Wednesday Comics

The Twilight Zone #37 (May, 1971)
"The Man-Beast of Paris"
Script: Paul S. Newman
Pencils & Inks: Luis Dominguez
Cover: George Wilson

"On Thursday We Leave for Home"

Captain Benteen (James Whitmore) looks to the sky for rescue

“On Thursday We Leave for Home”

Season Four, Episode 118

Original Air Date: May 2, 1963

Cast:

Captain Benteen: James Whitmore

Colonel Sloane: Tim O’Connor

Al Baines: James Broderick

George: Paul Langton

Julie: Jo Helton

Joan: Mercedes Shirley

Hank: Russ Bender

Jo-Jo: Daniel Kulick

Lt. Engle: Lew Gallo

Colonists: Madge Kennedy

                 John Ward

                 Shirley O’Hara

                 Anthony Benson

Crew:

Writer: Rod Serling (original teleplay)

Director: Buzz Kulik

Producer: Bert Granet

Director of Photography: George T. Clemens

Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson

Art Direction: George W. Davis, Paul Groesse

Editor: Al Clark

Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Frank R. McKelvy

Assistant to the Producer: John Conwell

Assistant Director: John Bloss

Sound: Franklin Milton, Joe Edmondson

Music: stock

Rod Serling’s Wardrobe: Eagle Clothes

Filmed at MGM

And Now, Mr. Serling:

“On Twilight Zone next week, a most unusual and provocative story in which we call upon the talents of James Whitmore as a mayor of a town, a little mild on the face of it except when we supply the following addenda: This town is on an asteroid ten billion miles from Earth. Our story is called ‘On Thursday We Leave for Home.’”

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:

“This is William Benteen, who officiates on a disintegrating outpost in space. The people are a remnant society who left the Earth looking for a millennium, a place without war, without jeopardy, without fear. And what they found was a lonely, barren place whose only industry was survival. And this is what they have done for three decades, survive. Until the memory of the Earth they came from has become an indistinct and shadowed recollection of another time and another place. One month ago, a signal from Earth announced that a ship would be coming to pick them up and take them home. In just a moment we’ll hear more of that ship, more of that home, and what it takes out of mind and body to reach it. This is The Twilight Zone.”

Summary:

            Dual suns cast intense heat and perpetual daylight upon a group of weary colonists on a barren, rocky outpost in space. The colonists are the remnants and the descendants of the 113 people who arrived on the Pilgrim 1, an exploratory vessel which set out thirty years earlier to find a human habitat beyond Earth. Now they struggle to survive in this unforgiving and oppressive environment. On a rise above a cluster of makeshift shacks is a radio tower where Captain Benteen, the leader of the colony, oversees a constant monitoring of the radio channels in the hopes of hearing from a rescue ship from Earth.

            Captain Benteen did not captain the Pilgrim 1 but was merely a teenager on that ship. Over time Benteen took on the name of Captain and the role of leader and protector of the survivors. He works hard to keep spirits high but a suicide among the colonists, the ninth suicide in six months, brings morale low. Many of the colonists are ready to give up and die. On the promise of the arrival of a ship from Earth, Benteen delivers a stirring speech to the colonists in order to bring them back from the depths of despair. Their renewed hope is short-lived, however, when a meteor storm sends the group scrambling for cover inside a large cave. Several of the colonists sustain injuries.

            To take everyone’s minds off the frightening meteor storm, Benteen tells Jo-Jo, the youngest in the colony, about an Earth the boy has never seen. The colonists gather close to listen as Benteen recalls the wonders and joys of life on Earth, casting his memory back to paint a picture of Earth as a wonderful oasis.

            The meteor storm passes and is replaced by another sound, the sound of rocket engines. The colonists rush outside to witness the arrival of a ship from Earth. The colonists greet Colonel Sloane and the crew of the Galaxy 6 with jubilation. The arrival of the ship brings new hope and energy to the colonists who are grateful to leave the hot, cruel, desolate outpost.

            At first, Captain Benteen is equally joyed by the arrival of the ship. Slowly and insidiously, however, the presence of Colonel Sloane, and the ways in which the colonists look to Sloane for authority and advice, begins to drive a wedge between Captain Benteen and his authority over the colonists. Sloane is an affable, compassionate, and highly accommodating man but still Benteen feels threatened. Benteen defines himself by a singular measure, his unassailable position as leader of the colonists.     

            Benteen first attempts to reassert his authority by small measures, such as repeatedly insisting that Sloane address him as Captain Benteen, before he finds that more direct methods are required, such as forcing Sloane to break up a friendly game of baseball between the colonists and Sloane’s crew. Sloane remains accommodating, fully understanding Benteen’s need to lead and direct. He cannot sit idly by, however, when Benteen suggests that the colonists will remain together once they return to Earth. Sloane inquires whether Benteen has asked the colonists if they wish to remain together on Earth and Benteen replies by denigrating the colonists, repeatedly referring to them as children, and suggesting that he, and only he, knows what is best for everyone in the colony.

            Benteen declares his intentions of keeping the colony together on Earth at the next gathering. The colonists make it clear that they have no desire to remain together but instead intend to spread out to all parts of the United States. Benteen is shocked and dejected by this rejection of his ideal for the group. He realizes that although he still needs the colonists, to lead, to direct, to organize, they no longer need his leadership. When Benteen changes course and suggests that the colonists remain on the outpost and not return to Earth, Sloane intercedes and suggests taking a vote to determine those who wish to return to Earth and those who wish to stay. All except Benteen raise their hands to express a desire to leave.

            In desperation, Benteen attempts to damage the Galaxy 6 but is subdued by the ship’s crew. Benteen tells the colonists that they will not be getting on a ship to Paradise but rather to Hell. Benteen threatens that if they return to Earth they will die. He can see in the faces of the colonists that he has lost all of his influence over them.

