http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/exploring-the-twilight-zone-week-one-wrap-up.php
Bah, I hate not being the only person in the world with an idea (one, admittedly, replicated multiple times)... and not being part of a larger website for the exposure...oh god... motivation... slipping...
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
S1:Ep32 - Passage for a Trumpet
You gotta hand it to Jack Klugman, he plays the part of a loser really well.
This episode is no different, playing a down on his luck trumpet player whose talent was wasted because of the Booze Demon. He used to play with the big guys, but lost it all... all he wanted to do was play trumpet, poor, poor Jack Klugman.
He pawns in his trumpet after being rejected by a former bandmate at a jazz club. Using the money, he starts up a booze bender (like that robot in Futurama) and does what any rational drunk would do: try to kill himself by running in front of a truck.
After he wakes up, he realizes that nobody sees him there... he may be dead. Klugman wanders around the city for a brief period of time and ends up at the jazz club. He hears a trumpet playing in an alley and he walks over. He tells the player that he's good and is shocked when he gets a response. The trumpet player explains that Klugman isn't dead, he's in a sort of limbo where he can decide whether to live or die. Klugman laments not appreciating his life more and decides to live.
Before he goes back, Klugman asks what the trumpet players name is. "Gabe," he responds, "short for Gabriel".
Ol' Kluggy runs back to the place where he was hit and wakes up in his body. The truck driver gives him money not to report it to insurance and Klugman buys his trumpet back. Later that night, Louisville Klugger is on his roof playing the trumpet when a beautiful woman starts talking to him and asks if he can show her around town.
So, real quick, I do have minor issues with the episode... namely, I know Jack Klugman isn't playing that trumpet; it's a bit distracting.
Other than that, I appreciate the message: live your life to the fullest, there are ups and downs, but we deal with it and keep living our lives. I think Klugman conveys that realization pretty well.
The episode deserves 5 of 5 ska bands (Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Suburban Legends, and Aquabats)
This episode is no different, playing a down on his luck trumpet player whose talent was wasted because of the Booze Demon. He used to play with the big guys, but lost it all... all he wanted to do was play trumpet, poor, poor Jack Klugman.
He pawns in his trumpet after being rejected by a former bandmate at a jazz club. Using the money, he starts up a booze bender (like that robot in Futurama) and does what any rational drunk would do: try to kill himself by running in front of a truck.
After he wakes up, he realizes that nobody sees him there... he may be dead. Klugman wanders around the city for a brief period of time and ends up at the jazz club. He hears a trumpet playing in an alley and he walks over. He tells the player that he's good and is shocked when he gets a response. The trumpet player explains that Klugman isn't dead, he's in a sort of limbo where he can decide whether to live or die. Klugman laments not appreciating his life more and decides to live.
Before he goes back, Klugman asks what the trumpet players name is. "Gabe," he responds, "short for Gabriel".
Ol' Kluggy runs back to the place where he was hit and wakes up in his body. The truck driver gives him money not to report it to insurance and Klugman buys his trumpet back. Later that night, Louisville Klugger is on his roof playing the trumpet when a beautiful woman starts talking to him and asks if he can show her around town.
So, real quick, I do have minor issues with the episode... namely, I know Jack Klugman isn't playing that trumpet; it's a bit distracting.
Other than that, I appreciate the message: live your life to the fullest, there are ups and downs, but we deal with it and keep living our lives. I think Klugman conveys that realization pretty well.
The episode deserves 5 of 5 ska bands (Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Suburban Legends, and Aquabats)
S1:Ep31 - Chaser
Ah yes, even in the Twilight Zone we find ourselves with a cautionary tale about making someone love us. A certain Roger Shackleforth finds out the hard way... in the... Twilight... Zone...
This episode is easy to describe... just imagine any story where a dude loves a chick so much but the love is unrequited. So the dude in question happens upon a dealer in love potions to make that girl love him unconditionally. Once the dude realizes how annoying a girl who loves someone unconditionally is, of course he needs to solve his problem. So dude in question goes back to the potion dealer and gets a potion to murder the chick. But the dude does something stupid and screws everything up.
