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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Walking Distance

The Twilight ZoneWashed-up New York ad agency executive Martin Sloan returns home, on foot, to his home town of Homewood. When he sets foot in Homewood, he steps back in time, more literally than he realizes. He even encounters himself, though the intensity with which he tries to impart his wisdom to younger Martin scares the boy away. His parents – both still alive in this idealized past – are no more receptive to older Martin’s presence. How far will he go to warn his younger self of the mistakes that lie ahead?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by Robert Stevens
music by Bernard Herrmann

The Twilight ZoneCast: Gig Young (Martin Sloan), Frank Overton (Robert Sloan), Irene Tedrow (Mrs. Sloan), Michael Montgomery (Young Marty, Ronnie Howard (Wilcox Boy), Byron Foulger (Charlie), Sheridan Comerate (Gas Station Attendant), Joseph Corey (Soda Jerk), Buzz Martin (Teenager), Nan Peterson (Woman in Park), Pat O’Malley (Mr. Wilson)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Escape Clause

The Twilight ZoneConvinced that he’s on his deathbed every day, hypochondriac Walter Bedeker makes a deal with the devil: in exchange for his soul, Walter will be made healthy and immortal. He also has an escape clause: if he decides to renege on the deal for whatever reason, he will die. Walter immediately becomes the clumsiest man around, miraculously surviving numerous “accidents” in public places with many witnesses, and then suing for an insurance settlement. But the thrill of these incidents wears thin on him; he decides to commit a crime so heinous that he’ll get to experience (and survive) the electric chair. But when he’s sentenced to “mere” life in prison with no possibility of parole, will he be able to back out on his immortality?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by Mitchell Leisen
music by Bernard Herrmann

The Twilight ZoneCast: David Wayne (Walter Bedeker), Thomas Gomez (Cadwallader), Virginia Christine (Ethel Bedeker), Raymond Bailey (Doctor ), Wendell Holmes (Cooper), Dick Wilson (Jack), Joe Flynn (Steve ), Nesden Booth (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Lonely

The Twilight ZoneConvicted criminal James Corry is sentenced to live out his life on an asteroid with a breathable atmosphere, nine million miles from Earth. A rocket from Earth checks on him four times a year, and the desperate loneliness of isolation has driven Corry to begin regarding his jailkeepers as much-needed company. Captain Allenby smuggles a special gift to Corry: a female robot named Alicia, almost indistinguishable from a human woman. Left alone with a synthetic woman, will Corry find sanity and even love…or a new outlet for cruelty?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by Jack Smight
music by Bernard Herrmann

Cast: Jack Warden (James Corry), John Dehner (Captain Allenby), Jean Marsh (Alicia), Ted Knight (Adams)

The Twilight ZoneNotes: British actress Jean Marsh would go on to create and star in Upstairs, Downstairs, but she also has a significant SF pedigree, going on to appear as two different characters in Doctor Who (short-lived TARDIS traveler Sara Kingdom in The Daleks’ Masterplan, 1965-66, and Morgaine in Battlefield, 1989). She appeared in the George Lucas-produced Willow in 1988, and has appeared in such series as The Love Boat, 9 To 5, UFO, and the 1990s revival of The Tomorrow People. She has since reprised the Doctor Who character of Sara Kingdom in the Companion Chronicles audio series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Time Enough At Last

The Twilight ZoneHenpecked at home and unappreciated at work, bank teller Henry Bemis sneaks down to the bank vault to read on his lunch breaks. His wife resents his bookworm tendencies, and the bank manager doesn’t take too kindly to his reading habits either. One day during his lunchtime reading break, Henry falls asleep, only to be awakened by the sound of the end of the world: an atomic bomb. Protected in the bank vault, Bemis is the only survivor, and he can find no other living human beings. Helpless and on the verge of suicide, Bemis then realizes that he is now the last custodian, and consumer, of the world’s books.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on a short story by Lynn Venable
directed by John Brahm
music by Leith Stevens

