Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
There's a podcast that lies between the imagination of two
simple minded Earthlings. Travel with these two longtime friends, Jimbo
and eighties E as they attempt to explore the fifth Dimension.
Follow along with them as they take the key and
unlock the door to the vast space between shadow and substance.
(00:24):
This podcast is one of trivia, of insight, and of
sounds and ideas from one of the greatest television shows
ever produced. You are embarking on a timeless journey. There's
your signpost up ahead. You are entering the tragedy of
cinemas Twilight Zone.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
It's been said that science fiction and fantasy are two
different things. Science fiction the improbable made possible, fantasy the
impossible made. What would you have if you put these
two different things together, Well, you'd have an old man
named Ben who knows a lot of tricks most people
don't know, and a little girl named Jenny who loves him,
(01:12):
and a journey into the heart of the Twilight Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
All right, guys, welcome back to the Tragedy of Cinema's
The Twilight Zone series.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I'm your host, Jimbo, and I'm your co host EIGHTZ Eighties.
Happy Memorial Day, Happy Memorial Day to you. We want
to send a shout out, especially to all those who
have served our country, honoring those who paid the ultimate
sacrifice for our freedom. And that's what this day is
a special recording day for us, and I want to
commemorate and honor them as well as family and friends
(01:42):
who have passed on. As kind of tradition, you know,
they're memorialized those who have passed on before.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So, yeah, we got to remember freedom isn't free, So
it's not We want to thank all the people that
have served this country and are still serving this country.
No matter where you are in the world, we think
about you, we love you, and we pray for you.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So yes, sir, all right, moving on to our episode
at hand, it's entitled The Fugitive.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, we're gonna have fun with this because one of
us likes this, one of us don't, so, of course,
a typical tragedy of cinema fashion.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, that should become easily apparent as we move along.
But the episode is entitled The Fugitive and it's from
Twilight Zone season number three, episode number twenty five. This
one comes in with an IMDb rating of about seven
point five and The original air date was March the ninth,
(02:32):
nineteen sixty two. And you know what time it is, folks.
This is our favorite segment in the program. The segment
entitled on this Day in History. All right, so for
on this day in TV and film history, and then
we get a little sports trivia mixed in. We go
(02:54):
all out for this. March the ninth, nineteen sixty two
is the date of the episode. So Mar the ninth,
let's go all the way back to nineteen forty six.
Let's talk about one impressive baseball player. His name was
Ted Williams, and on this date in nineteen forty six,
he was actually offered five hundred thousand dollars to play
in the Mexican Baseball League, but he refuses. So good
(03:17):
on Ted Williams, who might have lost in to the
Mexican Baseball League in nineteen forty six. And then from
March ninth, nineteen fifty four, a few years later, the
first local color television broadcast. It was entitled The call
letters were w NBTTV, and this was out of New
(03:38):
York City. It made its first color debut in nineteen
fifty four. All right, moving along several decades to March ninth,
nineteen eighty one. One Dan Rather remember Dan Rather, Jimbo?
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Was it CBS or ABC? He was CNBCS got it right.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
He was the first primary anchor of the CBS Evening
News in nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You know what, I kind of missed those guys. I mean,
we grew up with those guys. Now it's just stupid.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, we've got all kinds of media now. People get
their news from all different sources now, but yeah, it
was mainly the three channels that we had back in
the day.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
We're old, Eric.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, times have change. So seven years later, on March ninth,
nineteen eighty eight, actress Audrey Hepburn is appointed as the
UNSEF Special Ambassador or she was also called the Goodwill
Ambassadors of nineteen eighty nine. So she was honorarily honorarily
given that title in nineteen eighty eight. And I think
(04:37):
we covered that a while back when we covered an
Audrey Hepburn series. We talked about her contributions to UNISEF.
She was really known for that. I mean they were
almost like parallel. UNISEF and Audrey Hepburn went together. I've
only got one birthday for this date. So on March ninth,
(04:58):
nineteen forty three, American player and world champion from nineteen
seventy two through nineteen seventy five won Bobby Fisher. He
was born in Chicago, Illinois, and he died on well
it doesn't give the date, but he died in two
thousand and eight, but he was born March the ninth,
two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Did you ever see that movie Searching for Bobby Fish?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
No, I haven't. It's a good movie, remember, you know,
seeing clips and trailers and stuff for it, but I
don't think I've ever seen it all the way through.
Really good movie. So back to our episode at hand.
