FIFTH AND FINAL SEASON 1963-1964
-----------------------------------
LW: The one hour format almost killed the show... it was just too long
and plots tended to really drag. Still, the show returned for one
more season. Things still continued downhill though; much of the
magic of the series was gone forever.
IN PRAISE OF PIP **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Cast: Jack Klugman, Connie Gilchrist, Billy Mumy, Bob Diamond,
John Launer, Ross Elliot, Gerald Gordon, Stuart Nesbet
Jack Klugman is outstanding as a soul-searching bookie who tries
to make up for the way he raised his son when he learns that the boy
has been seriously wounded in Vietnam. Both Billy Mumy and Bob Diamond
play the kid.
LW: Klugman's performance is the only really positive aspect of this
episode.
STEEL **
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Don Weiss
Cast: Lee Marvin, Joe Mantell, Merritt Bohn, Frank London,
Tipp McClure
In the early 1970's boxing was ruled too violent a sport for
human beings, so sophisticated androids took their place in the ring.
A small time promoter (Marvin) is forced to enter the bout when his
robot protege gets damaged.
NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: William Shatner, Christine White, Edward Kemmer, Asa Maynor,
Nick Cravat
A newly-recovered mental patient (Shatner) on an airplane flying
home peers out the window and sees a bestial creature on the wing,
tampering with one of the engines. Naturally, nobody believes his
story. Tale is enhanced by the marvelous William Tuttle monster
make-up, especially in one shocking close-up.
LW: A classic.
A KIND OF STOP WATCH ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Rich
Cast: Richard Erdman, Herbie Faye, Leon Belasco, Doris Singleton,
Roy Roberts
A talkative and rather unpopular fellow (Erdman) stumbles upon a
watch that can stop all action in the world.
LW: Another classic. Very humorous. Nice effects too.
THE LAST NIGHT OF A JOCKEY *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Mickey Rooney
Rooney is the sole star of this predictable yarn about a jockey
who thinks that being tall will solve all of his personal problems.
LW: I never liked this one at all.
LIVING DOLL ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Richard Sarifian
Cast: Telly Savalas, Tracy Stratford, Mary La Roche
A child's new doll has a most unusual vocabulary. It says things
like "Momma," "Papa" and "I'm going to kill you!".
LW: Alot of people remember this one! Telly in an interesting role.
THE OLD MAN IN THE CAVE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: James Coburn, John Anderson, Josie Lloyd, John Craven,
Natalie Masters, John Marley, Frank Watkins
A group of survivors from a nuclear holocaust continue to survive
through the help of a mysterious "old man in the cave". From a short
story by Henry Slesar.
LW: This was Coburn's only appearance in the series, and he does a
good job.
UNCLE SIMON ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Siegal
Cast: Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Ford, Ian Wolfe, John McLiam
Robby the Robot is featured in this episode. The spirit of an
old inventor avenges himself on his greedy niece when he dies at her
hands.
NIGHT CALL ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Jacques Tourneau
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Nora Marlowe, Martine Bartlett
The ladies are great in this tale about a lonely spinster
(Cooper) who suddenly starts receiving mysterious phone calls.
LW: A really good one which really manipulates your emotions.
PROBE 7 - OVER AND OUT **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Richard Basehart, Antoinette Bower, Frank Cooper, Barton Heyman
The lone survivors (Basehart, Bower) of two annihilated planets
must begin new lives together on a new world.
LW: Ho Hum type episode.
THE 7TH IS MADE UP OF PHANTOMS **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: Ron Foster, Warren Oates, Randy Boone, Robert Bray,
Wayne Mallory, Greg Morris, Jeffrey Morris, Lew Brown
Modern-day soldiers on the site of Custer's Last Stand encounter
the warring spirits of the 7th Cavalry and the Sioux nation.
LW: There is a funny story behind this episode that I will have to
relate some time. It involves a personal friend of mine. In any
case, the episode itself is largely a loser.
NINETY YEARS WITHOUT SLUMBERING **
Writer: George C. Johnson
Director: Roger Kay
Cast: Ed Wynn, Carolyn Kearney, James Callahan, Carol Byron,
John Pickard, Dick Wilson, William Sargent
An old codger (Wynn) is convinced that his life will end the
moment his grandfather's clock breaks down.
