"The Twilight Zone"

If you ask me what is the best TV serial that I ever saw, the answer will be "The Twilight Zone".
Sure, there were other serials that I remember fondly, but as much as I enjoyed "I, Claudius", "Roots" and "Lost" back than, it does not invite re-viewing as opposite to this magical, weird and fantastic world that completely sucks me in every time I give it a chance. OK I admit, original "Star Trek" is right up there.

"The Twilight Zone" was a brain child of writer Rod Serling who came up with idea to present 30-minutes stories with a twist on national TV, by using interesting stories, ordinary characters in strange situation that border on paranormal and macabre, kind of SF but not exactly, more ... well, like in twilight zone. I can't remember my first introduction to it but I think there was cute little video rental in Amsterdam that had fascinating collection and here surely I rented some tapes, because at that time I also discovered collected works by Bergman and Kurosawa. Each episode is a joy and each is short enough to continue with "just another one", seriously sometimes I give myself a true marathon and love every minute of it.

Recently I started watching it again from the very start of the first season - lo and behold, here was one of my all-time favourite episodes titled “Time Enough At Last” where little mousy bookworm (wonderful Burgess Meredith hidden behind thick glasses) has compulsive obsession with reading although everybody around him criticises him for that. He reads Dickens under his work table, he gets in trouble with his boss and at home wife is cruel and sadistic. When sudden atomic explosion wipes the whole world around him, little bookworm finds himself alone and in possession of the whole public library - than the twist comes. I absolutely love this story and love the character of Burgess Meredith who don't bother anybody, this is something that makes him happy, sweet, lovely man. Another sweet man was Ed Wynn in a story “One for the Angels” where he lives quiet, lonely life as a street seller of knick knacks and children adore him - when death approaches him with the news that his time is up, Wynn fools him into getting another chance - than the twist comes. I love everything about Wynn, his little nondescript apartment and gentleness - Rod Serling was very good at describing these ordinary, little men who face extraordinary situations.

Similar situation is presented in “Escape Clause” where nasty hypochondriac David Wayne sells his soul to Devil (who comes to him in disguise of elderly businessman Mr. Cadwallader) just to find himself bored with immortality and than starts experimenting with various attempts at suicide for fun - than the twist comes. “The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine” had "Sunset Boulevard" frame where aged has-been movie star can't face the reality and fact that her glory years have been decades ago. Ida Lupino is strikingly attractive actress with a forceful personality (she was one of the most beautiful women of her time and was directing as well) and she is just perfect in this story. Somewhere between the lines is pointed how Hollywood treats death and ageing very casually and matter-of-factly and this is true, you might be hot now but very next year you are old news. “And When the Sky Was Opened” was very interesting because its SF without really any space shuttles or rockets - three astronauts return from their flight in space just to find something strange is happening to them. Rod Taylor is excellent as a colonel who thinks he is losing his mind and the whole story has a chilling effect though nothing scary had been shown - just excellent. Last night I watched "The Hitch-Hiker" which actually was truly scary - young Inger Stevens drives alone across the country, from New York to Los Angeles and along the way she started noticing strange hitch-hiker whom she avoids for she feels something bad about him - the man is actually not dangerously looking at all, he is absolutely ordinary, mousy and nondescript but this is exactly why his appearance strikes her as foreboding. (A footnote here: not long ago I had a dream where death spoke to me, very calm and almost friendly - and he was in disguise of any ordinary, silver-haired man - I understand that many people imagine death as classic cartoon but this was somehow more real exactly because it appeared so natural and not threatening). Inger Stevens is eventually driven almost to madness because this hitch-hiker continue to appear along the way wherever she was driving and the story has interesting twist again. I absolutely love "The Twilight Zone" and for me this is a highlight of creativity and inspiration on TV - the media format not usually known for its depth but these 30-minute stories have a lot of depth and philosophy in them.