene
how when Florrie films Miss Horn, he does it with a real soft focus
to it, that classic Hollywood technique to emphasize someone's beauty or to emphasize the
fact that someone else sees them as beautiful. But it's especially obvious here because
we're cutting between her in the soft focus and Commander Stansfield, who is in
sharp focus. And I think it just gives that impression that she's having this
kind of effect on him. So it really helps to give that impression that
he is becoming quite enamored with her. So while these two flirt in the
corridor, lets meet the woman who played Miss Horn. Sandra Horn is played
by Marriott Hartley, and she was born in nineteen forty in western Connecticut.
Now, apparently her grandfather was a behavioral psychologist who didn't believe the children should
be cuddled or held, and she later said that she compensated for this lack
of warmth the home by joining the theater. And it's in theater at the
age of thirteen where she got or her start, and while she was a
student at Staples High School in Connecticut, she actually put a call into Rod
Sailing himself and asked him to come and speak at her school, and Rod,
being the man he was, agreed to do it, and this interaction
stayed in Rod Sailing's minds when he cast her years later in The Long Moorrow.
Now at this point we meet her quite early in her screen career,
having had a handful of roles from nineteen sixty two onwards, so her star
was still rising at this point. In nineteen sixty nine, she had a
part in an episode of Star Trek, playing Zara Beth in the third season
episode All Our Yesterdays. But to be honest, that's just one of many
many parts she has played over the years, because she truly is a hard
working actress for the ages, with numerous parts throughout the sixties, seventies,
and eighties right up to the present day. But how is she in this?
I think to believe that Stansfield could fall in love with miss Horn.
We also need to be able to fall in love with her a little bit
as well, and I think she has this slightly bashful delight when she and
Stansfield face meet and set up their face date that is absolutely adorable. But
when she goes on to do the scenes later on where she is talking about
her love for Stansfield, I think she's absolutely phenomenal. As we'll hear,
some people have problems with I guess the believability of this episode, But not
for one moment do I ever not believe Marriott Hartley's performance. It's beautiful and
it's heartbreaking. I don't suppose that the Space Agency could do without your services
for a couple of hours of evening, say just long enough for dinner.
Well, despite the fact that I am invaluable and the whole space program rests
on me alone, I think a two or three hour period could be carved
out. I'm in the book, Commander please phone, No, I won't
call, I'll pick you up. I'll be there today, Rivaderci, Lady
from the Space Agency at eight o'clock astronaut Aribaderci. Now, when we begin
this episode, we see some scenes of Commander Stansfield in what we season science
fiction watches recognize us some kinds of suspend the animation chamber, and there are
scenes of a minace scattered throughout the rest of the episode, and we recognize
this because we've seen the Rip van Winkle Aper, we've seen Planet of the
Apes. But even at this point, suspended animation in some form or another
was a recurring feature of science fiction stories. In eighteen eighty seven, Edward
Bellamy released Looking Backward, which used drugs to put the protagonist into a prolonged
sleep. H. G. Wells wrote When the Sleep Awakes, where the
main character falls into a sleep like trance and wakes up in the future,
and then in nineteen twenty eight, Philip Francis Nolan wrote Armageddon twenty four nineteen
a d. Which introduced the character of Book Rogers after a state of suspended
animation. So these early works laid the foundation for the use of suspended animation
as a plot device, allowing characters to travel through time or survive long journeys
in countless science fiction narratives. So it's important that the audience understands this.
It seems quite simple to us now because we have seen it so often,
but of course, the Twilight Zone needed to make sure. So it's explained
very clearly to the audience what the implications of Commander Stansfield's journey are. You
are thirty one years old, Amanda. When your return from this trip,
the Earth would have aged almost half a century and something to contemplate. I'll
be over seventy years old. I would have lived the better part of my
life out in space and alone. You would have lived the better part of
it, but you will not have aged it. We intend to try something
new, also a risk, also decidedly calculated, freezing, an extension of
it, but much more complicated. It'll be a suspending animation and it's purest
form. We develop a substance for the limp point tissue of himinating animals,
plus several vidum absorbents and a collection of drugs the Earth and of age Commender.
But you will not. You'll be only a few weeks older when you're
in there. So that is our situation. But let's not worry too much
about that for now, because our couple have a date to go on,
and this is the make or break point of the episode for a lot of
people. Now, I don't look up reviews or other people's opinions of episodes
before I formulate my own thoughts here on the podcast. But occasionally, when
you're looking around the web for little tidbits of information, you do absorb some
of the comments and reviews that are out there. And one of the criticisms
that people have is that this is on believable that these two don't know each
other long enough to be in love to this degree, to the point that
by the end of their first date they are already in love. And part
of the Wikipedia entry reads like this, Speaking of Commander Stansfield, it says,
shortly before his mission, he meets and is enchanted by his young colleague
Sandra Horn. They meet that night, after only three and a half hours,
they declare their love for each other and lament the fact that when Stansfield
returns, Sandra will be an old woman. We'll come back to that in
a moment, But I think it's a shame that this is a stumbling block
for some people, and I'll give my take on that in a moment too.
