The world is full of big talkers, and not even the Twilight Zone can escape them. In season 2 Rod Serling wrote "The Silence" about two rich men who square off in an expensive bet, just so one of the men can be freed from the incessant talking of the other. In season 3 the Zone served up "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby," a story about a country bumpkin that can spin yarns unlike anyone else. He's abducted by aliens and is able to escape using his harmonica, but the townsfolk believe his story is just an...
Dec 30, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 54
Hollywood legends Dennis Weaver and Robert Duvall each made trips into The Twilight Zone. In the season 2 episode, "Shadow Play," Dennis Weaver portrayed Adam Grant, a man stuck in a dream where he is convicted to die over and over again in the electric chair. In season 4, Robert Duvall starred in, "Miniature," a story where Charley Parkes falls in love with a woman from a museum display. Each of these two brilliant actors showed why they would soon become Hollywood legends. Connect with Enterin...
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 53
The power of the human mind is perhaps often underestimated, but it's certainly capable of much more once it enters the Twilight Zone. Season 2 of Rod Serling's masterpiece gave us two excellent examples. Episode 16 features Dick York in, "A Penny for Your Thoughts" and episode 27 showcases Shelley Berman in, "The Mind and the Matter." Both of these light-hearted episodes had us cracking up and enjoying our trip to the Twilight Zone! Connect with Entering the Fifth Dimension: Facebook community ...
Oct 26, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 52
Are machines capable of love? Can they learn, adapt, conspire, or feel emotions? They definitely can in the Twilight Zone! In season 3, Ray Bradbury contributed the episode, "I Sing the Body Electric," inspired by Walt Whitman's poem of the same name. After losing their mother, a grieving father acquired a robot to help love, care, and raise his children. In season 5, Bernard C. Schoenfeld contributed the episode, From Agnes, With Love" in which a computer programmer is tormented by the jealous ...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 51
Whether it's on the train to Willoughby or coming home from a 'coon hunt, you never know when you might find yourself on a journey to the after life. You might discover that you're seeing dead people and don't know it, or even that you yourself have passed into the afterlife. At least, that's the case with Mr. Williams and the Old Man in "A Stop at Willoughby" and "The Hunt." These two stories give us quite different approaches to dying and what it's like passing on to the afterlife, but both ep...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 50
Stories that focus on the young or the elderly tend to bring us as viewers into an introspective frame of mind. Season 3 of The Twilight Zone gives us two such examples of this. "Kick the Can" blends both the elderly and the young into the storyline, giving us a double punch to ponder the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that makes us never to grow old in our spirit. "The Trade-Ins" helps us appreciate the ones we cherish most and the life we've build together. Written by George Clayto...
Jul 31, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 49
It takes a gifted actor to be able to pull off a single-actor episode. When executed well - such as Agnes Moorehead's "The Invaders," the episode can become legendary. Since we've already covered that episode, this month we look at two other single-actor episodes. First up is Robert Cummings' season 2 premiere, "King Nine Will Not Return." Cummings portrays a US Air Force pilot who was unable to pilot what ended up being a fateful flight that took the lives of his entire crew. Next up we look at...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 48
Jack Klugman, along with Bergiss Meredith, has the esteemed honor of being one of only two actors to be featured in the lead role of four Twilight Zone episodes. We previously covered, "In Praise of Pip" and "A Passage For Trumpet," and this month we're taking a look at "A Game of Pool" and "Death Ship." In "A Game of Pool," Klugman stars alongside Jonathan Winters in what was Winters' first dramatic role. Both men provided stellar performances that make "Pool" a fan favorite to this day. "Death...
May 31, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 47
Whether driving or flying across the country, tragedy can strike at any moment, especially in the Twilight Zone. This month we take a look at two episodes that capitalize on this true, yet unsettling reality. Season 1 of the Zone gave us "The Hitch-Hiker," a story of Nan Adams who is driving her way from New York to Los Angeles. Unfortunately for Nan, much like Malcolm Crowe in "The Sixth Sense," she doesn't realize that her fate for quite some time. As a result, we're treated with a story with ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 46
Throughout the 1950's and 60's Rod Serling wrote several stories aimed at shedding light on racial issues with blacks in America. His stories were often watered down or changed to other racial groups by network executives or sponsors, leaving Rod in a state of frustration. When JFK was gunned down in Dallas on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Rod was inspired to write "I am the Night - Color Me Black," an episode which not only addresses racism and bigotry head on, but it also addressed hate ...
