Monday, August 4, 2025

"The Long Morrow"

Robert Lansing as Commander Douglas Stansfield, encased in a hibernation chamber


“The Long Morrow”
Season Five, Episode 135
Original Air Date:
January 10, 1964 

Cast:

Commander Douglas Stansfield: Robert Lansing
Sandra Horn: Mariette Hartley
General Walters: Edward Binns
Dr. Bixler: George Macready
Technician: William Swan
Man #1:
Donald Spruance 

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Florey
Producer: William Froug
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis & Malcolm Brown
Film Editor: Richard Heermance, a.c.e.
Set Decoration: Henry Grace & Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: stock
Sound: Franklin Milton & Joe Edmondson
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios


And Now, Mr. Serling:

“Next on The Twilight Zone, a rather probing study of ice, irony, and the ionosphere, a show titled ‘The Long Morrow.’ It stars Robert Lansing and Mariette Hartley, and it tells the story of an incredible trip into space with the sole occupant of the craft living in suspended animation. This one is for space addicts and the romantically inclined. On The Twilight Zone, ‘The Long Morrow.’” 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

“It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears. Case-in-point the scene you’re watching. This is not a hospital, not a morgue, not a mausoleum, not an undertaker’s parlor in the future. What it is, is the belly of a spaceship. It is on route to another planetary system, an incredible distance from Earth. This is the crux of our story, a flight into space. It is also the story of the things that might happen to human beings who take a step beyond, unable to anticipate everything that might await them out there.” 

NARRATIVE BREAK – 

“Commander Douglas Stansfield, astronaut. A man about to embark on one of history’s longest journeys. Forty years out into endless space and hopefully back again. This is the beginning, the first step toward man’s longest leap into the unknown. Science has solved the mechanical details and now it’s up to one human being to breathe life into blueprints and computers. To prove once and for all that man can live half a lifetime in the total void of outer space. Forty years alone in the unknown. This is Earth. Ahead lies a planetary system. The vast region in-between is The Twilight Zone.”

Summary: 

            Our story begins with a man encased in an ice-like chamber. His eyes are closed and he appears to be asleep. This is Commander Douglas Stansfield, an astronaut on a journey from Earth to a distant planetary system. We hear his thoughts and impressions in a voiceover narration. He brings us back to the beginning of his journey. Stansfield is called to the office of Dr. Bixler at the Space Research facility. Stansfield, thirty-one years old and an astronaut for eleven years, has been under observation by Dr. Bixler as a candidate for a mission. Dr. Bixler explains that the mission is to venture far beyond our solar system to find other habitable planets. Dr. Bixler has identified a solar system similar to our own, but very far away. In six months’ time, Stansfield will embark on a solo mission to reach this distant system. The ship that will take him there is currently being constructed. It will travel seventy times faster than the speed of light. The journey there and back will take forty years.

            Stansfield encounters Sandra Horn in a corridor of the facility. She is a beautiful young researcher. Stansfield asks her to dinner and Sandra accepts. Later, Stansfield contemplates living out forty years in the void of space. Dr. Bixler informs Stansfield of a new process of placing an astronaut in a state of suspended animation, waking only occasionally to perform routine maintenance on the spaceship. Stansfield will hardly age at all on his journey due to this process. 

            Stansfield and Sandra spark a fast-moving romance later that evening while dancing. Sandra contemplates her natural aging here on Earth while Stansfield remains young out in space. We move forward in time to again find Stansfield encased in ice. A voiceover describes the solace he finds in the memory of Sandra’s voice and image. Stansfield declares his love for her.

            Back to the time of pre-launch for Stansfield’s flight. Stansfield finds Sandra before boarding the spaceship. They passionately embrace and declare their love for one another. Sandra tells him to look for the old lady in the lace shawl with the “welcome home” sign when he returns.

            Stansfield’s spaceship launches toward space. Forty years later, Stansfield’s ship returns to Earth, the remnant of a nearly forgotten mission. General Walters, the current Commander of Operations, accesses the notes on Stansfield’s mission. He finds a directive from Dr. Bixler to notify Sandra Horn of Stansfield’s return. Sandra is in a hibernation room, designed to keep her at age twenty-six until awakened.

            Sandra is revived and met by General Walters in the corridor to await the return of Stansfield. Sandra is as young and beautiful as she was on the day she first met Stansfield. Walters explains to Sandra that they long ago discovered that the planetary system Stansfield was sent to was uninhabitable. Worse still, for some unknown reason, Stansfield completely removed himself from hibernation six months after takeoff. A breakdown in communications meant that this was discovered only after Stansfield’s return. Sandra knows why Stansfield removed himself from hibernation. He wanted to age in space as she aged on Earth. 

            Stansfield appears and slowly walks down the corridor. He is a wizened old man,  slow of speech and movement. Sandra is shocked by his appearance. Stansfield tells Sandra that the thought of her kept him sane through the loneliness of forty years in space. Now, however, they cannot be together. Forty years is too much time to bridge. Stansfield asks her to go away. Sandra reaches out and touches his face one final time before leaving. General Walters tells Stansfield that it is an incredible man who could put such a price on love. Stansfield turns and slowly walks away. 

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

"Commander Douglas Stansfield, one of the forgotten pioneers of the Space Age. He's been pushed aside by the flow of progress and the passage of years and the ferocious travesty of fate. Tonight's tale of the ionosphere and irony from The Twilight Zone."