            Utterly defeated, Benteen informs all that he will not be leaving with the ship. Minutes before takeoff, Sloane attempts to find Benteen in the cave system where the colonists often gathered. He calls out, pleading with Benteen to return to Earth. There will be no second chance to leave. Benteen does not respond or show himself and Sloane is forced to leave without him.

            Benteen emerges from his hiding place and listens to the rocket engines taking off. He speaks to the empty spaces as though the colonists were still there. The illusion is not strong enough to sustain him.

As Benteen speaks aloud of the Earth he realizes his terrible mistake in electing to stay behind. He rushes outside to see the Galaxy 6 ascending high into the sky on its way home. Benteen calls out with his hands lifted to the sky but he is too late, doomed by his own design to remain alone in that terrible place.      

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

“William Benteen, who had prerogatives; he could lead, he could direct, dictate, judge, legislate. It became a habit, then a pattern, and finally a necessity. William Benteen, once a god, now a population of one.”

Commentary:

A final confrontation between

Colonel Sloane (Tim O'Connor) and Captain Benteen

            The fourth season shift to hour-long drama seemed to vex series creator Rod Serling, who largely struggled during the show’s half-season to produce the type of teleplay which marked him as the show’s most consistently brilliant writer during the first three seasons. His struggles during the fourth season likely resulted from his admitted exhaustion at the volume of writing required on the series and his temporary relocation to Yellow Springs, Ohio to teach at Antioch College. Serling showed flashes of brilliance in such episodes as “He’s Alive” and “The Parallel” but it was not until “On Thursday We Leave for Home,” the final episode produced for the fourth season, though not the final episode to air, that Serling fully tapped into the qualities which marked his unique and extraordinary talent as a dramatist. Serling went back to basics for the episode and its patchwork qualities, recycled themes, reused sets, costumes, props, and recognizable music cues, mesh brilliantly in perhaps the finest offering of the fourth season and Serling’s best script since the third season finale, “The Changing of the Guard.”

Serling combined the type of psychological tale of isolation he previously explored in such early episodes as “The Lonely” and “I Shot an Arrow into the Air” with the politics of group dynamics which informed his topical triumphs “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” and “The Shelter.” Serling’s script is wonderfully shaded not only in obvious terms of character but also in narrative structure. Serling twice teased the arrival of the rescue ship from Earth, whose arrival viewers as well as colonists have taken on faith, with two devastating sleight-of-hand moments. The first is a frank depiction of suicide among the colonists which served to underline the severity of their situation and provide Captain Benteen with his first heroic moment when he brings the colonists back from despair. The second occurred just after Benteen’s stirring speech, which produced a hopeful chant among the gathered colonists, when the sounds heard above were not those of a rescue ship but of a meteor storm which injured many of the colonists and forced them to shelter inside a cave. The meteor storm sequence is a surprisingly tense and effective bit of special effects in an episode which typically opted for minimalism or recycled parts for its effects.

            These moments of establishing action further manipulate audience expectations when Benteen is given another heroic moment to calm the injured and stressed colonists inside the cave while suggesting Al Baines as the surly antagonist to Benteen’s Moses-like figure. This misdirection makes the later revelations, that Al Baines is not at all an antagonist and Benteen is far worse than a benevolent protector, all the more impactful.

            Serling grounds his script in blunt, recurring religious imagery which both illustrates the underlying problems of faith-based leadership and further explores the eroding line between that leadership and totalitarian control. Serling’s explicit introduction of a democratic measure to seal Benteen’s fate is a clear indication of the writer’s alliance to a process of fair leadership. Benteen is frequently framed as a preacher upon a pulpit looking down on gathered colonists, who are repeatedly compared to children or a flock of sheep, potent religious symbols which illustrate their involuntary indoctrination into the Church of Benteen. Colonel Sloane later completes the mental emancipation of the colonists by assuring them that when they return to Earth they can pray to any god they wish and that god will no longer have to be William Benteen.

            Benteen maintained his control over the colonists largely through restriction. He is the only source of information and therefore the final word on any matter. Al Baines’ brief role as antagonist is largely defined by his challenge to Benteen’s control of the colonists’ thoughts and behaviors. Benteen’s repeated framing of this control through restriction as necessary and beneficial, even after the arrival of the Galaxy 6, only serves to further reveal Benteen as a destructive and malign force. It only makes sense that Benteen focuses much of his wrath on Al Baines, insulting the man’s intelligence and attempting to place much of the blame for the colonists’ quiet revolt at his feet. Baines, to his credit, remains a sympathetic portrait of a liberated man whose escape from the manipulative clutches of a zealot provides him a new perspective on his aggressor. It is telling that Serling chose Baines to be the final one to speak to Benteen when Baines accompanies Sloane into the cave to try one last time to coerce Benteen to return to Earth with the rest of the colonists.

The introduction of outside sources of information is devastating to Benteen’s system of power and control. Continuing the religious symbolism, Benteen later informs Colonel Sloane that the colonists referred to Sloane (the unknown savior from Earth) as the Messiah. This occurs after Benteen fully realizes that his position as unquestioned leader is obsolete with the arrival of the Galaxy 6. The faith of the colonists has been rewarded and therefore they no longer need that faith, or the preacher of faith, to hold onto. It is Benteen’s struggle to adjust in the face of the (to his mind) adversarial other which sets his course trajectory from hero to villain to, finally, tragic figure.

            Serling leaves much of the pre-establishing action to the viewer’s imagination, producing several unanswered, though ultimately unimportant, questions, such as: What happened to the crew of the Pilgrim I? What became of the ship? Did the ship crash and its materials used to construct the makeshift shacks of the colonists’ village? How did Benteen, a teenaged boy, come to be the unquestioned leader of a group which included several people older than himself? It is interesting that Serling established that there are more colonists when the Galaxy 6 arrives than were initially on the Pilgrim I. If one assumes that some of the original passengers on the Pilgrim I died, then it is also to be assumed that the remaining survivors set about in earnest to produce children in the community, though only Jo-Jo is shown to be a young child in the group.

