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. Critics of season five
of The Twilight Zone will say that this is the season where the show starts
to run out of ideas, that it was now just recycling old episodes with
a slightly different take. And tonight when we meet Kennel Cook, an astronaut
in a ragged flight suit, sat in the remnants of his christ ship.
As fans of the show, how could we not immediately be reminded of episodes
like I Shot an Arrow into the Air, people are alike all over or
death Ship. But just because an episode is reminiscent of other ones, it
doesn't mean that it's not going to forge its own path. And here on
the Twilight Zone podcast, every episode gets a fair chance. A Probe seven
telling base, this is pro seven, Probe seven of the landing report overdio
Base overdio prop seven, this is base Probe seven. This is base.
You're coming through lowber audibly, go ahead, prop seven gradually into a planet
system four point three light years, my son, most of my equipment's gone
as at the moment, I don't know this planet's density or it's atmospheric composition,
but I'm alive and breathing. Your visual image is very indistinct. Can
you increase your power? And that half a generator and free solver sales left?
Just how I'm getting through to you? I can't you explain? Can
you effect repairs? If so, how long you asked me it will take?
I remember twenty years you right, arm, Maybe replace my head.
I can make a start and shot. I'm sure I need help. I
need help desperately. I need it right away. Retract you on impulses to
your approximate locations. We have nothing back here that can reach you, nothing
so familiar. It may be, But let us not forget that the writer
of tonight's episode is Rod Sailing, a man who time and time again has
shown us that is talent for picking up an old idea, putting a fresh
coat of paint on it, and making something even more worthwhile is considerable.
So let's not count him out just yet, And hopefully we won't have to
count out Cannel Cook either, and this truly won't be a case of probe.
Seven over and out one. Colonel Cook a traveler in space. He's
landed on a remote planet several million miles from his point of departure. He
can make an inventory of his plight by just one three hundred and sixty degree
movement of head and eyes. Colonel Cook has been set adrift in an ocean
of space in a metal lifeboat that has been scorched and destroyed and will never
fly again. He survived the crash, but his ordeal is yet to begin.
Now he must give battle of loneliness. Now Colonel Cook must meet the
unknown. It's a small planet set deepened space, but for Colonel Cook,
it's the Twilight. First broadcast on November twenty nine, nineteen sixty three,
written by Rod Sailing and directed by Ted Poe. So I'm still waiting for
my perfect season five. Rod Sailing in the scene opening narration, and I'm
not sure I get it tonight, but there are still some things to enjoy
in this one. Sailing seems to be stood in front of some generic spaceship
arched doors, and when we see the crash ship in a moment the Colonel
Cook is on. They don't seem to particularly fit with that ship. But
I always enjoy when an episode is in the future or the past or a
different world, just seeing how Rod Sailing fits into that scene. But what
I really like about this one is how Rod Sailing performs it with a certain
grave urgency, setting up a sense of impending danger. And twice he drives
this home by pointing towards the audience as he talks. And this opening narration
was originally scripted to be slightly longer, and it went like this one.
Cannel Cook a traveler in space. He's landed on a remote planet several million
miles from his point of departure. He can make an inventory of his plate
by just one three hundred and sixty degree movement of head and eyes. Cannel
Cook has been set adrift in an ocean of space in a metal lifeboat that
has been scorched and destroyed and will never fly again. He has survived a
crash, he has lived through the impact of flaming metal smashing against the atmosphere,
and what was beyond for his ordeal is yet to begin. Now he
must give battle to loneliness. Now he must stand up and face what awaits
him on the other side of the bulkhead. Now Colonel Cook must meet the
unknown. It's a small planet set deep in space, but for Carnell Cook,
it's the Twilight Zone. So although this was written by Rod Sailing,
there is a sense that he might not have been entirely happy with it.
