WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:08.640 Dark Destinations. He's maybe end times night creature. Why would a few more 2 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:16.039 casually struggling me because their blood will join yours a radio drama anthology. You 3 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:20.879 are wrong how you figure every mark on Mango's hunting You don't not you your 4 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:27.079 partner, he said, I didn't have a ray gun polecast performances set in 5 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:33.200 the haunted corners of the globe. Darkness is coming for you. Ye, 6 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:44.759 that's the fear that haunts me. Dark Destinations by Father Belowe at weird e 7 00:00:44.840 --> 00:01:06.439 Way Media dot com. Weird we do a littig light and shad realism, 8 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:11.000 surrealism, impressionism, end of a story, and interest in the out of 9 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:15.400 law, a prid of light shoot toward the bizarre. And this place is 10 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:21.519 nothing if it isn't bizarre. There's no admission, no requirement of membership, 11 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:25.680 only a strong of a biding belief in the dart at the top of the 12 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:30.439 stairs or the things that go bob in the night. The name of there 13 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:34.239 is a place that you would come in your accidentally out of the ranks the 14 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:40.879 night got Welcome back, art lovers to Midnight Viewing The Night Gallery podcast, 15 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.599 where we discuss night Gallery rod serlings, follow up to the Twilight Zone. 16 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:48.599 I'm father alone and with me here in the gallery are Bollywood cinema clubs. 17 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:53.480 Mister Chris Stashue, there's nothing about tomorrow in the diary. There's it's blank, 18 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:59.760 It's empty. And from the files of Police Squad Zone mister Mike White 19 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:09.520 cthulhu. Allright, Wow, you're about as convincing as Carl Reiner slightly more. 20 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.439 Although we'll get to it. All right. We are talking about season 21 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.960 two, episode eight, which aired on November the tenth, nineteen seventy one. 22 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:23.000 Now just let you know, although I intend to review this episode with 23 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.560 my current critical mind, that this one holds a really special place in my 24 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:30.080 heart. I saw it at the right age and the right time. Nevertheless, 25 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:32.599 we'll get to it. This episode is split into four segments, and 26 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:38.479 those segments are the Diary A matter of Semantics, Big Surprise and Professor Peabody's 27 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:46.159 last lecture subject a common enough item utilized by teenagers. And Tycoon's the daily 28 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:50.599 journal, in which we notate the happenings of our day to day existence, 29 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:54.759 but in this instance a unique periodical. It doesn't record what was, but 30 00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:00.960 rather predicts what will be. It's title The Diary. It's our initial offering 31 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:07.879 in the Night Gallery. The Diary was written by Rod Serling and directed by 32 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.120 William Hale, starring Patty Duke, Virginia Mayo, Lindsay Wagner, and two 33 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.479 uncredited performances, the first being Felix Silla addressed his baby new year in cavorting 34 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:20.240 about I'm sure most people know him from his most famous I bet most people 35 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.639 know him from his most famous performance in Samuel Bronchowitz Catholic Schoolgirls in Trouble or 36 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:28.599 cousin It. He was actually cousin it in the original Adams Family. The 37 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:32.879 other uncredited cameo is Sean Aston, Sam Wise gamgee himself, who is inside 38 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:38.039 Patty Duke. She was pregnant with him during the filming of this particular episode, 39 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:43.039 and the episode itself the name of Shaun Aston's autobiography, Inside Patty Duke. 40 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:49.159 That's right, I really hope. Not a weird way to go for 41 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.400 a guy with such a long and storied career. Just inside Patty Duke, 42 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:54.919 the Shawn Aston's story. We thought he was such a sweet boy. That's 43 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.319 Sam. Now. This one tells the tale of a television gossip columnist played 44 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.039 by Patty Duke, who receives a gift from one of her targets, a 45 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:06.680 faded old screen goddess played by Virginia Mayo. A diary that has a peculiar 46 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:11.879 habit of telling not what happened, but what will would you think of this 47 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:17.240 one, Mike? I think I enjoyed this one. It felt a little 48 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.680 rough at times, like it felt like this was like a first draft and 49 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:28.120 they could have gone a little farther and tightened up some things. The twist. 50 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:32.240 The twist worked for me. I really thought that Virginia Mayo threw herself 51 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:36.040 off the balcony because I think we cut away before she gets to the door, 52 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:40.839 or I just kind of assumed that she threw herself off the balcony. 