Twilight Zones first episode aired October 2, 1959.

The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode (156 in the original series) is a mixture of self-contained fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to serious science fiction and abstract ideas through television and also through a wide variety of Twilight Zone literature. The program followed in the tradition of earlier radio programs such as The Weird Circle and X Minus One and the radio work of Serling’s hero, dramatist Norman Corwin.

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The success of the original series led to the creation of two revival series: a cult hit series that ran for several seasons on CBS and in syndication in the 1980s, and a short-lived UPN series that ran from 2002 to 2003. It would also lead to a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine and various other spin-offs that would span five decades.

Aside from Serling himself, who crafted nearly two-thirds of the series’ total episodes, writers for The Twilight Zone included leading genre authorities such as Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Jerry Sohl, George Clayton Johnson, Earl Hamner, Jr., Reginald Rose, Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury. Many episodes also featured adaptations of classic stories by such writers as Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Padgett, Jerome Bixby and Damon Knight.

Twilight Zone Creator Rod Serling

The term “twilight zone” predates the television program, and originally meant simply a “gray area.” (Intelligence analysts in the early Cold War labeled a country a twilight zone if there was no definite U.S. policy on whether to intervene militarily to defend it.) Rod Serling himself chose the title of the series, and said that only after the series aired did he discover that the “twilight zone” was also a term applied by the US Air Force to the terminator, the imaginary border between “night” and “day” on a planetary body.

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CBS purchased a teleplay in 1958 that writer Rod Serling hoped to produce as the pilot of a weekly anthology series. The Twilight Zone episode “The Time Element” marked Serling’s first entry in the field of science fiction.

The story is a time travel fantasy of sorts, involving a man named Peter Jenson (William Bendix) visiting a psychoanalyst, Dr. Gillespie (Martin Balsam), with complaints of a recurring dream in which he imagines waking up in Honolulu just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “I wake up in a hotel room in Honolulu, and it’s 1941, but I mean I really wake up and it’s really 1941,” he explains, concluding that these are not mere dreams; he actually is travelling through time. However, Dr. Gillespie insists that time travel is impossible given the nature of temporal paradoxes. During his

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dream, taking advantage of the situation, he bets on all the winning horses, all the right teams and, eventually, tries unsuccessfully to warn others — the newspaper, the military, anyone — that the Japanese are planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. His warnings are seen as crazed ravings, and are either ignored or met with physical violence, as he is punched out by an engineer who works on the USS Arizona, after insisting that it will be sunk on December 7. Jenson’s dream always ends as the Japanese bombers fly overhead on the morning of December 7, prompting him to yell out “I told you! Why wouldn’t anybody listen to me?”. Jenson finally discloses to Dr. Gillespie that he was actually in Honolulu on December 7, 1941. While on the couch, Jenson falls asleep once again, only this time, Japanese planes flying overhead shoot inside the windows of his room and he is killed. When the camera cuts back to the doctor’s office, the couch Jenson was lying on is now empty, and Dr. Gillespie looks around, confused. Although Jenson had smoked earlier, the ashtray is empty. He looks in his appointment book and finds he had no appointments scheduled for this day. Gillespie goes to a bar and finds Jenson’s picture on the wall. The bartender said that Jenson tended bar there, but was killed in Pearl Harbor.

William Shatner in ''Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.''

With this script, Serling drafted the fundamental elements that would distinguish the series still to come: a science-fiction/fantasy theme, opening and closing narration, and an ending with a twist. But what would prove popular with audiences and critics in 1959 did not meet network standards in 1957. “The Time Element” was purchased only to be shelved indefinitely, and talks of making The Twilight Zone a television series ended.

This is where things stood when Bert Granet, the new producer for Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, discovered “The Time Element” in CBS’ vaults while searching for an original Serling script to add prestige to his show. “The Time Element” (introduced by Desi Arnaz) debuted on November 24, 1958, to an overwhelmingly delighted audience of television viewers and critics alike. “The humor and sincerity of Mr. Serling’s dialogue made ‘The Time Element’ consistently entertaining,” offered Jack Gould of The New York Times. Over six thousand letters of praise flooded Granet’s offices. Convinced that a series based on such stories could succeed, CBS again began talks with Serling about the possibilities of producing The Twilight Zone. “Where Is Everybody?” was accepted as the pilot episode and the project was officially announced to the public in early 1959. “The Time Element” is rarely aired on television and it was only available in an Italian DVD box set titled “Ai confini della realtà — I tesori perduti” until it was shown as part of an all night sneak preview of the new cable channel TVLand.