And the director of this one was Ted Post and this is what he said
in Unlocking the Door to a television classic by Martin Graham's Junior. He said,
Richard Basehart and Antoinette Bauer were professional actors who worked together. Of all
the episodes I filmed, that was a breeze I recalled. The script was
nothing out of the ordinary. Rod told me that he felt it could have
been better. He granted me an exclusive to do what I could do to
improve the scenes. With actors like Richard and Antoinette, that was never a
problem. It's serendipitous that the last episode that we looked at was directed by
Don Siegel, the director of the Clintesau classic Derty Harry, Because to Night
behind the Camera is the director of its fair sequel, Magnum Force. But
although Siegel directed Derty Harry, facet ted Post beat him to the Twilight Zone
because Ted Post has been around for a while in the Fifth Dimension, haven't
directed the fair season episode A World of Difference. But then there is this
huge gap until he comes back in season five to direct Probe seven over and
out. And we'll see him again when he directs Mister Garretty and the Graves
and the Fear. So it's been so long that who knows what I said
about him in season one. Let's go back and take a look at the
life of Ted Post. He was born on March thirty face, nineteen eighteen
and brought in New York and he developed a passion for storytelling and filmmaking from
a young gage and it said that this came about from when he worked as
a nusher in a movie theater. And he began his career in the entertainment
industry as a theater director, working on various productions in New York City,
but his true calling lay in the world of cinema and he soon transitioned into
directing films and in the nineteen fifties, Ted Post made his mark in the
industry by helming a series of b movies and low Budger genre films. He
directed western's crime dramas, science fiction, and some of us Notable early works
include The Peacemaker in nineteen fifty six, The Hangman in nineteen fifty nine,
and The Legend of Tom Dooley also in nineteen fifty nine and liked on Segelt
also directed Clint Eastwood, although not quite in as many movies as Don Siegel
did. He directed them in the western Hangham High in nineteen sixty eight,
which was Clint Eastwood's retained to the US after becoming a superstar, following his
run of spaghetti westerns, culminating in the classic The Good, the Bad,
and the Ugly and then, of course That is That Deity Harry sequel Magnum
Force in nineteen seventy three. But as well as his work in feature films,
ted Post also left his mark on television with some of the favorite shows
at the time, including Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, and Rawhide, and in
the seventies and eighties he continued to direct feature films exploring different genres and themes,
and of course I could not mention that he directed the first Planet of
the Ape sequel Beneath The Planet of the Apes nineteen seventy and he developed somewhat
of a talent for working with smaller budgets but making the most of them,
and his contributions to the entertainment industry extended beyond directing, and he saved us
the president of the Director's Guild of America from nineteen seventy one to nineteen seventy
three, where he worked to promote the interests and the welfare of fellow directors,
and he lived a good long life, passing away in twenty thirteen.
Now, when Colonel Cook exits his spacecraft, we get a really nice view
of the exterior of the ship, and it's embedded into the side of an
embankment, and as we can see, this is a craft that looks like
it's made to carry only one or two people in it, which again makes
the archway that sailing was stood in front of earlier not a particularly great fit
for this type of ship. But the craft itself, I really like,
probably one of the best setups of the show's history in terms of showing something
like this. And apparently it was originally used on that other show, The
Outer Limits in the episode Specimen Unknown, but Kayuga Productions bought it from them
once they had finished with it, and they used to hear and it makes
a change from the usual forbidden planet props at least. But now that as
boots are on the planet floor, Colonel Cook wonders that thing that we would
all wonder. Am I alone? Anybody around here? Anybody hear me?
So as Colonel Cook goes back to his ship, the music swells ominously and
the bushes outside begin to unnaturally rustle, suggesting that maybe he isn't alone.
So as Kennel Cook retreats to the safety of his ship and tries to radio
back to Bass lets meet the man who played him. Kennel Cook is played
by Richard Basshart and he was born John Richard Basshart in nineteen fourteen in Zanesville,
Ohio, and he initially worked as a radio announcer and then as a
reporter, following in his father's footsteps, but apparently there was controversy over one
of his stories in the paper which led to his departure, and he decided
to pursue an acting career, and in nineteen thirty two, Basshart made his
theatrical debut with The Right Player's Stock Company in his hometown and subsequently spent five
years playing varied roles at the Hedgerow Theater in Philadelphia, and from nineteen thirty
eight he began to work in New York on and off Broadway, and seven
years later he received a New York Drama Critics Circle Best Newcomer Award for The
Hasty Heart, a drama by John Patrick in which Bashart played a dying Scottish
soldier. And he made his film debut in a movie called Repeat Performance in
nineteen forty seven, and his third picture, He Walked By Night in nineteen
forty eight, brought him critical acclaim for his performance as a sociopathic killer.