53 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:43.199 But when they said, oh, she got hit by a car, I 54 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.120 was kind of thrown out a little bit, like, Oh, okay, 55 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.480 that's a weird way to go. But this whole idea of having the diary 56 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:53.480 that predicts what's going to happen, and that was a pretty cool idea. 57 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:57.439 And Patti Duke, I'm not sure if she really pulled it off for me 58 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.319 or not. She didn't look like Patty Duke to me in this episode. 59 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:01.519 I don't know if it was the wig or what was going on, but 60 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:03.959 it took me a little bit to be like, yeah, I guess that 61 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:08.560 is Patty Duke. It's just something about her seemed a little different to me. 62 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:12.519 Maybe it's that glow of pregnancy that I just never saw before. What 63 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.759 about you, Chris, It's interesting. It's an interesting way to open this 64 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:21.199 episode with this segment because I like the idea. I think the twist and 65 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:27.519 kind of the outcome is interesting and fun. But okay, like a terrible 66 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.319 person got their come uppance, and it's because she couldn't get over the fact 67 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:35.560 that she doesn't know what tomorrow's entire day lays out for her or what will 68 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:40.920 happen. Like I guess, all right, I guess. I just the 69 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.480 story didn't engage me as much as I hoped it would. And Patty Duke's 70 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:48.279 character is fine. She's not so reprehensible that you want to see her get 71 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:54.360 her just desserts, but she does in the end. I guess, oh, 72 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:57.959 I think she does get what she deserves. I agree with both of 73 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.319 you. I think I think having her be a gossip columnist taking on a 74 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:08.160 faded screen idol was just Rod Serling writing what he knew, and he should 75 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.000 have somehow tied it a little her occupation and their feud should have been tied 76 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.000 in a little bit more with prediction or something, just because that's that's her 77 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:20.480 means of revenge. Virginia Mayo's um she by the way she bought the I 78 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.000 know she In dialogue, she says that she bought the Diary at a at 79 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.879 a local shop, a curiosity shop, and the only thing I could think 80 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.120 about was the Frogert, the delicious Frogert that must be on tap there. 81 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:39.879 But Simpsons is everywhere, man, It's ever present all the time. The 82 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:43.920 longer times goes on, the more pressure the Simpsons honestly feels. It's it's 83 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:46.240 it's it's astounding. A friend of mine used to call it the Bible now 84 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:55.279 because we quote it more often than the actual word of God. Homer beget 85 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:00.040 Bart, b get Lisa, begat Maggie. There's no answers in this book. 86 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:08.079 I liked this one. Actually. I know I've been kicking Rod Serling 87 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:10.759 a lot this season, but I thought this script is pretty good. A 88 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:14.959 side of the dialogue, which is is thing he always overwrites, and he 89 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.439 allowed himself by giving these characters the occupations that they had another opportunity to do 90 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:23.680 that. But I do think it's structured well. I do think the twist. 91 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:28.199 I think the twist is effective. I didn't see it coming, you 92 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.800 know, this is Mike. Thanks to you, I got to read the 93 00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:33.199 script for it, and a lot of things became very good. Yeah, 94 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:36.879 a lot of things became very clear reading it, and that is Rod Serling 95 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:43.680 is an excellent writer. The dialogue is terrible, but the descriptions, oh 96 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.319 my god, It's like reading a novel. You can see why most of 97 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:50.439 his stuff just sailed right past anybody because it reads great, but like it's 98 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:54.439 like comic book dialogue though you like, you read it on the page and 99 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:56.720 it makes sense, but you hear it and it just sort of hits your 100 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:59.879 ear on. Having said that, like, overall, I think this is 101 00:08:00.120 --> 00:08:05.120 pretty strong, certainly from him on this show. He's had a few stronger 102 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:09.720 but this season like virtually not at all. So uh yeah, I dug 103 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:13.000 this one. That's a pretty low. That's that's damning something with rather faint 104 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:20.319 praise though, because I'm just trying to has been pretty bad overall. I 105 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:24.079 just want to give the man his due, you know, like well, 106 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:28.240 and you know again like I'm I'm I'm right there with you, because like 107 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.080 you said, I mean, we have spent not every episode, but anytime 108 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.200 Rod Startling writes an episode, we have to point