“the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone” All-Time Top Ten Episodes list. The Twilight Zone is a television series, which originally aired from 1959 thru 1964 and was created by Rod Serling. There were 156 episodes, all narrated by Rod Serling and all in black & white. The series provided a rather unique and, at times, disturbing look into the topics of the day and the human condition. There were stories with a supernatural storyline like a young boy whose imagination became real, stories dealing with visitors from outer space, the after-life and real-life fears like nuclear war. It took ordinary people and put them in extraordinary situations, except for the ones with astronauts – they are not “ordinary” people. The original series went off the air in 1964 but was revived for a brief run in the 1980’s (1985-89) and 2000’s (2002-03) but the revivals never caught the public’s imagination like the original.
I particularly like the episodes with a surprise twist at the end and the ones with Burgess Meredith. I grew up watching the show in re-runs and so have my children. My wife is a fan, particularly of the Billy Mumy episodes It’s a Good Life and In Praise of Pip, but she isn’t likely to sit through a marathon like I am. The list below represents my Top 10 and they all came without having to give it a thought. I could easily expand this list by another 5 or 10, or more, because I am thinking of other episodes as I write. Now, without further ado, I present my list in no particular order:
- Time Enough at Last
- The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
- To Serve Man
- Mr. Dingle the Strong
- Living Doll
- A Game of Pool
- It’s a Good Life
- The Masks
- Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
- The Obsolete Man
As mentioned earlier there are terrific episodes that would have made the list had I gone for 15 or 20 instead of 10. Some of those are People Are Alike All Over, Number 12 Looks Just Like You, Eye of the Beholder, Ninety Years Without Slumbering, Printer’s Devil, The Silence and In Praise of Pip. In fact, of the 156 episodes there are probably only a handful or so that I don’t particularly care for but I couldn’t tell you which without looking at a list.
If you have never watched The Twilight Zone I encourage you to do so and let me know what you think. If you are a fan I would love to hear what you think of my list – what doesn’t belong and what I missed. Leave a Top 10 of your own in the comments below.
The graphics were downloaded from Pixabay and a composite was created by the author using Photoshop.
“the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone” All-Time Top Ten Episodes list. The Twilight Zone is a television series, which originally aired from 1959 thru 1964 and was created by Rod Serling. There were 156 episodes, all narrated by Rod Serling and all in black & white. The series provided a rather unique and, at times, disturbing look into the topics of the day and the human condition. There were stories with a supernatural storyline like a young boy whose imagination became real, stories dealing with visitors from outer space, the after-life and real-life fears like nuclear war. It took ordinary people and put them in extraordinary situations, except for the ones with astronauts – they are not “ordinary” people. The original series went off the air in 1964 but was revived for a brief run in the 1980’s (1985-89) and 2000’s (2002-03) but the revivals never caught the public’s imagination like the original.
I particularly like the episodes with a surprise twist at the end and the ones with Burgess Meredith. I grew up watching the show in re-runs and so have my children. My wife is a fan, particularly of the Billy Mumy episodes It’s a Good Life and In Praise of Pip, but she isn’t likely to sit through a marathon like I am. The list below represents my Top 10 and they all came without having to give it a thought. I could easily expand this list by another 5 or 10, or more, because I am thinking of other episodes as I write. Now, without further ado, I present my list in no particular order:
No comments:
Post a Comment