The C-57D from Forbidden Planet

            Much of the episode’s success emerges from the familiar sheen of recycled elements, whether the opening strains of Bernard Herrmann’s score for “Eye of the Beholder” or the use of settings and props from previous episodes and notable MGM productions. The show’s debt to the look and feel of the 1956 MGM film Forbidden Planet is well-documented but perhaps no other

The Galaxy 6

episode so notably mines that film’s rich resources than “On Thursday We Leave for Home.” With some modifications, sets, props, and costumes from that film are prominently used in the episode, notably the rocky and arid setting of the outpost colony and the Galaxy 6 spaceship (the C-57D in Forbidden Planet). The crew of the Galaxy 6 also wears modified uniforms from Forbidden Planet. Many of these elements were previously seen in the earlier fourth season episode “Death Ship,” from which “On Thursday We Leave for Home” recycled the footage of the spaceship landing and taking off. Forbidden Planet also lent materials to such episodes as “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” “The Rip Van Winkle Caper,” “To Serve Man,” “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby,” “Uncle Simon,” and several more.

The lair of the Morlocks from The Time Machine

The colony itself, with its makeshift shacks and cramped radio tower, was built for the episode but some modifications were required to capture the crane shot which closes the episode. Initially, no roofs were placed on the sets and the crew was forced to scramble to place coverings on the shacks in order to capture that final shot without blatantly revealing the artificial

The caves from "On Thursday We Leave for Home"

nature of the set. The interior cave set, where much of the episode takes place, was also a standing set at MGM, likely (though not confirmed) a modified version of the underground lair of the Morlocks built for MGM’s 1960 production of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine.

Rod Serling understood the necessity, even in an ensemble drama, of developing two central characters at war with one another to illuminate the larger group dynamics. In this way Serling was a truly masterful dramatist. Earlier examples include Claude Akins and Jack Weston on opposite sides of the rising panic in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” and Larry Gates as the leader of a besieged family and Sandy Kenyon as the brutish neighbor intent on the family’s destruction in “The Shelter.” Serling re-staged this dynamic in his adaptation of Henry Slesar’s “The Old Man in the Cave.” This later episode is largely an inversion of “On Thursday We Leave for Home” in that the Benteen-like character, played by Zone regular John Anderson, is the beneficent leader of a group of survivors who fall under the influence of a cruel military leader played by James Coburn.

James Whitmore’s performance as Captain William Benteen is justly celebrated as the best part of “On Thursday We Leave for Home.” I rated the performance #6 among the best performances on the series and it could have rated higher, all the way up to #1. The most impressive aspect of Whitmore’s performance is that it essentially required the actor to transition between three different characters, the heroic, benevolent leader of the colonists, the selfish, controlling zealot, and the tragic figure of a man doomed by his own stubborn insistence on being a god among men. Whitmore pulls off all aspects of the performance exceptionally well, particularly the transition from a hated antagonist to a truly pitiable figure with hands raised in supplication to the sky. It is one of the most gutting endings on the series and it achieves its effects by eliciting great pity and sympathy for a character most viewers despised five minutes previously. These moments when Rod Serling's best writing found a skilled and motivated performer through which to speak are the reasons why this sixty-plus year old television series remains one of the most watched and discussed programs in the medium's history. 

James Whitmore (1921-2009) moved from a Tony Award-winning career on stage to film work which included memorable turns in such genre material as Them! and Planet of the Apes. Whitmore returned to the stage in the 1970s and became celebrated for one-man shows portraying historical figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Will Rogers. Whitmore began on television with several appearances on dramatic anthology series where he first worked with director Buzz Kulick on Playhouse 90. Whitmore appeared on Suspense in the Charles Beaumont-scripted “I, Buck Larsen” and later on Rod Serling's existential western The Loner, in the two-part episode, "The Mourners for Johnny Sharp," and in the Ray Bradbury Theatre production of “The Toynbee Convector.” Whitmore lent his voice to Ray Bradbury’s 1962 Academy Award nominated short animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright, co-scripted by George Clayton Johnson and also featuring the voice of Twilight Zone and Night Gallery performer Ross Martin. Whitmore won an Emmy Award for a recurring role on The Practice. His most memorable film role came relatively late in Whitmore’s career in director Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption. Whitmore portrayed an elderly paroled criminal whose inability to adjust to life outside of prison leads to his suicide. His performance in “On Thursday We Leave for Home” remains one of the jewels in the celebrated performer’s crown and arguably rates as his best television work.

The revelation upon a repeat viewing of “On Thursday We Leave for Home” is the exceptional performance of Tim O’Connor as Colonel Sloane, the foil to Whitmore’s Captain Benteen. O'Connor portrays Sloane as an affable, intelligent, caring, and accommodating man whose idea of leadership flies directly in the face of Benteen’s leadership ideals. O’Connor’s performance is one of restraint pushed and tested in increasing intervals by Benteen’s progressive mania of control until Sloane takes decisive action to lead the colonists away from Benteen’s parasitic influence. It is as masterful a character progression in its way as Whitmore’s Benteen. The viewer waits in vain for the crack in Sloane’s persona to appear. Even to the end Sloane attempts to do the right thing and persuade Benteen to board the ship with the others. In this way, Benteen’s fate becomes one completely of his own making, sealing his tragic arc.

Tim O’Connor (1927-2018) was a prolific television actor best known for playing figures of authority, such as military officials, but whose versatility ensured appearances on virtually every type of dramatic program. He was known for recurring roles on such soap operas as Peyton Place and Dynasty, as well as much genre work, highlighted by a recurring role on Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, three appearances on Wonder Woman, including the memorable two-part episode, “Judgement From Outer Space,” inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still. O’Connor also logged appearances on ‘Way Out (“Button, Button”), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, in the Henry Slesar-scripted “What Really Happened,” directed by Zone contributor Jack Smight, The Outer Limits, in “Moonstone” and Harlan Ellison’s “Soldier,” and Star Trek: The Next Generation, in “The Perfect Mate.” O’Connor’s most memorable genre film role came in the 1973 cult film Sssssss.

