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The chief problem I have with OL is that at an hour they seem excessively padded for the most part, offering a reminder of why TZ floundered in an hour long format. They also come off as much too pretentious/lofty with characters getting a lot of overly "stagey" sounding dialogue that just doesn't come off particularly well in a TV format. I own the series because occasionally there are fascinating guests and the occasional gem, but by and large it isn't even remotely in the same league as TZ (IMO).
I think TWILIGHT ZONE can 'flounder' even in its half hour format. [any story with angels, comedy westerns, etc.]
I'm biased towards longer formats, anyway. Hour-long television shows are hardly 'excessive' for a person such as myself who likes to listen to 3-hour operas (for example). I love the hour-long DANGER MAN segments more than its earlier 30-minute incarnations.
As for stagey dialogue, Rod Serling wrote characters speaking with a large vocabulary not typically used by the common-man viewer. TV itself was still young at this juncture and much of its talent pool came both radio and theater.
For me, THE OUTER LIMITS is different because many of its episodes (especially those lensed by Conrad Hall) attempted to bring forth the qualities of expressionistic 'art' cinema in a weekly series.
TWILIGHT ZONE rarely looked European except for "Come Wander with Me" and, of course, the French short film "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge".
With THE OUTER LIMITS, we may get a Clouzot-like Diabolique in one segment ... and the next a Cocteau Beauty and the Beast ... while another might be a claustrophobic Cabinet of Caligari.
The 'lofty' aspect is not necessarily a liability here ... indeed, it can be a raison d'être for loving OL. 
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Posted: |
Sep 26, 2020 - 4:30 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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"Passage on the Lady Anne"- I liked the edginess of the early scenes with the young married couple, constantly drinking and smoking as their marriage was disintegrating under the strain of the husband's unhealthy obsession with professional success--a TZ and Serling trope. Joyce van Patten was great in this.
However, once things "settle down" on the ship, or "boat", as the couple insist on calling it, with the wise old folks dispensing their wisdom, I felt the hour-long format hurt this one. 6/10
"The Bard"- More amusing than funny. Jack Weston carried the episode and then handed it off to Burt "Rocky Rhodes" Reynolds, who is hilarious. The "punctuation" of the upended Rocky Rhodes' feet flopping on the ground after getting knocked out by William Shakespeare was the comedic highlight. Underneath the entire proceedings was the not-so-subtle slap at TV sponsors (John McGiver in a role perfect for him) and the pretentiousness of the acting trade. Brando and his antics were probably already well-worn jokes by '63. Weston and Marge Redmond reunite here, having played husband and wife three or four years previously in an episode of Staccato. 8/10
And that's season 4. I like it more than most other TZ fans, and I enjoyed it more this time around than the time before. Let's see if I can cobble together a top 3 episodes list thing...
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I never got around to doing a Top 3 or a Top 5 or anything, mostly because I can't remember specific details - but I do remember, as I mentioned earlier in this topic, that I enjoyed Season 4 a LOT more than I had been led to believe. I recently finished Season 5 and again thought that a good handful of the episodes were excellent. If anything, I'd say that apart from Seasons 4 and 5 being unfairly maligned, Seasons 1 to 3 are somewhat (in very general terms) overrated. Of course there were some corkers, but the duds were very noticeable throughout.
Let me guess, Graham.
Did your "duds" include "Mr. Bevis", "Once Upon a Time", "Showdown with Rance McGrew", "Cavender is Coming" and/or "Mr. Garrity and the Graves"?
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Posted: |
Sep 26, 2020 - 11:13 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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I never got around to doing a Top 3 or a Top 5 or anything, mostly because I can't remember specific details - but I do remember, as I mentioned earlier in this topic, that I enjoyed Season 4 a LOT more than I had been led to believe. I recently finished Season 5 and again thought that a good handful of the episodes were excellent. If anything, I'd say that apart from Seasons 4 and 5 being unfairly maligned, Seasons 1 to 3 are somewhat (in very general terms) overrated. Of course there were some corkers, but the duds were very noticeable throughout.
Let me guess, Graham.
Did your "duds" include "Mr. Bevis", "Once Upon a Time", "Showdown with Rance McGrew", "Cavender is Coming" and/or "Mr. Garrity and the Graves"?
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I really can't distinguish between those episodes at the moment Zardoz, not without consulting what they are. I do remember really enjoying one on your list of "my" duds ("Mr Garrity and the Graves"). But I suppose you're more or less guessing correctly that the ones I have found most resistible are the comedy westerns. Actually, come to think of it, I have more of an aversion to the comedy ones set in an office with a meek clerk up against his boss. Two titles come to mind as being particularly irritating (I don't know if they're highly regarded or not) - "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" and "Mr Dingle the Strong".
I know we're off topic now, away from Season 4, but while we're here let me just throw out a title to you which I absolutely loved - "Shadow Play", with an absolutely amazing performance from Dennis Weaver. What season was that? Anyone else remember/ like it? I watched that three times in a row a couple of years back.
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I know we're off topic now, away from Season 4, but while we're here let me just throw out a title to you which I absolutely loved - "Shadow Play", with an absolutely amazing performance from Dennis Weaver. What season was that? Anyone else remember/ like it? I watched that three times in a row a couple of years back.
"Shadow Play" is near the end of Season 2.
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Actually, come to think of it, I have more of an aversion to the comedy ones set in an office with a meek clerk up against his boss. Two titles come to mind as being particularly irritating (I don't know if they're highly regarded or not) - "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" and "Mr Dingle the Strong".
"A Kind of Stopwatch" & "I Dream of Genie"?
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The episode is also interesting in that Horace was so fixated on his childhood when it was utter shite--reminds me of me, too; Horace Ford had "Randolph Street", I had "Avenue F."