We already talked about the original air date. Let's talk
about some production costs for this episode. This one comes
in right around our benchmark at forty eight twelve dollars
(05:39):
and twelve cents for this entire episode. Dates of rehearsal
only one date of rehearsal marks the twenty first, nineteen
sixty one for this episode, and dates of filming there
are three marks, the twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and twenty
sixth of nineteen sixty one. And just to give you
a quick overview on how the recording and filming took place.
(06:03):
Day one was the interior of the Gan apartment and
the hallway, and that was done on stage seven. If
you remember the episode of a portion of that episode
takes place in an apartment. Day two was the interior
of Ben's room and interior of the Gan apartment stage seven,
and then day three was the exterior of the city
(06:26):
street on lot number two. Now, it's interesting they don't
give the date of filming for the opening scene. I
think there's some trivia about that. But the opening scene
on the baseball diamond and all that stuff doesn't give
any specifics on when that was filmed. But maybe we'll
get some trivia as we move along. Jimbo tell us
(06:46):
about the cast of this episode.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
All right, it's not a really big cast. Sure, there
are a bunch of kids at the beginning of this episode,
but I didn't go into detail on all those. So
one of the main characters in this is j Pat
O'Malley old Ben. You may recognize his voice because he's
been in a lot of Disney's voiceovers. So he was
in Alice in Wonderland where he played Tweedledee and tweedled
(07:10):
Dumb and some other voices there. He was also in
one hundred and one Dalmatians the Jungle Book, So this
guy had one of those, you know, voices that are
desired to be in like animation, very very well done.
Then you had the little girl Susan Gordon. She played Jenny.
(07:31):
I couldn't really find too much about her acting experiences,
but she did say that this was probably her favorite
acting role that she did in television movies because she
got to play a twin but the and she got
to marry or go off with the Prince Charming and
live happily ever after, which we'll talk about. But not
(07:53):
only that, she said she always had wanted to meet
Rod Serling and she was sad that she never got
to because on the first day of shooting, when they
were outside on the baseball field or whatever, that she
had come down with a touch of either sunstroke or
the flu, and as they were taking her out in
a stretcher, Rod was walking in, so she didn't get
to meet Rod. And I thought that was very interesting
(08:17):
because I always thought Rod was on the set the
entire time, did you.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I got the impression that he was always kind of
hanging around, But I had read somewhere where he shot
a lot of his monologues off you know, offset.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Right, But I mean I didn't know if he was there,
you know, kind of like the director and producer, you know,
watching to make sure everything was going on. So I
thought that was really cool. Then he had Nancy coulp Oh,
the old missus Gan.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
She is probably the most recognized.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Recognizable as Miss Jane Hathaway from the Beverly Hillbillies. Man,
I loved her back in the day for that a
little bit about Nancy colp I thought this was very interesting.
So in nineteen forty four, during World War Two, she
actually left the University of Miami to join the US
Naval Reserve, achieving the rank of lieutenant junior grade. And
(09:11):
she earned several several decorations and awards for her service.
So I thought, I Memorial Day, what a better way
to recognize her than for her service? And did you
notice that she kind of reminded me of Miss Hannigan
from Annie in this role?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, see the parallel there.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
So but she was actually the aunt of Ginny in
this So then you had Wesley Alau. He was the
first pursuer if you will. He starred in the movie
Alamo with John Wayne Boo. I know how American I mean.
Then he had Paul Tripp he played the second pursuer,
(09:52):
Russ Bender. He was the doctor. He had an uncredited
role in the great science fiction classic The War of
the World. You had Steven Talbot who played Howie gutlaff Aery.
Do you know who how We Gutloff was?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I do know? Please tell me.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
He played on the television show for fifty six episodes.
Leave it to Bieber as Gilbert Gates.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Okay, yeah, I know who he is now yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
And then he had Johnny Iman. He was the picture
at the beginning of the episode. So that is your
small cast and crew for this episode.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Thank you, Jim bo. I neglected to mention the director
and the writer for this episode. So the director would
be Richard L. Bar for this episode, and it was
written by Charles Beaumont, the episode's writer. So let's talk
about a plot for this episode. Quickly, Little Jenny wears
a brace on her leg. Her best friend, an old
(10:48):
man named Old Ben, brightens her life by performing magic,
including turning anything into anything he wants. One day, two
men show up looking for Old Ben, and Jenny asks
if they are policeman. Not exactly. Old Ben evades them
and confesses to Jenny that he's from another planet, a
fugitive but not a criminal. And that's from Bob Beecher
(11:12):
from IMBD. So if we launch off into our episode
here the first this is probably one of the bright spots,
and we'll talk about how this scene comes to be.
