October 7, 2024: The Twilight Zone rewatch continues with season 4, episodes 16-18!

Season 4, Episode 16, “On Thursday We Leave for Home”

This episode first aired May 2, 1963.

The planet backgrounds, the rescue ship, and the uniforms of the rescue crew were all re-uses from Forbidden Planet (1956).

The cave where the colonists gather and seek refuge from the meteor storm was originally the underground lair of the Morlocks in The Time Machine (1960).

The ship’s interior sound effects would be re-used for the bridge of the Enterprise on Star Trek (1966).

Colonel Sloane tells the colonists that the Los Angeles Dodgers came in tenth in the 2020 season. In fact, that was the year Dodgers won the World Series, beating the Tampa Bay Rays four games to two.

In the final shot, the camera pulls back for a wide-angle crane shot of Benteen. But the night before, director Buzz Kulik was alerted to the fact that the colony shacks had no roofs (so that the interiors could be lit for filming). They ended up taping canvas roofs to the shacks overnight to make the shot work.

In an interview with Starlog Magazine, actor Tim O’Connor, who played Captain Sloane, reflected back on the set: “They constructed the entire set for that episode. There was no possible way the camera could have moved without pacing up the landscape they designed. The set was enormous! MGM studios was like a production factory back then. They saved every costume, every prop and the mountain set they built stood there for years so it could be reused. Some executive must have choked when they saw the budget. I am not surprised they didn’t tear the set down after we finished that episode.”

Rod Serling was quite proud of this episode. He told a reporter: “It’s my real conviction that this is an above-average item with consistently fine performances in which Mr. Whitmore is unique. I think it is probably one of the best Twilight Zones that we’ve ever done.”

James Broderick, who played Al Baines, was the father of actor Matthew Broderick.

The young Jo-Jo is played by director Buzz Kulik’s son Danny Kulik.

I thought this a pretty good episode that would have benefited from a more nuanced touch with Benteen’s character. He is so angry and deranged that, by episode’s end, it almost feel like he got his just desserts. But this was a guy who kept hope alive for these colonists in their darkest of days, ensuring their survival long enough for the rescue ship to arrive. In retrospect, you feel sorry for the guy but, in the moment, he comes across as stubborn and self-serving. Whitmore delivers a world-class performance but I can’t help but feel if they’d toned down the anger, made him more sad and confused than hostile, this episode would have landed much more strongly for me. Still, as it stands, a very good episode.

Season 4, Episode 17, “Passage on the Lady Anne”

This episode first aired May 9, 1963.

“Passage on the Lady Anne” is considered by some to be the final script Charles Beaumont wrote for the show before the progression of Alzheimer’s made it impossible for him to fulfill his contractual obligations to the production, necessitating his friends and fellow writers to step up and ghost write on his behalf. Not sure how true this is as writer Jerry Sohl wrote “The New Exhibit” on behalf of Beaumont four episodes earlier.

Most of the sets featured in this episode were re-uses from the film Marie Antoinette (1938) while the wardrobe was borrowed from the MGM costume department.

Director Lamont Johnson commented on the cast of veterans: “It was a joy to reunite with these great old characters and character actors. That was the chief attraction to do it. I loved hearing their anecdotes. Wilfrid Hyde-White and Gladys Cooper would sit around and gossip maliciously with enormous relish about people alive and dead, and some particularly scandalous thing that was happening currently in England or in the British colonies would send them into an absolute flashes of youth. Their eyes would glow…they would just come alive with gossip.”

Joyce Van Patten, who played Eileen Ransome, also reflected fondly on working with the pedigreed cast: “ – the greatest gift was that amazing group of great character actors they had put together. Gladys Cooper was so real and funny and she and Wilfrid Hyde-White were full of fun and tons of gossip. I could not wait to get to work and see those dynamos, the energy, the wit. It was amazing! They had it in for Cecil Kellaway and talked behind his back giggling like school kids.”

This one would have been a really good half hour episode of The Twilight Zone, but at one hour it’s just way too talky. I also felt they did away with all of the stakes partway through the episode when the Ransomes are informed they “won’t have to die” like everyone else. You know where this story is headed and letting the Ransomes off the hook well in advance of the conclusion makes for an underwhelming climax. Just so-so for me.

Season 4, Episode 18, “The Bard”

This episode first aired May 23, 1963.

This one went through many, many rewrites at the request of producer Herbert Hirschman who found the script “too comical and whimsical” for The Twilight Zone. After what seemed like countless revisions, Rod Serling finally put his foot down and wrote Hirschmann: “When we first launched this together, I too dyou that I would certainly not want you in the capacity of a rubber stamp to support my opinions constantly. You’re too fine a talent and too sensitive a man to have latched onto that kind of position which would be untenable to you. But I also said that ere would be moments when I would have to getup on my hind legs and say “No more” and I’m afraid the is is the situation with The Bard. This one I’m afraid I must ask you to swallow wholesale and then spit it out – but swallow it, you guys must. Please forgive my perfunctory hard-notedness about this one- but I can’t rewrite it anymore. Not a scene, not a line.” But Serling ended up having to do four more revisions before the episode went to camera.

Composer Fred Steiner: “My favorite comedy episode was The Bard, where I was able to write some really funny music for Jack Weston. Every show was different and you were able to use your imagination and pick a special orchestra for whatever the show required. For The Bard, I think I had a tuba, reflecting a big fat guy – Jack Weston. And for the appearance of Shakespeare, we had a a harpsichord. I did some research and found music from the old Elizabeth collection. That was a lot of fun.” The music was the element I disliked most about this episode, too broad and over-the-top.

Jack Weston (Julius Moomer) and Marge Redmond (Mr. Hugo’s secretary) were actually married at the time they appeared in this episode.

Actress Judy Strangis, who I thought did a terrific job as the young Cora, retired from acting after being stalked and switched to voice-over work.

A young Burt Reynolds does a great job spoofing Marlon Brando in this episode.

Although I did appreciate some of the shots Serling takes at the network and advertisers (The gag about making the millionaire show a multi-millionaire show and expanding it to an hour format really stood out), it really wasn’t enough to save this below-average outing. The “comedies” in particular suffer from the expanded runtime and this is a perfect example.

***

Well, that’s it for The Twilight Zone’s fourth season and probably it’s worst.  But there were a few gems in the mix.  Since the longer runtime also translated to half the usual number of episodes, I’m suggesting we do a Season 4 Top 5.  Think about it!  I’ll be posting my Top 5 in tomorrow’s blog entry.

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