But it's something that wouldn't necessarily have been an issue had there just been
a slight tweak in the writing, because when Commander Stansfield is first told of
his mission by Dr Bixler. There is six months to go until that mission
begins, but when he bumps into Miss Horn in the corridor, five months
have passed since that meeting with Bixler and since he was given that assignment.
So maybe had they had this chance meeting happen when he came out of the
meeting with Doctor Bixler or soon after, then there would have been that whole
six months before the mission in which they could have formed their relationship, and
maybe that would have been a bit more palatable for some people. But I
think that there's other things to balance here, because I don't think them having
a longer relationship actually makes this more believable for me. There needed to be
an element of uncertainty about things. The relationship needed to be something new enough
that it wasn't something that Stansfield would abandon the mission for, because even though
their hearts were telling them that they were right for each other, their heads
would be telling them. But we've only been together for a month, and
this mission has been in the works for six months. That are numerous people
relying on this mission. We can't abandon it for something so new, even
if we want to so. The shortness of the relationship I think is actually
quite important because had Stansfield maybe been married to Sandra already, they never would
have given him that mission. Had he gotten together with Miss Horn five months
earlier when he first got the mission, and they spent those five months blissfully
fallen in love, at some point during those five months, he might have
said, well, I can't go now because I don't want to leave you.
But haven't the relationship be quite short? Puts this conflict within the characters.
Even though these two are so in love with each other, they can't
get past the logic of the situation. But we've only been together a month,
so I don't actually feel that this is unbelievable at all. Let's go
back to that slightly snarky synopsis on Wikipedia, where it says they meet that
night after only three and a half hours, they declare their love for each
other and lament the fact that when Stansfield returns, Sandra will be an old
woman. So let's listen to what is actually said. A month from now,
you'll be off to space by the time you come back down again.
You want to talk about that now? Only for the following absurd reason.
I've known you for exactly three and a half hours. That's what it's been,
three and a half hours, A long dinner, a short dance,
and already already already what samon already I feel a sense of loss. So
clearly the Wikipedia entry is wrong, and I question what is so unbelievable about
that. They don't actually say I love you to each other. They are
sharing a very tender moment, but they don't say that. Sandra is verbializing
that she's in a bit of a state of disbelief herself. Have U known
her for such a short time. She feels a sense of loss that he's
going And if you look at Stansfield's face, you can tell that he's troubled
because he agrees what's happened here isn't unbelievable to me at all. It's two
people who have found a connection. Now, we come across people who we
might find attractive in various ways all the time, sometimes even to the point
that we form relationships with them. But then occasionally that are the people who
are even more than nah because they fit us in so many different ways.
And that's going to be different for different people. For me, it might
be a woman who loves the Twilight Zone, old horror movies and planners of
the Apes just as much as me. But there are also the intangible factors
too that you can't explain. Sometimes someone just fits you. And the point
of this is that the characters have to have a certain level of disbelief that
they're falling in love so fast as well, because they can't believe who they've
found. Now I don't need to be privy to what has happened during their
date, because the sincerity with which Marriott Hartley delivers these lines is just achingly
beautiful, and the troubled look on Stansfield's face is feeding into what is one
of the themes of this episode for me, the battle between the head and
the heart. Specifically, fallen in love with someone when maybe it isn't the
most sensible thing to do. You know that your future together is either highly
improbable or impossible, But when you are together, the moments are so perfect
that you're just willing to bury your head in the sand to enjoy them and
take every second of happiness that you can, even when you know that it
will make things all the more painful in the future. So no, the
length of time that these two know each other for isn't a problem for me
at all, because people take this very short scene of them together on this
date as the entirety of their relationship and then call it unbelievable and then ask
the question why would they do what they end up doing later on in the
episode after just three and a half hours. But the thing is, they
don't. We see a glimpse of their night, but they more than likely
end up spending the rest of that night together. And it's a month until
the mission, so they probably see each other every day in that month too,
And I personally feel that a month is more than enough time to fall
head over heels and completely in love with someone. In fact, it's probably
one of the most intense times in a relationship overall. So I suppose I've
made my point. But to cap it off, I think the episode makes
it very clear who Stansfield is. He's a man who a few months ago
was relishing the thought of going into space on his own, a man for
whom duty and career were paramount, a man who had accepted that his life
would be a life spent alone and By the time Sandra Horn came into it,
he had enough time to fall completely in love with her. He had
a whole month, but not enough time to back out of the duties that
he already had in his life. Now I ever been space. It had
been missions, projects and expeditions. There had been no time for intrusions that
took the form of all one's face, a voice, a short month,
of a man and a woman drawing together, becoming a part of one another,
reaching tentatively into that strange and a mysterious pond of love, and watching
the ripples that came from it. But now I think of these things.
Now they come to mind. Now in the darkness and the cold, the
solitude, the stillness, the loneliness, Now there comes a feeling of warmth.
Sandy. Where are you now, Sandy across the void? So while
Stansfield prepares for his mission, let's meet the man who played them. Commander
Douglas. Stansfield is played by Robert Lansing and He was born in nineteen twenty
eight in San Diego, California, and from an early age he had show
business in his blood. He played the drums in various bands, but it
was working on plays in high school that gave him the acting Book, and
after a couple of years of military service, he headed for the Big Apple
to try and make it as an actor. But of course he then found
himself as one of the many people attending audition after audition to try and get
parts and having to do jobs on the side to make ends meet. And
while he did have some success on stage, it wasn't quite the kind of
success that made him an established star who could put food on the table full
time from his profession. So he made the decision to go to California to
try and make it in the movies. So we meet Robert Lansing here.