Throughout the 1950s, Rod Serling had established himself as one of the hottest names in television, equally famous for his success in writing televised drama as he was for criticizing the medium’s limitations. His most vocal complaints concerned the censorship frequently practiced by sponsors and networks. “I was not permitted to have my Senators discuss any current or pressing problem,” he said of his 1957 production The Arena, intended to be an involving look into contemporary politics. “To talk of tariff was to align oneself with the Republicans; to talk of labor was to suggest control by the Democrats. To say a single thing germane to the current political scene was absolutely prohibited.”

Twilight Zone’s writers frequently used science fiction as a vehicle for social comment; networks and sponsors who had infamously censored all potentially “inflammatory” material from the then predominant live dramas were ignorant of the methods developed by writers such as Ray Bradbury for dealing with important issues through seemingly innocuous fantasy. Frequent themes include nuclear war, mass hysteria, and McCarthyism, subjects that were strictly forbidden on more “serious” prime-time drama. Episodes such as “The Shelter” or “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” offered specific commentary on current events. Other stories, such as “The Masks” or “The Howling Man,” operated around a central allegory, parable, or fable that reflected the characters’ moral or philosophical choices.

Despite his esteem in the writing community, Serling found The Twilight Zone difficult to sell. Few critics felt that science fiction could transcend empty escapism and enter the realm of adult drama. In a September 22, 1959, interview with Serling, Mike Wallace asked a question illustrative of the times: “…[Y]ou’re going to be, obviously, working so hard on The Twilight Zone that, in essence, for the time being and for the foreseeable future, you’ve given up on writing anything important for television, right?” While Serling’s appearances on the show became one of its most distinctive features, with his clipped delivery still widely imitated today, he was reportedly nervous about it and had to be persuaded to appear on camera. Serling often steps into the middle of the action and the characters remain seemingly oblivious to him, but on one notable occasion they are aware he’s there: In the episode “A World of His Own,” a writer with the power to alter his reality objects to Serling’s unflattering narration, and promptly erases Serling from the show.

The original series contained 156 episodes. Seasons 1, 2, 3, 5 were half hour shows. The fourth season (1962-1963) contained one-hour episodes……Source(s) Wikipedia

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 American science fiction feature film produced by Bernard Woolner for Allied Artists Pictures. It was directed by Nathan H. Juran (credited as Nathan Hertz) from a screenplay by Mark Hanna, and starred Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. The original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was a take on other movies that had also featured size-changing humans, namely The Amazing Colossal Man and The Incredible Shrinking Man, but substituting a woman as the protagonist.

The story concerns the plight of Nancy Archer, a wealthy heiress whose close encounter with an enormous alien being causes her to grow into a giantess. She uses her new size and power to seek revenge against her philandering husband Harry and his mistress, Honey Parker.

Trivia:

This film was made right after the success of Sputnik. The alien spacecraft is called a “satellite” because the writer thought that meant any spherical shaped spacecraft.

Several years later, the Woolner Brothers planned to do a bigger budget sequel to be shot in Cinemascope and color. A final script was written and printed. The film never went into production.

Yvette Vickers had a close call when filming her character’s death scene. A large nail on one of the boards from the fallen debris stood dangerously close to her head.

The giant bald space alien is played by Michael Ross. He can also be spotted playing the bartender.

The movie’s poster was as #8 of “The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever” by Premiere.

According to Yvette Vickers, the suggestion for her sexy dance came from Frank Chase, brother of dancer Barrie Chase, who played the deputy Charlie.

Director Nathan Juran insisted on being billed as “Nathan Hertz” (Hertz was Juran’s middle name), apparently because he was embarrassed by this film’s low budget and poor quality.

David Cronenberg

David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC (born March 15, 1943)is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people’s fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the psychological is typically intertwined with the physical. In the first half of his career, he explored these themes mostly through horror and science fiction, although his work has since expanded beyond these genres.

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His films generally involve the horror caused by a mutation, by a parasite, or by particular medical conditions.

Uses dark backgrounds.

Films often include explicit carnage.

Frequent references to the Flesh or the New Flesh.

Frequently uses the music of Howard Shore.

Frequently casts Robert A. Silverman.

Movies about crime families.

Frequently casts Viggo Mortensen.

Trivia:

Costumes in his films are usually designed by his sister Denise Cronenberg.

Was set to direct Total Recall (1990). He even wrote a few drafts of the script before Paul Verhoeven took over.

Brother of costume designer Denise Cronenberg.

Father of Caitlin Cronenberg and Brandon Cronenberg.

Uncle of Aaron Woodley

Is of German / Dutch descent

John Carpenter paid homage to him in Escape from New York (1981). One of the United States Police Force guards is on the line with Hauk, then adds that Cronenberg is on the line for him. Another person paid homage to in the movie was George A. Romero, who had Isaac Hayes’s right-hand man named after him.

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999

Directed an episode of “Friday the 13th” (1987), The Services, called Faith Healer. 13 years later, he appeared in the Friday the 13th film (unreleated to the series), Jason X (2001).