Commentary: 

            Rod Serling’s Space Age reimagining of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” is, at its best, an affecting rumination on the dehumanizing effects of manned space travel. At its worst, the episode is rushed, derivative, weighed down by overwritten dialogue, and crippled by naïve romanticism and scientific inaccuracies. The episode ultimately falls somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately ends up closer to the latter.

            Several previous commentators have noted the episode’s debt to O. Henry’s 1905 short story, “The Gift of the Magi.” This story tells of an impoverished couple, Jim and Della, who sacrifice their most prized possessions to buy Christmas gifts for one another, unaware that the gifts are reliant upon the possessions each has given away. Della sells her beautiful hair to purchase a platinum chain for Jim’s watch. Jim sells his watch to buy a set of tortoiseshell combs for Della’s hair. In Serling’s version, Stansfield removes himself from hibernation so that he will be as old as Sandra when he returns to Earth in forty years. Sandra sacrifices forty years in a hibernation chamber so that she will remain as young as Stansfield upon his return. Each is unaware of the intentions of the other, leading to an ironic and tragic ending.

            This theme held a long-standing fascination for Rod Serling. Author and old-time radio historian Martin Grams, Jr. notes that around 1948 Serling wrote and starred in a radio play adaptation of O. Henry’s story for local broadcast on station WMRN in Marion, Ohio. Serling was at this time a student at Antioch College in nearby Yellow Springs, Ohio. His return to this material nearly twenty years later for The Twilight Zone indicates Serling’s enduring interest in exploring the profound personal costs of love and devotion, here magnified by the unique challenges of interstellar travel.

            Love and devotion are integral elements of the story. The episode’s romantic foundation, crucial for its emotional impact, feels notably rushed. The romance between Stansfield and Sandra sparks and deepens with surprising rapidity, demanding a significant leap of faith from the viewer. A more effective approach might have been to introduce the characters already in a relationship, allowing viewers to immediately connect with the profound sacrifice they face, rather than building their relationship from scratch within the episode’s limited runtime. “The Long Morrow” is a half-hour episode that may have benefited from the expanded runtime of the fourth season.

            Many previous commentators, including actress Mariette Hartley, have also noted the weight of the dialogue in the episode, using such terms as “talky,” “overwritten,” and “purple.” Serling presents one of his longest opening narrations of the series while also utilizing a voiceover narration from actor Robert Lansing. The narrative moves from scene to scene solely by means of dialogue. This overreliance on dialogue becomes increasingly apparent as the fifth season moves along toward the end of the series. It may stem from the fact that Serling primarily composed his scripts via dictation machine during this time, suggesting a natural inclination to compose through dialogue. The heavy reliance on dialogue is reflected in the stark production design and simple staging of the narrative. Director Robert Florey was able to significantly display his Expressionistic directing style in his previous episodes on the series, “Perchance to Dream” and “The Fever,” but the director is virtually invisible in “The Long Morrow.”

            The scientific underpinnings of the episode are very loose. The concept of a spacecraft traveling at “seventy times faster than the speed of light” is pure science fantasy, devoid of any genuine scientific grounding. The episode also posits that the time until the year 1988 will be one of enormous technological progress, including fantastic elements we have yet to see a quarter of the way into the twenty-first century. Stansfield is said to be thirty-one years old in the episode, having been an astronaut for eleven years. This would mean that Stansfield began his career as an astronaut at the age of twenty, making him a prodigiously young astronaut. According to NASA, the average age of an astronaut beginning their career is thirty-four, with ages ranging from late twenties to early forties. Robert Lansing was thirty-five at the time of filming the episode.

For The Twilight Zone, however, strict scientific accuracy was rarely a primary concern. The fantastical elements served as allegorical tools to explore human nature and societal dilemmas. In the case of “The Long Morrow,” the extreme velocity of Stansfield’s spacecraft is merely a narrative device to facilitate the monumental time gap central to the characters’ tragic predicament, rather than a serious attempt at scientific speculation.

            The episode culminates in an ironic twist ending, but its impact is double-edged. While emotionally resonant, the abrupt reveal of Stansfield’s self-imposed aging leaves a gap in the narrative. To be effective, the ironic ending requires information to be withheld from the viewer. Interestingly, the first draft of Serling’s script contained a scene in which Stansfield is shown to awaken from hibernation in order to perform routine maintenance on the spaceship. Stansfield then decides not to go back into hibernation and smashes the ice chamber. This would have spoiled one aspect of the twist ending, of course, but would have explained why Stansfield returns as an old man, rather than relying on dialogue from General Walters to relay the information. 

            Unfortunately, the visual effect intended to convey this dramatic change also falls short, with the aging makeup placed on Robert Lansing being described by The Twilight Zone Companion as “embarrassingly bad.” Despite this visual shortcoming, Lansing’s performance as Stansfield is excellently understated. He performed the scenes in which he is encased in ice clad only in a pair of mini-trunks. Lansing was apprehensive about this, but understood the striking visual impact of the scene. It is the most impressive visual effect in an episode whose shortcomings also include the use of grainy stock footage.

            Despite its narrative and technical limitations, “The Long Morrow” remains an effective exploration of the show’s enduring themes. The episode is thematically related to earlier scripts from Rod Serling. “The Rip Van Winkle Caper,” from the second season, also utilized the concept of suspended animation, illustrating Serling’s fascination with the manipulation of time and its effects on the human condition. Serling’s third season episode, “The Trade-Ins,” also grappled with the human desire to defy aging, and the unforeseen consequences of such aspirations. “The Long Morrow” is yet another example of the show’s recurring interest in the qualities of aging, one of the most prominent themes on the series. 


