I am – Hercules!!
How big was “The Twilight Zone”? My mom, who hates sci-fi, told me and my sibs we weren’t allowed to tell any of the neighbors about our family bomb shelter in the basement. I discovered years later this was because my home-improvement fiend of a father used “The Shelter,” the third episode of “Zone’s” third season
, as a sales tool.
When I hit 12, my bedtime moved to 11 p.m. “Twilight Zone,” I discovered, came on at 10:30 p.m. The first episode I ever saw was another third-season episode, “To Serve Man.” It was, shall we say, an effective introduction. (If only someone had photographed my rubber-jawed visage as the malevolent giant Richard Kiel ushered that poor scientist onto the flying saucer.) I watched every night – and I mean every night - until I’d seen every half-hour. I watched every one at least three times, fearful that I might somehow have missed one. A terrible anger welled in my soul when I learned there was an entire season denied to me, only because season four (when “Twilight Zone” temporarily converted to an hourlong format) was not part of the syndication package for which KDFW-TV paid.
Season three, arguably the best season, also featured “It’s A Good Life,” the “Wish him into the cornfield, Anthony!” episode. It was based on a story by the great Jerome Bixby, who went on to contribute “Mirror, Mirror” and “Day of the Dove” to the original “Star Trek.” But did Bixby come up with that grotesque jack-in-the-box business, or was that a tweak contributed by Serling, who authored the teleplay?
3.10 was “The Midnight Sun,” about humanity’s last hours as the Earth hurtles toward Sol. 3.13 was “Once Upon A Time,” which teamed two geniuses - the greatest silent-era star, Buster Keaton, and writer Richard Matheson (“The Shrinking Man,” “I Am Legend,” “The Comedy of Terrors”) for a rare comic episode. 3.26 was “Little Girl Lost,” about a kid who rolls off her bed and right into another dimension.
Seen them all already? Seen them five times? The season-three set includes commentaries from actors William Windom (“Five Characters in Search of an Exit”), Leonard Nimoy (“A Quality of Mercy”), Cliff Robertson (“The Dummy”), Lois Nettleton (“The Midnight Sun”), and Billy Mumy (“It’s A Good Life”).