After about a decade of working pretty steadily in television, he did his time
on anthology shows, One Step Beyond and Craft Television theater, and while he
did have parts in movies, it seems that he wasn't destined for ongoing big
screen success, but instead carried on playing his trade in television for many decades,
and nineteen sixty eight Sore and play the scene stealing part of Gary seven
in the Star Trek episode Assignment Earth, a fan favorite character who has subsequently
been revisited time after time in other Star Trek spin off media, and his
career carried on until the nineties, with parts in shows like The Equalizer and
Kung Fu. The legend continues, But how is he in this? I
think where Lancing excels in this for me are those occasional moments where we see
how troubled he is by the situation. Hartly delivers her lines beautifully to him,
and it's his reactions to them that captivate me the most. When Stansfield
first meets Miss Horn, it's a lovely meeting, but then when she walks
away, the smile gradually leaves his face as he realizes that however well this
date goes, it can't go anywhere. Then later on, when they have
their date and she's looking up at them with such affection in her eyes,
his eyes are troubled again because he knows that he has found something beautiful that
he can't keep. And then watch them as he says goodbye to Miss Horn
later on, and the movement in his neck and the lower part of his
face perfectly mimicking the movements of someone trying not to cry. When it comes
time for Commander Stansfield to go, we come to the scene that they and
we have been dreading, and it's one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking scenes
that Rod Sailing has ever written. A scene that understands that when some people
come into our lives, they bring the color to it that maybe we didn't
know was missing, and when they're gone, the world seems to be a
gray and dull place that will never be the same again. I couldn't let
you leave, Doug, not without saying goodbye, not without telling you I
I loved you very much, and I shall sorely miss you, and that
my life, whatever there is left of it, shall be a strangely meaningless,
dull and empty thing without you to share it. It's very odd things
Sunday when I get back, when I touch this earth again, I know
the first thing I'll have. I know the first thing that I wanna see.
I know the first thing that I want to touch. I'll be the
little old lady in the lace shawl, the one waving the welcome home side.
So look for me, will you, Doug. When Sanjo walks away,
we are given the view of the set that we've seen so often in
this episode. The corridor and the sets in the episode are very sparse.
Even the office that Stansfield speaks to the doctor in doesn't even have any comfortable
chairs in it. Now, it might be that at this time it would
have been costantly to build a science fiction set with screens and blinking lights,
so they decided to go for something more stripped back and sparse. But if
that's the case, I personally believe that this is actually very helpful to the
episode. It has more of an impressionistic feel to it, similar to something
like the courtroom in shadow Play or the sets in The Obsolete Man. But
more than that, the fact that Miss Horn and Commander Stansfield's interactions mainly take
place in this corridor, I feel is a perfect representation of life itself and
the way that we meet people. We're all walking down our own corridors,
and sometimes we will meet people along the way. Sometimes they will end up
walking with us for a while, even for the rest of our journey.
But sometimes we will pass each other by because we're going in different directions,
and sometimes we will wish that someone could keep walking in our direction, but
they don't. So now that Stansfield is in space, we see him in
a suspended animation chamber, but Obviously, at the end we learn that he
won't remain there, but at this time we don't quite know that yet.
They're saving that revelation for the twist. But strangely, that wasn't always going
to be the case. And in Unlocking the Door to a television Classic,
Martin Graham's Junior describes a scene that was in the first draft of the script
but didn't make it to the second draft. So obviously, Rod Sailing also
thought it was important to hold back some of these details until the end,
But if the scene had made it, it would have went something like this.
This is a pre recorded time check and periodic duty reminder. Repeat.
This is a periodic time check and duty reminder. You have been in space
for exactly one month, eleven days, thirteen hours, twenty two minutes.
This is one of one hundred and thirty one interval moments when, of course,
speed, temperature must all be manually checked. HM. Okay. If
you return to your pod, the closing of the lid will automatically put you
back into suspension. Repeat. If you return to your pod, the closing
of the lid will automatically put you back into suspension. This is sola to
probe calling gas who commanded bract You're not going to You're obviously hearing me,
but I'm too far away to receive you. I'll make an assumption that I'm
coming through clearly enough to be understood. The following information should be relayed to
my base and to doctor Bixler, in charge of our project. I'm I'm
not going back into the receptacle. I'm going to I'm going to try and
stay alive and awake. I've got food stores here on the ship, the
ones that were put here in case my freezing compartment broke down. I'll keep
making my checks until I reach my destination and on the way back, but
I'm not going back in that chamber. In fact, h I'll sleep eight
hours at a time, thank you, eight hours at a time. And
if I age, I age, and if I starve, I starve,
and if I die of loneliness, so beer, so beer, Sandy,
my dear, if you're the old woman in the lace shawl, I'll be
the old man in the worn spacesuit. God willing, I'll be the old
man. Now. I personally feel that Rod Sailing made the right choice taking
this scene out of the script because it does telegraph the ending maybe a little
bit too much, but as Martin Graham's junior does mention, at the least
it explains why Stansfield was out of the animation pot, because in the version
we do get, there's no real explanation for that. If you go into
suspended animation, then you're in suspended animation. And when would you be able
to make that decision to leave? In general? Wahlers Space contact, Sir,
A cross spurling in. All right, let's hear the report. An
expedition called Stansfield's Mount Everest matted by a Douglas Stansfield. What was the date
of departure? This one's one of the old jobs, sir. Departure of
December thirty first, nineteen eighty seven. Oh, just putting it mildly.