As you know, kids playing baseball in a diamond, it
kind of takes you back.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Let's not talk about our baseball.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
We don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Don't even know if we ever won a game.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Did we? But yeah, it can no, you did the
movie Sandlot to me kind of you know, it's an
old baseball field and the kids are playing, and one
thing that really sticks out right from the very beginning
is there's an old man playing with a bunch of kids.
And it turns out that you'll come out to find
(11:55):
out quickly that he and Jenny are best friends and
and Old Ben has special powers and that becomes very
evident because he comes up and cranks a home run. Yeah,
very early in the episode. So the setting is just
a small town neighborhood. It's focusing on a kind imaginative girl.
(12:18):
That's who Jenny is. We meet her and she we
know that she has a very severe limp, and we
will just jumping ahead, but we'll meet her a very
stern guardian here before too long. Then after the baseball game,
you know, Ben knocks the cover off the ball. Really,
they decided they're going to play another game called Spaceman.
(12:40):
And I wanted to ask you what you thought of
the alien costume and the Spaceman game. Was it horrible
but not too horrible as the kids requested?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Well, well, let me just say I've covered a lot
of B movies with my dad our toast, you know,
so I didn't think it looked bad. I thought it
looked pretty good.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Was up there? Yeah, it was kind of for the era,
I guess, Yeah, it fit the episode. But they play Spaceman.
That was like the second game that they played, and
there's you know, Jenny's basically like, I think she might
be the only girl here in the episode around a
bunch of you know, boys, and they they don't want
(13:19):
her to take any lead command or role in the
game of Spaceman. And so after we we move from
the game that they play. You know, we discover that
Ben has this ability. He's obviously otherworldly because we've just
(13:42):
seen him crank a home run and he's he looks
like he's eighty something years old, and that's not something
typically that eighty year old to do. But then we
noticed that he has this shape shifting ability. He's otherworldly
if you will, like there's something different about and he
seems to be kind and a generous kind of guy.
(14:08):
And we'll talk about just I don't know from the
get go, I'm just gonna throw it out here right here.
There are some lines, one of them being like Ben,
don't be a dirty old man. Early on that one
of the kids say it's for today's day in time,
this would be it's gonna be a little cringe worthy.
(14:30):
I'll just introduced that up front and we'll talk a
little bit more about that later and unpack some of
that stuff. But anything else stick out to you, Jimba,
I don't have I got a basic three point outline here.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Well, something about Jenny. She's wearing one of those braces.
It's only on one leg, but it kind of reminds
me of Forrest Gump. If you remember Forrest coum from
the beginning where he's running in the braceist wealth. That's
what it looks like if people haven't seen this episode.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
So after the you know, the Spaceman game, Rod gives
his introduction, and it's interesting he melds the two in
his introduction. This is science fiction and fantasy. That's a
main point that he's trying to drive home with this episode.
And so then we go to commercial and then we
(15:16):
open back up and this is where you know it
starts to get even a little more cringeworthy. And I'll
tell you why. So we have kind of an inciting
incident in the second act, and Jenny's frequently visits the
Old Man, and obviously we know that they are our friends,
and he seems to be magical. We talked about how
(15:36):
he can kind of shape shift, and there must have
been some inkling that he could heal like injuries and stuff.
Because Genny asks him, Ben, tell me something, you do
so many things. How come you don't make my leg well?
And Ben's response as well, because then I wouldn't have
the fun of carrying you, so right there, kind of
(16:02):
you know, it gets a little weird for me.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
I guess well, I don't, but I don't look at
it that way.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
There. I'm sure you don't.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
No, No, I'm just saying, you know, he's trying to
make her feel better because she has a disability. That's
the way I look.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
At I get the perspective of why it was written,
and I'm sure it was written. I want to give
people the benefit of the doubt. And I don't want
to go too deep into this, but the history of
Hollywood and everything and child actors and even go into
you know, all of all of that, the history even
today that a lot of the things that are coming
(16:36):
out today, children were not protected. And that's the bottom line.
