I thought I’d take a couple of days off from my run-through of this classic TV anthology, in part for my own sanity and also not to annoy my readers. The first two posts didn’t get many views, so I’ll tread lightly regarding the regularity of this series. Still, I’m finding it an effective way to wake up in the morning, which sure does beat lying in bed moaning with a hangover.
Ciabatta helps too.
We still haven’t got the classic theme tune yet, but I hold on hope that it’s coming soon. I am enjoying the cheesy contemporary commercials that play at the end of each episode though. I’ll take cheese over annoyance any day. It’s so creepy how modern adverts try to relate to you. Just peddle your crap and shut up.
Anyway, let’s take a trip to the fifth dimension…
THE LONELY
I couldn’t help but exclaim: “Ahhh yeah!” when it was revealed that Jack Warden had been gifted a sex robot to hang out with during his inexplicably complex banishment to an asteroid 9 million miles from Earth. Well, what passes for an asteroid in 1950s Hollywood. I think it would more likely be classed as a dwarf planet nowadays, what with it resembling a southern California desert and everything. Proceedings probably would have been more believable had the episode been filmed at night, but I’m gonna go ahead and assume night-shooting would have cost the production more money. They also could have trimmed much of the banter between Warden and his, erm, warden, instead spending more time developing Warden’s relationship with his robot companion, but it’s fine. It’s pretty fucking hardcore when they end up just shooting her like a rabid dog in the street, but this show is continually surprising me. Oh and how great is it that all the actors pronounce “robot” like Dr Zoidberg from Futurama?! Yeah!
TIME ENOUGH AT LAST
Ah ha! The first episode I recognise through cultural osmosis alone, so I knew what was going to happen. The Penguin hams it up nicely as Henry Bemis, a man who is continually denied his one and only passion in life - reading. I mean, his passion can’t be his domineering bitch of a wife. She actually reminded me of my mother, who, after divorcing my father, ended up practically married to my willingly-submissive middle brother for the final 23 years of her life. I really enjoyed the depiction of the post-apocalypse in this episode, which must have been a right pain in the arse to production design. It’s notable how Bemis shows absolutely zero lamentation over the death of everyone around him. Well, why would he?! I empathised with his character a great deal. In fact, I hated school so much as a kid that I remember considering climbing out onto a second-floor ledge with a book and threatening to jump if I wasn’t left alone to read. Unsurprisingly, I walked away at 16 without many qualifications. Actually, I believe I’ve learned more as a free adult than I did under the dire British education system of the 80s and 90s. But I have time now… and audiobooks, so, unlike Henry Bemis, I don’t need to worry about my inability to read the printed word anymore. Oh wait, I guess I’d still need electricity in the post-apocalypse for that though. Damn.
PERCHANCE TO DREAM
Speaking of Batman, we get a “cat-girl” in this episode. Spooky, huh?! Wait… am I in the twilight zone?! It would certainly explain one or two things. This episode, the first not written by Rod Serling himself, must surely have been the inspiration for A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Matrix, as it features a) a person too frightened to fall asleep due to his vivid and terrifying dreams and b) the question of whether dreams are actual reality is called into question. But I’m finding this series to have quite the vast legacy already. While I admired Richard Conte’s committed performance, his feverish anxiety does get a little tiresome after a few minutes. Thankfully, these stories aren’t very long anyway. He did remind me of the great Leland Orser though, which is no bad thing. It’s amusing to witness a period of history where you’re still able to open upper floor windows. We can’t have depressed people freeing themselves of their misery now, can we? I guess there’s a risk of squashing innocent members of the public below, so health and safety wins that argument. There’s a great delay effect on some of the music here, which made me wonder how they used to create such a thing back then. Now you can simply use an FX pedal on a guitar, or a studio rack unit. Maybe the musician did in manually. Hmmm…
Well, it’s time for me to return to the dull “normal” world and potter about for a bit. I’ve actually ordered some new FX pedals to be deliver4ed in the post, so perhaps I’ll resurrect “Jim’s Analogue Noise Bunker” and give them a shout-out, once they arrive. At least I’ve finally started playing electric guitar again. My interest in music seems to be returning at last. I was scared there for a while.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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