LW: Even Wynn can't help this poor plot.
RING-A-DING GIRL **
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: Maggie McNamara, Mary Munday, David Macklin, George Mitchell,
Bing Russell, Betty Lou Gerson, Hank Patterson, Bill Hickman,
Vic Perrin
Movie star Bunny Blake (McNamara) saves her home town from
tragedy by heeding a weird ring of hers that predicts the future.
YOU DRIVE ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Edward Andrews, Hellena Westcott, Kevin Hagen, Totty Ames,
John Hanek
A hit-and-run driver (Andrews) is harassed by his own car.
LW: Andrews returns to the TZ, and somehow makes this plot work
pretty well.
NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Suzy Parker, Richard Long, Pamela Austin, Collin Wilcox
The actors play multiple roles in this futuristic drama about the
loss of individuality. A young woman (Wilcox) rejects treatments that
will make her physically flawless like the rest of the people in the
drab society she lives in.
LW: There is a great flub in this episode. In one scene, if you know
where to look, you can see some cigarette smoke wafting in from a
stage hand standing off camera! A pretty good episode overall.
THE LONG MORROW **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Fleury
Cast: Robert Lansing, Mariette Hartley, George MacReady, Edward Binns
A scientist hopes that by refusing to use a suspended animation
apparatus on a thirty year space probe he will remain in the same age
ratio as the woman he loves.
LW: The cast is the only quality element of this segment. Otherise it
is pretty dull and boring.
THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT OF SALVATORE ROSS **
Writer: Henry Selsar and Jerry McNelley
Director: Don Siegal
Cast: Don Gordon, Gail Kobe, Vaughn Taylor, Douglass Dumbrille,
Doug Lambert, J. Pat O'Malley
A man (Gordon) tries to parlay his strange ability to trade
traits with other people into a perfect life.
LW: Not one of the better ones.
BLACK LEATHER JACKETS ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Lee Kinsolving, Shelly Fabares, Michael Forest, Tom Gilleran,
Denver Pyle, Irene Harvey, Michael Conrad
The three young motorcyclists who ride into a sleepy community
are actually invaders from space who intend to contaminate the Earth's
water supply.
LW: Somehow, this one actually comes out rather good.
FROM AGNES-WITH LOVE ***
Writer: Barney Scofield
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Wally Cox, Ralph Taeger, Sue Randall, Raymond Biley, Don Keefer
Serio-comedy, as an advanced computer falls in love with its
technician (Cox).
LW: Wally Cox is excellent in this fable for programmers.
SPUR OF THE MOMENT ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Diana Hyland, Marsha Hunt, Roger Davis, Robert Hogan,
Phillip Ober
Odd melodrama about a woman (Hyland) who confronts the
frightening vision of her future self.
LW: Time recursion plays a major role in this episode.
STOPOVER IN A QUIET TOWN ****
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Barry Nelson, Nancy Malone, Denise Lynn, Karen Norris
A married couple (Nelson, Malone) wake up one morning in
a strange town where everything is artificial, and the air is
filled with a child's laughter.
LW: A TZ classic. Very good indeed.
QUEEN OF THE NILE **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Ann Blyth, Lee Phillips, Celia Lovsky, Ruth Phillips,
Frank Ferguson
An inquisitive reporter (Phillips) tries to find the key to
the apparent immortality of a glamorous movie star (Blyth), who is
currently playing the "Queen of the Nile." Prepare yourself for an
unusually gruesome finale!
LW: The ending may be gruesome, but that doesn't save this episode,
which steals elements from other TZ episodes.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX ***
Writer: Martin Goldsmith
Director: Dick Baer
Cast: William Demerest, Sterling Holloway, Herbert Lytton,
Howard Wright
Cab driver (Demerest) sees himself killing his wife on the
television set. Later remade as the premier episode of William
Castle's GHOST STORY.
LW: Demerest (Uncle Charlie in "My Three Sons") and Holloway (a
favorite of mine, he played one of the wacky professors in the
"Superman" television show and has had many character roles),
do their best in this basically weak plot. It too stole plot
elements from various TZ episodes.