And I means you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Can even go all the way back to the Wizard
of Oz and right, you know, Judy Garland.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Would have been point and example number one. But what
makes it a little more uncomfortable for me is he
quotes a poem and the poem, actually I get a
little bit of background or that it's called Jenny kissed
Me and it's by Lee Hunt. And the poem goes
like this, Jenny kissed me when we met, jumping from
(17:05):
the chair she sat in time. You thief who love
to get sweets into your list put that in. Say
I'm weary, say I'm sad. This is what Ben quotes,
say that health and wealth have missed me. Say I'm
growing old. But add Jenny kissed me. So he quotes
from a poem and he tells her that in the episode,
(17:28):
and just the poem's background and so forth. This when
you look it up, it just makes it a little
more uncomfortable for me. But we'll move on from that.
And so there's a conflict that emerges, right, not only
the conflict between Jenny and aunt Agnes, which aunt Agnes
(17:48):
is kind of painted as a villain in this episode,
which I don't really think there's anything villainous about her
in the sense that.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
But she said, oh, you're going to bed without the supper.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Well, well, she's trying to protect Jenny Strange a strange man.
That's what any parent would do. Again, I'm just going
along with you. If your kid was constantly in the
company of an older person, you would take notice of that. Now,
she probably didn't handle it well, and I don't know.
(18:17):
And here's another point. In one of the scenes in
the kitchen, it looks like there's a beer can, which
would have been right sort of suggests that she's drinking alcohol,
you know, on the set in the sixties would probably
not be favorable.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Do you know what a gutter snipe is?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
I don't, because she calls Ginny I believe the gutter snipe,
so I got look it up. Yeah, I did so.
A gutter snipe as an old fashioned and now somewhat
offensive term for a street urchin or a poor neglected child.
It's a derogatory way to her to someone from the
lowest social class, especially a child who lives or wonders
around in the streets. The term has been used since
(18:57):
the nineteenth century describe a street corner broker or a
person who gathers rags from gutters.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Certainly wouldn't be commendable for her to call her that.
Let's put our imaginary caps on here. I think Agnes
has been shouldered with a bird, and I'm just going
to go out on a limb and say, maybe Jenny's
parents have passed.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
So you do not know? That was one of my questions.
Where is Jenny's parents? Ever, says do they leave her
because she had a disability and they didn't want to that?
Speaker 1 (19:27):
That would be one plausible explanation. So no, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't give aunt Agnes any credit for how she
talked to Jenny. But you see her mask fall when
Jenny is injured later and she's about to die, right,
her emotions come to the surface. I thought she did
(19:48):
a great job. I thought, oh, she did a really
good Nancy cull did a great job in her acting
in this episode. But you can see that later on
the episode that she really does care for her, but
she's an angry woman pssibly because she's strapped with the
burden of caring for this young girl who has a disability,
and that's made her bitter. We don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Maybe she couldn't have children of her own. Possibly that
could be another explanation.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, So going back, where are we forgot I left off?
So the conflict here is introduced. I think it's introduced
in the second act. There are two mysterious men in
suits and they begin asking around the town about an
escaped criminal right who fits Old Ben's description. These two
men really don't do they even have any They do
(20:31):
have dialogue later in the episode, but they're really ominous
and they come into the apartment and they begin to
search for Old Ben after they talk to Aunt Agnes,
and so of course an Agnes would think that this
guy's a criminal that fit, you know, he fits the bill,
like these guys are looking for him. So in act
(20:52):
to the rising tension escalates even more in Jenny discovers
that Old Ben is not just mad, he's actually an
alien and a fugitive from another world where he was
a beloved ruler and he was actually forced to flee
from political enemies.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
I thought it was funny here where Jenny asked me.
She said, Ben, why are those two men after you?
He's like, oh, I did something bad? And she goes,
what'd you do? She said, she said, you rob a bank.
He's like no. He said did you kill someone? He's
like no, She said, you're a moist. Funny old world dialogue.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
But Ben says, in regards to Jenny, he's going to
let her in on a little secret. He says, you've
been very good letting me keep my secrets. Now I'm
going to tell you one of them. You see, I'm
not actually a resident of this world. This is at
the point, you know earlier though, Ben shape shifts, he
turns into a mouse, and then he goes, you know,
(21:51):
into Jenny's shirt and hides from the two men who
were you know, seeking the two assassins or men in black. Yeah,
they seem like that. So the kind of a turning
point in the episode, the men in suits confront Old Ben,
revealing that they are emissaries from his home planet and
they were sent to bring Ben back. And I think
(22:14):
he was like a ruler. His his rulership was for
like five thousand years or something, right, and he only
got through like a thousand years and he wanted to
leave or whatever. I don't remember exactly the numbers on that,
but there's an emotional conflict here because Old Ben doesn't
want to return as he enjoys his simple life and
loving connection with Jenny, and Jenny is devastated at the
(22:37):
thought of losing him. And then finally we'll just skip
ahead to act three because I don't have a whole
lot of notations inside the acts, unless Jimbo, you have
anything else you want to ask?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
No, No, you're doing.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So act three, you know, we have our climax and
resolution and final twist. So to avoid capture, Old Ben
uses his shape sh ability to trick his emissaries and stages,
he clever escape. Really that's a fly, yeah, yeah, like
as a fly, exactly right. And then the resolution Jenny
(23:12):
mysteriously disappears as well, and it's revealed at the end
that Old Ben took her with him, having healed her
and made her his companion in space. And then it
turns out, you know, like old Ben is not really
old that that's at the very end of the episode.