The Twilight ZoneCast: Burgess Meredith (Henry Bemis), Vaughn Taylor (Mr. Carsville), Jaqueline deWit (Helen Bemis), Lela Bliss (Mrs. Chester)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Perchance To Dream

The Twilight ZoneEdward Hall walks into a doctor’s office and claims that he can’t allow himself to fall asleep, lest a woman that he has seen only in a dream cause him to die in that dream, and in real life. The doctor warns Mr. Hall that staying awake much longer will cause him to have a heart attack and die. Then Mr. Hall realizes that the woman from his dream is following him even in his waking life…or perhaps she’s just the doctor’s receptionist.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Charles Beaumont
directed by Robert Florey
music by Van Cleave

Cast: Richard Conte (Edward Hall), John Larch (Dr. Rathmann), Suzanne Lloyd (Maya)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Judgment Night

The Twilight Zone1942: an Allied passenger ship, S.S. Queen of Glasgow, has become separated from her convoy in enemy waters during the height of the German U-Boat threat in World War II. One passenger, a Mr. Lanser, admits to being from Germany and seems very distracted. This arouses the suspicions of his fellow passengers, who begin trying to find out more about him. Lanser has little recollection of how he came to board the Queen of Glasgow, but his memory returns at the same time the others discover his true identity: he’s a German boat captain – the one responsible for sinking the S.S. Queen of Glasgow.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by John Brahm
music not credited

Cast: Nehemiah Persoff (Carl Lanser), Deirdre Owen (Barbara Stanley), Patrick Macnee (First Officer McLeod), Ben Wright (Captain Wilbur), Leslie Bradley (Major Devereaux), Kendrick Huxham (Bartender), Hugh Sanders (Potter), Richard Peel (1st Steward), Donald Journeaux (2nd Steward), Barry Bernard (Engineer), James Franciscus (Lt. Mueller)

The Twilight ZoneNotes: This is one of those Twilight Zone episodes that’s crawling with future genre stars, including Patrick Macnee (1922-2015), barely two years before taking on the role of Steed in ITV’s The Avengers, James Franciscus (1934-1991), future star of Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, and Nehemiah Persoff, who guest starred in Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

And When The Sky Was Opened

The Twilight ZoneA spacecraft that flew 900 miles above Earth and then vanished for 24 hours returns, with its crew of three intact. But one of the astronauts, Major Gart, doesn’t remember one of the others; he only recalls a crew of two. His crewmate, Forbes, remembers the presence of a third man, Harrington, but Forbes is the only one who seems to remember him. And then suddenly, Gart no longer remembers Forbes…

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Charles Beaumont
based on a short story by Richard Matheson
directed by Douglas Heyes
music by Leonard Rosenman

The Twilight ZoneCast: Rod Taylor (Lt. Col. Clegg Forbes), James Hutton (Maj. William Gart), Charles Aidman (Col. Ed Harrington), Maxine Cooper (Amy ), Paul Bryar (Bartender), Sue Randall (Nurse), Joe Bassett (Medical Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

What You Need

The Twilight ZoneA man desperate for a job holds down a corner stool at the local bar, unable to afford a drink, until an older man promises him that “what you need” is coming soon. Moments later, the phone rings with a much-hoped-for job offer. Another man at the bar, harboring a more dangerous desperation, follows the old man in the hopes that he can also score a miracle. Reluctantly, just such a minor miracle is handed to him by the old man, but that isn’t enough: he wants a steady string of “what you need” and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on a short story by Lewis Padgett (pseudonym for Henry Kuttner)
directed by Alvin Ganzer
music by Van Cleave

The Twilight ZoneCast: Steve Cochran (Fred Renard), Ernest Truex (Pedott), Read Morgan (Lefty), Arline Sax (Girl in Bar), William Edmonson (Bartender), Doris Karnes (Woman), Fred Kruger (Man on Street), Norman Sturgis (Hotel Clerk)