Now by the time he got to the Twilight Zone, he had already starred
in several films, and as TV became a thing, he transitioned into that
as well. And after his appearance in the Twilight Zone, he continued doing
what he did, being a hard working actor of the day, and from
nineteen sixty four to nineteen sixty eight he played the lead role of Admiral Harriman
Nelson in Erwin Alan science fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
and with that great gravelly voice of his, he provided narration for various
television and movie projects, and he wasn't afraid to take any kind of job
later on in his career. One of my favorite roles that I've seen them
in is the nineteen seventy six movie Mansion of the Doomed also known as Eyes,
where he plays a doctor trying to restore his daughter's eyesight by stealing the
eyes from various people. And it's as shlocky as they come, but base
Heart approaches it with an earnestness and a seriousness that belies the silliness of the
story. And that's what he did with all of his work. He was
the gravity that could keep any project on the ground, no matter how silly
it might see. But most of all, the thing that I will remember
him for is his opening narration to one of my favorite shows as a child,
and the part that he played in it. His final role was as
Wilton Knight, the millionaire benefactor of the Night Foundation in Nightrider. Light Rider,
a shadowy played into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist,
Michael Knight, a young loner on a prencide to don't be on the
cause of the innocence, the helpless, the powerless, in the world of
criminals who operate above the law. A night rider turned out to be his
final role because he passed away in nineteen eighty four in Los Angeles, California,
following multiple strokes. But I think what I mentioned earlier about base Heart
having this gravitask that he brings to ridiculous materials, sometimes I think that earnestness
and that gravity really works well in this episode, And no matter how I
end up feeling about it, overall, I really do enjoy Richard Baseheart in
it. So when Colonel Cook gets in touch with his base, he discovers
that his world is on the brink of a war, a war that may
threaten their whole existence. There's always a major crisis, and there's always talk
of war. You'll forgive me, General, but my own problem has a
little more immediacy for me. It's a little more personalized. I've got a
week's food left and two broken bones and one arm. Can't another ship be
sent out for me? There isn't another ship, Cook, unless we build
one. If we have war in the next few hours, there isn't going
to be anybody left around to do any building. That's the realistic view kernel
that may go down hard, but those are the facts of life. Ten
hours from now, perhaps six four hours will be committed back here. I'm
talking half a billion people kernel, not just one lonely man. As early
on as this, the episode is setting up the groundwork for part of the
twist, and it is a twist that we've seen in this very show.
At this point, Cook talks about the planet he's on as having an atmosphere
and a gravity similar to his home planet. And Cook and the person he's
conversing with on his monitor both look human. We have no reason to suspect
otherwise. Now you will recall that there had been a shuffling of producers recently
on The Twilight Zone, and this is the first episode where William Fruge became
the producer of the show. And when he came on board, Rod Sailing
wrote to him and said, I am simply delighted that you're aboard. I
think this could be the beginning of some very good times. And Martin Graham's
junior writes that Sailing also enclosed the slightly revised version of Probe seven over and
out, and he says I did not puts a round with any of the
lines that are so definitely earthlike, but I did add in a beat or
two to give it a little more bulk and movement. If you drop me
a note giving me your ideas on line changers, or if you'd like to
do those line changers yourself, it would be just fine. So is that
another indication that maybe Sailing wasn't one hundred percent happy with this one? But
is it just him being his usual gracious self. One of the episodes of
The Twilight Zone that this is reminiscent of is the episode Third from the Sun,
which we discussed a long time ago, and if you remember, that
story featured William Staker and his family who lived on a planet that we assumed
was Earth and they wanted to flee from it, and the twist was that
they were not on Earth, but the planet they were heading to was.
But the writers were fair and they gave us some subtle clues that the planet
they were on wasn't Earth, such as the weird music and the unusual decorations
in their homes. But in this episode, later on we learned the Cannel
Cook isn't from Earth, but he has landed on it. But we don't
really get any hints like that. But overall, at this stage in the
proceedings, I'm liking what this episode has given us. That are these duel
aspects to the show. Colonel Cook's home worlds being at war, and then
soon clues begin to appear that he may not be alone on this planet,
which begins with the discovery of some shapes drawn in the debt outside his ship.