That's kind of the final twist. The emissaries realize that
they've been outsmarted, and rod Sterling's closing narration reflects on kindness, loneliness,
(23:37):
and the universal need for love and connection. And the
main twist is kind of like Jenny becomes a twin
at the end, and we don't know who Jenny is,
and we don't know who Old Ben is because he's
kind of like cloned himself as Jenny, and then they
disappear into his world and then we're left with just
a picture of a young old Ben rod Sterling sitting
(24:02):
on a bed in a bedroom. And you know, that's
the other thing. I think one person explained it, like,
how would Aunt Agnes feel? Well? I missed an important
part here. There's like a special tool that the emissaries
have and they use on old Jenny.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I was gonna say, you skip that whole entire part
where Ben Hill's her right with his little little twirly
thing and he turns into the fly and he goes
out the window or whatever. Then Jenny runs down the
stairs and as she's going down the stairs, you know,
those two guys walk in and they're like, what happened Jenny?
Where is he? She's like, I don't know, and I
(24:41):
wouldn't tell you. And so she's going out the front
door and the one guy pulls out a trolley thing
just like Ben had. And the one guy's like no, no,
He's like it's the only way. So he just zaps
her with it and she falls to the ground. And
this is where she The next thing, you see her
up in the bed and she the doctor comes in
and said, look her, her leg is fine, but she's
(25:02):
gonna die. And this is where you see the heartfelt
from her aunt. And this is where basically, you know,
Ben comes back to Hiller, and this is where the
final scene takes place where he's like, just give me
a minute with her. I'll go with you guys peacefully,
I promise, And when they come back in the door,
there's the two Jennies, right.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, that's how we end the episode and jump into
some trivia. You want to go first on some trivia.
I see you got some notes.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Over there, handwritten notes like it. But well, one thing
I think we need to remember is Charles Beaumont. He
was a fantastic writer, Okay, but what I found out
from this episode specifically, is that he was suffering from
a mysterious illness. He was later diagnosed as early onset
(25:49):
Alzheimer's like symptoms, which would eventually cut his career short.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, he passed away early, right.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
So I mean, can you imagine what we would have
got with him if he would have lived long?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, I want to say he died in his late forties.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
I always take you know, between him and Richard Matheson,
they're fantastic. Yeah, but I wanted to throw that out
there too, So Eric, you can talk about some trivia
before I dive into my final overall thoughts and focus,
because that's what most of my notes are.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay, I've got some questions for you too, the to
ponder and noodle on. So start with the trivia noodle. Yeah,
Jenny's bedroom is uh. It's adorned with two photos of
Chicago of the Chicago White Sox players. Two White Sox players.
They have been previously misidentified as shortstop Louis A. Parsier
(26:40):
I can't pronounce his name, pr e c O, a
sports hero of Charles Beaumont's. So the shortstop from the
White Sox was a sports hero because Beaumont was from Chicago.
That was his hometown. However, the player's uniforms date to
the mid nineteen thirty These pictures are on the wall,
(27:01):
not the late fifties when Aparsiarro played. The lower portrait
is actually that of right handed White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton.
Stratton accidentally shot himself while hunting and lost his leg
as a result. Now this is going to make the
connection to Jenny. Because he lost his leg, he battled
back after injury to pitch in the minor leagues despite
(27:24):
having an artificial leg. Monti Stratton would have been an
obvious inspiration for Jenny, who also lost her use of
one of her legs. A biopic about him, starring James Stewart,
was released in nineteen forty nine and it was titled
The Stratton story, so that'd be something interesting to look up.