Multiple variations are out there, the dude might accidentally drink the potion, killing himself in the process... and the chick who still loves him doesn't ever want to let him go, so she kills herself too so she can be with him forever in heaven. This variation isn't as cool, since he just ends up being stuck with her forever until he/she dies.
It's kind of a throwaway episode, since it's something I've seen before in movies/tv/National Enquirer, but it's not bad by any means.
I give it 3 love potions out of 9
This episode is easy to describe... just imagine any story where a dude loves a chick so much but the love is unrequited. So the dude in question happens upon a dealer in love potions to make that girl love him unconditionally. Once the dude realizes how annoying a girl who loves someone unconditionally is, of course he needs to solve his problem. So dude in question goes back to the potion dealer and gets a potion to murder the chick. But the dude does something stupid and screws everything up.
Multiple variations are out there, the dude might accidentally drink the potion, killing himself in the process... and the chick who still loves him doesn't ever want to let him go, so she kills herself too so she can be with him forever in heaven. This variation isn't as cool, since he just ends up being stuck with her forever until he/she dies.
It's kind of a throwaway episode, since it's something I've seen before in movies/tv/National Enquirer, but it's not bad by any means.
I give it 3 love potions out of 9
S1:Ep30 - A Stop at Willoughby
The big 3-0... which makes me realize that I neglected to write about the first 15 or so episodes... someday, friends, someday.
This episode focuses on a certain Ad Exec, Mr. Williams... his first name is Gart (not important). After a terrible day at the office, with being beaten down and yelled at, he gets upset.
He gets on a train heading home and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the nice town of Willoughby. It's a nice sunny town with kids going fishing, a band playing in a pavillion and an overall friendly place. Before he can get off of the train, it starts moving again and Gart is snapped back into reality; turns out it was a dream.
Gart makes it back home to his stupid, naggy wife. He explains to her how he's not cut out for the lifestyle she wants for him. Instead of a fast paced life of glamour, he dreams to lead the simple life.
The next morning on his way to work, he falls asleep again. He wakes to find the train stopped at Willoughby again... again he admires the town but doesn't get off. Again he finds himself in reality.
That day at work, Gart gets bombarded by phone calls, his boss, his secretary and he has enough. He calls his Nag wife and asks her to help him, he's going to quit... she just hangs up. He decides that next time he's going to get off at Willoughby.
True to his word, he falls asleep on the train and wakes up at Willoughby. He gets off of the train and interacts with the townsfolk who know him by name. What a friendly place!
So, having this be the first time I've seen the episode, I was honestly shocked by the ending.
SPOILER ALERT
After it fades away from Gart, the scene shifts to underneath a bridge in the snow. The Conductor is explaining to the Coroner that Mr. Williams just calmly stood up, walked off the train and fell to his death.
After the coroner puts the body in the hearse, they close the door to reveal "Willoughby and Sons Mortuary".
END SPOILER I GUESS?
I might mention this in a later post... but twist endings can be pretty effective sometimes. It's Twilight Zone, so we're expecting some kind of twist, but that threw me off. I was happily surprised by it, as I was expecting a "he gets off the train and lives in this happy little community", similar to the theme behind "A World of Difference".
Haha, I dig this episode now. In essence, Garts life sucked, and he was contemplating ending it all... Willoughby was essentially his acceptance of suicide. It was as though Willoughby was the thought of suicide; all his stops there were thoughts of killing himself. Once he quit his job and saw that his wife was going to leave him, he figured there was nothing else but the serenity of death.
"Next time I'm going to get off at Willoughby"
Good episode. I give it 4 out of 5.
This episode focuses on a certain Ad Exec, Mr. Williams... his first name is Gart (not important). After a terrible day at the office, with being beaten down and yelled at, he gets upset.