Although the episode lives and breathes through the performances of Whitmore and O’Connor, it also features an underrated ensemble of character actors who are expertly directed by Buzz Kulik. It is no easy task to direct such a large cast mostly comprised of extras with non-speaking roles but Kulik frames the sweaty, weary faces of the beaten-down colonists exceptionally well. The colonists are essential to the dynamics of the drama. Repeat Zone performers such as Russ Bender, Paul Langton, Jo Helton, and the young Danny Kulick are ably supported by James Broderick as Al Baines.  

“On Thursday We Leave for Home” contains the recognizable strengths and hallmarks of Rod Serling’s powerful style of drama: poetic, yet grounded dialogue, a strong emotional core, examinations of topical themes, complex characters, and a surprising yet challenging conclusion. One can easily imagine Serling dictating his script, playing each character in turn, adding elements and removing others, to produce his finest script of the fourth season, and unquestionably one of his finest scripts of the entire series. It comes with the highest recommendation.

Grade: A

Grateful acknowledgement to:

-The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree (3^rd ed., 2018)

-Audio commentary for “On Thursday We Leave for Home” by Marc Scott Zicree and Joseph Dougherty, for The Twilight Zone: The 5^th Dimension (2016)

-The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)

Notes:

--Buzz Kulick directed eight additional episodes of the series, including “King Nine Will Not Return,” “The Trouble with Templeton,” “Static,” “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim,” “The Mind and the Matter,” “A Game of Pool,” “A Quality of Mercy,” and “Jess-Belle.” “On Thursday We Leave for Home” was Kulik’s final episode for the series.

--James Whitmore later appeared on Rod Serling’s The Loner in the two-part episode “The Mourners for Johnny Sharp.”

--Paul Langton also appeared in “Where Is Everybody?”

--Jo Helton also appeared in “The Shelter.”

--Russ Bender also appeared in “The Hitch-Hiker” and “The Fugitive.”

--Danny Kulick also appeared in “Cavender Is Coming.”

--Lew Gallo also appeared in “The Rip Van Winkle Caper.”

--“On Thursday We Leave for Home” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Barry Bostwick.

--One of the most well-documented goofs on the series occurred during the filming of “On Thursday We Leave for Home” when a microphone can be seen entering the frame for an extended time during the scene in which Benteen and George discuss the community’s dwindling supplies.

-JP

Wednesday Comics

The Twilight Zone #34 (September, 1970)
"Beware the Kewpie Dolls"
Script: unknown
Pencils & Inks: John Celardo 
Cover: George Wilson 

Reading Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, Part 20

We’ve made it a third of the way through our issue-by-issue look at Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine. In this series we take a detailed look at each issue. For our capsule history of the magazine, go here.

Volume 2, Number 8 (November, 1982)

Cover art: Bruce Heapps

TZ Publications, Inc.

President & Chairman: S. Edward Orenstein

Secretary/Treasurer: Sidney Z. Gellman

Executive Vice-Presidents: Leon Garry, Eric Protter

Executive Publisher: S. Edward Orenstein

Publisher: Leon Garry

Associate Publisher and Consulting Editor: Carol Serling

Editorial Director: Eric Protter

Editor: T.E.D. Klein

Managing Editor: Jane Bayer

Assistant Editor: Robert Sabat

Editorial Assistant: Judy Linden

Contributing Editors: Thomas M. Disch, Gahan Wilson

Design Director: Michael Monte

Art Director: Wendy Mansfield

Art Production: Susan Lindeman, Carol Sun, Lori Hollander

Typesetting: Irma Landazuri

Production Director: Stephen J. Fallon

Controller: Thomas Schiff

Ass’t to the Publisher: Penny Layne

Public Relations Mgr.: Jeffrey Nickora

Accounting Mgr.: Chris Grossman

Accounting Ass’t: Annmarie Pistilli

Office Ass’t: Zuleyma Guevara

Circulation Director: William D. Smith

Circulation Mgr.: Carole A. Harley

Circulation Ass’t: Katherine Lys

Northeastern Cirulation Manager: Jacqueline Doyle

Eastern Circ. Mgr.: Hank Rosen

West Coast Circ. Mgr.: Gary Judy

Advertising Manager: Rachel Britapaja

Adv. Production Manager: Marina Despotakis

Advertising Representatives: Barney O’Hara & Associates

Contents:

--In the Twilight Zone: “Unmasking time . . .” by T.E.D. Klein

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch

--Other Dimensions: The ‘Heroes & Heavies’ Quiz by Kathleen Murray

--Other Dimensions: War in Fantasyland by Baird Searles

--Other Dimensions: Etc.

--The Evil Dead (review) by Stephen King

--John Carpenter: Doing His Own Thing (interview) by James Verniere

--“Hell Is Murky” by John Alfred Taylor

--Required Reading: “Levitation” by Joseph Payne Brennan

--“The Opening” by Bruce Boston

--TZ Screen Preview: Halloween III by James Verniere

--Country of the Dead by Randy Chisholm (photos) & John Bensink (text)

--“Night Cry” by Katherine M. Turney

--“The Spook Man” by Al Sarrantonio

--“The Circle” by Lewis Shiner

--“Halloween Girl” by Robert Grant

--“The Screenplay” by Joseph Cromarty

--“The Smell of Cherries” by Jeffrey Goddin

--Show-by-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone: Party Twenty by Marc Scott Zicree

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “A Quality of Mercy” by Rod Serling

--Looking Ahead: In December’s TZ

--In the Twilight Zone: “Unmasking time . . .” by T.E.D Klein

T.E.D. Klein

-Klein gets straight to the contributor bios in this Halloween-themed issue. Among the highlights: the return of Gahan Wilson as films reviewer, an essay on The Evil Dead by Stephen King, an interview with John Carpenter, required reading from Joseph Payne Brennan, Halloween stories by Al Sarrantonio, Lewis Shiner, and Robert Grant, a preview of Halloween III, and a feature on unusual epitaphs. The “Unmasking time” of the title refers to Klein’s inclusion of photographs of some of the TZ Magazine staff. There are photos of Klein, publisher Leon Garry, editorial director Eric Protter, managing editor Jane Bayer, assistant editor Robert Sabat, art department members Susan Lindeman, Lori Hollander, Michael Monte, Wendy Mansfield, Carol Sun, and Irma Landazuri, production director Stephen J. Fallon, and advertising production manager Marina Despotakis.

