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

Thursday, June 5, 2025

"You Drive"

Oliver Pope (Edward Andrews): Distracted Driver

“You Drive”
Season Five, Episode 134
Original Airdate: January 3, 1964


Cast:
Oliver Pope: Edward Andrews
Lillian Pope: Helen Westcott
Pete Ratcliff: Kevin Hagen
Muriel Hastings: Totty Ames
Timmy Danbers: Michael Gorfain
Policeman: John Hanek
Passerby: Robert McCord

 

Crew:
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: John Brahm
Producer: William Froug
Director of Photography: George T. Clemens, a.s.c.
Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
Art Direction: George W. Davis and Malcolm Brown
Film Editor: Thomaas W. Scott
Set Decoration: Henry Grace and Robert R. Benton
Assistant Director: Charles Bonniwell, Jr.
Casting: Patricia Rose
Music: Stock
Sound: Franklin Milton and Joe Edmondson
Mr. Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes
Filmed at MGM Studios and Culver City, CA

 

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“On Twilight Zone next time, again the services of Earl Hamner, Jr. in a strange story, a strange conclusion, and a very unusual brand of justice, dramatizing a show called ‘You Drive.’ It’s the story of a hit-and-run driver and a very special kind of automobile. The consummately fine actor named Edward Andrews lives out a nightmare partly of his own making. On Twilight Zone, ‘You Drive.’ I hope you’re going to watch it with us.” 

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“Portrait of a nervous man. Oliver Pope by name, office manager by profession. A man beset by life’s problems: his job, his salary, the competition to get ahead. Obviously, Mr. Pope’s mind is not on his driving. “

The narration continues after Pope hits a young boy on a bicycle and flees the scene of the crime.

“Oliver Pope, businessman-turned-killer, on a rain-soaked street in the early evening of just another day during just another drive home from the office. The victim, a kid on a bicycle, lying injured, near death. But Mr. Pope hasn’t time for the victim, his only concern is himself. Oliver Pope, hit-and-run driver, just arrived at a crossroad in his life, and he’s chosen the wrong turn. The hit occurred in the world he knows, but the run will lead him straight into . . . The Twilight Zone.” 

Summary:

Driving home one evening after an afternoon rainstorm, Oliver Pope, preoccupied by his own insecurity, runs into a young boy on a bicycle delivering newspapers. He stops the car and gets out to take inventory. The boy is on the ground, unconscious, his bicycle lies smashed and twisted a few feet away. In a moment’s hesitation, Oliver gets back in the car and drives away. A woman comes to the boy’s aid and shouts for Oliver to come back but he does not. 

Once home, his wife, Lillian, asks him if they are still going to the movies. Oliver says he is not feeling well. He is jumpy and irritable. His wife asks if anything is wrong and he says that one of his co-workers, Pete Radcliff, is trying to steal his job. Lillian notices a blinking light coming from the garage. Oliver goes to investigate and finds the lights of his car blinking on and off. He cuts them off and goes back inside. He tells his wife that it must be faulty wiring. Lillian says that the newspaper is late and Oliver winces. Later, away from his wife, Oliver calls the police to find out how the boy is doing. The prognosis is grim.

Later that night, Oliver and his wife are awakened to the sound of a car horn blaring repeatedly. Realizing it’s his car, Oliver goes back to the garage. Frustrated, he lifts the hood and rips the horn out of the car and the sound stops. The hood abruptly slams shut, narrowly missing him.

The next day, Oliver reads in the paper that there was a witness, a woman, who saw a man fleeing the scene of the accident in a car. Oliver tells Lilian that he is still not feeling well and will not be going to the office. Suddenly, the car horn starts honking incessantly. Lilian decides to take it to a repair shop.

On her way to the shop, the car suddenly becomes uncontrollable and dies in the middle of an intersection. Lillian runs to a nearby payphone and calls a tow truck. When she returns home, she tells Oliver about the car and says she had it towed to a repair shop and took a cab home. They hear the car horn from the garage. They go into the garage and find the car sitting there, horn blaring. The telephone rings and Oliver answers. It’s the repair shop informing them that their car has gone missing. The doorbell rings. It’s Pete Radcliff, bringing Oliver some papers from the office. Oliver accuses him of trying to steal his job. Pete snaps back at him and gets up to leave. He apologizes to Lillian and tells her he is on edge because his son’s friend was the victim of a hit-and-run the night before. Lillian says she heard about it and asks about the boy’s condition. Pete tells her that the boy died earlier that day. On his way home, the witness to the crime mistakenly identifies Pete as the hit-and-run driver. Pete is arrested. 