Well, check it out in your report. Let me know, this one's
one of the pioneers in a space forty years. This voice communication we've had
been tracked on radar. This communications must have malfunctioned a few hours after you
left the atmosphere. Here's a funny one, how's that, sir? Well,
there's an insertion from a man named Bixler. He was one of the
project people years and years ago. So I recall him, says, where
to contact a girl named Sandra Horne? Who Miss Sandra Horn a friend of
Maunder Stancefield. Where would we find her, sir, old ladies home.
Now you'll find her in a hibernation room. You'll find her a young woman
of twenty six years of age. I hope you'll find her alive. So
now the episode brings us to several heartbreaking revelations. We learn that Stansfield's mission
became obsolete while he was on it. In the meantime, technology has advanced
to the point that any discoveries that his mission made have already been made.
And we also learn that miss Horn is not the little old lady in the
shawl that we expected. She has spent this time in suspended Animation two so
that she could be the same age that she was when stance left. But
unfortunately, the communications on the ship were out, and just as Stancefield couldn't
tell anyone he was out of suspended animation, nobody could tell him that Miss
Horn was in it. So while she is still young, Stancefield is now
an old man. And Robert Florrie gives us a moment of true suspense,
making the most of that corridor set and Mary att Hartley's exceptional acting. We
see Mary at Hartley trying to contain a shock at what she sees, and
what we see is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the Twilight Zone.
I've spent I've spent forty here was remembering him, Sandy, pinning a picture
and said, may him listening to your voice, thinking about your touch.
I'm spent forty years surviving for you, Sandy. Oh it can still be
that way where you are. The way I am doesn't make any difference.
Oh yeah, it makes a difference, Sanday, it's forty years difference.
It's too much difference. You're still beautiful, very beautiful. Well you go
away, Oh Sandy, please go. Mark Zickre in the Twilight Zone Companion
says, although the Long Morrow has quite a memorable payoff, the episode also
has its share of problems. Robert Lancing and Marriott Hartley portray their characters with
sincerity, but the lines they are forced to speak are often uncomfortably PayPal.
Additionally, the age makeup applied to Lancing, crucial to the plausibility of the
ending, is embarrassingly bad. I disagree with Mark zickre on all these counts.
I think the makeup is actually pretty effective, one of the better age
makeups in the show. No Mark cause the dialogue uncomfortably pair or so.
He's referring to paurple prose being overwritten, and again I couldn't disagree with that
more either. I very much value the Twilight's Own Companion, but it was
written by a very young man, and while I don't want to suppose anything
about his life, I do wonder whether he'd experience this kind of loss yet,
because if he had, these words wouldn't seem overwritten at all. Breakups
are hard and painful, but there is a certain unique pain reserved for those
who can't stay together, not because they don't want to, but because something
stops them from doing so. Rod Sailing uses the age difference between Commander Stansfield
and Miss Horn in the story, but really this is a space age allegory
for whatever that thing is. The key two people who love each other apart,
whether it's distance, age, fear, uncertainty, or any of a
number of other things, this episode is talking about one of them and all
of them, but also the love of a person for another who cannot live
with the sacrifices that that other person would make for them, even though they
make those sacrifices of their own free will. I cannot think of a Twilight
Zone at this moment that has such a deep emotional resonance as this one.
This one shatters me. When The Twilight Zone was turned into a stage play
in London, this was one of the stories that was adapted and it was
played as part of a tapestry of tales together so that we would get glimpses
of it throughout the play as it advanced a scene here, a moment there.
And it was played with much fewer words than this because it didn't need
the words. It played like a piece of music. It was the ballad
of the woman who would wait forever and a man who would go to the
galaxy's edge and back with only one wishing as heart to be able to say
I love you, miss Horn and I miss you every second. And while
this episode might not work for some people, I think the ones it does
work for might have found that they will have been one or the other in
this situation. People who have had to walk away down that corridor or be
the one to watch someone walk away. And if that is the case,
then my sincere wish for you is that I hope this isn't the end,
and I hope that maybe something can be salvaged. But if it can't be
salvaged, then I hope that one day the memories you bury now because they're
too painful to recall will become less painful and that you can once again look
back on them with fondness. And I hope that the gifts that were chosen
for you by someone who couldn't wait to see the smile on your face as
you open them can be brought out again and enjoyed and held as they would
want them to be. And the souvenirs of the perfect moments that you did
spend together, the ticket stubs from that fierce movie that you saw, or
the single leaf of ivy picked up from the forest floor during the best trip
that you ever took in your life because you always wanted to remember it.