Notes: A dark and somber Christmas episode by any measure, What You Need isn’t really overtly a “Christmas special”…but perhaps has a warning for those who aren’t appreciative of their gifts. Arline Sax was later known by the stage name Arlene Martel.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Four Of Us Are Dying

The Twilight ZoneArch Hammer, a man with an uncanny ability to change his face to look like others, checks into a hotel room with a plan to impersonate several recently deceased men in an attempt to swindle their acquaintances out of money, love, or both. When he tries to escape the lair of a mob boss whose money he’s just taken, he must change his face to resemble that of a man whose picture he saw just moments ago…only to have that man’s past catch up with him.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on a short story by George Clayton Johnson
directed by John Brahm
music by Jerry Goldsmith

Cast: Harry Townes (Arch Hammer), Phillip Pine (Virge Sterig), Ross Martin (Johnny Foster), Don Gordon (Andy The Twilight ZoneMarshak), Harry Jackson (Trumpeter), Bernard Fein (Mr. Penell), Peter Brocco (Mr. Marshak), Milton Frome (Detective), Beverly Garland (Maggie)

Notes: This is an early TV scoring credit for composer Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), who was only about five years into his storied career as a TV/film composer when he scored this, his first Twilight Zone episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

Third From The Sun

The Twilight ZoneOn the eve of a global holocaust, two men who work on hydrogen weapons and the means of delivering them to their targets meet with their families. They have a plan: the government has also been secretly working on a craft capable of interstellar flight. They will steal this vehicle and resettle on another world, one they hope is free from the kind of madness that could wipe out all life on its surface…one that is the third planet from its sun. Unless, of course, someone from their own world puts a stop to their plan.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on the short story by Richard Matheson
directed by Richard L. Bare
music not credited

The Twilight ZoneCast: Fritz Weaver (William Sturka), Edward Andrews (Carling), Joe Maross (Jerry Riden), Denise Alexander (Jody Sturka), Lori March (Eve Sturka), Jeanne Evans (Ann Riden)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

I Shot An Arrow Into The Air

The Twilight ZoneA rocket manned by eight astronauts is launched, and then disappears off of the scopes. Of the eight-man crew, four survive the rocket’s crash landing, into what they believe to be an asteroid near Earth’s orbit, since the sun is approximately the same size in the sky. The asteroid has a conveniently breathable atmosphere, but between them, the four survivors have only five gallons of water. One of them suffered critical injuries in the crash, but the mission’s commander refuses to entertain notions that water no longer be “wasted” on the injured. His subordinates, however, are feeling less charitable, until the expedition is whittled down to a single survivor…who finds that he’s far closer to home than he thought.

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on the story by Madelon Champion
directed by Stuart Rosenberg
music not credited

The Twilight ZoneCast: Dewey Martin (Corey), Edward Binns (Colonel Donlin), Ted Otis (Pierson), Harry Bartell (Langford), Leslie Barrett (Brandt)

Notes: The “asteroid” exteriors were shot in Death Valley, so it’s likely that the cast members were in need of water almost as badly as their characters…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Hitch-Hiker

The Twilight ZoneA highway blowout at high speed, which could be a fatal accident in the making, merely proves to be a good scare for young Nan Adams during her cross-country drive. As she waits for a new tire to be put on her car, she first spots him: a nondescript hitchhiker, beckoning to her from the highway. Even when she resumes her trip, she keeps seeing him, and fears losing her sanity. She’s afraid to stop for him, and yet he’s everywhere. Where does he want to go…or, more precisely, where does he want her to go?