out that, you know, 109 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.399 Rod Serling made such a big deal about taking a step back from this 110 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:46.480 show and being angry that there are these blackoutbits that he won't even do intros 111 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.360 for because he doesn't like them and it's not in keeping tonally with what he 112 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.519 wanted with the show. All that aside, he hasn't done a great job 113 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.000 turning in scripts in a lot in this second season. He just hasn't. 114 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.360 And this one is pretty good. But it's pretty good for the second season 115 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:05.960 of this show. I honestly thought this was based on a short story because 116 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.879 it did feel so solid, and I was curious. And when I went 117 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.799 to look, I was like, Oh, it's not a short story. 118 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.399 That's interesting because it feels like somebody had taken the time and done this and 119 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.159 maybe it was just a little bit of a sloppy adaptation. So I was 120 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.919 very surprised when I was like, Oh, this is an original script. 121 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:28.120 That's very curious. Yeah, that again, like I can't help but praise 122 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:31.240 Serling over and over because I had the same thought, like it is so 123 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:37.080 tight, and like so pointed that he must have adapted it. And I 124 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.840 said this last season when he lost control of the show that every time he 125 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:45.919 comes up with something good, I'm going to sort of be doubly mad at 126 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:50.320 him that he was reserving these like this is you know, this is not 127 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:52.120 a new story. I know he had it in his pocket if it wasn't 128 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:56.120 written already, like in the trunk, So like why wouldn't you give us 129 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:00.320 this last season? And like four meant or you know your position. So 130 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:05.679 anyway, our next segment is called a Matter of Semantics, which seems as 131 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.519 likely a caption to this one panel joke. It's written by Gen R. 132 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:13.559 Kearney No surprise and directed by Jack Laird, starring Caesar Romero and his mustache 133 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:18.120 and E. J. Peeker, which is my new favorite name. It's 134 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:22.759 about Dracula dropping into a blood bank for a loan. Chris, tell me 135 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.000 about this one. Can I just make a noise that this episode segment was 136 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:31.039 expecting for me? Huck kuck yuck. There you know it gave me a 137 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:35.799 substantial amount of Huck's substantial amount being three and that's all it wanted, and 138 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.639 that's all it's gonna get. It's it's it's a Playboy Blackout. I mean, 139 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:43.600 it's just a one panel comic. Jesus. I mean, what's funny 140 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.039 is it? These one panel comics are are all universal monsters, it would 141 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.600 seem I guess that's the only thing that they could go to. I mean 142 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:56.720 it makes sense because it's again a still now even part of our pop culture 143 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:01.159 kind of quilt as it were that I think most everybody knows who Dracula and 144 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.840 Frankenstein's Monster and the Brida Frankenstein are, so doesn't surprise me that these blackout 145 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.200 sketches keep being universal monsters. But I think we've gotten Dracula once or twice 146 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:16.080 at least, Frankenstein's Monster, Phantom of the Opera. Even I would have 147 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:20.200 thought that the name of this blackout skit was a midnight visit to the neighborhood 148 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:26.360 blood Bank, and it's not. No. It's that's weird too, because 149 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:31.679 I knew of both segments, and for the entire time I've had them confused 150 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.080 because that's the obvious title for this one. I guess that's the that's the 151 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:41.000 only really clever thing going on here, this matter of semantics. Right, 152 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:46.480 Although the episode, this segment, this two minute nonsense, is not a 153 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:50.039 total loss, because we do get to cease Sezar Romero sort of being his 154 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:56.519 effortlessly charming self, and good to see him sporting the stash instead of hiding 155 00:11:56.519 --> 00:12:03.519 it under a pancake makeup as the joker, fucking suave man. I don't 156 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:05.559 think there's anything else to say about this one. He looks he looks good 157 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:09.480 as he looks good as a vampire. That's I mean, that's the takeaway. 