Richard King
Puritan Board Senior
This was in Gene Edward Veith's blog (CRANACH) today and I thought it was good. Brought back some memories and made me realize how good the writing must have been for me to remember episodes all these years later.
July 05, 2007
In the Zone--the Twilight Zone
I spent much of the holiday watching the "Twilight Zone" marathon on the SciFi network. That has to be the best dramatic series in the history of television. For all of the wild and twisting plots, the stories were almost always character-driven, making it a true actor's vehicle. It was a pleasure to see some of the best character actors, often early in their careers, chewing the scenery in a Twilight Zone dilemma. But, above all, it was a writer's vehicle, featuring ingenious plots, skillful story-telling, and (especially when host and series inventer Rod Serling writes the script) eloquent language.
The stories play with the viewer's minds in ways not often seen today. "The Hitchhiker" is about a woman on a cross-country road trip who, no matter how far and fast she drives, keeps seeing the same hitchhiker on the side of the road. The episode is so uncanny and unnerving that I remember not being able to take it when it was first broadcast when I was 9 years old. I left the living room, retreating to my room, but I could still hear it through the door. The episode had no violence, no gore, nothing external at all to be scary, but somehow it penetrated deep into the mind, the scariest place of all. And yet the ending, which I saw now for the first time 47 years later, turns out to be strangely soothing.
And I was astounded to see how Christian so many of the stories are. Not in a tack-on kind of way, but as a natural part of the very fiber of the stories. I never saw an episode deviate from Christian morality, and there were references not just to God but to "the grace of God"; not just prayer but theological statements, such as "we receive the love of God and so express that love to others." And entire stories were built around Christian themes.
In "Obsolete Man," a futuristic totalitarian state holds a trial of a librarian for being "obsolete." Not only are books obsolete, the librarian's faith in God is obsolete. He is sentenced to die in a televised execution of his own choosing. The librarian wants to die at home, so a bomb is set to blow him up when the clock strikes 7:00 pm. The state representative shows up to mock him, but then finds out that the librarian has managed to lock him in the room too. Now the world will see how two men--one of whom has faith in God, and the other who has faith in the state--face death. The librarian takes out an outlawed Bible and says that he will die while reading the Word of God. The statist rants and fidgets and smokes cigarettes. The librarian is reading Psalms out loud for all the world (including those of us watching the show) to hear. In the last minutes before the bomb goes off, the statist finally breaks and begs, "In the name of God, let me go!" The librarian has compassion for him and releases him. As the statist runs out of the room, the bomb goes off. There is no twist that lets the Christian go. He dies. But then the statist himself is arrested and tried. In calling on God in the face of death, he has become obsolete too.
July 05, 2007
In the Zone--the Twilight Zone
I spent much of the holiday watching the "Twilight Zone" marathon on the SciFi network. That has to be the best dramatic series in the history of television. For all of the wild and twisting plots, the stories were almost always character-driven, making it a true actor's vehicle. It was a pleasure to see some of the best character actors, often early in their careers, chewing the scenery in a Twilight Zone dilemma. But, above all, it was a writer's vehicle, featuring ingenious plots, skillful story-telling, and (especially when host and series inventer Rod Serling writes the script) eloquent language.
The stories play with the viewer's minds in ways not often seen today. "The Hitchhiker" is about a woman on a cross-country road trip who, no matter how far and fast she drives, keeps seeing the same hitchhiker on the side of the road. The episode is so uncanny and unnerving that I remember not being able to take it when it was first broadcast when I was 9 years old. I left the living room, retreating to my room, but I could still hear it through the door. The episode had no violence, no gore, nothing external at all to be scary, but somehow it penetrated deep into the mind, the scariest place of all. And yet the ending, which I saw now for the first time 47 years later, turns out to be strangely soothing.
And I was astounded to see how Christian so many of the stories are. Not in a tack-on kind of way, but as a natural part of the very fiber of the stories. I never saw an episode deviate from Christian morality, and there were references not just to God but to "the grace of God"; not just prayer but theological statements, such as "we receive the love of God and so express that love to others." And entire stories were built around Christian themes.
In "Obsolete Man," a futuristic totalitarian state holds a trial of a librarian for being "obsolete." Not only are books obsolete, the librarian's faith in God is obsolete. He is sentenced to die in a televised execution of his own choosing. The librarian wants to die at home, so a bomb is set to blow him up when the clock strikes 7:00 pm. The state representative shows up to mock him, but then finds out that the librarian has managed to lock him in the room too. Now the world will see how two men--one of whom has faith in God, and the other who has faith in the state--face death. The librarian takes out an outlawed Bible and says that he will die while reading the Word of God. The statist rants and fidgets and smokes cigarettes. The librarian is reading Psalms out loud for all the world (including those of us watching the show) to hear. In the last minutes before the bomb goes off, the statist finally breaks and begs, "In the name of God, let me go!" The librarian has compassion for him and releases him. As the statist runs out of the room, the bomb goes off. There is no twist that lets the Christian go. He dies. But then the statist himself is arrested and tried. In calling on God in the face of death, he has become obsolete too.