Maybe these can be looked upon too, as a reminder that sometimes beautiful things
don't last forever in the real world, but maybe in our hearts and minds
they can, or maybe in another dimension. So this is top tier Twilight
Zone for me and proof to even at this point when some say that the
show was on the wane, Rod Sailing could still pull a classic out of
his pocket. This is not an episode with the Twilight Zone set out to
punish someone, because nobody deserves the unhappiness that we see here. But it's
an episode that has us bear witness to one of the sad, unfair realities
of life, that taps into the experiences of people all over and shows that
sometimes the exact right person is out there for you, but just not necessarily
in the right place at the right time. And it's an episode that also
understands the heartbreaking truth that the only thing more lonely than being alone is being
alone and knowing that the person you love and who loved you is still out
there in the world, but you can't be with them. Commander Douglas Stansfield
one of the forgotten pioneers of the Space Age. He's been pushed aside by
the flow of progress and the passage of yours and the ferocious travesty of faith.
Tonight's Tale of the Ionosphere and Irony delivered from the Twilight On. Hello
everyone, this is future Tom interrupting the podcast for a moment, because sometimes
I go through these episodes and I come to terms with my own thoughts on
it. And this is an episode where you know, when you listen to
the people from the After Hours Club in a moment, you know they've got
some great thoughts and takes on it, and you know, discussions on how
it works for them or it doesn't work for them. But sometimes I will
spend a lot of time on the episode and then it's only later on that
you start to think some more about it, and other things come into your
mind and you think, I really wish you'd have said that. So I
thought I would take this opportunity while I'm kind of doing the re edits on
it, because over in the After Hours Club, I do a kind of
rough cut that I put out to the board of directors over there, which
I put out of them about a week ago, and then if there's anything
that I want to trim down for the main show, then I do it.
Or I was just thinking about this one, because this one does give
me a lot of thought, and I suppose I do think there is this
theme there of meeting the right person at the wrong time, which is absolutely
tragic in real life and in terms of the episode. But I think there's
a detail here in the episode as well, where Stansfield's discoveries it turns out
there they were all for nothing anyway, And I don't think maybe I focused
on that when I was formulating my thoughts on this one, because it is
potentially quite an important detail. Because while I do maintain that it's not the
Twilight, don't punishing anyone, maybe it is a bit more of a cautionary
tale than I first thought, because what it's really telling us is that Stansfield
had a chance for happiness, He had a chance to spend the rest of
his life with the woman that he loved, but he had this duty.
He had this duty to the you know, the Space Agency or whatever it
is, to go on this mission, and ultimately that mission turned out to
be pointless, you know. So perhaps what it's also telling us is that
we can always think of reasons not to do something, or not to be
with someone, or put duty number of things, putting our head above our
heart. But ultimately, where did that get Commander Stansfield. It just left
him as an old man alone because he put his duties above everything else.
Now, obviously I think it's perfectly valid what I did say, you know,
this indecision about well, we've only known each other a month, can
we really? Can I really just you know, not go on this mission
because of something so new, and that's that's always going to be the battle.
But I think then, ultimately, where did putting his duty over the
potential for love leave and just a sad and lonely old man. So so
you know, maybe that's what Rod was trying to tell us as well,
that just think very carefully about what your priorities actually are and is it worth
sacrificing your happiness for them? Okay, just some ponderings, you know.
I think there's a lot of this episode, a lot to think about.
But I will hand you back over to past Tom and I will catch you
soon. My thanks to my good friend Brandy Jakala for stepping in at the
last moment to do the voice in that little recreation that we did. Thank
you, Brandy. So that is the long Morrow, And as we know,
I go over to my friends at the After Hours Club to gauge what
their thoughts are about every episode that we talk about here on the podcast and
with the long Morrow. When I asked them whether it was top tier,
middle tier, or bottom tier, the results were that fifteen percent said it
was bottom tier, seventy percent said it was middle tier, and fifteen percent
said it was top tier. So I guess a very kind of middling vote
on that one. So let's hear what people have got to say about here.
My good friend uncommon NASA said upper upper mid tier. I guess we're
getting pretty fancy with the tears here, he said, maybe even lower top
tier. This is a hidden gem. I just wish they could have gotten
out of The hallway. Set was limiting, but the dialogue, concept and
surprisingly the makeup were all top notch. It's been a while since I've seen
this one and need to dig it up. Thank you, NASA. My
friend Jason Schwartz from the Twilight Zone Sandbox says this is not a favorite of
mine. It's a lower tier for me. He makes this assumption that she
is just going to fall apart without him and become a cat lady or an
old maid. He's like, I'll become old and we can be together,
because there's no way she'll have married or moved on or have a life apart
from longing for me for forty years. The end of this episode should be
a warning for couples that communication is the key to a relationship because you don't
want to end up like these two. I do like the acting and the
feel of the episode, it's just a nonsensical twist that kills the whole thing
for me. Thank you, Jason. Well, obviously I'm going to disagree
with you on that one, but that's fine. That's the way it goes
sometimes, but thank you for your thoughts. Tim Stratford says one of the
better season five entries. Mariette Hartley and Robert Lansing give amazing performances and the
ending can bring you to tears, possibly the most romantic twilight Zone that Rod
wrote. An episode worth coming back to every so often. Thank you,
Tim, And I think it is every so often because you know, if
if it does work for you, then it kind of hits you right in
the heart. So it is kind of a hard one to watch. Our
friend Jordan Dallak says, it's nice to have another sweet or rather bittersweet episode,
but I have some difficulty with the over the top, well wind romance
aspect of it. What it reminds me of is any number of pulp sci
fi comics of the fifties. As nice as it is, I don't have
much interest in retaining to it, Thank you, Jordan. I mean,
I guess I explained my thoughts on the well Wind romance aspect of it myself.