Was offered the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) but he declined.

His crew referred to the final Brundlefly monster seen in the climax of The Fly (1986) as the Space Bug.

Father was a bookstore owner and sometime columnist for the Toronto Telegram. Mother was a piano rehearsal accompanist for the National Ballet.

Father died at age 61.

Deferred his own salary to make Spider (2002).

Father of Assistant Director Cassandra Cronenberg.

Cites Winter Kept Us Warm (1965) as his inspiration for becoming a filmmaker. It was screened at the University of Toronto when he was a student.

Has admired bugs and insects since childhood. This fascination has lingered on, and can be felt through many of his films.

At one point, Cronenberg was in line to direct the film “The Singing Detective” (2003), with Al Pacino in the lead.

Turned down the chance to direct “Top Gun” (1986).

Turned down the chance to direct RoboCop.

His regular cinematographer until 1988 was Mark Irwin until Dead Ringers (1988), on which Irwin was unable to work because of his commitment to The Blob (1988). Cronenberg then hired Peter Suschitzky, who became his regular cinematographer, and Cronenberg and Irwin have not worked together since then.

His father was a journalist and his mother played the piano. These roles are reversed in The Fly (1986), in which Jeff Goldblum plays the piano to impress Geena Davis, who plays a journalist.

Has often referred to The Brood (1979) as his own twisted version of Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

Parasite is a 1982 horror/science fiction film starring Demi Moore in her first major film role.

Plot: In the far future, an atomic disaster has reduced the world to poverty. Instead of a government, America is run by an organization called the Merchants, who exploit the degenerate remains of society. In order to keep control of the populace, the Merchants force Dr. Paul Dean (Robert Glaudini) to create a new life form, a parasite that feeds on its host. Realizing the deadly potential of such a being, Dean escapes the Merchants with the parasite, infecting himself in the process. Now on the run, he travels from town to town, studying the parasite so that he can find a way to destroy it, all the while keeping one step ahead of a Merchant named Wolf (James Davidson) who is hunting for him. While resting in a desert town, he is attacked by a gang of hooligans (Cherie Currie, Freddy Moore, Natalie May, Joanelle Romero, Tom Villard) led by Ricus (Luca Bercovici), a former slave of the Merchants. The gang steals the parasite, not realizing what it is, and it infects one of the members. Meanwhile, Paul befriends a pretty young lemon grower named Patricia Wells (Demi Moore), who promises to help him destroy the escaped parasite. Ricus, trying to save the life of his friend, comes to Paul for help, only to be confronted by Wolf. Patricia, Paul, and Ricus manage to evade Wolf, but when they return, the parasite has spread to another member and grown into a fleshy worm with a mouthful of deadly teeth. After killing the parasite in Paul, the worm attacks Wolf, who is then blown up by Patricia, Paul, and Ricus.

Trivia:

• Originally shown in 3D.
• Demi Moore met first husband-to-be Freddie Moore on this shoot.

Killers from Space is a 1954 American black and white science fiction feature film, produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder (brother of Billy Wilder) from an original, commissioned screenplay by his son Myles Wilder and their regular collaborator William Raynor, and starring Peter Graves and Barbara Bestar. Lee Wilder’s independent production company, Planet Filmplays Inc., usually producing on a financing-for-distribution basis for United Artists, made this film for RKO Radio Pictures distribution.

Trivia:

Contrary to the usual practice in the 1950s, the credits for “Killers from Space” appear at the end rather than at the beginning of the movie.

At the beginning of the 2006 video game Prey, the player may turn on the TV which has two channels, one of which is a clip from Killers from Space. The other is a clip from the civil defense educational film Duck and Cover.

The film was released on DVD with a commentary track by The Film Crew.

Tremors is a 1990 dark comedy monster film about a group of people from a small Nevada town fighting subterranean worm-creatures dubbed “Graboids”. It was directed by Ron Underwood, and stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire. The film’s exterior scenes were shot near Lone Pine, California, an area which has long been used as a movie location.

It was followed by two sequels Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, one prequel Tremors 4: The Legend Begins and the television show Tremors: The Series.

Trivia:

John Carpenter

John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an Academy Award winning, American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.

His films are characterized by minimalist lighting and photography, static cameras, use of steadicam, and distinctive synthesized scores (usually self-composed). He describes himself as having been influenced by Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Nigel Kneale and The Twilight Zone.

With the exception of The Thing, Starman, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man, he has scored all of his films (though some are collaborations), most famously the themes from Halloween and Assault on Precinct 13. His music is generally synthesized with accompaniment from piano and atmospherics.

Carpenter is a big fan of widescreen, and all of his theatrical movies (with the exception of Dark Star) have been filmed in anamorphic with an aspect ratio 2.35:1.

