Re: What Did You Watch? 2024-03-31 (Sunday)

On 4/1/2024 12:35 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

The Twilight Zone S5E18 'Black Leather Jackets' - DVR
Tough aliens from outer space try to poison the population of earth. (Comcast)
Three leather-jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding men invade a peaceful neighborhood.  (IMDb)
 Trivia:
In an interview with the Archive of American Television in 2003, the writer Earl Hamner Jr. admitted that he thought that this episode was bad and that he was not as proud of it as most of the other episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) that he wrote.
In "The Twilight Zone Companion" (1983), Marc Scott Zicree described this episode as "It Came from Outer Space (1953) meets The Wild One (1953)."
The motorcycles used are 1964 Harley Davidson panheads.
The street is the same as the one in the season one episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".
The style of sunglasses/eye covers worn by the men in leather jackets were also worn by characters in The Old Man in the Cave (1963).
All exteriors were shot in Universal's back lot. As the bikers enter town at the beginning of the episode, they drive right past the town square made famous in Back to the Future (1985).
 Plot Holes:
Alien invaders try to blend into a quiet American town by posing as a motorcycle gang.
 

Now that you mention it!  LOL

Quotes:
[opening narration]
Narrator: Three strangers arrive in a small town, three men in black leather jackets in an empty rented house. We'll call them Steve, Scott and Fred, but their names are not important; their mission is, as three men on motorcycles lead us into The Twilight Zone.
[closing narration]
Narrator: Portrait of an American family on the eve of invasion from outer space. Of course, we know it's merely fiction - and yet, think twice when you drink your next glass of water. Find out if it's from your local reservoir, or possibly, it came direct to you - from The Twilight Zone.
  The Twilight Zone S5E19 'Night Call' - DVR
Elva Keene, confined to her bed and wheelchair, is driven to distraction by mysterious telephone calls on a dead line.  (Comcast)
Telephone calls begin to haunt a disabled elderly woman.  (IMDb)
 Trivia
Elva's phone number is KL-5-2368. The K and the L are both the number 5 on the phone dial. "555" is an exchange number commonly thought to be reserved by the phone companies for use by TV and movies in order to prevent prank phone calls to real people. In fact, only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use, and the other numbers have been released for actual assignment.
Originally scheduled to air on November 22, 1963, it was preempted by John F. Kennedy's assassination. In the alternate timeline featured in Profile in Silver/Button, Button (1986) in which JFK's assassination was prevented, a CBS television announcement is heard: "We will now return to our regular programming" and the theme of The Twilight Zone (1959) is played, a reference to the intended broadcast date of this episode.
On the day that this episode was first aired (February 7, 1964), The Beatles arrived in the United States in preparation for their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948): Meet The Beatles (1964).
Elva's phone number - KL5 2368, or 555-2368 is the phone number in the movie Ghostbusters (1984).
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  Quotes:
     [opening narration]
     Narrator: Miss Elva Keene lives alone on the outskirts of London Flats, a tiny rural community in Maine. Up until now, the pattern of Miss Keene's existence has been that of lying in her bed or sitting in her wheelchair, reading books, listening to a radio, eating, napping, taking medication and - waiting for something different to happen. Miss Keene doesn't know it yet, but her period of waiting has just ended. For something different is about to happen to her, has, in fact already begun to happen via two most unaccountable telephone calls in the middle of a stormy night. Telephone calls routed directly through - The Twilight Zone.
[closing narration]
Narrator: According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the Earth. It is man's prerogative and woman's, to create their own particular and private hell. Case in point, Miss Elva Keene, who in every sense has made her own bed and now must lie in it sadder, but wiser by dint of a rather painful lesson in responsibility transmitted from - The Twilight Zone.
  The Twilight Zone S5E20 'From Agnes - with Love' - DVR
A computer expert is called in to work on the world's most advanced computer, which has the soul of a jealous woman.  (Comcast)
A computer technician begins to take advice for his love life from Agnes, the computer he works with.  (IMDb)
 EST (Electronically Stored Trivia)
This particular story about a lovelorn man and a computer was originally broadcast on St. Valentine's Day.
The music heard early in the episode and in different variations throughout the episodes, is titled "The Cuckoo Song". Also known as "Dance Of The Cuckoos", it is perhaps best known as the theme music from the Laurel and Hardy comedy films of the early to mid 1900s.
This episode included one of the first references in a TV series to "Cape Kennedy," renamed from Cape Canaveral in December 1963 only two months before this episode aired on February 14, 1964.
At one point, Agnes is assigned to do calculations for an operation to the planet Venus. In keeping with the theme of romance, Venus was the Roman goddess of love.
 Quotes:
     [opening narration]
     Narrator: James Elwood, master programmer, in charge of Mark 502-741, commonly known as 'Agnes,' the world's most advanced electronic computer. Machines are made by men for man's benefit and progress, but when man ceases to control the products of his ingenuity and imagination, he not only risks losing the benefit, but he takes a long and unpredictable step into - the Twilight Zone.
     [closing narration]
     Narrator: Advice to all future male scientists: be sure you understand the opposite sex, especially if you intend being a computer expert. Otherwise, you may find yourself, like poor Elwood, defeated by a jealous machine, a most dangerous sort of female, whose victims are forever banished - to the Twilight Zone.
  The Twilight Zone S5E21 'Spur of the Moment' - DVR
While horseback riding, a wealthy girl is nearly run down by another woman, who chases her.  (Comcast)
An engaged heiress is terrorized by a middle-aged woman on a horse pleading with her not to go through with her impending marriage.  (IMDb)
 

I'm not sure I understood this one when I saw it.