I think a month is, you know, more than enough to kind
of get really deep feelings for someone and fall in love with someone, And
like I said, I kind of feel that's when romances can be at their
most intense. But also I kind of feel that I've said in the past,
I don't need a twilight zone to be completely real world real all the
time, because I feel that sometimes it is presented to us like a fable,
you know, where certain things are idealized or simplified in order to tell
us this fable. So on the one hand, I don't really have a
problem with the timescales involved, But on the other hand, if it was
a question for me, I think that would be kind of quelled by the
fact I do see it in this kind of fable like way, and I
think the sets and everything, the way it's performed like a play in this
kind of corridor where people are walking to or from each other, as you
know, like I say, it could just be okay, we need a
cheap set. But whether it's by accident or design, this whole aspect of
we're all walking our own corridors and you know, we're passing each other or
walking with each other, and just how long are we walking with each other?
For I think that's the thing. For me, it sort of transcends
just a kind of real situation or I guess everyone's mileage on that is different.
So thank you, Jordan, appreciate it man. Okay, our old
friend Kelly and molloy says the episode stab At Romance is undone by the utterly
unbelievable premise, with no supernatural shadings to carry the viewer through the task of
trying to ignore the show's absurdities. At least, passage of a Lady Anne
offered the hint that the ship itself was a magical love boat that inspired love
to couples. If you want romance in the Twilight Zone, set sail to
that season four episode instead. Well, I mean, I won't keep flogging
a dead horse. Obviously I disagree on that one killing, but thank you.
You know, I'm sorry, this one didn't work for you. Our
friend Joe Mayer says, in today's world, a climate where an act of
kindness is often mistaken for a miracle, seeing a person who loves someone else
enough to think only of that person's continuing happiness is a theme that I simply
cannot grow tired of. There are microcosmic moments throughout our days when we can
implement such a sacrifice for the happiness of another, and it certainly does not
need to be a romantic love. It can simply be the love of our
fellow man. This episode stands as a wonderful little reminder of how love can
often be interpreted as the willing expression of sacrifice for the greater good of another.
I think you've put that beautifully, Joe, and it's something that I
definitely agree with. One of the many kind of underlying aspects of it is
not only what you can sacrifice, but how much you can live with yourself
for what someone else is willing to sacrifice for you. And the fact that
Stansfield knew he was an old man and only had so many years in front
of him, and miss Horne was, you know, so young and beautiful
with a whole life ahead of her. That's that's a lot to live with,
even though it was something that she said she would give willingly. So
yeah, there's there's a few kind of themes to this one, and I
think that is one of them. Thank you, Joe, that's some good
stuff. My friend d Al Shardsman says, Rod's Romeo and Juliet instead of
warring families, you have the cold equations of space and time. Breaks my
heart every time I view it. Top tier breaks mine too. I'll thank
you. Our friend Cerebral p says definitely top meddle tier lancing performance is stoic
and tragic, despite the abundance of stage makeup. I found the disjointed timeline
of the story only added to its inevitability, but never seemed to suggest the
twist. Perhaps the reveal of Hartley's encapsulation revealed the twist too early, but
the tragedy of it all overcame any premonition. I have always seen this episode
as Sailing's interpretation of the gift of the Magi. Beautifully acted. Always gets
me in the fields. Me too, man, me too. Our old
friend Josh Chambers says, while there are fine performances, and some truly inspired
directorial touches from the late great Robert Florrie. The script, as mentioned by
another member of the After Hours Club, does have the feel of an over
used comic plot. I'm sure if I rifled through my ecy sci fi collections,
weird science, weird fantasy, I could find a similar story. And
sure, there are only seven basic stories, and there is comfort in the
familiar. But the circumstances surrounding Stansfield's and Horn's relationship haven't aged very well,
and the twist seems a little too oh henry so for its production, design,
cast, acting, and overall arc, I think this one deserves a
very comfortable middle tier ranking. After all, it I was directed by the
man who gave us the Marx Brothers' first film, Cheers. Cheers to You,
Josh, Thank You. Our friend Joe Brown says this is an interesting
episode, a different kind of love story that seemed rooted in irony. Much
like The Silence, where the Silence had physical devastating results, the Long Morrow
had a love relationship devastated. I did find it hard to grasp that Stansfield
falls in love after an all too brief encounter in a Hallway then spends the
next forty years longing for this person. That premise seems like a stretch,
but I think that it was needed to get to the point of the episode,
which is what will lovers do to be with each other and the steps
that they take to achieve it. Sailing's dialogue is written like love sonnets for
each character to share. It works, but maybe tries too hard to keep
the brief encounter love relationship believable. I rate it low mid tier. Thank
you, Joe. I appreciate the feedback. I mean I've said in the
episode, I think it shows us their initial meeting, and it shows us
their fair date, but then they have a whole month of being together before
the ship takes off. We just don't see it. But I do think
the episode expects us to know that that month has taken place, and I
guess our milea John, whether a month is enough or not will vary for
me. I think it's absolutely fine, but you know, I get that
we're all different on there, So thank you, Joe. Our friend John
Hayes says The Long Morrow is interesting because it's a space story that doesn't need
any space scenes, and a love story that doesn't need any love scenes.