He gets on a train heading home and falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds himself in the nice town of Willoughby. It's a nice sunny town with kids going fishing, a band playing in a pavillion and an overall friendly place. Before he can get off of the train, it starts moving again and Gart is snapped back into reality; turns out it was a dream.
Gart makes it back home to his stupid, naggy wife. He explains to her how he's not cut out for the lifestyle she wants for him. Instead of a fast paced life of glamour, he dreams to lead the simple life.
The next morning on his way to work, he falls asleep again. He wakes to find the train stopped at Willoughby again... again he admires the town but doesn't get off. Again he finds himself in reality.
That day at work, Gart gets bombarded by phone calls, his boss, his secretary and he has enough. He calls his Nag wife and asks her to help him, he's going to quit... she just hangs up. He decides that next time he's going to get off at Willoughby.
True to his word, he falls asleep on the train and wakes up at Willoughby. He gets off of the train and interacts with the townsfolk who know him by name. What a friendly place!
So, having this be the first time I've seen the episode, I was honestly shocked by the ending.
SPOILER ALERT
After it fades away from Gart, the scene shifts to underneath a bridge in the snow. The Conductor is explaining to the Coroner that Mr. Williams just calmly stood up, walked off the train and fell to his death.
After the coroner puts the body in the hearse, they close the door to reveal "Willoughby and Sons Mortuary".
END SPOILER I GUESS?
I might mention this in a later post... but twist endings can be pretty effective sometimes. It's Twilight Zone, so we're expecting some kind of twist, but that threw me off. I was happily surprised by it, as I was expecting a "he gets off the train and lives in this happy little community", similar to the theme behind "A World of Difference".
Haha, I dig this episode now. In essence, Garts life sucked, and he was contemplating ending it all... Willoughby was essentially his acceptance of suicide. It was as though Willoughby was the thought of suicide; all his stops there were thoughts of killing himself. Once he quit his job and saw that his wife was going to leave him, he figured there was nothing else but the serenity of death.
"Next time I'm going to get off at Willoughby"
Good episode. I give it 4 out of 5.
S1:Ep29 - Nightmare as a Child
Ok, back on track... I got sidetracked by some assholes wedding the past week and a half.
Guy - Will you be my Best Man?
Me - I fucking guess, shit man, you're needy.
Anyway, the last episode I watched prior to selling out to the Man was Nightmare as a Child, a scary little tale about a woman who meets a creepy little know it all girl on the steps at her apartment with a little secret...
I told you the setup, but I didn't get to the part where the little girl knows things about the womands childhood... but says them all cryptic like, as if to try to jumpstart a memory OoOOooOoOooo...
The woman gets a knock on the door and there's a creepy, molester looking dude who knows the woman by name... but whom the woman does not know....
Look, I'll just tell you: when the woman was a little girl she witnessed her mothers murder. So she did what all witnesses do, block it out. The guy who came to the door is the murderer and wants to kill the woman before she remembers who killed her mom so she won't go to the police and arrest him... the little girl was the woman all along! It was a manifestation of her as a kid intended to warn!
Ummm... so, my problem with this episode stems from my issues with the murderer. Dude, you had to find the woman after all these years just to murder her... did it ever occur to you that if she didn't remember you, and wasn't looking for you, she wouldn't have ever tried to find you? He might as well have changed his name to Scott Free, because that's what you fucking were, you idiot.
I was bored and I watched this episode 2 weeks ago... I give this episode 1 of 5
Guy - Will you be my Best Man?
Me - I fucking guess, shit man, you're needy.
Anyway, the last episode I watched prior to selling out to the Man was Nightmare as a Child, a scary little tale about a woman who meets a creepy little know it all girl on the steps at her apartment with a little secret...
I told you the setup, but I didn't get to the part where the little girl knows things about the womands childhood... but says them all cryptic like, as if to try to jumpstart a memory OoOOooOoOooo...
The woman gets a knock on the door and there's a creepy, molester looking dude who knows the woman by name... but whom the woman does not know....