Spurious Trivia:
Diana Hyland was 27 when she played Anne Henderson at ages 18 and 43.
 Quotes
Narrator: [Opening Narration] This is the face of terror: Anne Marie Henderson, eighteen years of age, her young existence suddenly marred by a savage and wholly unanticipated pursuit by a strange, nightmarish figure of a woman in black, who has appeared as if from nowhere and now, at driving gallop, chases the terrified girl across the countryside, as if she means to ride her down and kill her - and then suddenly and inexplicably stops, to watch in malignant silence as her prey takes flight. Miss Henderson has no idea whatever as to the motive for this pursuit, worse, not the vaguest notion regarding the identity of her pursuer. Soon enough, she will be given the solution to this twofold mystery, but in a manner far beyond her present capacity to understand, a manner enigmatically bizarre in terms of time and space - which is to say, an answer from - The Twilight Zone.
     [closing narration]
     Narrator: This is the face of terror: Anne Marie Mitchell, forty-three years of age, her desolate existence once more afflicted by the hope of altering her past mistake - a hope which is, unfortunately, doomed to disappointment. For warnings from the future to the past must be taken in the past; today may change tomorrow but once today is gone, tomorrow can only look back in sorrow that the warning was ignored. Said warning as of now stamped 'not accepted' and stored away in the dead file in the recording office of the Twilight Zone.
   The Twilight Zone S5E22 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' - DVR
Ambrose Bierce relates the tale of a Confederate soldier's execution at the end of the Divil War.  (Comcast)
During the American Civil War in 1862, a condemned Confederate prisoner, Peyton Farquhar, is due to be hanged by Union troops.  (IMDb)
 Trivia
Rod Serling was getting ready to take his end-of-season break, with all but one of the shows for the fifth season already filmed or in production, when he decided to leave early and go to a French film festival. There he saw Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961) and immediately hunted down the producers with an offer to buy it for a one-time showing for American TV. Serling reportedly picked it up for $20,000 and flew straight back to Los Angeles, filming a new intro the moment he got to the studio and plugging the show into that same week's time slot. Not only did Serling get what was considered a classic, he also saved nearly $100,000 in production costs and brought the season's worth of shows in on budget. This prompted ABC-TV to offer to pick up The Twilight Zone (1959) for another season. Serling said no to the deal when his discussions over the content of the new season made it appear he would be "going to the graveyard" for each show, doing Gothic horror shows. (ABC did want that, and eventually would pick up Dark Shadows (1966), which fit the bill, in daytime.) ironically, Serling would return to television in 1970 for three seasons of Night Gallery (1970) on NBC, consisting of the exact format that ABC had asked for.
The 1962 French version of Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961) won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
 Quotes
     [opening narration]
     Narrator: Tonight, a presentation so special and unique that for the first time in the five years we've been presenting The Twilight Zone, we're offering a film shot in France by others. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival of 1962, as well as other international awards, here is a haunting study of the incredible from the past master of the incredible, Ambrose Bierce. Here is the French production of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'
     [closing narration]
     Narrator: An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge in two forms - as it was dreamed and as it was lived and died. This is the stuff of fantasy, the thread of imagination, the ingredients of The Twilight Zone.
  The Twilight Zone S5E23 'Queen of the Nile' - DVR
The everlasting youth of a movie star arouses the curiosity of a magazine writer.  (Comcast)
A reporter interviews a Hollywood movie queen who has a secret to her eternal beauty.  (IMDb)
 ROT'd spoiler Trivia
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 Quotes
     [opening narration]
     Narrator: Jordan Herrick, syndicated columnist, whose work appears in more than a hundred newspapers. By nature a cynic, a disbeliever, caught for the moment by a lovely vision. He knows the vision he's seen is no dream; she is Pamela Morris, renowned movie star, whose name is a household word and whose face is known to millions. What Mr. Herrick does not know is that he has also just looked into the face - of the Twilight Zone.
     [closing narration]
     Narrator: Everybody knows Pamela Morris, the beautiful and eternally young movie star. Or does she have another name, even more famous, an Egyptian name from centuries past? It's best not to be too curious, lest you wind up like Jordan Herrick, a pile of dust and old clothing, discarded in the endless eternity of the Twilight Zone.
  The Twilight Zone S5E24 'What's in the Box' - DVR
A man (William Demarest) sees himself on television, killing his wife (Joan Blondell).  (Comcast)
Philanderer Joe Britt sees his indiscretions shown on his own TV set after it was worked on by a unique repairman.  (IMDb)
  From the box of Trivia
While the TV repairman is fixing the television, numerous voices can be heard. One of them is Rod Serling saying, "Next time on The Twilight Zone (1959)..."
Joe Britt is surprised at getting Channel 10. When television began, it was broadcast over the very high frequency (VHF) band of the radio spectrum. The VHF channels were 2-13, but, to avoid interference, a city could not have channels with consecutive numbers, except for 4 and 5 or 5 and 6. Britt lives in New York, which had channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.
In Rod Serling's intro he says "really big shoe", which was a common comical parody of Ed Sullivan's manner of opening his program by saying he had a "really big show" (pronouncing it "shoe").
The second time a character (other than Rod Serling) breaks the fourth wall by staring at and smiling at the audience (Sterling Holloway as the TV Repairman); the first was in To Serve Man (1962).
 Boxable Quotes
     [opening narration]
     Narrator: Portrait of a TV fan. Name: Joe Britt. Occupation: cab driver. Tonight, Mr. Britt is going to watch 'a really big show,' something special for the cabbie who's seen everything. Joe Britt doesn't know it, but his flag is down and his meter's running, and he's in high gear, on his way - to The Twilight Zone.
     [closing narration]
     Narrator: The next time your TV set is on the blink, when you're in the need of a first-rate repairman, may we suggest our own specialist? Factory-trained, prompt, honest, twenty-four hour service. You won't find him in the phone book, but his office is conveniently located - in the Twilight Zone.
  What Did You Watch?
 