It's what I would call a hallway story some Twilight episodes, or hallway or
room stories where the entire story takes place in a hallway or room. Like
a simple stage play. It depends entirely on the great dialogue, which this
has. You get the idea without needing action. I think you're absolutely right,
John, it it is like a stage play and it could be performed
very well on stage. As I mentioned in the episode, it was performed
in the London stage Play, both runs of it, and it worked very
well in a kind of cut down form. And maybe you know, this
time aspect of it seems to be problematic for some people, but maybe it
wouldn't in a stage kind of situation because people would accept that it is kind
of a fiction or a fable and it's really more about getting the ideas across
than being completely kind of mechanically accurate. So yeah, good observations, getting
some good sorts of people this time around. So our friend Roger Moore says,
going through the season four episodes, we were examining and concluding if the
episodes could have been shortened to thirty minutes or if they worked as our long
episodes. I feel this episode would have made an excellent season four episode.
The one thing that I feel is lacking with the thirty minute runtime is the
relationship development between the main characters. We only have a few brief scenes to
truly cement Commander Stansfield and Sandra Horn's relationship and make it believable. Also,
I'm not sure if it was a budget issue, casting issue, or purely
Robert Florrie's decision, but the hallway set is way too large and wide open
for only two people to occupy in my opinion, tear all the way.
It's kind of fascinating how I don't even think divisive is the word on this
one, but how polar kind of opposite or close to opposite things can be.
Because I really like the sets on this one. Like I say,
maybe I'm looking into it too much, but that corridor is a kind of
metaphor for our lives. I really like that. But thank you, Roger.
Appreciate the feedback. Man. Okay, my old friend Gus Hawad has
said agree with NASA lower top tier. The performances are heartbreaking. If I
ever need a good cry, I can always rely on the Long Morrow to
bring the Rain, This Lady Anne and the Trade Ins or Twilight and Love
Story is done right eagerly awaiting your thoughts on this one, Tom Well,
I think by now you know that I agree with you, Gus, Thank
you man. And then, last but not least, my good friend Emmi,
who I present a podcast on Patreon with about Twilight Zone continuations called Twilight
Zone Aftermath, as she has some thoughts too. She says the Longmorrow is
one of my favorites from season five, only having discovered it a few years
ago. This and The Trade Ins are the two episodes that remind us how
well Sailing wrote relationships. I know there is criticism of the sets in this
one, and I do understand it, but I think having that huge empty
corridor actually saves a papose. It makes us think that Stansfield and Horn are
the only two people in the world at that moment, which is exactly how
it feels to them. It also allows them to showcase their growing affection without
any set distraction, literally narrowing our field of view, and their performances here
are excellent, particularly considering how well they are able to portray their growing affection
in the thirty minute window it's entirely believable and has us rooting for them.
I absolutely agree. Emmy, thank you. It's good to hear you chiming
in on a regular episode, so thank you. So if you want to
be able to take part in that vote and chime in on the next episode,
then go to patreon dot com slash twilight Zone podcast and it's all there
for you. So I mentioned Sailing Fest in our little update podcast that I
did, so I won't mention it again. Well I won't mention it again
very much, but the data there now. It is the thirteenth of September
to the fifteenth of September, and it would be absolutely wonderful to see you
there. You know, I want to meet as many of you as I
can, so as we get closer than I will, I will bring you
more news about that. But what I will say is if you are considering
going, I would maybe start to look at your accommodation now, because I
have been looking at it myself obviously for my trip and in terms of like
airbnbs and so on. I was quite surprised at how few they were compared
to last time I was trying to book a place in Binghamton, so you
just don't want to leave these things for chance. And there are it is
quite well saved by hotels, but not all of them are like in the
center of town, you know, walking distance to the theater where sailing Fest
is going to take place, and a recreation park. So it's worth trying
to get your accommodation booked quite early. But that's all I'll say for now.
So I was very pleased to get a couple of pieces of audio feedback.