Trivia:

In the movie Change of Habit (1969) Elvis Presley plays a character named John Carpenter. In 1979 Carpenter directed the TV movie Elvis (1979/I) (TV) starring his good friend Kurt Russell.

Is a fan of the Quartermass movies (The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Quatermass and the Pit (1967)), wrote Prince of Darkness (1987) under the pseudonym of Martin Quatermass, and the village in In the Mouth of Madness (1994) is named after a rail station in “Quatermass and the Pit”.

Appears in his own films under the name Rip Haight, appearing in in The Fog (1980), Starman (1984), Body Bags (1993) (TV), and Village of the Damned (1995).

Considers it bad luck to wear the hat of the show he’s working on. Will not wear a crew cap until the film is over.

Loves Elvis Presley and old Cadillacs.

Is a major NBA fan and has a satellite dish installed on his location trailer to keep up with the games. Always has a portable basketball hoop on location.

Favorite meal of the day is breakfast – any time of day.

He has a son, Cody Carpenter, with Adrienne Barbeau.

Is a great fan of Sergio Leone and cast Lee Van Cleef in Escape from New York (1981) because of his work with Leone.

Carpenter’s character Snake Plissken (of Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996)) is about to become a comic book. Published by theCrossGen imprint Code 6 Comics, the book will be known as “John Carpenter’s The Snake Plissken Chronicles”. It is set for publication beginning in 2003.

With the exception of Escape from L.A. (1996), he has rarely made a sequel to any of his films. Has said that he got forced into writing Halloween II (1981), but refused to direct it because he “didn’t want to direct the same movie again”.

Biography in the following: John Wakeman, editor. World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985. pp. 184-189. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Praised longtime friend and frequent collaborator Kurt Russell for being a hard-working, professional actor who isn’t afraid to take on roles that might hurt his image or make him look like a fool.

He is a big fan of The Beach Boys and Howard Hawks.

Was originally supposed to direct Firestarter (1984), and even had a screenplay written by Bill Lancaster. Both were replaced when The Thing (1982), a film on which they both collaborated, did poorly at the box office.

Said in a 1982 interview that he thought the R rating for Halloween (1978) was justifiable, but The Fog (1980) should’ve been rated PG.

Was given the chance to direct Mutant Chronicles (2008).

Was offered a chance to direct the Eddie Murphy film The Golden Child (1986), but turned it down.

Turned down the chance to direct Top Gun (1986).

Turned down the chance to direct Fatal Attraction (1987).

Was offered the chance to direct Armed and Dangerous (1986) but turned it down. The job went to Mark L. Lester who also directed Firestarter (1984), which was offered to Carpenter.

Is an avid fan of the Godzilla films. He considers the first Godzilla movie (Gojira) to be an inspiration for him.

Was approached to score Planet Terror (2007) for Robert Rodriguez, but was busy finishing up post-production on “Masters of Horror” (2005).

Close friend of actor Jeff Bridges.

Turned down the chance to direct Zombieland (2009).

In the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider), 2 of his films are listed: Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982).

In an interview, he stated that he takes much of the failure of his movies pretty hard. However, out of all the movies that he had done, he claimed that The Thing (1982) was the failure he took the hardest.

Scanners is a 1981 science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jennifer O’Neill, Stephen Lack, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. The film is about a corporation that attempts to use people with telepathic and telekinetic abilities for its own purposes.

Trivia:

Teenage Monster is an independent science fiction, horror film, premiered December 25, 1957 and released by Marquette Productions Limited in 1958. Directed by Jacques R. Marquette, the film starred Anne Gwynne and Stuart Wade. The film combined the elements of science fiction and westerns, both of which were popular in the late 1950s. It also continued to use the word “teenage” in the title, a trend that was common in motion picture titles, including I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and I Was a Teenage Werewolf. The film’s alternative titles were Meteor Monster and Monster on the Hill.

Plot:

The story is set in a town in the American Southwest. Young Charles Cannon (Stephen Parker), after seeing a meteor crash in the desert heads out to investigate it. He becomes exposed to rays from the meteor and ages rapidly. He is now about ten years older, hairy, aggressive, and psychopathic. His mother hides him in the basement to protect him from the law.

Trivia:

Cosmic Monsters (1957) is a British science fiction horror film, and a cautionary tale about science. It was also known as The Strange World of Planet X, The Crawling Terror, The Cosmic Monster, and The Crawling Horror.

The film was adapted by Paul Ryder from the 1957 Rene Ray novel of the same name; a TV serial adapted by Ray aired in Britain in 1956.

Trivia:

The plot of this low-budget film appears to have been inspired by The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). On its original release it was not notably successful, but subsequently became something of a cult favorite due to television reruns.

Unusually, a theremin is used in the musical soundtrack.

The film supposedly inspired the b movie, Invasion from Inner Earth (1974).