            Robert Lansing (1928-1994) was born Robert Howell Brown in San Diego. While working in an acting company in Michigan, he took the name of the Michigan city of Lansing to avoid a conflict in the Actors’ Equity Association with another actor named Robert Brown. Lansing began acting while attending University High School in Los Angeles. He served in the U.S. Army, working for the Armed Forces Radio Service while stationed in Japan. After military service, he worked as a radio announcer and local performer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He moved to New York to refine his craft on stage. Although he found roles in prestige plays, he made little money and gained little notoriety from the experience. Lansing moved his family to his home state of California with a view to working in films. His first significant film role was in the science fiction film 4D Man (1959). “The Long Morrow” was not the first time Lansing appeared in a strange, science fiction aging story. In 4D Man, Lansing portrays a scientist who develops a method to pass through solid matter. The downside is that the process causes him to rapidly age as he loses his life force. He resorts to killing others to absorb their life energies and replenish his youth. Lansing later appeared in the insect attack films Empire of the Ants (1977) and The Nest (1987).

            Lansing found steady work in television beginning in the 1960s. He is perhaps best known for portraying Gary Seven in the Star Trek episode “Assignment: Earth.” The episode was intended as a spinoff series which followed Lansing’s character in a time-traveling war against an alien race. Lansing appeared in several anthology series, including One Step Beyond, Boris Karloff’s Thriller, the Alfred Hitchcock Presents revival series, and Monsters. Lansing appeared on Journey to the Unknown in an adaptation of Oliver Onion’s classic ghost story, “The Beckoning Fair One.”

            Other television roles included the military drama 12 O’clock High, the espionage series The Man Who Never Was, the short-lived detective series 87th Precinct, the role of “Control” in The Equalizer, and Rod Serling’s western series The Loner. His final television role was in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. A heavy smoker, Lansing died of lung cancer at the age of sixty-six. 


            Mariette Hartley (b. 1940) first met Rod Serling when she was a teenager and a student at Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut. Hartley viewed Serling’s Emmy-winning “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1956) on Playhouse 90 and was so moved by the experience that she worked up the courage to write to the famous television writer and ask him to speak to her drama class. To her surprise, Serling said that he would and was as good as his word, showing up and speaking to Hartley’s class about the life of a working television writer. Several years later, Hartley was a young actress on contract at MGM having recently appeared in her first major film role for director Sam Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country (1962). Hartley ran into Serling on the MGM lot and, to her surprise, Serling remembered her and his visit to her high school. Hartley told Serling that she was looking for work and Serling was able to help her land the role of Sandra Horn in “The Long Morrow.”

            Hartley subsequently landed a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), but television was where Hartley found her greatest success. She displayed enormous range in her career. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for such diverse programs as the television film The Last Hurrah, an episode of The Rockford Files, the children’s program The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t, the dramatic television film M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the comedy series Goodnight, Beantown. Hartley won an Emmy for an episode of The Incredible Hulk. Hartley appeared in the Star Trek episode “All Our Yesterdays,” as well as in Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s unsold pilot Genesis II. Hartley was equally comfortable on soap operas such as Peyton Place and One Life to Live as she was hosting the long-running documentary series Wild About Animals. Hartley’s other anthology appearance was in an episode of Circle of Fear, “Cry of the Cat.” 


            Edward Binns (1916-1990) enjoyed a long career as a reliable character actor who often played roles of authority. He appeared in such acclaimed films as 12 Angry Men (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and Fail Safe (1964). Binns was equally busy on television. He appeared in such anthology series as Suspense, Inner Sanctum, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, One Step Beyond, and Boris Karloff’s Thriller. Binns previously appeared on The Twilight Zone in Rod Serling’s “I Shot an Arrow into the Air,” and appeared with Robert Lansing on 12 O’clock High and again in “The Trial in Paradise,” an episode of Rod Serling’s The Loner. 


             The gravelly-voiced character actor George Macready (1899-1973) made a career of playing villains and “heavies.” He began his career on the New York stage, eventually acting in several productions on Broadway. He was a prolific film and television actor who was a fixture in crime films in the 1940s. Macready appeared in such memorable crime films as Gilda (1946), The Big Clock (1948), and A Kiss Before Dying (1956), among many others. On television, Macready first crossed paths with Rod Serling when Macready appeared in Serling’s “In the Presence of Mine Enemies” (1960), the final episode of Playhouse 90. Macready later appeared in the 1964 film Seven Days in May, co-written by Serling, as well as in Serling’s “The Cemetery,” the opening segment of the Night Gallery pilot film. Macready appeared in one of the best episodes of Boris Karloff’s Thriller, “The Weird Tailor,” from the story by Robert Bloch, and appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Outer Limits. Macready’s final film appearances came in the two Count Yorga vampire films. 

via IMDB

            Paris-born director Robert Florey (1900-1979) became enamored with Hollywood as a teenager. He moved to Hollywood in 1921 as a journalist for a French film magazine. Florey worked his way into the industry as an assistant director, learning his craft under the guidance of such accomplished directors as King Vidor and Josef von Sternberg. He began his directing career producing foreign publicity films for Hollywood studios and avant-garde short films inspired by German Expressionism. Florey was a hugely prolific director, working in virtually every genre. He co-directed the Marx Brothers feature The Cocoanuts (1929), although the Marx Brothers did not recall working with Florey with any fondness. Due to the influence of German cinema, horror was Florey’s forte. He contributed to the script for Universal’s Frankenstein (1931), a film Florey was slated to direct before being removed by the studio in favor of director James Whale. Florey’s consolation film from the studio was the gruesome The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), loosely based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe and starring Bela Lugosi, another refugee from Frankenstein. Florey also directed Peter Lorre in The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) for Warner Bros., loosely based on the memorable story by W.F. Harvey.