158 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.039 At least he doesn't look unbelievable as a vampire. Right, Yeah, 159 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.120 I think that dexter rally should have turned him into a vampire, right, 160 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.840 I have been a better way to treat him. Absolutely the computer wore vampire 161 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.440 shoes. Before we get to the next segment, is you know this season 162 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.480 I've been highlighting talent behind the night Gallery. This season we're getting two stories 163 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:35.919 written by this man, including the next segment. I don't think anyone even 164 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.559 remotely interested in speculative fiction would not know him. But if you don't, 165 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:45.159 then do yourself a favor and seek out Anything by Richard Matheson. His association 166 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.919 with Night Galleries obvious. He was one of the original contributors to The Twilight 167 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.799 Zone from the very first season, but by the time Soiling hired him in 168 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.639 nineteen fifty nine, Matheson had already published nearly one hundred short stories and six 169 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:01.679 novels, including The Shrinking Man, which became The Incredible Shrinking Man and I 170 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:05.600 Am Legend, just minor works like that. He ran in a circle of 171 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.960 writers known as The Group or the Southern California School of Writers, that consisted 172 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:15.720 of Matheson, George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan, Charles Beaumont, 173 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:18.480 and Ray Bradbury. During his tenure at the Twilight Zone, he panned Nick 174 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.360 of Time, The Invaders, and Nightmare at twenty Thousand Feet. He was 175 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:26.000 a screenwriter behind a clutch of Corman Poe movies like House of Usher and Pitt 176 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:30.240 In the Pendulum and Comedy of Terrors. Around the time that he did his 177 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:35.720 work here on Night Gallery, he transformed a rather slight novel by Jeff Price 178 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:39.320 into the greatest paranormal journalist of all time, and Carl Colejack because he wrote 179 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:43.440 Night Stalker and Knights Strangler and Trilogy of Terror. My god, it's too 180 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.720 much and I'm only scratching the surface. So I just want to exhort you 181 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:50.840 to go out and read Richard Matheson, and even if none of his work 182 00:13:50.919 --> 00:13:54.159 interests you, you should still be thankful for him, because without him, 183 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:58.679 there'd be no Wild Stallions and no being excellent to each other because his son, 184 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.080 Richard Christian Mathieson as one of the co creators of Bill and Ted. 185 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.679 I was about to say, is Richard Matheson's greatest contribution to the Twilight Zone 186 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:13.039 is the segment that gets remade every time they do the goddamn show, is 187 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:18.200 what it feels like, And it's the segment that I, for whatever reason 188 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.159 in my mind, closely associate the Twilight Zone with. With Shatner and Nightmare 189 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:28.200 at twenty thousand feet, that's the Twilight Zone segment for me personally, And 190 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.639 so I am always thankful that Richard Matheson was the one who did it, 191 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.720 because, yeah, I mean, I AM Legend gets a bad rap now 192 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:39.240 because of you know, the movie that came out that more people I think 193 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:43.679 I've seen than any other I AM Legend property. But the book is so 194 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.279 good. We've talked about it before. I don't know if it was here 195 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.399 on Twilight Zone or something, But they have yet to adapt it the right 196 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:56.559 way where the actual fucking title of that book makes sense yet to make They 197 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:00.360 have yet to make the name of the book makes sense in term of the 198 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.200 story. But it's one. I think it's one of the great sci fi 199 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.960 novels period. I mean, you can't deny the power of that book and 200 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:13.679 the as you said, it's it's How have they not come up with a 201 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.639 decent filmed version of it? It's such a simple little story, and yet 202 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.559 every time they do it they either do it too small or too big or 203 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:22.360 Okay, the omega Man is great, there's no question the Omegaman is great, 204 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.159 but as its own thing, not necessarily as an adaptation of I Am 205 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:30.360 Legend. At least they changed the title Who is the Legend? Tell us 206 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.440 who the Legend is? Please? I'm sure fatheram alone. You've seen The 207 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.519 Last Man on Earth, the one with Vincent Price. Oh, yes, 208 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:39.440 which I like as well too. Yeah, I think, yeah, I 209 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:43.440 think that's as close as where we're going to get. Yeah, because you 210 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:46.080 know, in the book it's very small scale. It's just him in his 211 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.360 Pasadena house, you know, and like there's no there's no grand mansion he's 212 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.159 in, or no, you know, high rise in New York. I 213 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.879 don't know what any of the adaptations are going for, honestly, they all 214 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.559 seem to miss the point, which is just one man, a normal dude 215 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:03.000 who has to figure this stuff out on his own. He's not a scientist 