I watched:
Oh, God! (blu-ray) 1977 comedy starring George Burns as God, who enlists John Denver to help get the word out.  This is part of a box set I bought a few years ago, and I've been very much eagerly awaiting to watch them.  In particular because there's a new commentary on all three movies.  The first movie has a choice of director/actor commentary, but I went with a commentary from a theologian since she did a commentary on all three movies.  The theologian gave a pretty good commentary and I liked how she pointed out different tidbits of 70s pop culture that would have gone over my head.  Or things that I just straight didn't know, like John Denver is dead.  I could have sworn he was still alive. And of course she did a deep dive into the more serious religious aspects or implications of the movie.
Oh, God! Book II (blu-ray) 1980 sequel where God (George Burns) recruits a young girl to come up with an advertising campaign for him.  I found the commentary on the second movie much more interesting.  Lots of interesting trivia about the cast.  I liked that she pointed out the second movie pretty much ignored the existence of the first movie, which was a thought I had in mind right before I started watching.  I grew up watching 2 and 3 and only barely ever realized 2 was a sequel until much later.  And the commentator seemed to be much more critical of the second movie and saw themes in it like, "God is never around when you need him."  She also points out the contradiction of the first movie which talked about free will compared to this movie where there's a scene where God straight up controls a kid and makes him say something. The scene is played for laughs but the commentator rightly points out it is very much against the themes of free will.
Oh, God! You Devil (blu-ray) 1984 sequel which has George Burns in the dual roles of both God and The Devil.  Once again I watched with a really good commentary that dived into the movie with lots of interesting bits of trivia as well as the larger religious aspects of the movie.  According to the commentary 2 and 3 were developed at the same time with 3 being an off the shelf script based on a play. Although 2 wasn't a huge hit 3 was always going to be made and released regardless.
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (TCM) 1937 fantasy movie based on a H.G. Wells book about an average man who is given godlike powers by one of the celestial gods.  He can do anything except control people's hearts and minds.  Quickly enough everyone is telling him what he should be doing with his power.  Probably the most memorable aspect of the movie is the end.  By the end of the movie the man is fed up and decides to take over the entire planet and as he's doing so people are beginning to protest that he is not *all* powerful while he is arguing back, he is in fact all powerful.  So, someone shouts out he can't stop the planet from rotating and to prove just how powerful he is, he orders the planet to stop rotating.  And the Earth stop rotating, along with the consequences that would follow if the Earth suddenly stopped rotating.  The movie holds up pretty well for a movie from the 30s, but the print is in bad shape.  Some scenes are so dark they are almost unwatchable.
Bruce Almighty (Netflix) 2003 fantasy comedy starring Jim Carrey as a TV news reporter who is given powers by God (Morgan Freeman).  He can do anything except control people's hearts and minds.  This is basically a lose remake of "The Man Who Could Work Miracles."  Except it's played more for laughs.  This might be the first time I watched this since seeing it in the theater.  I didn't really care for it when I first watched it and on second (?) viewing I still didn't care much for it. About the only thing I liked were the blink and you miss it throw away gags where the world was dealing with the consequences of Carrey being god.  The movie focused more on Carrey being the Mask part 2 or something.
A Gentleman in Moscow (Showtime) "A Master of Circumstance" - First episode of a new series starring Ewan McGregor as a Russian aristocrat who returns to Russia a few years after the revolution and is ordered to live in a hotel.  He's warned if he steps one foot out of the hotel he'll be shot.  I guess it was OK.
The Regime (HBO) - "All Ye Faithful" - Penultimate episode does a minor time jump to find Elena now living with her henchman/lover in the palace while a civil war rages on just outside the gates.  She does her best to ignore it while deluding herself she will win.  But the large number of people with guns have other ideas.