            Florey moved seamlessly into television in the fifties, directing several programs for Walt Disney. Florey directed an excellent episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller, “The Incredible Doktor Markesan,” as well as several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Outer Limits episode “Moonstone.” Florey’s expressionistic style was best displayed during the first season of The Twilight Zone when he directed Charles Beaumont’s “Perchance to Dream.” Florey also directed Rod Serling’s nightmarish first season episode “The Fever.” 

        Although “The Long Morrow” features fine acting from Robert Lansing and Mariette Hartley, the episode is strained by the weight of its dialogue, rushed romance, poor visual effects, and hackneyed twist ending. This, unfortunately, places it well below the high standards established by the finest episodes of the series. 

Grade: D

Next Time in the Vortex: Our episode guide continues with a look at the adaptation of a story by Henry Slesar, “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross.”

Acknowledgements:

--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
 
--Inside The Twilight Zone by Marc Scott Zicree (Image Entertainment/CBS DVD, 2001)
 
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree (Silman-James, 2018)
 
--A Critical History of Television’s The Twilight Zone: 1959-1964 by Don Presnell and Marty McGee (MacFarland & Co., 1998)
 
--Commentary by Mariette Hartley for “The Long Morrow” (The Twilight Zone: The 5th Dimension Box Set, 2014)
 
--“Getting to Know Rod Serling” by Nick Thomas (The Spectrum, September 30, 2015)
 
--The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
 
--Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org)

Notes: 

--Robert Florey also directed the first season episodes “Perchance to Dream” and “The Fever.”
--Edward Binns previously appeared on the series in “I Shot an Arrow into the Air.”
--George Macready appeared in the Night Gallery pilot film segment “The Cemetery.”
--“The Long Morrow” was adapted as a
Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Kathy Garver.

-JP  

Monday, July 7, 2025

Reading Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, Part 29

 In which we take a closer look at each issue. For a history of the magazine, go here.

Volume 4, Number 1 
(March/April, 1984)
Third Anniversary Issue
Cover art: Image from the film Dreamscape


TZ Publications, Inc.
Chairman and Executive Publisher: S. Edward Orenstein
President and Publisher: Milton J. Cuevas
Treasurer: Sidney Z. Gellman
Associate Publisher and Consulting Editor: Carol Serling
Executive Editor: John Bensink
Editor in Chief: T.E.D. Klein
Managing Editor: Robert Sabat
Assistant Editor: Alan Rodgers
Books Editor: Thomas M. Disch
Contributing Editors: Gahan Wilson, James Verniere, Ron Goulart
Design Director: Michael Monte
Art Director: Pat E. McQueen
Art Production: Florence Neal, Ljiljana Randjic-Coleman, Susan Lindeman
Typography: Irma Landazuri
Production Director: Stephen J. Fallon
Vice President-Finance, Controller: Thomas Schiff
Assistant Controller: Chris Grossman
Assistant to the President: Jill Obernier
Assistant to the Publisher: Judy Linden
Public Relations Director: Jeffrey Nickora
Special Projects Mgr.: Brian Orenstein
Accounting Ass’t.: Annmarie Pistilli
Office Assistant: Linda Jarit
Traffic: Ray Bermudez
Circulation Mgr.: Carole A. Harley
Circulation Ass’t: Stephen Faulkner
Midwest Circ. Mgr.: Richard Tejan
Western Circ. Mgr.: Dominick LaGatta
Advertising Coordinator: Marina Despotakis
Advertising Ass’t.:
Karen Martorano

 

Contents:
--In the Zone: “The Winners’ Circle” by T.E.D. Klein
--A Note from the Publisher by Carol Serling
--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch
--Three Cartoons
--Other Dimensions: Screens by Gahan Wilson
--Other Dimensions: Nostalgia by Ron Goulart
--Other Dimensions: A Twilight Zone Trivia Quiz by Gary Frisch
--Other Dimensions: Etc.
--TZ Interview: Scott Glenn by Lorenzo Carcaterra
--TZ Interview: Burgess Meredith by James H. Burns
--Presenting the Winners of Our Third Annual Short Story Contest
--First Place: “Invitation to a Party” by Jon Cohen
--Second Place: “Denny at Midnight” by Pamela J. Jessen
--Third Place: “Dog” by Bertram W.G. Doyle
--Bonus Short-Short: “Wanna Bet?” by E. Walter Suba, Jr.
--“The Last Voyage of Sinbad” by Lee Duigon
--TZ Screen Preview: Dreamscape
--“Blunder Buss” by Richard Matheson
--“Judgment Day” by Jack C. Haldeman II
--“Coming Soon to a Theater Near You” by Oliver Lowenbruck
--“God Shed His Grace” by Evan Eisenberg
--“A Little Two-Chair Barber Shop on Phillips Street” by Donald R. Burleson
--Tracking Down the TZ Alum by Bill Bauernfeind (and Allan Asherman)
--In and Out of The Outer Limits by David J. Schow
--Show-by-Show Guide: The Outer Limits, Part Two by David J. Schow
--Beyond the Zone: The Way Out World of Feggo
--TZ Classic Teleplay: “Mr. Dingle, the Strong” by Rod Serling
--Looking Ahead: Next Issue

--In the Zone: “The Winners’ Circle” by T.E.D. Klein

-Klein provides biographical information on the winners of the magazine’s third annual short story contest, and describes the characteristics which made their work stand out from the other submissions. Klein next highlights the Twilight Zone quiz created by high school senior Gary Frisch, and the interview with actor Burgess Meredith conducted by James H. Burns. Klein calls attention to the return of Richard Matheson to the magazine, the interview with actor Scott Glenn conducted by Lorenzo Carcaterra, and the feature by Bill Bauernfeind (and Allan Asherman) looking at Twilight Zone actors’ roles in other television series and films. Klein next provides biographical information on the remaining contributors of fiction to the issue, including Donald R. Burleson, Lee Duigon, Jack C. Haldeman II, Evan Eisenberg, and Oliver Lowenbruck. Lastly, Klein directs readers to David J. Schow’s continuing history of The Outer Limits, and provides a correction for the previous issue where a caption incorrectly identified Charlie Ruggles as John Barrymore. 