Take it away, Hey, it's on this as Guessinger in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. I just wanted to congratulate you on the incredibly well done episode of
Nightmare at twenty thousand Feet. I have been looking forward to you covering this
one since I started listening to the podcast because this was the first episode of
the Twilight Zone I ever saw. When I was a little kid and my
three older siblings all gathered around me, and when Shatner opened up the curtain,
they all screamed at once and it scared the horse apples out of me,
and it's stuck with me ever since. And it was that episode that
really immediately had me glued to the Twilight Zone and loving the Twilight Zone and
to hear your excellent podcast on it was just incredible. And then the twist
at the end I think was just awesome. I don't know if other people
saw that coming or not. I did not, and I thought that it
was absolutely incredible, and so I just wanted to say well done to you,
sir, and I'm really excited to see how you finish out the series
and I'm really excited to see what comes next because I'm not just a fan
of the podcast, but I'm a fan of yours, and I hope everything
is going well and that there's lots more to come. Take care, Hi,
Tom, This is Josh from Suffall, South Dakota with some thoughts on
the Longmorrow. For all of the Twilight Zone episodes that I have seen,
I find that I'm usually left with either a sense of wonder or a sense
of disappointment in some cases when the episode doesn't live up to my expectations of
the Twilight Zone. However, I do recall that there were two episodes that
left me feeling actually disturbed. One was The Silence from season two and the
other was The Longmorrow. That realization baged the question why did this episode cause
me to feel that way. So I did some reflection on the episode and
on myself, and I made these observations. The first is that there's a
theme here of hope and sacrifice. Commander Stansfield has a hope, presumably to
be reunited with his with the woman that he loves, and to spend his
final years with her, and he makes a great sacrifice to that end.
Now, as a child, I adopted a religious belief system that is carried
through to adulthood, so I'm pretty familiar with the concept of sacrificing for a
future hope. Within the belief system that I adhere to, there's a call
to continual so helplessness and a hope of her reward to be largely realized in
the afterlife. The reality, however, is that none of us truly knows
what will take place on the other side of this life. Regardless of any
sacrifices that we make along the way, you know whether or not we achieve
the thing that we hope for. It's a mystery until we depart from this
life, which means that our efforts, just like those of the astronomous story,
might be in vain. And I find that disturbing. But I think
there's another theme in play in this episode, a theme of aging. Commander
Stansfield sacrifices half his lifetime, living decades and complete seclusion on a journey that
would later be revealed as unnecessary, with I imagine, very limited means to
make constructive use of his time. There's a reminder here that once our years
are lived, there's no going back and changing things. Our lifetimes can only
move forward, and I find that disturbing. I also think that the context
of this episode bears importance. This one is a romance, and I think
it's the case that I'm a bit more of a romantic than I tend to
think. I understand the strong desire for companionship, and I even remember the
feeling of young love, you know, when a fixation on one special person
seems to occupy your thoughts continually. So I understand the potency of his adoration
of Sandra, and I empathize highly with the devastation that he would have experienced
when he let her go in the end to lose a future with that special
sum one. I find that disturbing. So in the end, which of
these reasons, you know, was the reason that I felt disturbed. Well,
I still can't quite pinpoint it. I'll say this about this episode though
it doesn't make my top list of Twilight Zone episodes, but it will remain
etched in my memory because of the feelings that it aroused in me. Tom.
Thank you for this podcast. It allows me to re experience the wonder
of the Twilight Zone. Well, hello Tom, day from Germany, and
I'm here to share my thoughts on the Longmorrow you drive and what was the
other one? Again? Hang on ring it in go? That's right?
How could I forget quite an enjoyable episode? This one doesn't feel too Twilight
Zone, but it's a classic tale well told. I wouldn't put in the
top tier, would just as I put it in middle tier, as in
derivative but quite enjoyable, well told with that warm humanity that the Twilight Zone
is known for. Also, the actor playing the old man I forgot his
name. He pops up again in a later episode near the end of the
show, which is my favorite episode to come wander with me. I'm really
looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that one, but I'm also dreading it
because I mean, the podcast is almost over and I don't want it to
end, to be honest, because it's been so consistently good early. Now
on the topic of you Drive, I really didn't like it on first much.
Now I just don't care. It's not it's not a very good episode,
and that's it anyway for long borrow. I'm not sure Robert Lansing really
sells this sells his performance here, his character's emotions. I think he's a
bit stiff, really a bit too much of a rugged archetype in a role
that requires perhaps a bit a softer, more sensitive approach. Also, I
know this show is literal about sixty years old by now this episode, but
the uh aging makeup is terrible. I know people have complained about the makeup
in Changing Off the God, for instance, but I think it's really not
good here, especially bad anyway that's often now. Honestly, I just want
to get another comment in because it's been so long and I've been trying to
get myself to do it, and you know, time is running, so
uh yeah, not a bad episode, not a great episode, just somewhere
in the middle. Honestly, anyway, I hope you're doing well, and
I just want to say once more that I really enjoy your podcasts. I
think it bears repeating, and just keep on doing what you're doing, and
I remain your faithful listener. Dave from Germany to the next time see Rod
Sling, creator of the Twilight zon We'll tell you about next week's story after
this message. If you want to get your thoughts onto the show, then
send a clip of about five minutes or less to Tom at the Twilight Zone
podcast dot com about an episode that we've covered or the next episode that we're
going to be covering. And let's go over to Rod Sailing to find out
what that is. And now, mister Sling, next time out on the
Twilight Zone. An unusual little item from the Kind of Jerry McNeely, based
on a story by Henry Slazar and called, intriguingly enough, the Self Improvement
of salvon Or Russ. This one poses a question, if you don't like
what you are, how do you go about changing. Don Gordon portrays a
man who really goes to the root when it comes to some basic changing,
and the results are most unexpected.