Download this episode via Amazonteleplay by Rod Serling
based on the radio play by Lucille Fletcher
directed by Alvin Ganzer
music not credited

Cast: Inger Stevens (Nan Adams), Adam Williams (Sailor), Lew Gallo (Mechanic), Leonard Strong (The Hitch-Hiker), Russ Bender (Counterman), George Mitchell (Gas Station Man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Fever

The Twilight ZoneFranklin Gibbs is annoyed by his wife’s insistence that they vacation in Las Vegas, especially when she feeds a single nickel into a slot machine. At the insistence of a drunken casino patron, Franklin himself gives a nickel to the one-armed bandit, only to win a payout. Unable to sleep that night, Franklin gathers up his winnings and declares that it’s “tainted” money that he must rid himself of by going back to the casino to put it back into the machine from which it came. Hours later, he’s still there, having fallen for the trap, the illusion that if he keeps playing, he can win again.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Rod Serling
directed by Robert Florey
music not credited

The Twilight ZoneCast: Everett Sloane (Franklin gibbs), Vivi Janiss (Flora Gibbs), William Kendis (Hansen), Lee Millar (Joe), Lee Sands (Floor Manager), Marc Towers (Cashier), Art Lewis (Drunk), Arthur Peterson (Sheriff)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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1960s Season 1 Twilight Zone

The Last Flight

The Twilight ZoneSecond Lieutenant William Decker of the Royal Flying Corps lands his biplane on an American airstrip on French soil, but is astonished at the other planes nearby, and at the extraordinary reception he gets. Somehow he has traveled from 1917 to 1959, with no idea of how he came to be where and when he is. Now the question becomes: can he go back…and should he go back?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Richard Matheson
directed by William Claxton
music not credited

The Twilight ZoneCast: Kenneth Haigh (William Decker), Alexander Scourby (General Harper), Simon Scott (Major Wilson), Robert Warwick (MacKaye), Harry Raybould (Corporal), Jerry Catron (Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Avengers, The Season 1

Hot Snow

The Avengers

This synopsis is based upon the Big Finish audio adaptation of the original television script. The original episode’s master tape is lost and presumed destroyed. This audio adaptation can be found in Volume 1 of Big Finish’s The Avengers: The Lost Episodes series.

Dr. David Keel, just days away from getting married, has his life thrown into chaos when his bride-to-be is the target of an organized crime hit. Feeling that Scotland Yard isn’t doing enough to solve the murder, Keel decides to take on some amateur sleuthing, but when he discovers that heroin is involved, he realizes this is bigger than him. A mysterious man in a bowler hat is waiting for Keel in his flat when he returns home, but not to kill him. Instead, the man offers to help Keel bring the killer to justice…but he needs Keel to act undercover and become part of the heroin trade. If Dr. Keel can’t bring himself to trust this stranger, he may never identify the murderer.

teleplay by Ray Rigby
story by Patrick Brawn
directed by Don Leaver
music by Johnny Dankworth
Big Finish audio adaptation written by John Dorney
Big Finish audio adaptation directed by Ken Bentley
Big Finish audio adaptation music by Toby Hrycek-Robinson

Original television cast: Ian Hendry (Dr. Keel), Patrick Macnee (John Steed), Philip Stone (Dr. Tredding), Katherine Woodville (Peggy), Alister Williamson (Superintendent Wilson), Godfrey Quigley (Spicer), Charles Wade (Johnson), The Avengers: The Lost EpisodesMurray Melvin (Charlie), Moira Redmond (Stella), June Monkhouse (Mrs. Simpson), Astor Sklair (Sergeant Rogers)

Big Finish audio cast: Anthony Howell (Dr. Keel), Julian Wadham (John Steed), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Carol Wilson), Colin Baker (Dr. Tredding), Camilla Power (Peggy), Tim Bentinck (Superintendent Wilson), Adrian Lukis (Spicer/Johnson), Phil Mulryne (Big Man), Blake Ritson (Charlie), Anjella Mackintosh (Stella/Mrs. Simpson), Kieran Bew (Sergeant Rogers)

LogBook entry by Earl Green