216 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.240 or anything. He just has to He just has to work hard to figure 217 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:11.440 out his situation and by then it's too late. Anyway, the next time 218 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:14.200 they make eyrom legend, they should make it for two million dollars and then 219 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:18.519 they have a chance of making it as good as it can be. I 220 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:21.600 mean, it's better to just expand the scope of the source material to the 221 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:25.120 point where it's completely unrecognizable and then it didn't even matter you were adapting it 222 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:27.399 to begin with. I like that more frankly. Yeah, I want Elk 223 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:33.559 running through Times Square and some sort of video game adaptation version. Yeah, 224 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:37.320 it's a Batman v. Superman in the background. Yeah why not? Oh 225 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.639 my god, I forgot about that. What a nightmare in reality we actually 226 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:49.120 live in now. Our painting reminds us that there's a strange fascination of digging 227 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:55.039 holes alongside ancient oaks. You give the average man a show and an excent 228 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:59.360 of map and the fact is he's come thick and fast, pirate gold, 229 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:04.640 hidden, utter treasure, and sometimes the unexpected and sometimes the unwelcome. Hence 230 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:12.079 the title Big Surprise. Now. Our next segment is by Richard Mathison, 231 00:17:12.119 --> 00:17:17.319 based in his short story. Directed by Jeno's Swark. It is called Big 232 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:22.279 Surprise, starring Vincent Van Patton, who is our second rock and roll high 233 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.880 school alum for this season, Mark Vehenian, who I'll always know, It's 234 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.359 Lolly too, and Bless the Beast. In Children, Eric Chase, and 235 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:34.200 mister John Carradine. This is a tale of three boys befriended by a crazy 236 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:38.160 old hermit who promises them a big surprise if they can dig it up. 237 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:45.440 What do you think of this one, Mike, It's short, it's pretty 238 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:51.480 simple. I'm not sure if I really got the twist at the end. 239 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:53.480 It feels like this would have freaked me out when I was a kid, 240 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:57.240 and I would have probably spent a lot of time thinking about it. Now 241 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:03.759 that I'm fifty years old, I'm just like I can't really be bothered about 242 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.200 you, Chris. You know how A Matter of Semantics was a one panel 243 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.799 comic. This is like three Yes, this is a three panel comic. 244 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.279 I don't know, Like John Carradine is sufficiently creepy, But the fact that 245 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:25.599 this is a short story is more surprising that Richard Matheson was able to ring 246 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:27.759 as much out of this premise as he could from it being a short story, 247 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:33.880 because there's barely anything here. It is really an old man tells a 248 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.160 group of kids to dig. Those kids don't want to follow the kid who's 249 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:40.200 blindly digging, and then the old man is in the box at the end, 250 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:45.079 like what what there? You go like, I'm not even sure what 251 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:47.799 the story was? How do you turn that? How is that a short 252 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:51.079 story? Let alone? How is that a ten minute segment? In this 253 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:53.279 show, a story can be like five pages, you know, I don't 254 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.839 know how you get five pages out of this? Is more what I'm getting 255 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:00.319 at. This is like one reasoning to measure. You get the inner dialogue 256 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:06.039 of the kids, yeah going, oh, there's probably something really valuable here, 257 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.799 and just everybody has their own ideas of what's going to be that buried 258 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:15.880 treasure and then when it finally happens, and describing the hot sun beating down 259 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:18.319 on them and YadA YadA YadA, like I could see this being a short 260 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:22.079 story, but yeah, it was just there wasn't a whole lot of substance 261 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:26.359 to this one. For me. There's a skeleton of a good idea here, 262 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:30.519 it's just to what end. It feels like this is a good setup 263 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:36.119 for something, but I'm not sure the punchline is as funny or as interesting 264 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.039 as maybe everyone else thought it was. Richard Matheson included, gentlemen, this 265 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:48.519 is my favorite segment of the entire run of Night Gallery. I set it 266 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:51.279 up at the top, right place, right time. I think I saw 267 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:55.039 this when I was maybe ten or eleven years old, And yes, I 268 00:19:55.160 --> 00:20:00.240 spent many years pondering the meaning of this, still having figured it out, 269 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:07.200 but that obviously colors my judgment of it. Nevertheless, watching it like two, 270 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:12.519 three, four times I did for tonight's recording here, I still love 271 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:15.680 it. I think it's one of the best things on the show. Like 272 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:18.880 the way it's shot, this nothing feels set down. All the performances are 273 00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:25.319 good, the music, which I really paid attention to music and we're gonna 274 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:27.359 have to talk about gil Malay at some point because he came up with a 275 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:30.960 lot of he like made a lot of instruments, so sometimes when you think 276 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:36.200 you're hearing a waterphone or a synth, it's actually something that he's Frankenstein together. 