The next morning, Oliver reads in the paper that Pete has been identified as the hit-and-run driver. He seems pleased when he tells his wife this. They hear a noise from the garage. Lillian thinks there’s a prowler. Oliver reluctantly goes to investigate. The front bumper of the car abruptly falls off and the engine attempts to start on its own. Oliver is terrified. That night, he and Lillian are woken up by loud rock music. Oliver returns to the garage. The music is coming from his car. It stops and a news bulletin begins. It’s about the arrest of the hit-and-run driver. Olliver cuts the radio off. It turns on again by itself. Olivers smashes it with a hammer. The front lights blink on and off. He smashes them with the hammer as well. The horn begins to blare. He lifts the hood and smashes it too. Satisfied, he returns to bed.

The next morning Oliver tells his wife that the car is falling apart and he intends to sell it. He says he is going to walk to work. After he leaves, Lillian sees the garage door open and the car, with no driver, back out into the street and drive away. It pulls up beside Oliver on the sidewalk. Oliver runs in the other direction, through backyards, but the car finds him and nearly runs him over. The passenger door opens, and Oliver gets inside. The car drives slowly to the police station so he can confess to the crime.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“All persons attempting to conceal criminal acts involving their cars are hereby warned: check first to see that underneath that chrome there does not lie a conscience, especially if you’re driving along a rain-soaked highway…in the Twilight Zone.”

Commentary:

After Rod Serling, Earl Hamner, Jr. was the second most prolific writer of The Twilight Zone’s final season, seeing five of his eight episodes produced during the show’s fifth season. Hamner, who went on to fame as the creator of The Waltons, which he based on his own childhood in rural Virginia, held an immense affection for the area in which he was raised, a region not often represented on network television at the time. Much of his work, including several of his Twilight Zone episodes, is set in rural areas and features rural characters presented as complex people instead of the stereotypes often applied to characters from such backgrounds. But Hamner also seemed fascinated by, and perhaps somewhat cynical of, contemporary culture in twentieth century America. Hamner seemed torn between being a writer for hire in Hollywood and his humble beginnings in Schuyler, Virginia on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His examination of contemporary culture is often not a flattering one and he seems to make the connection that people are not happy because they are distracted by things like social status and material possessions. This is most evident in his final script produced for The Twilight Zone, which also became the final episode of the show, “The Bewitchin’ Pool,” in which these two worlds are directly juxtaposed against one another. Hamner’s stories about contemporary urban life ultimately prove to be his least effective material for the show, lacking the authenticity of his folkloric stories from earlier seasons and relying largely on themes and ideas which were either derivative or simply did not work. Although it has some interesting moments, “You Drive” ultimately falls into this category.

Like his first script for the show, season three’s “The Hunt,” “You Drive” is a revised version of an earlier script written by Hamner. In 1954, Hamner wrote an episode of the NBC series Justice titled “Hit and Run.” Serling’s use of the word "justice" in the trailer for this episode is likely a deliberate nod to that series. I have not seen this episode nor have I read the script for it so it is difficult to say how it differs specifically from “You Drive” but all of the synopses I found online give the description as this: a man is driving home through a rainstorm when he accidentally strikes a newsboy on a bicycle. He gets out to confirm what has happened and, like Oliver Pope, he panics and flees the scene. He tells no one, not even his wife. He spends the rest of the episode a nervous wreck trying to secretly evade the consequences of his wrong doing. The episode stars Dane Clark, E.G. Marshall, Ed Begley, and Betty Field. It was directed by Daniel Petrie. “You Drive” appears to take this exact premise and just adds a supernatural component.

The history of sentient machinery, specifically possessed or self-aware automobiles, is too lengthy to go into detail here. The most famous example without question is Stephen King’s 1983 novel Christine, about a murderous 1958 Plymouth Fury, and its subsequent film adaptation directed by John Carpenter that same year. But as Tony Albarella points out in The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner, sentient machinery had been a regular theme on The Twilight Zone since the show’s inception. And there had already been two episodes featuring vaguely intelligent automobiles both of which share other thematic elements with "You Drive" as well. Season two’s “The Whole Truth” features a used car salesman who swindles people into buying cheap, broken vehicles for a high price. One day he buys an old car that is supposedly haunted and then finds that he is unable to tell a lie and thus unable to sell any of his broken cars. In another season two episode, “A Thing About Machines,” a rude and unapologetic food critic, Bartlett Finchley, lives alone in a house in which all of the machinery—the television, electric razors, an electric typewriter, the radio—seem to be self-aware and also seems to hate him. The man is eventually chased through the streets by his car until it chases him into a pool where he drowns, a scene not unlike the chase scene in “You Drive.” But, as is emblematic of Hamner’s fiction, which often has a strong moral undercurrent, Oliver Pope is simply made to do the right thing and confess to his crime, while Finchley, whose transgressions are far less severe, is murdered by his vehicle.