Mar 29, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 45
Beloved as Catwoman from the 1960's Batman series, Julie Newmar first appeared as Miss Devlin on the season 4 Twilight Zone episode, "Of Late I think of Cliffordville." Pat Hingle, who played the role of Commissioner Gordon in the 1980's and 90's Batman films, made his Twilight Zone appearance in the season 4 episode, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford." Besides featuring actors who would later appear in the Batman universe, these two episodes features plots involving men who can't let go of t...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 44
If there's one thing The Twilight Zone loves, it's exploring humanity through the lens of space travel. This month we take a look at two episodes where the lead characters find themselves stranded in space, albeit for entirely different reasons. In season 1 episode 7 entitled, "The Lonely," we encounter the story of a man named Corry who has been sentenced to solitary confinement on an asteroid millions of miles from earth. He's given a human-looking robot to ease his loneliness, but what happen...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 43
While the weather may be a bit unseasonably warm for us right now, we find ourselves in a much cooler situation than those in the season 3 Twilight Zone episode, "The Midnight Sun." For much of the episode we are lead to believe they are on a collision course with the sun...or are they? This is a podcast episode with a snow theme after all. Then we take a look at season three's final episode, "The Changing of the Guard." The content of this episode draws us back to our own childhood and the teac...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 42
Burgess Meredith's impact on the Twilight Zone is arguably deeper than any other thespian to enter the fifth dimension. While most know him immediately for his work on the beloved episode, "Time Enough at Last," many have never seen his appearance in the season four episode, "Printer's Devil." This month we not only take a look at "Printer's Devil," but we also take a look at his season 2 appearance as the meek pushover "Mr. Dingle, the Strong." Dingle is much more commonly recognizable due to t...
Nov 30, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 41
Is dealing with the devil ever a good idea? Would you even recognize the devil if you met him face to face? Would there be peace on earth if you could somehow capture Satan himself and confine him to a prison cell? October is the month of ghosts, goblins, witches, and devils, so it seems like the perfect time to look back at two episodes of The Twilight Zone that feature the devil as a main piece of the story. In season 1 Rod Serling gave us "Escape Clause" where hypochondriac Walter Bedeker mak...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 40
Mirrors give us glimpses into a parallel world and allow us to see the hearts of men. Well, at least they do in The Twilight Zone. This month we look at "Mirror Image" and wonder if the ticket agent and washroom attendant are all part of the plan to make Millicent believe she's crazy. We also review "The Mirror" and share our theories on whether or not the mirror actually had special powers, or if it was merely the power of suggestion amplified by paranoia that brought about the demise of these ...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 39
I'll go out on a limb here and state unequivocally that James Best is in the best two scary Twilight Zone episodes of the entire show. Darrell may or may not agree with me, but we discuss the noire feel of "The Grave" and the playful, yet thought-provoking take on "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" too. Both episodes were written and directed by the great Montgomery Pittman. Both episodes feature incredible cast members with fun names of the characters to boot. It was great seeing Best play a c...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 38
When you look at the beginning and the ending efforts of arguably the best genre tv show in history, you need to expect there might be low's and high's to discuss. Furthermore, you'd expect the first episode to have more lows than the last, simply because it is still finding its footing. But that isn't the way we saw it. Episode one's story misdirection, although not suggestive of entering the Zone "Canon" enough to be formulated in the very next episode, did establish a great twist ending which...
Jul 30, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 37
We have a double dose of Twist Endings Part Two for you this time as we look at "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" and "The Invaders." Two episodes, somewhat vastly different except we see they both involve space travel, misunderstandings, and violent deaths. Actually, both stories capitalize on the hubris of mankind to reach out into the stars with a blind eye to the consequences of interacting with a new environment and interacting with its inhabitants and even ourselves. Although both use space a...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 36
Joined by one of our listeners, Rick, this month we look at one of the most highly regarded Twilight Zone episodes of all time: "Eye of the Beholder." Darrell has a lot of books and DVD's about the show. Robert reads everything he can find on the Net that is related to the show. Rick, my friends has Rick—which means an encyclopedic mind that can rattle off a list of episodes that didn't originally air plus he knows nearly everything else there is to know about the cast member's previous and latt...