277 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:38.799 But I really like the music in this episode. It starts off almost 278 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:42.880 comic with like brass, but by the time they're digging, it's all bongos 279 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:47.519 and these like shrieking violins, and by the end it's just nothing but a 280 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:52.160 song cello and this waterphone synth combination. It's fantastic. I love it. 281 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:56.000 There are shots in it that I absolutely adore. Like I mean, at 282 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.480 the start of this this is you know, kids daring each other and you 283 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:02.400 you know, peer pressure and whatever, like they don't want to like the 284 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:04.799 old man's calling them over and they're calling each other chicken to for not going 285 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:10.240 over. And the lead kid while he's deciding if he's going to go over 286 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:15.160 and talk to old mister Hawkins, the shot is of him in the background, 287 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.039 but in the foreground is the other kid, the Lolli two kid, 288 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.039 his yo yo, just sort of dropping up and down in the frame and 289 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:23.200 it's just I don't know. It just summed it up for me. I 290 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:27.279 do need to say that if aliens are receiving television broadcast from US in deep 291 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:30.559 space, then I think they think the entirety of America looks like the hills 292 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:34.240 just outside Los Angeles. That's the only failing with me in the episode is 293 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:38.559 once again we get the same sort of Well, we can drive twenty minutes 294 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:41.160 and make it look different than the backlot, but at least they did that 295 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.119 because it doesn't look like the backlot to me. I think the ending works 296 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:52.920 because Carrie Dean is so fucking creepy. I want to speak to what you 297 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:55.359 said, Chris, because I thought it too when I was watching it, 298 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:59.759 Like this is effectively a blackout sketch. It does now make me wish that 299 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.640 all of the blackout sketches were this, you know, like I enjoy laughing 300 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:06.039 at Dracula as much as the next guy. But if you want to have 301 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:10.880 an interstitial be this, then it would have elevated the whole series up and 302 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.119 and that, And honestly, that's kind of where I came away from this 303 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:22.359 specific segment because we haven't gotten a lot of these kind of segments a not 304 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.880 a complete committal to it being half of the episode and not being you know, 305 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:32.200 a blackout sketch in between. We haven't gotten a lot of those on 306 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:36.599 the show, and I feel like that's an untapped opportunity for the show makers 307 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:42.240 and showrunners and writers to do something that's more in between, a not a 308 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.599 complete narrative, but also not just you know, kuck kuck, there's a 309 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:52.279 vampire sucking somebody's neck, and that this kind of occupies that interesting middle ground. 310 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:57.839 Made me appreciate this segment more than it might have if it had been 311 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:03.400 just a blackout segment, because again, the opportunity for this to be a 312 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.799 blackout segment is there, Like if they didn't, if they just cut some 313 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.839 of this out, it really is just a blackout segment. The fact that 314 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.319 it's not, and that it's a little bit more than that makes this one 315 00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:17.880 that I can completely understand where you're coming from. Why you why it hit 316 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.440 just right at the right time for you. Yeah, And you know, 317 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:26.039 I was basically these kids, and there's you know, it felt it felt 318 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:30.039 at the time like it understood childhood. It still feels that way to me, 319 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:33.519 Like like cerling at the at the stop. In his intro for it, 320 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:34.920 I thought he summed it up really well. He talks about, you 321 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:40.400 know, child basically childhood being obsessed with like buried treasure and X marks a 322 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:44.319 spot, like there is a time in your life when that potential for adventure 323 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:48.000 exists in your head and like maybe if I dig, I will find some 324 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:49.759 treasure. You know, I'm just gonna keep praising it over and over again. 