The Twilight Zone 2019

If you don’t know, this year we’ve had another new series of the Twilight Zone. Since the first series, which had five seasons, was first broadcast in 1959 there have been a few sequels. The 1985 version (three seasons) and the 2002 version (one season), not including the anthology film in ’83.

Twilight Zone is big thing, it was one of the first times in TV, at least American TV, that a Science Fiction based show was aimed at more than just children. It used the greatest strength of sci-fi and horror, the metaphor, to look at our world. To see the issues and concerns plaguing us before asking how things would develop. Often taking it to an extreme in effort to force us to look at our own actions. 

Stories like “The Obsolete Man”, The Monsters Are Due on Maple St” and “Eye of the Beholder” are cutting social commentaries that resonate. Not just in the 60’s, but today and possibly in the future too.

Sometimes they were just plain horror or simply quirky fiction out for a laugh, but even then they thrilled. These were stories crafted by masters. Just look at the frankly terrifying “It’s a Good Life”, or the surreal brilliance of “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”. One of my favourites is “A World of His Own”. It's far from perfect and the twists are easy to spot, well aside from the last one, but it’s a fun quirky little story. 

The original Twilight Zone is, well it’s iconic. Not only that but a lot of writers, even today, take a lot of cues and inspiration from it. The Simpsons, back in the old days, would endlessly reference the more famous episodes, like “To Serve Man”. We wouldn’t have shows today like Black Mirror if it wasn’t for the classic Twilight Zone. It’s influence spreads throughout fiction and if you know it or not you’ve either seen a story, or something lifted from the show.

In ’85, long after the original creator Rod Sterling had passed on, a group of these influenced writers made a three season long sequel series. On the whole it wasn’t bad. Not as great, or iconic as the original, but some really good stories were in there. It also pulled in some quite famous actors from the time. The first episode, “Shatterday” had Bruce Willis at the hight of his career. Now the original also had a number of recognisable faces in it, both from the time and actors who became more famous later. Including William Shatner, but as a child born in the 80’s I recognise the actors in this version the most.

In the end there’s not much else to say about the ’85 version, the 2002 series on the other hand has some interesting parts. They brought in Forest Whitaker to do the voice over and, unlike the ’85 show he also appeared on camera at the start of the story and the end. Much like Rod Sterling did. There were other call backs in the 2002 version. Including a couple of remakes of Classic episodes (most noticeably “Eye of the Beholder”) and a sequel to “It’s A Good Life”.

This version wasn’t as impactful, there was some good parts and great moments in it (“Cold Fusion” is a highlight) but a lot of the twists were quite obvious and some of the acting was shaky. There was a certain feeling of something being rushed with the 2002 series. At least to me. Episodes for the other two went through at least a couple of drafts, this felt very much like everything had gone straight from first notes to filmed episode. The budget didn’t feel fantastic either. There are times you can feel they are stretching things out, reusing old props and sets from other shows being the most obvious.

Perhaps because of this the 2002 series only lasted a single season and never really made much of an impact. Certainly not compared to the other two. Still I liked it and it tried it's best with what looked to be very limited resources.

This time round we’ve only got ten episodes (in the first season at least) and it’s only available on CBS’s streaming service All Access. The guy heading it is Jordan Peele, a modern writer that’s done very good work with the films Get Out (2017) and Us (2019). So, do I think it’s good, or has the law of diminishing returns stuck in force?

Well, first of all I must admit I haven’t seen the episodes. It’s very hard for me to do so. Setting them up as exclusives on All Access makes it almost impossible, as it is not available here in the UK. Or anywhere outside of the US to be honest. Now there are ways around that, but it is hardly legal and requires money I don’t have. So I’ve been reduced to reading reviews and synopsis online.

What I’ve read is not encouraging. You’d think streaming services would be eager to snap up the rights, Amazon and Netflix are always looking for new content after all. So the fact that it’s not is a rather large red flag and not the only one.

The great thing about the original Twilight Zone is while it tapped into fears of the time, it did so in a timeless manner. You can watch the Classic show and it’s lessons are just as poignant now as they were sixty years ago. They tell stories that are important to humanity as a whole, not just North America, and resonate down through the years. These latest ones feel like flashes in the pan. Here today, gone tomorrow.

In many ways the latest series misses the point. A lot of the issues we have today have their roots in man’s inhumanity to itself. The trick is to see through to the core and show that for what it is. That is a trick previous series have picked up on and done very well.

In the original series there was a strong sense of morals. A good man would get something nice happening to them, if they really deserved it. A bad man… they’d get the chance to reform or regret it. Seriously regret it. From what I can tell in this series things just happen. A journalist just happens to find a recording from the future, a comedian just happens to make a foolish deal, a Police officer happens to get caught up in an alien invasion.

It’s all so hollow, a lose framework to hang a message on, rather than a story that comes from the message. Story and narrate should come from characters, who that person is defines their actions and actions produce events. This is a series of "and then". And then the plane crashes, and then they survive, and then there's a lynch mob. so on and so on.

Speaking of hollow, the endless references. Every episode is loaded with easter eggs and references to the classic show. Wrapping paper, dolls, whole pieces of dialogue lifted straight from the 60’s. It’s cute once or twice, but when every other scene is a call back that has very little to do with the story it just gets boring and repetitive.

Know that Jordan Peele can write, he’s an adequate comedian and has done some great horror in the past. Here though… Here he’s lost it. While word is the series has already been picked up for a second season there is still no one outside of the US that can watch and I suspect no-one inside that will want to either.

I can’t score this series because I’m working second hand here. When it is available to us poor plebs in the UK I may track down a few of the better rated episodes, but I’m not enthralled with the idea. With luck things will improve, and I do hope to enjoy it as I do it’s previous incarnations, but not today.