Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone: The 50th Anniversary Tribute Review Part II

Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone: The 50th Anniversary Tribute by Douglas Brode and Carol Serling (Reviewing pgs. 21-38)

Brode calls Chapter 2 "What Dreams May Come: Nightmares at Noon."

He starts with a biographical tidbit saying that while Serling was at Antioch, a bit from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew fascinated him. Two characters dress an unconscious drunk in finery, and when he wakes, they persuade him that he is really a nobleman, and that all he remembers of his previous life was just a nightmare.

Brode then examines the following Twilight Zone episodes: "Where is Everybody?," "King Nine Will Not Return," "Perchance to Dream," Nightmare as a Child," "Shadow Play," and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

Each of these episodes involve dreams/hallucinations, and some also involve confusion of identity.

Brode sees "King Nine Will Not Return" as an attempt to redo "Where is Everybody?" Brode says Serling added enough new elements to "King Nine" that the stories don't seem too similar to viewers. Brode claims Serling aimed to correct shortcomings in "Where is Everybody?"

"Where is Everybody?" is one of my favorite episodes. Sure, it was the pilot episode, and Serling hadn't quite struck on a signature style for the show. He ended the episode with everything rationally explained and without one final reality bending jolt. Serling later supplied that jolt when he turned "Where is Everybody? into a short story for the book Stories from the Twilight Zone.

In "King Nine," Serling accomplishes this with the unexplained presence of sand following a "rational" explanation of the protagonist's dream that he'd seen images of his old crew and been to the site where the bomber he flew in W.W. II crashed in the Sahara Desert.

Brode supplies interesting insights and biographical details on "Nightmare as a Child." Helen Foley, a teacher and the story's protagonist, was named after one of Serling's teachers.

Discussing episodes which Serling didn't write, including, "Perchance to Dream," Shadow Play," and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Brode continues developing his argument that Serling was The Twilight Zone's auteur.

"Auteur" usually identifies directors whose work complies with "auteur theory," the idea that directors are the chief creators of films and give the films their distinctive style. Of course, Serling didn't direct Twilight Zone episodes. He did write more scripts than anyone else. He narrated. Plus, he had a lot of creative control. For instance, in The Twilight Zone Scripts of Rod Serling Volume I (Gauntlet, 2004), Tony Albarella while discussing "Where is Everybody? quotes the producer as saying that he told Serling that Serling's original pilot script wouldn't work as a pilot. and that he wanted something else. The producer said Serling could have had him removed from the show. Serling didn't do this however, and instead came back with the script for "Where is Everybody?"

Brode believes that Serling - as a writer, a narrator, and with his influence over the show's creative direction - gave the show its distinct style, even on episodes he didn't script.

I find this persuasive on the Richard Matheson scripted "Perchance to Dream." Seeing Serling's "The Time Element" from Desilu Westinghouse Playhouse, and reading the script for it, I noticed it shared a lot of plot elements with The Twilight Zone episode "Perchance to Dream" broadcast about a year later.

In both stories, a man sees a psychiatrist about a reoccurring dream which he believes will go a little further one day. In both stories, the dream leads to the men's death. The difference is in what the men dream about. One dream is about traveling through time and space to Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941. The other dream is about being stalked by a mysterious woman.

Brode relates elements of "Shadow Play" (script credited to Charles Beaumont) to other episodes.

Brode's argument sounds far-fetched when it comes to "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." It's actually a French short film adapting an Ambrose Bierce story. Serling had no involvement in its creation.

However, Brode contends that the work reflected many of Serling's interests and viewpoints. So Serling's choice to use it as an episode provides another example of him supplying The Twilight Zone with its distinctive style.