--A Note from the Publisher by Carol Serling 

-Carol Serling returns for her annual column to highlight the winners of the magazine’s third annual short story contest, and to describe the storytelling qualities which best capture the spirit of The Twilight Zone. “Hopefully,” Serling writes, “you’ll also find in these new stories some of the same caring, concern, and commitment that we did – qualities that were such a crucial part of the tv series. There’s no question in my mind that these unusual odysseys are of, in, and about that other dimension.” 

-The remainder of Serling’s column is dedicated to the results of a survey conducted to determine which episodes of The Twilight Zone readers of the magazine thought were the best. A quote from Rod Serling on the uneven quality of the series is included, and Carol Serling writes: “If there is a lingering message to be found in The Twilight Zone, it is a reminder of man’s inhumanity to man – and a warning that the crime of the century is a lack of caring and the loss of our capacity for outrage.” The results of the reader’s poll are below. 


1. “Eye of the Beholder” (a runaway favorite)
2. “Time Enough at Last”
3. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”
4. “To Serve Man”
5. “Night of the Meek”
6. “It’s a Good Life”
7. “Walking Distance”
8. “A Stop at Willoughby”
9. “The Invaders”
10. “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”
11. “Living Doll”
12. “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”
13. “The After Hours”
14. “Kick the Can”
15. “The Obsolete Man”
16. “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim”
17. “A World of His Own”
18. “And When the Sky Was Opened”
19. “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”
20. “Deaths-Head Revisited” and “Nothing in the Dark” (tie)
 

-Serling notes that the magazine has published the teleplays of fourteen of the above episodes, and that the three episodes which inspired segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie made the top twenty. Serling concludes by noting that the list will serve to direct the magazine on which teleplays to print next. 

--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch 

-Disch reviews three books in this issue. He begins with a look at The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis, which Disch describes as “an inspirational novel for intellectuals.” The novel illustrates the psychological development of a chess prodigy and the problems she encounters as she grows into adulthood. Disch notes that other novels from Tevis have become classic films (The Hustler and The Man Who Fell to Earth), and that The Queen’s Gambit “is the stuff that Academy Awards are made of.” Disch notes that although The Queen’s Gambit “is not in any sense science fictional, its appeal is similar to that of such sf classics as More than Human or Flowers for Algernon, both effective wish-fulfillment fantasies for those whose organ-of-preference is the brain.” The novel was recently (2020) adapted into a television miniseries for Netflix, which won several awards. 

-Disch next looks at The Complete Stories of Franz Kafka, who Disch describes as “the king of worriers, the Lord Apollo of the Age of Anxiety.” Disch notes that “all of Kafka’s stories have an element of fantasy, or at least of radical strangeness, but Kafka’s fantasies bear little resemblance to what is traditionally offered to readers of genre fantasy.” Disch details the elements of Kafka’s stories which resonate with the reader, offering examples from the writer’s works, and concludes by noting that for “sf writers with New Wave affinities, Kafka has been a major source of inspiration and touchstone of excellence.” 

-Finally, Disch looks at a horror anthology, the “lamely titled” The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror, edited by Charles L. Grant. Disch begins with an examination of the traditional storytelling elements of the horror tale before diving into the contents of the book. He applauds the best story in the anthology, “Something Nasty” by William F. Nolan, while commending those stories that strike equally high notes, including “Petey” by T.E.D. Klein, editor of Twilight Zone Magazine. Disch spends more time, however, on the “decomposed lemons” which rate a “D” or lower on his grading scale. Disch saves his most savage remarks for stories by Alan Ryan and Eric Van Lustbader. Of Ryan’s “Death to the Easter Bunny!” Disch writes: “Alan Ryan, who sets out to sinisterize Easter Bunny lore and fails, and then, to compound the failure, tries to pretend he was only joking, which he wasn’t, not for a comma. Ryan deserves a bag of killer tomatoes for this one.” For Eric Van Lustbader’s “In Darkness, Angels,” Disch provides examples of Lustbader’s prose and compares the author to Florence Foster Jenkins, a notoriously bad New York singer who held no conception of her own lack of talent. “In Darkness, Angels,” writes Disch, “is like hearing Florence Foster Jenkins perform Vissi d’arte – an unforgettable and incomparable experience.” 

