In a break with tradition, a new opening sequence was not created for The Twilight Zone’s fifth season (perhaps because the season four opening sequence had only been used for eighteen episodes, and they wanted to get their money’s worth). The existing opening was retained for the entirety of season five, which meant that it was attached to a total of 54 episodes, the most of any of the five opening sequences created for the series (season one had two, remember). Go here for the breakdown of the season four (and five) opening.
Left to right: season 1, season 1a, season 2, season 3, seasons 4-5.
Where season five differs is on the opposite end of the reel: the end credits.
Gone is the starry black background; rather, an episode-specific still shot is used (as was the case for the first three seasons). An odious form of advertising appears this season: actual products (a tube of Crest toothpaste, a pack of Pall Malls, etc) are shown during the end credits of most episodes. These episodes find the end titles, normally centered on the screen, off-centered to create a dead area to accommodate the product on display.
In the case of "Spur of the Moment," a Red Cross ad is actually spliced directly into the end credits:
On the sonic end of things, Bernard Herrmann’s re-orchestration of Marius Constant’s TZ theme (from season three, detailed here) returns in shortened form, minus the ubiquitous “doo-doo-doo-doo” riff (it's "Milieu 2" on its own, without its usual partner-in-crime "Etrange #3"):
This version graces the end credits of 9 season five episodes:
In Praise of Pip
Steel
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
The Last Night of a Jockey
The Old Man in the Cave
Uncle Simon
The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms
Night Call
The Masks
As for the other 27 episodes, 26 of them feature a shorter version of the standard Constant theme which, despite being shorter overall, features a longer-than-normal chunk of "Etrange #3 (the aforementioned "do-do-do-do" riff). And finally, "Spur of the Moment" uses an even longer version of the standard Constant theme (to accommodate the Red Ad cross, shown above).
Got all that? Okay, bring on season five!
Smoke up, Sulu.
In the case of "Spur of the Moment," a Red Cross ad is actually spliced directly into the end credits:
On the sonic end of things, Bernard Herrmann’s re-orchestration of Marius Constant’s TZ theme (from season three, detailed here) returns in shortened form, minus the ubiquitous “doo-doo-doo-doo” riff (it's "Milieu 2" on its own, without its usual partner-in-crime "Etrange #3"):
This version graces the end credits of 9 season five episodes:
In Praise of Pip
Steel
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
The Last Night of a Jockey
The Old Man in the Cave
Uncle Simon
The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms
Night Call
The Masks
As for the other 27 episodes, 26 of them feature a shorter version of the standard Constant theme which, despite being shorter overall, features a longer-than-normal chunk of "Etrange #3 (the aforementioned "do-do-do-do" riff). And finally, "Spur of the Moment" uses an even longer version of the standard Constant theme (to accommodate the Red Ad cross, shown above).
Got all that? Okay, bring on season five!
2 comments:
Important to note that (with the exception of Last Night of a Jockey) all the episodes with the Herrmann recording were produced by Bert Granet (Stopover in a Quiet Town and the aforementioned Spur of the Moment are the only ones of his that didn't).
Looking at production codes for these episodes:
2601 The Masks
2602 Steel
2603 The Old Man in the Cave
2604 Uncle Simon
2605 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
2606 The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms
2607 In Praise of Pip
2608 Spur of the Moment
2609 A Kind of a Stopwatch
2610 Night Call
2611 Stopover in a Quiet Town
2616 The Last Night of a Jockey
With the exception of Last Night of a Jockey, these were apparently the first episodes filmed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(season_5)
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