325 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.640 I did, like I said, turn the ending over and over again 326 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.920 in my head, Like I still don't know, Like was was he a 327 00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:00.480 ghost the whole time? He was? He buried a lie and that was 328 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.880 his spectral form, Like is he just some crazy old man who' dug a 329 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:07.279 tunnel from his house to this thing? And I don't know it? Like 330 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:12.599 every possibility is terrible so that I don't know. I love this one. 331 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:21.400 Our final offering a study in depth of a gentleman from the Haka d see 332 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.160 here at the lectun delivering a most scholarly treatise this particular class. I don't 333 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:34.680 think you want to cut the paintings title Professor Peabody's Last Lecture. Our last 334 00:24:34.680 --> 00:24:40.480 segment is called Professor Peabody's Last Lecture written by Jack Laird and directed by Gerald 335 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:44.759 Friedman. There's a rumor that Steven Spielberg actually directed this, but that's I 336 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:48.559 couldn't find any facts to corroborate that, so just put it aside. This 337 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:53.160 one stars Carl Reiner as the eponymous professor and Larry Watson as August Derleth, 338 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.599 Richard Annas as Robert Block, Louise Lawson as Hazel Held. You can see 339 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:03.279 where this is going and John Collins's HP Lovecraft. They're all students in a 340 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:07.880 lecture hall where an arrogant professor, dismissive of all superstition in all of its 341 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:11.920 forms, runs headlong into a mythos he can't deny. What do you think 342 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.319 about this? When Chris, I like the idea of it. I think 343 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.599 it's fun. I appreciate Carl Ryner like having no idea how to pronounce so 344 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:27.799 many of the names of HP lovecrafts Vegas, expansive backlog of weird nugats and 345 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:34.000 we're Cthulhu creatures and yellow Kings and Carcosa and everything else. I appreciated it. 346 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:37.680 I really don't know as to what end this is about, Like another 347 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:41.799 Blackout's sketch baking a little too. I feel like a Blackouts sketch taken too 348 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:48.799 far, and I'm like, why why this one? What was what gag 349 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:51.519 were? What gag? Did they think was so funny that they needed to 350 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.480 repeat it like eight times? Yeah, it goes on for a long time 351 00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:59.480 before they get to that punchline of him changing, and I'm like, I 352 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:03.839 see the is coming a mile away, that something bad is going to happen. 353 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:07.880 I didn't necessarily see him with that fright mask with the eye sticking out, 354 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.440 but I was like, we could have got here a lot sooner. 355 00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:15.880 Guys. Yeah, I agree one percent. It's overwritten. It's over long 356 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:18.799 by half. It's an eleven minute sketch. It should have been five. 357 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:25.680 If that it's eleven minutes, that's wild to me. It feels like twenty. 358 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:30.000 It feels so, it feels like it just it feels like it's it's 359 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:34.160 it's thinking, it's so clever that it's showing you these things out of context 360 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.119 that only a certain group of people are going to know what they're talking about 361 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:41.839 immediately, and it's like, I guess, but again to what end? 362 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:47.079 Yeah, it's it's it feels almost precious in the in the use of these 363 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.880 of the circle of writers, you know, the sort of Lovecrafts people you 364 00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:55.119 gotta you gotta keep in mind that you know, up until nineteen seventy they 365 00:26:55.160 --> 00:27:00.279 were like a virtual handful of adaptations of Lovecrafts where a counted Palace, Dime, 366 00:27:00.279 --> 00:27:03.039 Monster, Dye, Crimson Cult, and Dunwich Horror. Those were at 367 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:08.160 five or four or five films, and that he Lovecraft had not appeared anywhere 368 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.720 on TV. In that regard, I think this is actually a good introduction 369 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:18.960 to him for the American TV viewing public. But that does not excuse this 370 00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:23.920 over long script and this sort of slow grind to the conclusion. It feels 371 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:29.440 a little bit like Laird was trying was competing with Serling a little bit in 372 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:32.559 the in the sheer verbosity. I disagree a little with you on this, 373 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:37.680 Chris, about his pronunciation of most of Cthulhu, and like his his pronunciations 374 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.079 are actually pretty on point, which I appreciate. Also when he's when he 375 00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:47.000 starts reading from his necronomicon, his pocket sized necronomicon, most of what he's 376 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:51.079 reading is actually the Dunwich Horror from from Lovecraft. It's like almost straight from 377 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:52.160 the from the source, which I thought was weird, but you know, 378 00:27:52.279 --> 00:27:56.680 it still works. I was kind of confused as to what was the gag 379 00:27:56.680 --> 00:28:02.359 with having Lovecraft in the audience to students. Yeah, I'm guessing like this 380 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:04.799 gave him his ideas and he was just like, oh, I got to 381 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:08.440 write this down. Oh look at the power of these old dots. A 382 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:17.160 stuttering sort of you know, spitting HB. Lovecraft's rather unusual performance. I'm 383 00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:19.599 surprised, to say the least in sprised we didn't see more from Johnny Collins. 