--Three Cartoons by Thomas Cheney, Stan Timmons, and Chris Roth

 


--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson 

-Wilson discusses three films in this issue: Strange Invaders, Brainstorm, and The Right Stuff. Wilson describes the science fiction film Strange Invaders (pictured) as “the lightest, least demanding, and in its modest way, the best of the lot.” Wilson highlights the “lovingly assembled” cast of the film, including Nancy Allen, Paul LeMat, Kenneth Tobey, Michael Lerner, and Louise Fletcher. Of Brainstorm, a film that has received a lot of coverage in the magazine, Wilson writes: “Brainstorm is, in its essence, exactly the same in structure, milieu, and basic intent as Altered States. If you saw the first, there is no way in the world you can avoid comparing it to the second in all the above categories – and unfortunately for Brainstorm, it comes away the loser in every one of them.” Wilson found The Right Stuff, a film about Project Mercury, to suffer “because one of the outstanding aspects of the movie is its lack of believability.” Wilson particularly disliked the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson. He concludes: “I really think, all in all, I much prefer the science fiction movies which are fiction. They’re much less frightening.” 

--Other Dimensions: Nostalgia by Ron Goulart 

-Urban Tales of Tarzan

-The tales of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs are the subject of this issue’s nostalgia column. Goulart describes his discovery of the Tarzan films while still a child, long before he had any idea there were novels written about the character. Goulart profiles actor (and Olympic swimmer) Johnny Weissmuller (pictured), who portrayed the most popular screen version of Tarzan. Goulart also lists the many actors who portrayed Tarzan in the silent and early sound eras of film, as well as actors who almost played Tarzan. Goulart then describes the fantasy Africa created by Burroughs (“no more based on reality than was Oz”), as well as the racism in the novels and films. Goulart next describes his discovery of the Tarzan Sunday newspaper comic strip and the artists, such as Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth, who illustrated the character. Goulart details his discovery of a Tarzan novel, Tarzan and the Hidden Empire, while visiting a department store with his mother. This discovery instilled in him a lifelong love for the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Goulart sought, found, and read the entire series of Tarzan novels in the following years. He details the differences between Tarzan in the novels and Tarzan in the films. 

-In concluding his column, Goulart describes finding Edgar Rice Burroughs’ address in Who’s Who and writing to the famous author. Burroughs replied to Goulart’s letter and the two began an annual correspondence that lasted until Burroughs’ death in 1950. Goulart describes the 1963 Burroughs parody he wrote, The Yes Men of Venus, which was published in Amazing Stories and received a less than warm welcome from readers. “I have a feeling,” writes Goulart, “that Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, who obviously had a sense of humor, wouldn’t have taken the matter that seriously. Still, I wouldn’t care to run into Tarzan in a dark stretch of the jungle.” 

--Other Dimensions: A Twilight Zone Trivia Quiz by Gary Frisch 




--Other Dimensions: Etc. 

Illustration by Jason Eckhardt

-The miscellany column this issue begins with the news of a stage adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s unfinished story “The Lighthouse” by Richard A. Lloyd. The striking poster by Debs Lloyd for the stage production is included. Extensions of other features in the issue include comments from readers on the survey of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone, and a list of eighteen Tarzan “clones” from literature, film, and television. Also listed are the editor’s favorite story titles from the pulps. In a callback to the magazine’s coverage of the film Iceman two issues before, included is the story of a man named Frank D. Hansen of Rollingstone, Minnesota who claims that the film was made to cash in on the notoriety of the ice-encrusted creature he possesses and has displayed to audiences. A reader’s request for music cues from “Where Is Everybody?” is answered by another reader who obtained cue sheets from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for the episode. A quote from a New York Times article written in the style of Rod Serling’s episode narrations is included. Finally, there is an image by artist Jason Eckhardt illustrating the imagined meeting between interviewer Peter Cannon (born 1951) and author H.P. Lovecraft (died 1937) for the Lovecraft “interview” included in the magazine last August (created by Cannon from Lovecraft’s letters). The artist “currently resides in a house where Lovecraft lived and who has clearly been touched by his spirit.” 

--TZ Interview: Scott Glenn: Now He Can Say No by Lorenzo Carcaterra 

-This relatively brief interview with actor Scott Glenn focuses on his recent appearances in the films The Right Stuff, Personal Best, and The Keep. The latter film is discussed in some detail, focusing on Glenn’s role as an element of the Devil. Glenn then discusses the challenges of filming The Right Stuff, and describes the trajectory of his acting career. Glenn discusses his unsatisfying career as a local newspaper journalist before embarking on an acting career. When Carcaterra asks Glenn how he feels about being compared to a young Steve McQueen, Glenn replies: “I’d rather be called a young Paul Muni, but you don’t always get what you want.” 

--TZ Interview: Burgess Meredith, Multidimensional Man by James H. Burns 

-This informative interview begins with Meredith discussing his initial meeting with Rod Serling during the filming of The Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough at Last.” Meredith recalls becoming quick friends with Serling, prompting Serling to cast Meredith in three additional episodes of the series: “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” “The Obsolete Man,” and “Printer’s Devil.” Meredith details his enjoyment of working with director John Brahm on “Time Enough at Last” and “Mr. Dingle, the Strong” (the teleplay of which is included in this issue). Meredith discusses working with Don Rickles on “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” being typecast as a meek man, the failed follow-up series that Meredith planned to do with Rod Serling (based on Twilight Zone episodes “Mr. Bevis” and “Cavender Is Coming”), and Rod Serling’s battles with network censors. Meredith talks at length about his experiences portraying The Penguin on the Batman television series. Meredith also discusses his career behind the camera, as a writer, producer, and director, mostly on documentary films. Meredith discusses his appearance on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (in “The Little Black Bag”), narrating Twilight Zone: The Movie, appearing in the horror films Burnt Offerings and The Sentinel, the financial failure of the psychological horror film Magic, appearing in the Academy Award-winning film Rocky, working with Ray Harryhausen, Claire Bloom, and Laurence Olivier on Clash of the Titans, narrating the stories of Ray Bradbury, and finding new avenues of interest as a lecturer. Meredith also discusses his interest in sensory deprivation and the beneficial results he has experienced. 