Look, I'll just tell you: when the woman was a little girl she witnessed her mothers murder. So she did what all witnesses do, block it out. The guy who came to the door is the murderer and wants to kill the woman before she remembers who killed her mom so she won't go to the police and arrest him... the little girl was the woman all along! It was a manifestation of her as a kid intended to warn!
Ummm... so, my problem with this episode stems from my issues with the murderer. Dude, you had to find the woman after all these years just to murder her... did it ever occur to you that if she didn't remember you, and wasn't looking for you, she wouldn't have ever tried to find you? He might as well have changed his name to Scott Free, because that's what you fucking were, you idiot.
I was bored and I watched this episode 2 weeks ago... I give this episode 1 of 5
Sunday, May 15, 2011
S1:Ep. 28 - A Nice Place to Visit
I decided that if I keep going with this that I should probably organize the way I post, as far as titles are concerned. Instead of trying to come up with something witty, I'll just stick with the basic structure. Nobody cares about the title anyway... or the post in general, whatever.
"A Nice Place to Visit"
Aka, how I feel about Los Angeles. Born and raised there, it's a nice place to visit alright, but I'll be damned if I ever actually live there. This episode carries a similar sentiment.
Henry Valentine is a small time crook, always looking for something to steal, never hitting the big time. During a botched robbery, the police shoot and kill Henry. He awakes to find the police missing and himself alone lying in the street. Confused about what happened, he sees a nice old man in a white suit named Pip, who claims to be Henrys guide in death; a "guardian angel of sorts."
Pip starts to show Henry that he can have anything he wants, whenever he wants; money, women, it's all for Henrys taking. Pip takes Henry to a casino where no matter what he bets, he wins the game. But something bothers Henry... why did he make it into heaven? After having Pip take him to the Hall of Records, it seems as though God made a mistake letting him in... but who is Henry to question the motives of the almighty?
At first, Henry loves all of his winning but gets sick of it after awhile. After all, what's the point of winning if you can't lose? So he calls Pip to complain of his boredom... he wants some excitement in his afterlife! If this is Heaven, then he'd rather go to the other place. Pip politely tells Henry that he never said this was Heaven... Henry *is* in the other place.
Pip is in a white suit the entire episode, adding to the attempt at misdirection. Clearly he is up to something, despite the incredibly friendly demeanor; besides, it's the Twilight Zone, there has to be a twist at the end. Henry is kind of an idiot to think that after he's done nothing but terrible things throughout his life that he'd make it into Heaven. The first thing in his file is as a 6 year old "slaughtering a puppy." That's a bit much...
Just like I mentioned in "People Are Alike All Over", at least he gets everything he wants... that's a fancy kind of Hell. Granted, that's what the exact thing he doesn't want for an eternity. Since he'll be there for an eternity, I'd imagine he'd find a way to make the most of his predicament eventually, 10, 20, 900 years or so. I'd learn how to play the piano and invent Google... maybe run for Emperor of the Universe (and create Orco as comic relief).
I think the point is, I'd rather live there than LA.
I give this one 3 out of 5.
"A Nice Place to Visit"
Aka, how I feel about Los Angeles. Born and raised there, it's a nice place to visit alright, but I'll be damned if I ever actually live there. This episode carries a similar sentiment.
Henry Valentine is a small time crook, always looking for something to steal, never hitting the big time. During a botched robbery, the police shoot and kill Henry. He awakes to find the police missing and himself alone lying in the street. Confused about what happened, he sees a nice old man in a white suit named Pip, who claims to be Henrys guide in death; a "guardian angel of sorts."
Pip starts to show Henry that he can have anything he wants, whenever he wants; money, women, it's all for Henrys taking. Pip takes Henry to a casino where no matter what he bets, he wins the game. But something bothers Henry... why did he make it into heaven? After having Pip take him to the Hall of Records, it seems as though God made a mistake letting him in... but who is Henry to question the motives of the almighty?