384 00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:26.960 I think this is his only credit as someone who appreciates Cthulhu and the 385 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:32.920 works of Lovecraft. I like that it's getting highlighted in a segment on national 386 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:38.680 television in seventy one. But they this time and spent with this group of 387 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:41.640 characters I think is just a little long in the tooth. I don't know 388 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:45.480 where they would have put the time. It's not like matter of semantics or 389 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.799 big Surprise needed more time. Neither did the diary, But I don't think 390 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:52.799 it needed to be spent here continuing with Carl Reiner just going on and on 391 00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:57.880 and on, and the gag not increasing in severity quick enough to really amp 392 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:02.000 up the stakes. It takes long to get to the punchline. Why is 393 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.519 it his last lecture? He seemed fine. Yeah, I know, he 394 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:07.319 was like it was like asking questions and stuff, and I don't know if 395 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.799 his lectures would be good any good afterwards. But you know, I'd be 396 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:15.599 eager to sit in on a lecture by a tentacled monstrosity. He still seemed 397 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:21.200 very polite. I'm with you on that. I would go and see his 398 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:26.200 his lecture where his like eyeballs pop out of his skull but are like flying 399 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:30.640 around in front of his face. I particularly want to see his lectures continuing 400 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:37.240 to trash superstition. He's gonna have to rethink his syllabus. Yeah. I 401 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.839 do like the idea of a handheld necronomicon. I think if anything, that's 402 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:48.079 that's the big takeaway from this segment is having a pocket sized necronomicon always handy 403 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.920 to summon. Cthulhu and friends are just so happened to have one here. 404 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:57.079 Oh really, Okay, you're looking all over the world for one, but 405 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:04.400 here it is. Yeah, the missing pages. We're going to play a 406 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:07.920 preview of the next episode and we'll be right back to wrap things up. 407 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:14.079 Painting number one out of the real estate section of a Ghost Town Weekly, 408 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:21.680 a gingerbready item quite appropriately called housing the Ghost. This, Ladies and gentlemen, 409 00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:30.839 is the night galli as our third selection, and past that uniquely American 410 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:37.279 institution known as the Pitchment, the Wheeler and Dealer with magical lustrums guaranteed the 411 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:41.920 cure to palliate, to bring back the glow of health to everything that a 412 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:48.839 condever mottled dreams. If you will, Our painting is called Doctor Stringfellow's Rejuvenator. 413 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:57.720 Drink Hardy our final selection this evening, an import from that other regions 414 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:04.480 that in wind Scherno down below offerd you now in living color and with a 415 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:11.519 small set of sulfur. Our painting is called Hell's Bells. That's right on 416 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:15.440 the next midnight viewing, we'll be taking a look at season two, episode 417 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:19.279 nine that's broken into four segments, House with Ghost, Midnight, Visit to 418 00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:25.759 the Neighborhood, Blood Bank again, Doctor Stringfellow's Rejuvenator, and Hell's Bells. 419 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:29.279 Until next time. What are you working on and where can people find it? 420 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:32.720 Mike White, You can find my work over at the Projection Booth podcast, 421 00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:36.079 which is part of the Weirdingwaymedia Network, so you can also get at 422 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:40.319 weirdingwaymedia dot com. How about you, Chris Stash you As for everything I 423 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:45.160 work on Weirdingwaymedia dot com, I do several weekly shows and several bi weekly 424 00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:48.039 shows and several monthly shows. So I'm staying busy and you should be busy 425 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:52.960 listening to everything over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com. As for me, what they 426 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:56.839 said for my audio content, You're welcome to check out some of my other 427 00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:01.039 idiocy at father Malone dot com, but everything else is weird Ingwaymedia dot com. 428 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:06.599 Thank you all for joining us here at midnight viewing. The gallery is now closed