This is the first of two episodes John Brahm directed for The Twilight Zone’s final season. Charles Beaumont and Jerry Sohl’s “Queen of the Nile” would be his last effort for the show. Brahm is the most prolific director the show ever employed, helming twelve episodes of the program. He is also the only director present in all five seasons of the show. Brahm, a German-born director who began his career in England before moving to Hollywood, was well versed in the expressionist films that emerged from Europe in the 1920s and 30s and this is evident in much of his work, specifically the film noirs he made during the 1940s. Once he made the transition from film to television he was often limited creatively and would have to adhere to the established tone and style of the program he was working on. An anthology series as stylistically broad as The Twilight Zone offered Brahm the same kind of creative freedom he had experienced as a director of feature films.

Given that Brahm directed five episodes during the show’s first season, all of them fan favorites and all of them carrying his unmistakable expressionist gloom, it isn’t a stretch to say that the show, to some extent at least, owes its look and tone to Brahm, although this could also be said of several other key directors as well. However, the two episodes he directed for season five are atypical episodes for Brahm. Both are set in contemporary suburban America and, perhaps because of this fact, they lack the overtly stylish ambiance found in most of his episodes, leaving them feeling sort of flat. Still, Brahm does include several special effects shots that are very interesting and difficult to execute for the era. There is a shot near the end of the episode which features Pope lying in the street after falling. The Fairlane races towards him and comes to an abrupt halt inches away from his head. The scene is shot in reverse with the car beginning near Andrews and descending in reverse. But it ends up being a very effective sequence and Andrews’ reaction is very convincing. The sequence where the car drives by itself may seem familiar today but at the time it was not an easy effect to pull off convincingly. To accomplish this, an effects person was stationed underneath the dash—some accounts say he was in the trunk—with remote controls to steer, accelerate, and brake and also a periscope that popped slightly up from beneath the hood in order to see. The end result is convincing even if it does seem kind of silly to a modern audience.

Edward Andrews appeared in two episodes of the show. He played the particularly deplorable villain, Carling, in season one’s “Third from the Sun.” Andrews got his start on the Broadway stage in the late 1930s and by the dawn of television had made the transition to live anthology series. He was often cast as either older characters, given that he looked much older than his actual age, or as villains and other unlikeable characters, such as Oliver Pope. He enjoyed a prolific career as a character actor on Broadway, television, and in feature films into the 1980s. His notable film roles include The Harder They Fall (1956), Elmer Gentry (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), Sixteen Candles (1984), and Gremlins (1984). He also appeared in episodes of Thriller and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He seems to excel at unlikable characters because he is convincing in both his appearances on the show. As Oliver Pope, he is a convincingly insecure man whose selfishness is his entire personality which is much different than the calm and determined stalker, Carling.

Helen Westcott had been performing on stage and screen nearly her entire life. As an adult she had notable roles in The Gun Fighter (1950), Phone Call from a Stranger (1952), and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). This was her only appearance on The Twilight Zone. Kevin Hagen had already made an appearance on the show in its first season as one of three ill-fated astronauts in “Elegy.” Today he is best remembered as Dr. Hiram Baker on Little House on the Prairie. He also appeared in episodes of Yancy Derringer, Thriller, and Amazing Stories.

“You Drive” is not a terrible episode but its predictability and clichéd fantasy devices make for a fairly uninspiring experience. John Brahm does the best with the material he is given but he is probably the wrong director for this episode. Still, it is a mildly amusing episode with a good performance from Edward Andrews and interesting special effects which make it at least worth a viewing or two.

Grade: C

Up Next in the Vortex: A look at the March/April, 1984 issue of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine. See you then.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following:

The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner by Earl Hamner and Tony Albarella (Cumberland House Publishing, 2003)

The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)

The Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Notes: 

--Edward Andrews also appeared in season one’s “Third from the Sun.”
--Peter Radcliffe also appeared in season one’s “Elegy.”
--John Brahm was the show's most prolific director, helming twelve episodes of the show.
--Oliver Pope's car in this episode is a 1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan. The Fairlane was sold from 1955 to 1970 and it takes its name from Henry Ford’s Michigan estate, Fair Lane.
--"You Drive" was adapted into a Twilight Zone Radio Drama by writer Dennis Etchison starring John Heard. 

-Brian