So does intrigue here what's going to happen to his home world? Who
is the mysterious being that is outside? So this is a good start to
the episode, But things are not going well on Cook's home world. Probe
seven, this is base, this is our last contact Cook. Just a
few minutes ago we got ours five increase in the radioactivity around us. From
what we can gather, the enemy head it just as bad as we did.
We wipe them out, they wiped us out. Just one last forlorn
wish for your son, whoever you meet there, however you meet them.
I hope it can come without fear. I hope it can come without anger.
I hope your new world will be different. I hope you'll find no
words such as hate. I hope they'll be now. Unfortunately, Kenel Cook
was knocked out after taking a tumble when the message comes that there will be
no more contact from his home planet. They and the others that they were
fighting have pretty much destroyed each other. But when he wakes up, he
goes back into his ship and we get a scene where he and the unknown
being that is on this planet with him communicate via a series of knocks on
the metal in his ship, and then that being makes off into the woods.
Cook pursues them and discovers that it's a beautiful woman. What's gonna happen
in films? I'm gonna wake up for this an. I'm going to charge
out of bed like a rocket. I'm going to tell him back home.
We can talk about dreams from now on, But I get the prize for
the most imaginative dream of a space age. Understand you understand? You do
understand anything I'm saying. To be honest, I barely understand what he's talking
about. Surely this is a time when Rod might have just overwritten a scene
a little bit. I think, who are you? And can you understand
me? Or probably the face things that would have come out of my mouth
rather than that dream speech. But respect to Richard Basehart for pulling it off.
So the person that he discovers is a woman played by Antoinette Bauer and
She was born in nineteen thirty two in barden Bar in Germany and grew up
in Canada. And she developed a passion for acting at a young age and
began her journey in the performing arts. She received formal training and acting studying
at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and the Hair acting career
spanned several decades too, and she made her television debut in nineteen fifty eight
in a TV movie of The Telltale Heart and then plunged into an acting career
where she barely stopped. She was in shows like Perry Mason, The Man
from Uncle, Star Trek, The Wild Wild West, and the volume of
her nineteen sixties work is pretty massive, so she was truly a hard working
actor of the day. And the seventies saw Hair take roles in popular shows
like Colombo, The Six Million Dollar Man and Cojack, and like her co
star Richard Basehart, she didn't mind getting into a bit of shocky horror either.
When she played Missus Hammond in the nineteen eighty movie prom night, and
it seems that she retired from acting in nineteen ninety two when she finished a
forty two episode run in a show called Neon Rider. And at the time
of recording, Antoinette is still with us, and I hope she's enjoyed a
long and relaxing retirement. Now, you would expect that when asked about a
time on The Twilight Zone, she would come up with a suitably sweet comment
about how great everything was and how wonderful everyone was. But Martin Graham's junior
in Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, relays a refreshingly honest response to
that question. She says, this is not what I would call a behind
the scene story, But for myself, I always think that anyone in this
profession would subscribe to what happens on the set stays on the set. It
is a fact that we have selective memories, and heaven knows what happens to
memories from well over four and a half decades ago. I'm not much of
a nostalgia fan, and I just wouldn't want to think about it, except
that in the case of Probe seven, over and out beyond the pleasure of
working with Richard Baseheart and director Ted posts not entirely tongue in cheek instructions to
run round the backlot for real breathlessness. That is something I will never forget.
I worried through the entire show about being able to make a charter flight
to Washington for the August twenty eighth March. It looked at one point as
if we might overrun on schedule. On the other hand, I was desperate
to get to the march. In the end, we wrapped in time,
but in my anxious mind it was too tight. The flight left that evening
later unexpected because we waited for Harry Bellafonte to finish his show at the Greek
Theater. I made it in time. No need to say that the event
was unforgettable. It was extraordinary. It was one of the times one truly
felt fond of the human race. And the march she is referring to is,
of course, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that occurred in
Washington, d C. On August twenty eighth, nineteen sixty three, a
massive protest march to advocate for civil and economic rights for African Americans, which
may be best known for Martin Luther King Junior's I have a dream speech,
which he delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Now, initially, Antoinette's
character identifies herself as no Order, and the episode is this back and forth
between Hare and Cook, and clearly they don't speak the same language, and
they try to communicate by drawing in the date. And there's an incident where
Cook quite innocently picks up a piece of metal that he had been carrying,
and this scares no Order off and they have to rebuild that trust again.