May 31, 2021•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 35
These 3 pairs of boots were made for walking the walk and the distance to a weird stroll down your hometown's memory lane. Feedback caller extraordinaire, Bradley, sits in on his favorite classic episode. Robert Mr. Magoo'd his observations again as he missed details, and Darrell and Bradley easily noticed every small intricately placed mirror angle and shading. Bradley dazzled us with theories about alternate realities and Robert just plain got dizzy keeping pace and settled for the view the ep...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 34
We really picked two amazing Jack Klugman Twilight Zone episodes in which each had its own version of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. One episode was darker than the other, but Klugman's phenomenal acting was a bright, dichotomous dark star. In "A Passage For Trumpet" we explore the dark side of creativity and have a meta discussion of what is real when you perform inebriated versus when you perform sober. Clearly, Robert wished he would have had buckets of disinfecting alcohol to clean off double licked...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 33
Yes, we finally got to a couple classic episodes we aren't crazy about. That's ok, IMDB ratings seemed to like them more than us, but for us wasn't clear to why the TZ that is so famous for pointing out socio-historical injustice missed the mark in the time travel episode back to the battle of Little BigHorn. Only one line in the entire script that was positive about Native Americans. Nothing about their inhumane treatment up to either of the story's timelines. And in the other episode, it seeme...
Feb 28, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 32
Are perceptions that toys (specifically human-looking dolls) are scary and sometimes evil a right of passage for childish thoughts? Are all of us born with those perceptions ingrained in our DNA? Do we perceive a toy to be threatening purely by the way it just sits on a shelf and looks at us with a blank, inanimate stare? Or, are toys merely a lifeless mirror we animate with our imaginative thoughts and amplify how we see the bad and evil around us and imbue them into a benign talisman in which ...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 31
In two classic, albeit thematically loosely connected episodes by a Salvation Army collector's Christmas bell, we see a story of one man's salvation is found because he yearns so painfully for his existence to impact those meek people who desperately need help, and we see another story of a group of "people" who question their very odd, trapped existence and we see there is no hope for them anywhere. Darrell and Robert have a spirited discussion, no pun intended, in this our 30th podcast episode...
Dec 30, 2020•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 30
Martians, three-eyed short order cooks from Venus, and a little sci-fi nerd named Tommy wreak havoc in this month's classic look back edition of the podcast. These episodes contain the one thing all great stories must contain to make them great—universal themes. These two episodes highlight the lowlight of the human condition that is the tendency to forgo reason in favor of attacking what we think we immediately see is the cause of a problem rather than seeking further the answers to that which ...
Nov 30, 2020•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 29
Here we are. Two tales of one actor as two different bookworms. Darrell and Robert take on the great, classic Burgess Meredith episodes and answer once and for all if Robert is or isn't related to Lynn Venable, the original story writer of TIME ENOUGH AT LAST. That episode, adapted for the show by Rod Serling, is easily identified as one of the most recognizable stories not just for THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but it is arguably one of the most recognizable television episodes of any show of all time. Th...
Oct 30, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 28
Before we loved them as Spock, Scotty, and Sulu, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and George Takei all found their way into The Twilight Zone. Leonard Nimoy appeared in the season 3 episode, "A Quality of Mercy," James Doohan appeared in the season 4 episode, "Valley of the Shadow," and George Takei appeared in the season 5 episode, "The Encounter." While Nimoy and Doohan played smaller roles in their respective episodes, Takei took one of two lead roles in his feature and brought a standout perform...
Sep 29, 2020•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 27
"You Might Also Like" brings us to the end of the second season. 20 episodes total for two seasons for this modern version of the Twilight Twilight Zone to establish itself. So, we guess the question is then, "did it, in fact, establish itself?" The best answer we can give is we really hope there is a third season. Let's take the 10th episode of season two. For Robert, this episode unintentionally mirrors season one's 10th episode. Season one's last episode went for broke and it was awesome. Sea...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 26
"Try, Try" comes in for us as one of the most thought provoking of Twilight Zone season 2. Do we really know anyone? Do we really trust anyone? Who is to say the people who are really good at something are good at it because they've been given the opportunity to give it another try, and another try , and so on until they perfect it. The Twilight Zone examines the concept of this in its second season's ninth episode. Join Robert and Darrell as Darrell continues his quest messing with Robert's ide...
Aug 23, 2020•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 25