THE MASKS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Robert Keith, Milton Selzer, Virginia Gregg, Brooke Hayward,
Alan Sues
Another grisly horror tale that benefits from William Tuttle's
make-up. A dying millionaire forces his evil, greedy family into
wearing grotesque masks that match their inner selves. Alan Sues, a
few years before his LAUGH-IN success, has a minor role as the man's
sadistic nephew.
LW: Not well known, but deserving of "classic" status. A minor
favorite of mine.
I AM THE NIGHT-COLOR ME BLACK *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Michael Constatine, Paul Fix, George Lindsay, Terry Becker,
Ivan Dixon
Symbolic, talky message piece. On the day an idealistic young
man is to be executed for the willful murder of a bigot, the sun
fails to shine on a small western town.
LW: Awful. Terrible. Bad. One of the worst.
CAESAR AND ME **
Writer: A. T. Strassfield
Director: Robert Butler
Cast: Jackie Cooper, Suzanne Cupito, Stafford Repp, Sarah Selby,
Don Gazaniga, Sidney Marion, Ken Konopka
Continuing a gimmick started earlier in "Dead of Night", a
ventriloquist's dummy comes to life and offers his master some
pretty unusual advice. This was one of the first television
scripts to be written by a woman.
LW: Another "dummy" story. Sigh.
THE JEOPARDY ROOM ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Martin Landau, John VanDreelen, Robert Kelljan
A defector is captured by a hired assassin and given three hours
to earn his freedom.
LW: Landau returns in this well executed episode (no pun intended).
MR. GARRITY AND THE GRAVES **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: John Dehner, Stanley Adams, J. Pat O'Malley, Norman Leavitt
A traveling salesman (Dehner) tells the backward members of a
small community that he can raise the dead. Later remade (sort of) as
an episode of "Night Gallery" called "Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator."
THE BRAIN CENTER AT WHIPPLE'S ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Richard Deacon, Paul Newlan, Ted DeCorsia, Burt Conroy
Robby the Robot makes another Twilight Zone appearance in this
story about a callous executive (Deacon) who hopes to improve his
corporation by replacing all the employees with machines.
LW: A slightly different model of Robbie appeared in each of these
episodes, by the way...
COME WANDER WITH ME **
Writer: Tony Wilson
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Gary Crosby, Bonnie Beacher, Hank Patterson, John Bolt
Haunting tale about the doom awaiting a fraudulent folk singer
who persuades a backwoods girl to sing him an authentic folk ballad.
THE FEAR ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Hazel Court, Mark Richman
Everything is relative in this story about an unhinged woman and
a state trooper who sights a giant alien in a California park.
LW: Not bad at all.
THE BEWITCHIN' POOL ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Mary Badham, Tim Stafford, Kim Hector, Tod Andrews, Dee Hartford
The last show of the series is about two neglected children
who escape their constantly bickering parents by diving into their
swimming pool and emerging in a mysterious, but loving, world.
NON-SYNDICATED EPISODES
-----------------------
The following episodes were originally broadcast on the network
but have been pulled out of syndication. Unfortunately, no cast or
credits are available.
SOUNDS AND SILENCE ???
A SHORT DRINK FROM A CERTAIN FOUNTAIN **
LW: A man wants to become young again, and obtains a rejuvenating
potion in the hopes of accomplishing this.
THE ENCOUNTER ???
OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE *****
This was actually an award winning French short subject picked up
by Rod Serling for one network play on the TWILIGHT ZONE. Based on a
classic tale by Ambrose Bierce, it is set during the Civil War and
concerns a man about to be hung.
LW: EXCELLENT!
______________________________
LW: Epilog:
And so it ends. By the end of the series, Serling had already
lost substantial control over the production of the show, and
was rapidly becoming disgusted by the start of the fifth season.
He began having as little as possible to do with the series since
he did not have the control he wanted. He began filming several
show intros at once in front of a neutral gray backround, instead
of placing himself in the action as in earlier shows. These intros
could then be simply edited into the series as production
continued.
He had hoped that "Night Gallery" would provide the situation he
needed for his creativity, but such was not to be the case. He
ended up with even less control over this series, and the show was
quickly degenerated by management into a series of dull episodes
on ESP. Serling NEVER liked this show.
It goes to prove that television is indeed a magic medium. It can
destroy anything that crosses its path, however good that thing
was to start with. But at least we have lots of GOOD Twilight
Zone episodes to look back at and reflect on.
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