And I think after a strong faced half of the episode, this is where
it starts to run out of steam a little bit for me. And maybe
it's not the fault of the episode, but the spaceman finding the mute but
beautiful woman is a bit of a cliche. Now. An obvious example is
Taylor and Nova in Planets of the Apes, which admittedly does come later,
but that's kind of the point. I think this trope has been used so
often now that even if this were one of the fair shows to do,
the fact that it has been you so often does make you feel a bit
cliche. Now, the suggestion with Norder seems to be that she too has
escaped a planet, but this one is a planet that has broken away from
its son's orbit, and she is the sole survivor of the passengers on his
ship. Well, I canofer food and I can offer companionship. We can
spend the rest of our lives together drawing diagrams, which would become rather tedious,
but the brighter of us will have to learn the other's language eventually.
Come Lada, eat understand eat food, Eat food, food food. I
guess what I'm wondering so far in this episode is what is it all about?
Is it just a story or is there any kind of message or subtext
to it, because it seems at a time Sailing is trying to put some
meaning in. There is a comment that this is how people ultimately respond to
each other, with fear and suspicion, and that's always welcome, but at
this stage in the episode, it doesn't seem to be what the episode has
been about. And ultimately, I think that's what is the biggest problem with
this one, the disconnect between the body of the episode and what happens in
the end. It will help, but we could to mitigates. Start right
now, what do you call this in your language. H M. We've
just given this place a name. All right, we'll color death m h
Cook Cook, Adam Cook, Adam Cook, norda nor if all right,
Dave, Oh, I just possessed. Now we're going to possess. This
is a home. Now, this is in the Twilight Zone. Companion Mark
Zickri says Probe seven over an outsets up a situation filled with a number of
traumatic possibilities. An astronaut is stranded on an alien planet. Meanwhile, his
home world is devastated by nuclear war. Colonel Adam Cook is a Robinson Crusoe
in space with no hope of rescue. He has a lifetime ahead of him
with an unknown world full of strange beauties and horrors, to explore what waits
for him beyond the door of his wrecked spacecraft. Unfortunately, what waits beyond
the door is one of the oldest science fiction chestnuts known to man. Colonel
Cook is Adam, the woman he discovers is Eve, and the planet let's
just call that Earth. What could have been a marvelous adventure instead becomes something
that, had it been written as a short story, would have been rejected
by every science fiction magazine at the time because it had been done to death
many years earlier, and I think on that point Mark Zikr isn't wrong.
In nineteen forty one, in Thrilling Wonder Stories, Robert Arthur presented the story
Evolution's End, about an old world coming to an end and Adam and Aver
surviving to start everything over. And then in nineteen forty two in Blue Book,
Nelson S. Bond wrote another world begins, and in this story God
is an alien and Adam and Eve are experimental creatures who proved to be too
clever for him. So this whole alternate explanation for Adam and Eve had been
done before. But when I watched this one, that wasn't the immediate thing
that stood out to me, because to be fair, I haven't read those
stories. But what did stand out to me was how derivative it was of
other Twilight Zone episodes, where is everybody a man alone own in an unknown
place said from the sun. We assume that the people were watching it from
Earth, but they're not. Two a man and a woman who can't communicate
with each other form a bond. And there are probably more examples, and
when you blend them together, you have several of the things that go into
making Probe seven over and out. But does that make it bad? I
don't think so, but perhaps it stops it from pulling itself up into the
top tier of Twilight zones. I really like the setup. I genuinely think
it's good. You know, the crisis on each end of the communication,
Cook being injured and stranded on one side and his home planet being on the
brink of destruction on the other. But in the end, none of this
really seems to matter. It's just a device to have Cook be stranded on
the planet to set up this Adam and Eve thing. Now to maybe give
it the benefit of the doubt. There is a thread running through the episode
that I think might be reaching for something, but I'm not sure it quite
gets there. General Larabee, before he signs off, says that he hopes
Cook's new home is in a world without hate, a world better than the
one he came from. Later on, Cook recognizes that people react to each