--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson

Poltergeist

-Feeling ambitious upon his return to the magazine, Wilson reviews three notable films: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), The Thing (1982), and Poltergeist (1982). Since E.T. and The Thing feature aliens as characters, Wilson expounds upon the pros and cons of what he terms the “NHL,” or non-human lead, especially as it refers to E.T. Wilson is enthusiastic in his review of Steven Spielberg’s film, especially the performances of child actors Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore, the special effects from Carlo Rimbaldi, Spielberg’s direction, and the script by Melissa Mathison, the writer who rewrote Richard Matheson’s adaptation of George Clayton Johnson’s “Kick the Can” for Twilight Zone: the Movie (1983). Wilson’s review of John Carpenter’s The Thing (subject of the TZ Screen Preview in the July, 1982 issue) is largely positive with particular praise for the script from Bill Lancaster, Rob Bottin’s special makeup effects, and the successful updating of the material. Wilson takes issue with the design of the spaceship upon which the Thing arrives on Earth, feeling that it does not makes sense for the amorphous physiology of the Thing to be able to pilot such a vehicle. Fan theories have suggested that the Thing arrived as a stowaway on the spacecraft, having attacked and absorbed the lifeform onboard. John Carpenter, the director of The Thing, is the interview subject in this issue. Finally, Wilson tackles the funhouse spook film Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg. Wilson praises the cast but finds fault with the film’s kitchen-sink approach, throwing everything at the viewer while taking little time to explain anything. The film’s troubled production is also briefly touched upon.

--Other Dimensions: Books by Thomas M. Disch

-Disch is in acerbic form in this review column as he cuttingly examines four novels. Disch first takes his critical knife to Mickelsson’s Ghosts by John Gardner. Disch writes: “Gardner writes precisely the sort of over-earnest, symbol-laden tome that is to the college writers’ workshop what the Model A was to Detroit. I can imagine no one reading Mickelsson’s Ghosts with pleasure except the more plodding students of Creative Writing, whose faith in the eventual triumph of the patient imitation of approved models finds in Gardner a kind of messiah.” Richard A. by Sol Yurick fares little better under Disch’s critical eye. The prose style is Disch’s primary point of contention and he offers an excerpt of purple prose as example. His final judgment: “It’s only paper. Burn it.” Disch also suggests burning John Shirley’s Cellars, a horror novel currently gaining new and appreciative readers through a resurgence of interest in paperback horror novels of the 1980s. Disch is not a fan, however, and concludes this way: “So it goes, the grue alternating with the hokum for 295 pages of prose that is eighty-five percent pulp padding and fifteen percent amplified scream. There is, I will admit, an aesthetic to screaming, and Shirley’s shriller screams can get to your crystal ware, but screaming is, as a general rule, less effective on the printed page than in rock music, where the silly lyrics are blessedly incomprehensible and the beat goes on. Novels, alas, don’t have a rhythm section to keep them moving – so when the pages refuse to turn: burn, baby, burn.” The final book under the knife is Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. Disch characterizes the book as “to other, ordinary dumb books what a Dyson sphere is to an ordinary lampshade – awesomely much bigger, though not different in kind.” Disch criticizes the bits of autobiography that Hubbard includes in the opening of the book, as well as the old-fashioned feel of the novel. Disch admits, however, that the novel will almost certainly be a critical and commercial success. A large advertisement for Battlefield Earth is featured at the end of the column. Disch included a portion of this review column, the section dealing with Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth, in his 2005 essay collection On SF.

--Other Dimensions: The ‘Heroes & Heavies’ Quiz by Kathleen Murray

-The quiz this month challenges the reader to match the hero or heroine of horror movies with the bad guys who terrorize them. Below are the quiz and the answers for those who wish to take the challenge.

 --Other Dimensions: War in Fantasyland by Baird Searles

Illustration by Jonathan Lewis

-Searles (1934-1993) was the proprietor of the now-defunct Science Fiction Shop in Manhattan as well as a books, films, and technology reviewer for several science fiction magazines. Here he examines the history of fantasy fandom among readers and the ways in which this fandom was changed, expanded, and challenged by the greater emergence of fantasy in films and television, particularly where it concerns Star Trek fandom. Searles explains how fantasy first became a publishing category, the birth of fantasy conventions and how film and television have changed conventions, the different types of fantasy readers, differences in expectations between readers and viewers, and the ways in which films and television have influenced books, and vice versa.

--Other Dimensions: Etc.

-The miscellany column this month finds the use of the “popular phrase” the “twilight zone” in a newspaper article from the May 6, 1915 issue of the Niagara Falls, NY Gazette, an increase in orders for the music examined by Jack Sullivan in his recently-ended music column, more gargoyle sightings in NYC (right), an article on a child born “in the twilight zone” when changes in time zones puts his birthdate at odds with his admittance to the proper school grade, a limerick by Edward Lear which includes “E.T.,” a frequently-sited article on the N.A.A.C.P. which contains the term “Twilight Zone,” and a listing of unusually named cities, towns, and places across the U.S., such as The Boneyard, Arizona, Midnight, Mississippi, and Skeleton, Oklahoma.