--First Place: “Invitation to a Party” by Jon Cohen 

Illustration by Stephen W. Andrus

-Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood hire a strange babysitter named Iris to watch their children for the evening while they attend a party. Iris allows the children to break their mother’s rules (like eating lots of cookies before bedtime) but then quickly sends them to bed. Iris walks around the house pretending to be the mother of the children. The fantasy grows stronger as she looks through the mother’s things in the bedroom. When one of the children challenges Iris’ fragile fantasy, the game turns deadly. 

-“Invitation to a Party” was reprinted in TZ Special #1: Night Cry. Cohen sold several additional stories to Twilight Zone Magazine. He is best-known as a co-writer on the screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report. 

--Second Place: “Denny at Midnight” by Pamela J. Jessen 

Illustration by Stephen W. Andrus

-A young boy named Denny races the clouds overhead on his Big Wheel. Denny died a short time ago but still rides his Big Wheel outside, hoping to make contact with his family. His mother and one of his brothers, a sensitive boy who was very close to Denny, continue to sense his presence. 

-Jessen sold additional stories to such publications as The Horror Show and Cemetery Dance. 

--Third Place: “Dog” by Bertram G.W. Doyle 

Illustration by Stephen W. Andrus

-Bobby mounts his motorcycle and heads for home during a break from college. He’s excited to see his old pet Dog, who wasn’t doing well the last time Bobby saw him. Bobby is struck by a vehicle and dies in a twisted wreck. Back at home, Bobby’s father puts Dog in the basement, where Dog doesn’t like to go. The family leaves and Dog is left alone down there. Sometime later, Dog hears someone come home, someone he knows. The storm doors break open and Dog rushes out to meet the twisted, dead form that was Bobby. 

--Bonus Short-Short: “Wanna Bet?” by E. Walter Suba, Jr. 

Illustration by Stephen W. Andrus

-Two boys make a bet while standing in the driveway. Then one boy steps on a crack in the concrete. They look into the boy’s home and see the boy’s mother suddenly cry out and fall down with a broken back. 

--“The Last Voyage of Sinbad” by Lee Duigon 

Illustrations by Jill Karla Schwarz

“Who were the monsters on the island? And what monsters had made them?”

-Sinbad the sailor comes out of retirement for one last voyage. He seeks an uncharted isle which may hold the secrets to the origins of humanity. Sinbad gathers his crew and is requested by the Caliph to take along the scribe, Rashid, who documents the journey. They sail for days in open water, encountering strange sights which frighten the crew. They arrive at the isle and find an ancient temple, whose geometrical structure is beyond understanding. Within the temple the men discover effigies of an ancient reptilian race in the act of creating the first human, a horrible mockery of man. Disgusted and frightened, the men draw their swords to destroy the effigies. The creatures come to life and battle Sinbad and his men to the death. Sinbad manages to destroy the hideous progeny of the creatures before he dies alongside his men. Only Rashid the Scribe remains to tell the tale. He stumbles from the unholy temple to find that the ship has sailed. He clings to a rotting fragment of the boat and prays to Allah to sustain him. 

--TZ Screen Preview: Dreamscape by James Verniere 

“A psychotic assassin stalks the president’s nightmares in the latest of the recent crop of inward-looking SF films. James Verniere reports.”

-The color feature this issue covers the science fiction, horror, action adventure film Dreamscape, which tells of a psychic named Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) who enters the dreams and nightmares of others to offer psychological therapy. He is enlisted in the search for those behind a conspiracy aimed at killing the president through his dreams, for if you die in your dreams, you die in real life. Verniere profiles the cast of heroes and villains, including an interview with Kate Capshaw, and describes the makeup effects in the film (the work of Craig Reardon, who created the Gremlin for Twilight Zone: The Movie). He concludes: “What, then, will the dreams of Dreamscape reveal to us? Will they depict a world full of Jungian archetypes or a bizarre gallery of Freudian sexual innuendoes? Will they offer retreads of old Twilight Zones? Or will Dreamscape give us just another Heavy Concept that is nothing more than an excuse for gratuitous special effects?” 

--“Blunder Buss” by Richard Matheson 

Illustration by Randy Jones

“It was easy to reach paradise. All you had to do was close your eyes and pucker up.”

-Henry Shrivel is stuck in an unsatisfying middle class life with a wife he doesn’t love and children he doesn’t want. He develops an obsession with a beautiful actress named Marilyn Taylor. Through concentrated willpower, he attempts to be with Marilyn in an imagined home in the Hollywood hills. For more than a thousand days he tries this, until he is nearly successful. He plans to leave his family as he drifts off to sleep in the night. He concentrates until suddenly, amazingly, he is with Marilyn, and she wants him. Then Henry’s wife turns on the light, looks at the other woman, and demands to know what’s going on. 

-“Blunder Buss” was reprinted in Matheson’s Off-Beat: Uncollected Stories, edited by William F. Nolan (2003). 

--“Judgment Day” by Jack C. Haldeman II 

Illustration by David G. Klein

“Would Earth’s best be good enough?”

-The people of Earth learn than an alien race of superior intelligence is coming to their planet to take with them two representatives from the planet’s population. People worry and stress about whether they are good enough to go with the aliens and stand for Earth in front of the galactic community. The aliens arrive and select two dolphins to take with them. 

-Haldeman II returns to the magazine (previously: “Open Frame” in the July/Aug TZ) with this short-short story, which was reprinted in 100 Great Fantasy Short Short Stories (1984) and in Bruce Coville’s Book of Aliens (1994). Haldeman II wrote the notes on the authors and stories for the anthology Rod Serling’s Other Worlds (1978). 