other with fear, and this is the usual response, and this is a
bad thing. But ultimately him, Adam and her Eve overcome their fear and
unite, which is all well and good. But if this is indeed or
origin. We still sit in a world where hate exists, so it's not
a particularly hopeful ending. So ultimately there doesn't seem to be more h point
or meaning to the episode. Everything is just a set up to the twist,
a twist which says, maybe the story of Adam and Eve isn't quite
how it's presented to us in the Bible. Perhaps this is actually how it
happened, but years and the retelling has remolded it and reshaped it into something
else. It has passed from truth into myth or religious narrative, depending on
your point of view. And I do find that kind of interesting, but
but that's not really what it's exploring. I think the story I'm more interested
in probably comes after this one. How did the truth of it become the
story that we end up reading in the Bible? Interestingly, Rod Sailing is
quite noncommittal in his closing narration about this being definitely the Adam and Eve of
the Bible. He doesn't commit to saying that the Bible is presenting a mythologized
version of this true version of the story. His stance seems to be,
well, it could be, but that's not for me. To say,
which is perhaps a wise stance to take so as not to cause offense.
So it might seem like I'm pretty down on this one, but I actually
think it's okay. I think Richard Bashart carries the weight of the episode pretty
well and he's a very watchable lead. But over in the After Hours Club
on Patreon, where me and my co host Emmy review the nineteen eighties and
the two thousands episodes of The Twilight Zone, we often use the phrase twilight
Zone by the numbers, and that's episodes that seem to do a lot of
things right will have an artificiality to them. They hit the beats, but
they don't really have to spark or much going on under the surface, and
I think it's fair to say that in the case of Probe seven over and
out, this one is kind of Twilight Zone by the numbers. It's got
a great setup, but when they start dropping those Adam and Eve references at
the end, they clang like lead hitting the floor. I didn't dislike it,
but it's it's family in the mid tier for me. Unlike Adam Cook's
ship, that doesn't seem to be much hope of it ever leaving do you
know these people? Names familiarity, they lived a long time ago. Perhaps
they're pipe feeble, perhaps they're pipe fantasy, and perhaps the place they're walking
to now is not really called Eden. We offer it only as a presumption
this has been the Twilight Zone. So there we go. Probe seven over
and out. Another season five episode done. And as always every month,
I go over to the members in the after hours club at patreon dot com
slash Twilight Zone podcast, and I put up a pole where people can vote
whether they think it's top tier, Twilight Own, middle tier, or bottom
and I think the results are quite unsurprising. Five percent call it top tier,
seventy six percent call it middle tier, and nineteen percent say it's bottom
tier. And there's a few good comments from the members over there. Our
friend Duncommon NASA says this episode is the definition of middle tier. Cool concept,
but dragged execution, semi predictable twist. I agree with you on that
one. Sir Jordan Dlik says, the ending seems a bit predictable and I
feel like it detracts from the episode a bit. But the first half of
it him communicating with his contact requesting help hearing news about war. That part
is much more effective than it used to be as a kid, when it
just seemed like a lot of chatter. I found that material especially good In
the radio drama, the episode feels a bit like a rewrite of two,
and I tend to mix up the ending of this with the ending of that.
Despite this, I've come to like this one for the horror of getting
to hear a personal narrative of the end of mankind via radio, even if
the rest of it seems a little derivative, Pretty solidly middle tier. Yeah,
I agree with what you're saying there, and I did check out the
radio version as well. I pondered whether to include that because the radio version,
the vast majority of it is made up of this back and forth between
him and the planet, his home planet, and then it's almost like the
last there is when he meets when he meets Eve. Good friends of the
show, Al Shadesman says, it has its moments of suspense and mystery,
but I can't get past the clunker of an ending, an ending that Mark
scott zikri correctly cause one of the oldest science fiction chestnuts known to man.
Strangely, Rod seemed unaware of this if we can believe his unpredictable ending that
we doubt if even the most seasoned t Z fans will be able to pick
up before it happens on your screen plug at the end of Uncle Simon.