At first, Henry loves all of his winning but gets sick of it after awhile. After all, what's the point of winning if you can't lose? So he calls Pip to complain of his boredom... he wants some excitement in his afterlife! If this is Heaven, then he'd rather go to the other place. Pip politely tells Henry that he never said this was Heaven... Henry *is* in the other place.
Pip is in a white suit the entire episode, adding to the attempt at misdirection. Clearly he is up to something, despite the incredibly friendly demeanor; besides, it's the Twilight Zone, there has to be a twist at the end. Henry is kind of an idiot to think that after he's done nothing but terrible things throughout his life that he'd make it into Heaven. The first thing in his file is as a 6 year old "slaughtering a puppy." That's a bit much...
Just like I mentioned in "People Are Alike All Over", at least he gets everything he wants... that's a fancy kind of Hell. Granted, that's what the exact thing he doesn't want for an eternity. Since he'll be there for an eternity, I'd imagine he'd find a way to make the most of his predicament eventually, 10, 20, 900 years or so. I'd learn how to play the piano and invent Google... maybe run for Emperor of the Universe (and create Orco as comic relief).
I think the point is, I'd rather live there than LA.
I give this one 3 out of 5.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Execution!... and an episode about boxing
I'll try to make these ones quick, and free from excessive typing and words that duplicate and redundify the things I've already said already.
"Execution"
In the old West, an outlaw is about to be hung for being a giant douche. Important to note that giant douches back then are different from now (Murderers vs. Hipsters... I'll let you determine the respective time frames). Anyway, right as they drop him down, and before his neck snaps, he's zipped into the future by none other than the Professor from Gilligans Island (I assume it's before he reaches the Island on that fateful trip). The Professor has created a time machine that yanks a person from their time into the present in order to catch a glimpse of a person from that time frame.
Well, sure enough, the Professor realizes he snatched an Outlaw, and tries to send him back... but Mr. Outlaw dudn't take too kindly to that. After a tussle, the Professor lay dead and Mr. Outlaw sends himself out into the world. But he soon finds himself overwhelmed by the loud noises, horseless carriages, tv's and music going on in the world. He tries to get the Professor to send him back, but he's an idiot cause he killed the Professor. Another thief (from present) comes into the house looking to do some crimes, and instead kills the Outlaw by strangling him with some drape strings (hmmm, ironic?).
The thief, looking for some more crimes accidentally finds himself in the time machine and is zipped back to the exact moment Outlaw #1 was about to have his neck snapped.
The moral here is two-fold:
1. Don't be a criminal
2. If you are and you're about to be hung but you get zipped into the future, don't be a criminal there or some dude will strangle you to death
An extra thought, if he's dead, how did he get to the Island? Only the Professor knows for sure.
I give it 3 coconuts out of 5.
"The Big Tall Wish"
Bolie is a boxer (you'll notice I know his name for this one... because his fn' name is Bolie). Older and not at all wiser, he's still looking for his big break. He's got a match coming up soon that everyone wants to see him do well with. No one more than his young friend who wants nothing more than to see Bolie succeed. The young man has a wish though, that Bolie comes out of his next match unhurt, and a winner.
While watching the fight, the boy watches Bolie get knocked out... so he begins to wish, a big tall wish, that freezes everything in the stadium and switches Bolie out with the other fighter; Bolie has won the match but suspects something strange. The boy comes clean but Bolie can't accept that a wish helped him succeed; he refuses to believe in the magic that he's forgotten so long ago.
By refusing to believe, time rewinds and Bolie again ends up on the mat, a loser. Bolie heads home and talks to the boy who says that he won't believe in wishes or magic anymore. Bolie tells him, "It's not that magic doesn't exist... maybe it's that not enough people believe."
No shit, man... no shit.
Although this episode isn't a top one of mine, the opening segment is pretty cool. In it, Bolie tells the boy about how he doesn't need a scrapbook for all his memories. Every scar has a story, every broken bone, busted eye, it's a road map to his past. That was pretty cool.
In conclusion, 2.5 out of 5 broken noses, just gotta keep the magic!
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