--‘‘‘The Evil Dead’ Why you haven’t seen it yet . . . and why you ought to” by Stephen King

“While on the scene at Cannes, the author stumbled upon – well, not gold, exactly, but plenty of great gore.

-This is one of the more notable reviews in horror film history. King’s review of director Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead resulted from the author having attended a screening of the film at the Cannes Film Festival where the film screened out of competition. King’s quote of “the most ferociously original horror film of the year” was used on the film’s theatrical release poster and other marketing material. The quote was as follows: “that he has made the most ferociously original horror film of 1982 seems to me beyond doubt.” King uses the word “genius” when discussing the film and its director while also acknowledging the film’s derivative nature and its debt to such films as Night of the Living Dead and The Exorcist. When King viewed the film at Cannes, it was still struggling to find theatrical distribution and had only been viewed at occasional screenings. The film was eventually released simultaneously in theaters by New Line Cinema and on VHS home video. It has become a classic of the modern horror film, spawning two sequels, Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992), a television series, Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-2018), comic books, toys, and more. The production of the film has been exhaustively documented in publications like Fangoria as well as in supplementary material on the film’s various home video releases. King’s review is a bit of production history, a bit of introduction to the filmmakers and performers, a bit of detail about the film’s struggle for distribution, and a bit of critique.

--John Carpenter: Doing His Own Thing by James Verniere

“With Firestarter still ahead, The Thing’s director talks about his lifelong love of horror movies, the spate of films spawned by his Halloween, and the perils of remaking – or appearing to remake – a cult classic.”

-James Verniere provides a concise but detailed account of John Carpenter’s career before getting into the interview. He begins by asking the director about his formative years, from an early childhood interest in film and horror to his university days at the USC film school. Each of Carpenter’s films is then discussed in turn, from the early film Dark Star, made for $60,000 while at USC, to the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful action thriller Assault on Precinct 13, to the awesomely successful Halloween, and concluding with discussions of Escape from New York, The Fog, and the recently completed The Thing. Each film is discussed in the context of Carpenter’s inspiration, process, and sociological view. Carpenter clarifies his level of participation in Halloween II, details what viewers can expect from Halloween III, and provides his view on the spate of slasher films which arrived in the wake of Halloween’s success. Carpenter speaks in detail about The Thing, from the impetus to remake a classic to his approach in updating the material. The interview concludes with Carpenter discussing film projects he planned to make. These projects were either made much later, never made, or were made without Carpenter’s involvement, including The Philadelphia Experiment (made in 1984 without Carpenter’s involvement), a weird western titled El Diablo (released in 1990 with Carpenter as co-writer and executive producer), and, most tantalizingly, an adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter, which was made without Carpenter’s involvement in 1984.

--“Hell Is Murky” by John Alfred Taylor

Illustrated by Steve Byram

“They say it’s nice to have a cult following. But not this kind of following. And not this cult.”

-A cartoonist recently moved to Los Angeles believes himself the victim of an insidious cult whose agents stalk him and whose powers extend to altering reality. When he discovers a notebook belonging to a cult member in his new home he sets up a fateful meeting with the cult’s leader.

-This was an excellent and creative story which struck that otherworldly chord which will appeal to TZ fans. The imagery is David Lynchian in its approach and the snap ending is capably handled. John Alfred Taylor (b. 1931) previously appeared in the pages of TZ with the story “When the Cat’s Away . . .” in the September, 1981 issue. Taylor appeared again with “Like a Black Dandelion” in the Sept/Oct, 1983 issue and “The Weight of Zero” in the Jan/Feb, 1985 issue. Taylor is a prolific short fiction writer, mainly of horror and dark fantasy fiction, the best of which was collected by Ash Tree Press in the 2008 volume Hell Is Murky: Twenty Strange Tales. “Hell Is Murky” was reprinted in the Summer, 1985 issue of Night Cry.

--Required Reading: “Levitation” by Joseph Payne Brennan

Illustrated by Edward Gorey

“A classic tale in which we learn that the supernatural world has its own merciless version of Murphy’s Law.”

-A hypnotist at a country fair challenges a heckler to come on stage and subject himself to the trick of levitation. When the hypnotist has a heart attack during the trick, the unconscious, levitating man continues to rise into the night sky.

-Joseph Payne Brennan (1918-1990) was the last great name in horror fiction to emerge from the pages of Weird Tales, selling a handful of stories to the pulp magazine between 1952 and its demise in 1954. He is a personal favorite of mine and, though his work can be difficult to find, I highly recommend Brennan to anyone who enjoys well-told, traditional tales of horror and mystery. Brennan was also a prolific and award-winning poet, a mystery writer whose stories appeared regularly in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, an essayist and expert on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and worked for forty years as an acquisitions assistant at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library. “Levitation” first appeared in Brennan’s 1959 Arkham House collection Nine Horrors and a Dream, published in paperback in 1962 with a memorable cover by Richard Powers. The collection was reprinted in 2019 by Dover. The Edward Gorey illustration first accompanied the tale with its appearance in the 1968 anthology Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural, edited by Henry Mazzeo. The story was adapted for the first season of Tales from the Darkside from a script by David Gerrold, directed by John Harrison, broadcast May 19, 1985. Brennan’s stories “Murder on the Rocks” and “Goodbye, Dr. Bliss” were adapted for the second season of Boris Karloff’s Thriller as “The Lethal Ladies,” scripted by Boris Sobelman, directed by Ida Lupino, broadcast April 16, 1962.