Jimmy Stewart my favorites. So both pictures are in fact
(27:47):
of Monty Stratton. So had a deep dive on that
trivia piece.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
But good.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah. So this is again we've talked at length about this,
but this is one of four occasions in which features
the Beverly Hillbillies nineteen sixty two television show. Four actors
appeared in the Twilight Zone. In the case of Jenny's aunt,
Missus gann Is portrayed by Nancy Culp as Jimbo alluded
to earlier, who also went on to play Jane Hathaway,
(28:14):
the assistant to the Clampets banker mister Drysdale. Drysdale was
played by Raymond Bailey, who appeared as the doctor in
the Twilight Zone episode Escape Clause. Beverly Hills star Buddy
epsom Jed Clampet. He appeared in the episode Prime Mover.
We already covered that one in season two, and Donna
Douglas as Elie May Clampett featured in the classic episode
(28:35):
I Have the Beholder, which we also covered in season two.
Susan Gordon had reported for wardrobe fittings on July twentieth.
That was one of my favorite roles. I think Jimbo
talked about this earlier, if not my favorite. Gordon related
years later. I got to run with a prince and
I got to be a twin at the end. I
always wanted to be a twin. After viewing the rough
(28:58):
cut of this episode, Howton and Serling felt that the
opening scene required something more than just kids in a
baseball field. On January thirtieth, nineteen sixty two, Now this
is interesting. Ralph Nelson directed a helicopter shot of the
two ballfields, or a helicopter shot of the ball fields,
excuse me for the opening scene. The helicopter was rented
(29:19):
from Fred Bowen's Helicopter Company at Worldwide Hangar near Skyways.
Jack Glass was on board, pointing the camera straight down
and a photographing a baseball game in action. The aerial
shot did not use actors in a field. It was
a real game going on in the city. So this
was a shot was an actual real game, and Joe
(29:40):
Rue was the assistant cameraman on board assisting Glass.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I wonder if they had to get permission to use it.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, I don't know, you know, in the days of
you know, we have all these drones and stuff. Aerial
shots are pretty common, but back then it's interesting. They
had actually rent a physical helicopter just to go and
get that shot.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
But I'm just saying it as far as hey you're in.
Can you imagine just sitting down with your family one
night and you turn on the Twilight Zone You've been
waiting all week and you turn it on.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Hey that's me.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Hey this is our city. Oh wait, wait that's me.
That's yeah, that'd be interesting.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
I got one goof Jenny's bedside clock reads six' ten
before the doctor is, called and then six forty five
when the doctor examines, her and then back to six'
ten as the doctor leaves. The room so a little,
mistake there but. No biggie moving on to questions, And,
observations jimbo, go ahead, tell me.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Oh, go ahead let's get your questions. Of observations oh
WAIT before i wrap it UP or i give My m.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
So these are just observations to start off, With this
this IS where i lean, like obviously the the episode
weighs heavily on childlike innocence and. Adult cynicism the Relationship
between jenny And old ben highlights the purity of childlike wonder.
AND trust i GET that i can still two things
(30:57):
can be true at the, same time though it is still,
cringe worthy especially. This one just it didn't date very well,
for me like it or it didn't, age well, Excuse, me.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Well let me ask you. A question so if you
saw this back When The twilight zone marathons were, going
on the thoughts you're, having now you would have had
no connection. To that, back then neither one of.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Us, would well they wouldn't Have run. Twilight marathons you're
talking about.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
When we were, Young, sick, no no when we. Were,
younger well of course we have different.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Perspectives exactly but you know there were adults watching back,
Then TOO so, i mean surely that's THE thing i.
Don't get after IT pass, i mean think about all
the people who had to, view it, the editors the
audio person all it, passed through how many sets of
eyes and nobody was, Like, HMM like i. DON'T know
i have a hard time believing that nobody like it
(31:48):
didn't get red flagged. At all but that's just. My
opinion now here's another one that this is FROM. Chat
gbt We See old ben as. A, child sorry We
See old ben as a christ like figure because he Heals,
the six, performs miracles protects, the innocent and ultimately is
resurrected in a sense by escaping death. And capture that
(32:09):
one's a stretch. For, me yeah that's a little bit of.
A stretch i could see how someone might. Take that
the third observation will be escapism. And fantasy jenny's limp
and it's difficult. For her it's her home life is,
very difficult which makes her Susceptible To old. Ben's. Offerings
right he, you know he suggests and fantastical alternative, to
(32:33):
reality which is not only desirable but might be Necessary. For,
Jenny right maybe let's go a. Step further maybe she
lost her parents and she, has this, you know permanent,
leg injury. This disability So Maybe old ben is just
a figment of her imagination that helps her escape the
realities of the trials of. Her life. That's one that's just.
