Entering the Fifth Dimension: A Twilight Zone Podcast

"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 identity in our intro section, and Robert plays TZ Mega-Fan once again— is there nothing this guy doesn’t like any more? Fun discussion once again. Silly science fiction show stirred up deep thoughts. Thanks for joining us!! Try to enjoy it!!

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“A Small Town” got big ratings from Robert, sort of big ratings from Darrell, but nothing but small ratings from our viewer feedback section, Talky Tina. What was it about a pleasant, mostly one dimensional story about doing good in the world from a supernatural scale model of a small town in a church attic that didn’t land well with everyone? Maybe that’s just it, not a deep enough story for deep story loving Twilight Zone fans. Be that as it may, the machine and its machinations took Robert to a new theory that the episode actually represented a symbol for what the Twilight Zone is—it is our modern day Deus Ex Machina that opens the story doors to today’s issues and sets up a non-confrontational debate stage for viewers to see their world through the different colored light filters of a tv playhouse. Darrell and Robert discuss that theory and other ones on this potentially flat episode that produced a roller coaster ride of up and down ratings.

Here we are, 70% finished with season 2 of the new Twilight Zone series. I haven’t done the math, but I think it is fair to say we like season 2 at least more than 70% of our collective capacity to like the episodes so far. That being said, some people like this episode far more than we do. And you know what, that’s ok. It’s ok because in this podcast episode we examine what it means to lose loved ones and what love, itself, means to us and to these characters. Can you trust a space traveling pacification drone to take the place of a cherished person you lost for good, but now you’ll see this thing be just like them and they’ll have an “uber” knowledge about you that illuminates what went wrong in the past? Seemingly this household and this street have made a leap of faith to feel that love again and have it returned. And there’s why the Twilight Zone is generally better than just 70% because a story about lost loved ones is ultimately a story about faith…and that topic will go one for eternity. Enjoy. Share. And reconnect with loved ones present and past.

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Check out “8” with us. We have half as many people with audio discussing the episode, and that is probably fitting because among the four of us the score average is nearly half as low. And speaking of halves...this episode felt like half of it was awesome science fiction Twilight Zone and the other half felt overly wordy and overly fictional to our four minds. Then again, Whipples tells us that Octopuses have 9 minds and Darrell discovered another meaning (or place on earth) for the Twilight Zone. So, I guess you can say, The episode wasn’t half-bad. Listen in and as always, drop us a line even if it is just about our discussion. We love the input!

The Ocean Twilight Zone

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Here we are: half way through season 2 and after last week’s story felt out of tune for many of us, this week’s story has the right amount of magic, or, well, let’s call it metaphysical enchantment which pleased your hosts immensely. Our ratings make us sound like Germans saying no, but the phonetic translation is much more affirming. Robert and Darrell aren’t the only ones who have a lot to say. Darrell expertly covers the old series connections. Robert conjures up his Whipple resources. Bradley sends in audio feedback and he gets to quote William Blake again. And last but not least...long time listener and first time audio feedbacker, Rick, telekinetically makes us feel the weight of his insight and makes us hope we have a new friend from our listener feedback world besides Robert’s mom and his brother, WALLLLLLTTTTTTT!!!!!

Fire Lady sing us a sweet song where we can’t stop clapping in the end. Or, as in this episode, keep the praise going as long as possible for fame-lusting has-beens. Darrell and Robert pick apart this episode much like talent show judges pick apart great and/or poor performances alike. And there were some great scenes in this episode, but there were also scenes maybe worthy of the sound of one hand clapping. Give this episode of the podcast a listen and tell us your thoughts either by voicemail, email, or Facebook...just don’t use a large hunting knife to eat your noodles or type out your thoughts.

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Darrell and Robert get under each other’s skin and wrap their collective minds around “The Who of You.” Both of us agree the first two episodes of the second season came right out of the gate impressively strong, and the third episode does not disappoint. There is nothing but praise for lead actor, Ethan Embry, and his supporting cast is outstanding as well. There is a pretty big rating gap, however, between your co-hosts. Listen along and join us on our Facebook page if you have more thoughts you’d like to share.

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Are we dreaming, or did we just experience the best episode of Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone to date? Starring Morena Baccarin, "Downtime" had us cozied up to our screens and enjoying an episode that felt in many ways like an episode of Serling's classic series. Is it possible for a computer avatar to have an existential crisis? Should such a character be given free will and the right to live even if her real-world human is deceased? This one gave us plenty to consider.

"Downtime"had Robert and Darrell flip-flopping our ratings from last week. Where Darrell found it still a pretty good episode, Robert thinks it might be the best episode of the series so far. Check out our discussion that includes a Bemis report, quite a few thoughts from the Eye of the Beholder, excellent pairings from classic episodes to pull together your homework assignment, and a who’s who of notable movies from Whipple's Brain Center to enjoy if you like exploring dream-consciousness Fiction. As always, listener feedback connects us to you even better than just listening to us, so please drop us a line of printor a voicemail, and join the conversation!

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Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone returns for season 2 with a psychic connection head game thriller. The moral of this episode isn’t easily black or white and you would have to be a wiz to know exactly what the Twilight Zone team expected us to think when they lead us to an ending and have us experience a state of shock.

This one had a few plot points that had us scratching our heads, but kept both of us guessing until the end as we tried to figure out if Phil was crazy or just crazy in love.

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"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is arguably the most iconic episode in the entire history of The Twilight Zone. It's been redone and parodied generation after generation since it first aired in 1963. For some, including Darrell, it's a fantastic episode for sure, but not the best episode starring William Shatner. That honor is bestowed upon "Nick of Time."

Whether "Nightmare" or "Nick" is your favorite, there's much to be enjoyed in each, and much to discuss in this month's episode!