The Twilight Zone - Season One: 'Where is Everybody?' and 'One for the Angels'

"The place is here, the time is now... and the journey into the shadows that we're about to watch could be our journey..."

It's hard to know where to start talking about a show as iconic and influential as The Twilight Zone. Despite airing several decades before I was born, it had already become so deeply embedded in pop culture lexicon that I felt I knew it before I had ever even watched an episode. Growing up we watched plenty of re-runs, with shows such as The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, Star Trek and Lost in Space playing as vital a role in our regular TV schedule as Thundercats and He-Man. It was a great time to be a kid, getting the best of both worlds. By the time I was growing up, the legacy of Serling's work was already visible on the TV landscape; in its wake came a some truly fantastic shows, classics such as The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, Tales From the Darkside, The Ray Bradbury Theatre and eventually, the show got a a re-boot itself to mixed results. Not only was the format successfully translated to other shows, but it was a great introduction to the masses for ideas in film and television that moved beyond just being science fiction and horror, but fell into the weird place that could only truly be found in The Twilight Zone...

If you've never seen the show, then the best thing to do is this - start from the start. The Blu Ray's are fantastic, and really do pack a huge amount of information into the box sets, including the original promo's done by Serling for the following weeks episode. It really does give you that feeling you are watching it fresh, for the first time, back in '59. What I'll be doing over the coming months is just doing exactly that - starting from the start. So just sit back, turn down the lights, and let the clipped, matter-of-fact voice of Rod Serling take you on a journey... 

Episode One - Where is Everybody?

A man wearing what looks like an airman's jump suit wanders into a dusty, no-name town that is eerily quiet. Not just quiet, it seems abandoned. He enters a cafe; the jukebox plays but the place is empty. He calls out to the owners, but no one answers. As he talks out loud to nobody, he admits he is unsure of who he is or how he got there. After helping himself to a mug of coffee, he heads into the town, past empty shops and streets, the town bell tolling with nobody to hear it. Suddenly he spots a lady sitting in a car - relieved, he starts calling to her, explaining that he seems to have amnesia and needs help. When he opens the car door, he's shocked to see it's just a mannequin, and heads off again desperately looking for companionship in this empty place, growing more and more upset and anxious as he goes. As if the loneliness isn't bad enough, what's with the feeling that he's being watched?

Where is Everybody? isn't the best episode by any stretch, but it does a great job with setting the audience up for what to expect, and makes the perfect introduction. Being the first episode to air, it sets the scene for the viewer on things to come - a protagonist slowly loosing his marbles in a world that seems like everything should be right, but just isn't. It also introduces you to the twisty nature of the writing, and the concept that anything can happen has rarely been more apt. I won't spoil anything here, but having such a reality-based science twist is something quite unusual for the show, and quite cold-hearted, but fits perfectly with the themes of mans need for man, and the fear of isolation; themes that Serling would come back to with later episodes. In fact, Serling later would later modify this story for his collection, Stories From The Twilight Zone, to include an additional twist at the very end, as he felt disappointed in the fact that there was little fantastical about the tale. Finally, it's a great example of how well the concept worked for the half hour slot on television - you could have a simple plot that hinged on a twist, and never have it overstay its welcome. 

Episode Two - One for the Angels

A street salesman called Lou Bookman (Ed Wynn) spends his summer days hawking goods on the pavements of the city, selling toys and trinkets to anyone who'll stop and listen to him. Despite his lonely and meagre existence, the kids in the neighbourhood love Lou, and always gather around him when he returns after a hot days selling. One day, after entering his apartment, Lou is met by a man in his own living room - a man who happens to be Death himself. He advises Lou that at the stroke of midnight he will be taking him away to the afterlife - a fact that Lou isn't too happy about. Begging to be let off the hook, Death advises that unless there is some great, unfinished business that Lou needs to attend to, then he has no choice but to carry out his work as planned. Desperate, Lou finally figures out a plan that can extend his life; as a sales man, he wants to give the greatest sales pitch that was ever made, 'one for the angels' themselves.

Death agrees to this, only for Lou to proclaim he will never make a sales pitch in his life again. Disappointed in being deceived, Death advises him that one way or the other, he will be taking a soul at midnight. Out on the street, there's a squeal of brakes - the little girl, Maggie, who adores Lou, is struck by a truck, and the doctor advises that she won't live past midnight. Lou now has a choice, carry on living his life and cheating death, or do what he promised to do - deliver a pitch so great to Death himself, it will move even the angels above...

Episode two feels in stark contrast with the season opening - in place of the dark mystery and cold science fiction we have a near whimsical fantasy with a lot of heart at the front and centre. There is almost a touch of A Christmas Carol about this one, not that Lou is a terrible character who deserves to die, but in the way it reminds us all of what really is important in life. Is it better to live long and achieve little, or go out gracefully and make the right decisions and touch peoples hearts? Despite the general lack of pomp around this episode, the humanity really sticks with me, and it does what The Twilight Zone does best in my opinion - allowing heavily flawed characters have some redemption through the strange circumstances they find themselves in.  Being able to find the humanity in the science fiction and weirdness was one of Serling's strengths, and the ending is genuinely moving. It all comes down to the spot-on performances here; Wynn is great as the street smart Lou, and playing Death is the always wonderful Murray Hamilton. Who could sum it up better than Serling himself?

"Lewis J. Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: pitchman. Formerly a fixture of the summer, formerly a rather minor component to a hot July. But, throughout his life, a man beloved by the children, and therefore, a most important man. Couldn't happen, you say? Probably not in most places - but it did happen, in the Twilight Zone."