Cover by Kirk Reineret
illustrating "Slime"

-Nine Horrors and a Dream also included much of Brennan’s best work, including the unforgettable “Slime,” a 1953 Weird Tales cover story which was likely an inspiration for the film The Blob (1958), “The Calamander Chest,” about a beckoning, ghostly finger, “Canavan’s Back Yard,” about a deadly plot of land and a witch’s curse (Brennan wrote a sequel to the tale, “Canavan Calling,” in 1985), and “The Mail for Juniper Hill,” a devilish tale of life beyond death. Much of Brennan’s output was self-published by his Macabre House imprint under which Brennan also published a Weird Tales-like magazine titled Macabre for nearly twenty years between 1957 and 1976. Along with Nine Horrors and a Dream, Brennan’s most readily available collection is The Shapes of Midnight (Berkley, 1980; reprinted by Dover in 2019 minus two tales). The original edition included an introduction from Stephen King in which King admitted Brennan’s influence on his own work: “Joseph Payne Brennan is one of the most effective writers in the horror genre, and he is certainly one of the writers I have patterned my own career upon.” King appropriated the name of a fictional town in Brennan’s works, Juniper Hill, for the name of the fictional insane asylum in his own works. The Shapes of Midnight included such stories as “The Corpse of Charlie Rull,” a fast-paced, gruesome, and undeservedly neglected zombie tale, “The Willow Platform,” a tale of ironic revenge in the style of E.C. Comics, “The Horror at Chilton Castle,” a tale of a vampire legacy, and the Twilight Zone-esque “The House on Hazel Street,” in which a woman is drawn into the past through the power of her memories.

--“The Opening” by Bruce Boston

Illustrated by Annie Alleman

“They were strangers in the night. And one of them was very strange.”

-After a fight with his wife, a man walks to a hillside in the nighttime where he is soon joined by an odd-looking man walking an odd-looking dog. The odd-looking man talks about the stars and the opportunity to voyage to outer space for anyone willing to take the journey. Later, the man believes the encounter to have been a dream, until he finds his wife missing.

-This was a slight but enjoyable story with a snap ending from Bruce Boston (b. 1943), who is likely the most honored modern speculative poet. His poetry has won multiple Rhysling, Asimov’s Readers’, and Bram Stoker Awards as well as the first Grandmaster Award from the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Boston is equally adept at prose and his stories have appeared in numerous magazines, large and small press alike. “The Opening” was collected in Skin Trades (1988).

--TZ Screen Preview: Halloween III by James Verniere

“This year’s entry in the seasonal horror sweepstakes combines Celtic magic, microchips, and masks that transform more than just your looks. James Verniere reports.”

-Verniere begins with a potted history of Halloween, the holiday, before moving on to a brief examination of the first two Halloween films. Halloween III, of course, is remembered as the Halloween film without the masked killer Michael Myers. Instead, the plot focuses on the machinations of an evil mask-maker, played to perfection by Dan O'Herlihy, whose products transform and kill those who wear them. The film was initially poorly received but its reputation has improved in recent years as it has found a new and appreciative audience. The Halloween franchise was initially intended as an anthology film series, wherein each film would tell a different story set on Halloween. The popularity of the Michael Myers character was such that the Halloween films soon settled into a convoluted storyline to keep Myers terrorizing the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Though uncredited in the finished film, Halloween III was co-scripted by Nigel Kneale, the British scriptwriter best-known for the Quatermass films and television productions such as The Stone Tape (1972) and the short-lived anthology series Beasts. Verniere gets behind Kneale’s process on scripting the third Halloween film and gets John Carpenter’s input on the proceedings as well. Finally, first-time director Tommy Lee Wallace, who previously served under Carpenter as editor and production designer, is briefly profiled. Wallace went on to direct three episodes of the first revival Twilight Zone series: “Dreams for Sale,” “Little Boy Lost,” and “The Leprechaun-Artist,” all from the first season.

--Country of the Dead by Randy Chisholm (photos) & John Bensink (text)

“The original ‘silent majority’ – the dead – may no longer be the majority. And they’re certainly not silent.”

-John Bensink, who previously appeared in TZ with the story “Midtown Bodies” in the August, 1982 issue, takes us through some of the more memorable epitaphs collected in American Epitaphs, Grave and Humorous by Charles L. Wallis (Dover, 1979), accompanied by evocative photographs from Chisholm. Wallis’ book was originally published in 1954 by Oxford University Press under the title Stories on Stone. Examples include:

On a marker in Paxton, Massachusetts, for Sidney Ellis, died 1836, age seven weeks:

He lived

He wept

He smiled

He groaned

And died.

On a marker in Westernville, New York, for William Reese, died 1872, age twenty-one:

This is what I expected but

Not so soon.

And more of the like.

--“Night Cry” by Katherine M. Turney

Illustrated by Lisa Mansolillo

“That yowling cat was keeping her awake. But what if it wasn’t a cat?”

-A woman is kept awake by a sound outside her apartment window which she cannot identify. The source of the sound establishes itself in an unexpectedly gruesome way.

-This short shocker with a nasty ending was the first, and possibly only, published story by Katherine M. Turney, whom T.E.D. Klein informs us managed movie theaters in Denver at the time this story was published. The title of the story was used for TZ Magazine’s sister publication, Night Cry, which was published from 1984-1987. Turney’s story was reprinted in the premier issue of Night Cry, accompanied by an illustration from D.W. Miller.

--“The Spook Man” by Al Sarrantonio

Illustrated by Kevin Kelly

“His cape was black, his eyes were hooded. And he was particularly fond of children.”

-A figure known as the Spook Man arrives in a small town and entices four monster-loving children to enter his haunted travelling home. The Spook Man’s home contains all manner of nightmare creatures and he has built his collection by transforming the children he brings into his home.

-Al Sarrantonio (b. 1952) appears again in TZ after last month’s “The Silly Stuff.” “The Spook Man” is prime Sarrantonio, combining the author’s love of Halloween, traditional images of horror and the macabre, and an engaging prose style to create a story which is partly nostalgic sweetness and partly an evocation of the sinister elements of the dark season. It is also a love letter to those of us who have always enjoyed monsters and horror stories and the like. Sarrantonio writes often on the subject of Halloween and “The Spook Man” is clearly an homage to Ray Bradbury’s many writings on the season, particularly in its poetic prose style. “The Spook Man” will recall Bradbury’s collection The October Country and, especially, his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. “The Spook Man” was reprinted in the Fall, 1985 issue of Night Cry and collected in Toybox (1999).