It's not completely worthless. It's not ninety years without slumbering. It's top of
the bottom tier, but it's still bottomed tier. That's a good point about
Rodd's making that comment at the end of Uncle Simon. I should probably have
addressed that, but now I don't have to because you have also. Thank
you. Champagne Drum says, I guess the tank was getting empty by this
point creatively, but it does have the right parts of a good episode and
is repeat watchable. Jay Howard says the ending on this episode was so abrupt.
I mean they are Adam and Eve now. Not a great episode,
but not anywhere near the top either. Nice to see Richard Basehart, however,
Yeah, it did just sort of wrap up, didn't It's like,
Okay, we're Adam and Eve. Now he's a garden, here's an apple,
let's get going. Roger Moore says, Probe seven reminds me of past
Twilight Turn episodes. Cook just like Steaker and Riding is an alien being.
I can't remember if Cook's destination is Planet Earth like it is for Steaking and
Riding and Third from the Sun, but Planet Earth is part of the twist
ending in both episodes, Cook crash lands on a mysterious planet where he must
face loneliness and the unknown, just as Conrad does in People Are Alike All
Over. Finally, the language barrier between Cook and Ea reminds me of Charles
Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery in the episode two Speaking of two? Is it just
me or does antwinap Bowers Makeup and Look remind anyone else of Elizabeth Montgomery's character
in that episode. Yeah, You're not wrong on that, Roger anyway,
It's still a good mid tier episode. Pala Cleanser. On the trivia side,
Night Cole was supposed to air after Uncle Simon, but was shown later
in the season. The network pulled all of its programming just hours before airtime
because of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On the following week,
programming had returned to its regular schedule and Probe seven air Thanks for that
trivia man I mentioned here before my co host over in the After Hours Club.
Emmy, she said, sadly, a grown worthy ending to a fairly
mediocre episode. I remember being quite surprised at how it ended, but didn't
find it very sad as flying or the twist gripping to keep it memorable.
The episode two did the relationship and loanliness aspect of it a lot better than
this one. Probe seven is just far too slow, meandering throughout the phase
twenty five minutes of the episode, and seems to rely heavily on the final
twist rather than creating something meaningful and character heavy. Sadly, I'm not a
fan of this one, thank you, Emmy. And then Jason Schwartz says,
my first instinct was to say lower, but I decided to watch it
again before I voted, and I'm glad I did. I decided on the
middle tier because I liked the episode despite all its flaws. It's a bit
tropy, not a lot is happening, and it ends rather quickly, but
Richard Basehart is great as Adam Cook, and even though not a lot is
happening, I like what is happening. Also, I like the camera work,
direction, and overall feel. It doesn't get a gold star but also
it's not a thing about machines or mute. So there's that, Thank you,
Jason. Okay, so those are comments from our friends over in the
after hours club. Now, I was back and forth a little about,
you know, continuing in the after hours club because you know, the twilight
Zone podcast is not going to be around forever. We're in the final season.
We're on the final run, but I've decided to keep it around for
another year. Now is the time to get on over there. There is
a massive back catalog of podcasts on there, looking at the eighties twilight Zone,
the two thousands twilight Zone, and going to be retaining to the twenty
nineteen twilight Zone. But there's episodes on night Gallerries, there's episodes on the
Loaner. There is a multitude of things over there. So it might be
your last chance to hear a lot of these things. So it's a good
opportunity to jump on board. And that is at patreon dot com slash twilight
Zone podcast. Rod Serling, creator of the twilight Zone. We'll tell you
about next week's story after this message. If you want to get your thoughts
onto the show about a previous Twilight Zone episode or our next Twilight Zone episodes.
Then drop me an MP three clip at tom at the Twilight Zone podcast
dot com of about five minutes or less, and I will play your clip
on the show. So let's go over to Rod Sailing to find out what
is coming up next. Now, mister Sterling, next time Twilight Zone.
Three National Guardsmen out of maneuver traveling across the same ground formerly occupied by George
Custer and outfit called the Seventh Cavalry. Time and its Infinite Complexity Measures and
one of ours is a stunningly different story about soldiers and Indians suspending limbo between
then and Now and Twilight Zone Next. The Seventh is made up of phantoms.