(32:54):
One observation another one is authority. And Power the emissaries
represent lawful authority yet lack. Of compassion the show challenges
the idea that legality and morality are the same favoring empathy.
Over duty so that's one observation that someone. Has made and,
(33:14):
then Finally sci fi as. An allegory beneath the alien
and space travel elements lies the story, about, loneliness connection
and finding one's place in universal human concerns wrapped in
a sci. Fi METAPHOR and i can kind of see that,
the humanness, you know displayed through. Sci fi and What
(33:37):
does rod say through fantasy and? Sci? Fi right those
are two main Elements when YouTuber equipped this episode is
leave this fugitive on. The run in regards to, this
episode he said it wasn't worth. His time, he said
just leave this fugitive on. The run he didn't have
a Very high he didn't give a. Very high MARX
(33:58):
and i talked about this little. BIT earlier i don't
Think an agnes is necessarily a. Villain here she takes
note of the sketchy relationship With old ben and tries To.
PROTECT jenny i believe that she seems really rough, and
uncaring but the facade fades that she becomes Emotional when
jenny's life is, in jeopardy and you can kind of
see that. Play Out and i've got a couple, of
(34:22):
questions but you want to you want to go ahead
and give your me go ahead and give me.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
A rap i want to hear your point, of view,
All right so, first off let me say this is
THE before i go into my feelings of. This episode
I'm gonna i'm gonna state this at. The beginning so
the picture Of old ben at the end of, this
uh it kind of appears he's around nineteen, years old
like a senior picture if. You will jenny is obviously
(34:49):
a twelve year.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Old GIRL can i just jump in? Real quick the
episode would have been better in. My opinion it wouldn't
have been as. Cringe worthy been twelve and she, Was
twelve that sit a. Lot Better but, i'm sorry, go. Ahead,
right so it's.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Still Weird seeing ben call her his, best girl his only. True,
love okay it, is Weird and jenny's calling him. Her
boyfriend eric's alluded to this several times throughout. This episode,
you know he's often seen carrying, her around obviously because of,
her leg but then you see her sitting on. His
lap if you think, about it can get really uncomfortable. Really, quick,
(35:29):
okay however let me move over to my. Other page
this story is. Beautifully told okay it it's like the
childlike innocence of. This episode as, YOU stated i think
it's really really. WELL done i think that the love
(35:54):
that the king is showing to, THE kids i think
it warms. His heart not every old as a creepy.
Old guy there are some guys out there that just, You,
know eric if you've ever worked with kids, in church
maybe an after. School function especially in, today's society kids
come from a broken family and all they want is
(36:17):
somebody to talk to them and just show them kindness
and love that they may not have. At HOME and
i think That's why jinny is so willingly to Go
with ben at the end of, the episode because she's
not had that kind of love and support in, her
life even from. Her aunt you can see early on
her aunt just yells, at her, you know calls her
(36:38):
a gutter snipe for crying. Out loud you see, her
DRINKING and I think ben makes her feel welcome. AND
warm i love. THIS episode i think this episode is,
really underrated ESPECIALLY. On IMDb That's why i'm giving it
at nine out of. A ten, OH boy i think it's.
WELL done i think it's you know it. Come together
(37:01):
usually when We see twilight's on, an episode it's something
the twist is so dramatic and it's kind of. It's
creepy it leaves you with that, ough filling you KNOW what, I, Mean,
like wow it's. An alien This an it's, an alien
but it's a, nice alien you KNOW what. I mean
i love. THIS episode i think the story is. BEAUTIFULLY
told i think because this was shot what sixty years
(37:22):
ago now times of. Change exactly times, have CHANGED and
i think when we go back and we look with
the goggles, on now that the information we have now
and we try to apply it to an episode, like
this obviously your views are gonna. Be skewed where the
episode could have been completely innocent and written, as innocent
(37:44):
but the views and some of the happenings that has
happened in the, WORLD today i think skews our views
of something that was told innocently. Back then and THAT'S
where i stand with. THIS episode i had to look
at it from not all the crazy knowledge and social
media and news and all that that's coming. Out today
not that that stuff wasn't going on back. Then either
it's just more prominent in today's world. And VIEWS so
(38:06):
i like.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
This, episode yeah it was told from An idealized americana in.