--“The Circle” by Lewis Shiner

Illustrated by Peter Kuper

“It was the perfect story for Halloween – and let the reader beware!”

-A circle of friends gathers every Halloween night to read scary stories. This Halloween they receive a package from a fringe member of the group who was recently pushed out of the circle. The package contains a story to be read aloud. It concerns the group gathered on Halloween night and the act of reading the tale traps them in a fateful course of events.

-This was my favorite story in the issue, a simple yet chilling and exceedingly clever take on themes ranging from the occult, revenge, the tradition of oral storytelling, and the politics of social groups. The title refers to the term used to describe a group of friends as well as the effects of reading the outcast member’s tale. Lewis Shiner (b. 1950) previously appeared in TZ with the tales “Blood Relations,” in the May, 1981 issue, and “Tommy and the Talking Dog” in the July, 1982 issue. “The Circle” was Shiner’s final story for TZ though he appeared later with a story, “Dancers,” in the Summer, 1987 issue of TZ’s sister mag, Night Cry. “The Circle” was reprinted in two Halloween themed anthologies: 13 Horrors of Halloween (1983), edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Carol-Lynn Rössel Waugh, and October Dreams (2000), edited by Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish. Chizmar co-scripted a 2009 television adaptation of the story for the short-lived anthology series Fear Itself. The episode was the final in the series and did not air on network broadcast but was included when the series was collected on home video. Chizmar was assisted on the script by Johnathon Schaech and the episode was directed by Eduardo Rodriguez. The story was collected in Shiner’s Collected Stories (Subterranean Press, 2009).

--“Halloween Girl” by Robert Grant

Illustrated by Harry Pincus

“It was the season, the holiday, the night of nights. And come what may, he was going to spend it with her.”

-A young boy and a young girl bond over their shared love of monsters, horror, and Halloween. The young girl grows sick and dies, leaving the young boy forlorn. The boy grudgingly honors the customs of the next Halloween and afterwards visits the girl’s grave to leave her his bag of trick-or-treat candy. He wakes the following morning to evidence that she visited him later in the night.

-This story was a perfect example of a type of tale which is very hard to write, the gently spooky story. More touching than chilling, the ending of the tale still manages to satisfy much in the way of Ray Bradbury’s “The Emissary.” Like Lewis Shiner’s “The Circle,” Grant’s “Halloween Girl” was reprinted in 13 Horrors of Halloween (1983). Grant appeared later in TZ with the story “Where You Lead . . . I Will Follow” in the October, 1985 issue.

--“The Screenplay” by Joseph Cromarty

Illustrated by Yvonne Buchanan

“All this talk about werewolves . . . could Jack be trying to tell him something?”

-Roger surprises his friend Jack with a visit to discuss ideas for a screenplay. Jack seems uncomfortable with Roger’s unexpected visit and becomes increasingly agitated when Roger suggests a story about werewolves. In fact, Roger begins to believe that Jack may be a werewolf himself and makes a quick exit. Jack congratulates himself on being an actor as he got Roger to leave before Roger’s wife arrived at Jack’s place.

-This humorous story with an ironic ending is courtesy of Joseph Cromarty (1932-2016), who previously appeared with the Edgar Allan Poe spoof, “Ms. Found in a Bottle,” in the August, 1982 issue. Cromarty appeared twice more in TZ, with “The Neighborhood Assassin” and “Words, Words, Words,” both in the Jan/Feb, 1984 issue.

--“The Smell of Cherries” by Jeffrey Goddin

Illustrated by Michael Davis

“Something was spooking the night watchmen – and it wasn’t robbers. It was just . . .

-A security guard is terrorized by the frightening revenants which haunt a warehouse property which was once the site of nerve gas testing.

-Goddin used his personal experience as a security guard to craft this atmospheric tale. Anyone can imagine the uneasiness which could creep upon you if you were left at night to guard an abandoned property. Goddin takes this idea to horrific heights with some disturbing imagery and great moments of tension. Goddin is a short story writer who was prolific from the late seventies through the early nineties, publishing horror and science fiction tales in most of the notable small press magazines, such as Weirdbook, Eldritch Tales, Fantasy Tales, Deathrealm, and the like. His stories have been included in Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories, including “The Smell of Cherries,” which appeared in volume XI of the series (1983). The story was also reprinted in the anthology A Treasury of American Horror Stories (1985) and collected as the title story of a 2012 volume of Goddin’s stories from Gallows Press. Paperback collectors may know Goddin through his two horror novels published by Leisure Books, both of which remain collectible for their cover art: The Living Dead (1987) and Blood of the Wolf (1987).

--Show-By-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone: Part Twenty by Marc Scott Zicree

-Marc Scott Zicree continues his guide to the original television series by providing cast and crew listings, summaries, and Rod Serling’s opening and closing narrations for the fifth season episodes “Ninety Years Without Slumbering,” “Ring-a-Ding Girl,” and “You Drive.”

--TZ Classic Teleplay: “A Quality of Mercy” by Rod Serling

-The complete shooting script of Rod Serling’s third season tale about a young, inexperienced, cruel, and overzealous platoon leader who discovers what it means to see through the eyes of the enemy. The episode was directed by Buzz Kulik, starring Dean Stockwell and Albert Salmi, originally broadcast December 29, 1961. Go here for our full review of the episode.

--Looking Ahead: In December’s TZ

-Next month looks like another great issue. December’s TZ features stories from David J. Schow, Pamela Sargent, Mort Castle, and L.P. Hartley, the latter being the subject of an Essential Writers essay by Jack Sullivan. The issue also features an interview with director Ridley Scott, a preview of the science fiction/horror film Xtro, a new quiz from William Fulwiler, and the script for “Living Doll” by Jerry Sohl, which at this time was still solely credited to Charles Beaumont. See you next month!

-JP