--“Coming Soon to a Theater Near You” by Oliver Lowenbruck 

Illustrations by Mark Nickerson

“There was a horror show at the Omicron Cinema – even when nothing was playing.”

-A disabled Vietnam veteran named Jonathan Daniel Stoner finds solace for his miserable existence at the grindhouse Omicron Cinema. While watching a film there one dismal afternoon, he makes the horrifying discovery that an army of roaches infests the theater and have taken control of the bodies of the ushers. Stoner witnesses the brutal murder of another patron. He pulls out the handgun he always carries and hides behind the filthy theater curtains to witness an enormous pit of swarming insects open in the floor of the theater. Stoner shoots one of the ushers and runs for his life. He discovers to his horror that his artificial leg is filled with roaches. He throws the leg away and propels himself through the night on a crutch. 

-Oliver Lowenbruck is a pseudonym for the author David J. Schow, who wrote several stories and articles for the magazine, including the history and episode guide for The Outer Limits that continues in this issue. “Coming Soon to a Theater Near You” was reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories XIII, edited by Karl Edward Wagner, and collected in Schow’s 1990 collection Seeing Red. The story was later included in DJ Stories: The Best of David J. Schow, published by Subterranean Press in 2018. 

--“God Shed His Grace” by Evan Eisenberg 

Illustration by Yvonne Buchanan

“Tour the eternal moment!”

-Tourists visit America years after a volcanic explosion in the Northwest has preserved everything in gray layers of ash. The tourists explore the final moments of the people and their world. This short-short marks a return to the magazine for Eisenberg, who previously appeared with the story “Heimlich’s Curse” in the November, 1981 issue. 

--“A Little Two-Chair Barber Shop on Phillips Street” by Donald R. Burleson 

Illustration by Jim Harter

“More than a haircut awaited him in . . .”

-A man suffering from high blood pressure decides on a whim to go into an unusual barber shop for a haircut and a shave. He closes his eyes and imagines the barber to be an old shaman whose practice includes blood rites. The imagining seems to become real and the man is subjected to an incision in which a straw is inserted into his heart and his blood drained. He comes out of his reverie and leaves the barber shop. Later, he is disturbed to find that his blood pressure problem has been cured, and that he can no longer find the location of the barber shop. Burleson’s story was reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 11, edited by Arthur W. Saha. 

--You Saw Them in The Twilight Zone: Tracking Down the TZ Alum by Bill Bauernfeind (additional material by Allan Asherman) 

“Stars from the series turned up just about everywhere, from Mission: Impossible to Mary Tyler Moore.”

-The Twilight Zone featured virtually every notable television performer of the time. This detailed article traces performers from the series across other television series. Performers (as well as directors) from The Twilight Zone are traced to Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, My Living Doll, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Mr. Novak, The Farmer’s Daughter, The Virginian, Checkmate, Ellery Queen, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and the films This Island Earth and The Thing. 

--In and Out of The Outer Limits: Budgets, Bibles, and Stack Visions by David J. Schow 

“Working at touch-type speed, the show’s producers churned out scripts, rewrote others, and gave TV audiences a weekly jolt of ‘tolerable terror.’”

-Schow’s history of The Outer Limits continues with a detailed look at the scriptwriting on the series. The article explores the writer’s bible created by Joseph Stefano, the failed attempt to procure material from science fiction writers, the process of rewriting scripts, and working around network censorship and budgetary constraints. Schow details the storytelling processes behind several notable episodes and describes the methods for achieving the desired effects in the episodes. Schow quotes from several creators on the series, notably Joseph Stefano, who is positioned as the creative guiding force on the show. 

--Show-by-Show Guide: The Outer Limits, Part Two by David J. Schow 

“Continuing David J. Schow’s seven-part survey of the series, complete with the words of the celebrated ‘Control Voice’.”

-Schow provides broadcast dates, complete cast and crew listings, Control Voice narrations, and detailed summaries for the following episodes of The Outer Limits: “The Human Factor,” “Corpus Earthling,” “Nightmare,” “It Crawled Out of the Woodwork,” “The Borderland,” “Tourist Attraction,” and “The Zanti Misfits.” 

--Beyond the Zone: The Way-Out World of Feggo (Felipe Galindo Gomez) 


--TZ Classic Teleplay: “Mr. Dingle, the Strong” by Rod Serling 

-Serling’s teleplay about a meek man (Burgess Meredith) who is gifted with extraordinary powers by extraterrestrials is presented in this issue. We reviewed the episode here. 

--Looking Ahead: In Next Month’s TZ

-Next month’s issue looks like a good one. The cover feature is Richard Matheson’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” featuring Matheson’s script for the episode. The color feature is on dystopian films. There is an illustrated selection of poems by Joseph Payne Brennan, and stories by Andrew Weiner, John Sladek, Jim Cort, and Stanley Wiater. Another interesting feature is an essay on the Benson brothers by Mike Ashley, along with stories by E.F. Benson and R.H. Benson. There is an interview with screenwriter and actor John Sladek, The Universal All-Purpose Fantasy Quiz, and regular columns by Thomas M. Disch, Gahan Wilson, and Ron Goulart. Thanks for reading! 

Acknowledgements: The Internet Archive (archive.org) provided the scan of the magazine used for this review. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org) provided bibliographic details. 

Next Time in the Vortex: We continue our episode guide with a look at Rod Serling's "The Long Morrow." 

-JP