NINETEEN sixty i could see how that. Would pass, but
yeah there are a lot Of again i'm not going
to beat that, dead horse but there are a lot
of things that stick out in. This EPISODE but i appreciate.
That review got a couple, of questions And then i'll
(38:28):
throw my final rating on the three three out. Of,
ten no just too was it ethical For old ben
To take jenny? With? Him right and. Here's why all
that's left is a picture of some strange Dude For
aunt agnes and a LETTER like i don't know that
(38:49):
that's necessarily and you know it, is, fantasy, right ethics
how much do they play into a? Fantasy story, but
like he just took her off to another world and
barely have.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
An explanation but you remember It was jenny's idea because
she's the one that Whispered in ben's ear.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
The episode AND again i, get, that, like ok they
were the same age on if he was the same
age on. His planet it, just yeah that just was a.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Little much well maybe maybe the aunt learned or lesson
right way. To, Learn well i'm Just saying.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
We're just gonna steal your kid and take her off to.
Another galaxy, and well she assumed. The responsibility did she
move on to the? Next question you're going to battle
me ON everything i have.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
The strength there's number question.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Number Two is jenny's life genuinely better in space or
is this? Just idealized, and again we could go with
the premise that this is all just in, her mind
this is all fantasy of her own mind that she's got.
Whisked away there's a lot of different ways that we can.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Look at she could be going up like to, serve
me and she could be the next appetizer.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Up, THERE okay i like to think It as jenny's
idealized fantasy rather than just being more in the realm,
of reality because then all of these issues and problems
with age, and well do you d has kind of?
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Fade away do you think that let me ask, you
this do you Think that ben looks? That way because
That is jenny's true feelings on what her prince charming should?
Look Like? Old, ben, no You.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
YOUNG ben I mean i could see, that, potentially, right,
LIKE yeah i mean that might be. One explanation and.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Let me let me tell you this to my great grandma, and.
GRANDPA right i think he was twenty or twenty one
and she was fourteen when they. Got married, of course so, back,
then yeah of course it might have been that we
lot more common. Back, THEN sure i will grant you that.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
The.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Story suggests what does? It suggest finally about normal Life?
On earth jenny's earthly experience has shown grim. And repressive
is the show subtly critiquing, societal norms especially regarding how adults.
Treat children that's just something to chew on a. Little
bit my, OVERALL rating i think you can probably. ALREADY
(41:13):
guess i wasn't a big fan. OF this i did
try to give it its due diligence and look at
it through the lens of. The time it was just
a little too much. For me there was just a little,
too much and. THAT'S fine i can see. BOTH sides
i probably would leave this one again In The. Twilight
zone i'm gonna rate it like. A seven it wasn't
(41:34):
one of. My FAVORITES when i watched it for the,
FIRST time i actually, was like, oh man we're gonna
have to, cover this, you know at, Some POINT and
i wasn't looking forward to covering. This episode it wasn't
one of.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
My favorites kind of like me for next episode.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Maybe maybe which strikes me. As, odd well we'll get
to that in a second on our. Next episode we'll
just go ahead and roll that out the next episode
the next. Time record the episode Is Entitled The Little.
Girl loss so, stay Tuned, and jimbo you can wrap
this bad boy up and we'll get on to the.
Next episode so stay with us for next time and
(42:10):
you can make your own assessment and your own rating
right as.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
You Listen, so bond you're gonna have to back me
up on this episode if you hear this, so well
you can follow us on the social media as we
are the tragedy sent him. A podcast ERIC and i
are both In the facebook group if you want to
reach out. To US but i think that this episode's
coming to. A, close eric do you ever do you
ever get on?
Speaker 1 (42:34):
TikTok to i do not have a.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
TikTok account wasn't your daughter going to be like our
official TikTok person or did you never?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Ask? Her, oh wait, YOU know i probably should ask
her that we'll be working. On that, STAY tuned, I
thought kyle was our. Official guy But well kyle, be leaving,
so yeah things. Have changed, but Yeah maybe i'll have
to check with her and see if we can pull. That.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Off right so with that, BEING said i think this
episode's coming to your clothes and that's wrap.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
And Cut missus gan will be in for a big
surprise when she finds This under. Jenny's pillow Because missus
gan has more temper, than imagination she'll never dream that
this is a picture Of old ben as he, really
looks and it will never occur to her that eventually
(43:21):
her niece will grow up to be an honest to.
Goodness queen somewhere In The, twilight zone