4x11 "Nathan Van Cleave in The Twilight Zone... and Beyond"

Nathan Van Cleave, The Twilight Zone’s most prolific composer, finally gets a well-deserved spotlighting in this special installment of the podcast, made complete by an appearance by musician and friend of the program Carson Cohen. Enjoy! 

Stream William Castle’s Project X (1968) here: https://amzn.to/2SuPUg4 

Watch 1959’s Destination: Space here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED6Z_o1vupA 

Read Dirk Wickenden’s interview with Fred Steiner about Nathan Van Cleave here: https://bit.ly/3neaD35 

The Twilight Zone is a trademark of CBS, Inc.

Between Light and Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107.  

1x09 "Nocturnal Immersions"

This week, Craig celebrates his birthday by spotlighting two of his all-time favorite Twilight Zone episodes: “Perchance to Dream” and “Shadow Play,” two masterpieces from the mind of Charles Beaumont. Tangents include Craig’s unresolved crush on Maya the Cat Girl and his lamentable inability to dream in the third person.  Fan favorite Dr. Reba Wissner pops in to set him straight about the curious lack of the Theremin in The Twilight Zone, and of course he gets the usual familial abuse from Teresa and Kendyl. Happy birthday, my ass.

Dr. Reba Wissner’s A Dimension of Sound: Music in The Twilight Zone

https://www.amazon.com/Dimension-Sound-Music-Twilight-Media/dp/1576472167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478659363&sr=8-1&keywords=reba+wissner

Dr. Reba Wissner’s We Will Control All That Your Hear: The Outer Limits and the Aural Imagination

https://www.amazon.com/Will-Control-All-That-Hear/dp/1576472531/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478659363&sr=8-2&keywords=reba+wissner

http://www.dreams.ca/interpretation.htm

“Windmills of Your Mind” by Noel Garrison (from the album The Thomas Crown Affair original motion picture soundtrack, copyright 1998 by Rykodisc)

“The Technological Womb” by Mysteries of the Universe (from the album The Erotic Nature of Automated Universes, copyright 1995 by Instinct Records)

“Smokey Sax” by Hollywood Trailer Music Orchestra (from the album Film Noir: Vintage Cinema Classics, copyright 2015 by Megatrax Music)

Opening theme: “Neither Here nor There” by Twin Loops

Between Light and a Shadow: A Twilight Zone Podcast is a nonprofit podcast. Music clips and dialogue excerpts used herein are the property of their respective copyright owners; we claim no ownership of these materials. Their use is strictly for illustrative purposes and should be considered Fair Use as stated in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107. 

Season 3 Opening Sequence (1961-1962)

The third season of The Twilight Zone premiered on September 15, 1961, and with it came a brand new opening title sequence. The theme music by Marius Constant remained the same (until late into the season, when a decidedly different rendition would appear... but we'll get there in time), and Rod Serling's opening narration was only minimally revised. Season three's opening sequence, designed by Pacific Title (thanks to fellow fan --- and fellow Portland native --- Joel Henderson for this tidbit of info), is the simplest of the entire series. It's literally one single object --- a spinning top of sorts ---spinning away from camera, off into space. And yet, in its simplicity, it manages to evoke a surreal, almost trancelike vibe.

The spinning spiral, by the way, was not new to The Twilight Zone. We saw it way back in season one's "Perchance to Dream," framed by a dreamlike fog. Coincidence? Perhaps.



Okay, let's break it down. Cue the music.

You're traveling through another dimension...

A dimension not only of sight and sound...

...but of mind.

A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination.

Your next stop---

The Twilight Zone!

Here it is in full-motion glory, down-rezzed into a fuzzy mess by Blogger...

That distinctive spiral appears on the covers both the DVD and blu-ray editions of season three from Image Entertainment.

Bif Bang Pow! Toy Fair 2011 Preview

So I'm lying awake around 1:00 this morning, staring at the ceiling. Can't sleep, no idea why. I casually reach over, grab my Droid to check Facebook. I then proceed to Twitter, where the following grabbed me by the throat and almost threw me out of bed:

"@BifBangPow: Toy Fair 2011 Sneak Peak! http://t.co/ZlaXxUq"

I clicked the link. Of course I did. Here's what I saw:

Dear God, look at it all. I'm clearly not as "in the loop" as I like to think. I knew about some of this stuff, but a few items caught me completely off guard.


There's Henry Corwin, aka Santa Claus, from season two's "Night of the Meek." I'm more excited about Alicia, from season one's "The Lonely"! She's my second most-desired action figure. And look! Her face is blasted off and everything!



Finally I can unseal my lips. My all-time most-wanted Twilight Zone character will appear in action figure form later this year.... it's Maya the Cat Girl, from season one's "Perchance To Dream." I've known about her for several months, and keeping the secret has been killing me.


And hey, there's the alien from season three's "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" too. I hate the episode, but the alien is pretty cool, so good choice. I'm a sucker for that 60's suit-and-turtleneck look.



We already knew we were getting Doctor Bernardi from "Eye of the Beholder," but it looks like we're also getting the nurse too!


And there's the Clown from season three's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit"! Here's hoping they immortalize the other four (Army Major, Ballerina, Bagpiper, Hobo) in action figure form as well.... that'd make a helluva diorama.


Let's see.... that's six action figures, plus the previously-announced Doctor Bernardi, Henry Bemis ("Time Enough at Last"), The Invader ("The Invaders"), and The Venusian ("Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"). That's a whopping 10 new figures, presumably before the end of the year.

And there are two new bobbleheads too! I meant to cover these earlier, as both are already available for pre-order (due to ship in May)....


It's Bob Wilson, better known as William Shatner, from season five's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." As you can see, they answered my prayers and designed him as a companion piece for their earlier Gremlin bobblehead. And as I predicted, when used together, they work as bookends! Here's how I'm currently using my two Gremlins:


No choice but to use one backwards, but the arrival of Bob Wilson will solve this problem. Too cool. Hopefully we'll see a color version of Bob at some future point, which will give us a second set of bookends.

Here's a better look at both new bobbleheads:



The other new bobblehead is Willie and Jerry, from season three's "The Dummy." Willie has already been given the action figure treatment, but here we get him --- and his poor ventriloquist owner (victim?) Jerry to boot. They've captured the episode's surprise switcheroo nicely. It looks great.

Notebooks! Travel mugs! License plate brackets, oh my!


Coasters! Lunch boxes! Magnets!


And finally, in the mortgage-your-kidney department, we have the life-size replicas of the Mystic Seer ($249.99) and Talky Tina ($139.99). Is it just me, or does Tina look like she's been frozen in carbonite....?


Man, I'm gonna need a second job to afford all this stuff....

TZ Spotlight: Maya the Cat Girl

As previously discussed, one of my ten favorite TZ episodes of all time is “Perchance to Dream,” which celebrated its 50^th anniversary on 11/27/09 (the same day I celebrated my 40^th birthday). The episode is notable for many things: the brilliant teleplay by Charles Beaumont… the breathless and intense performance of Richard Conte in the lead… the visual treat of the nightmare carnival… the eerie, swirling musical score by Van Cleave… but without a doubt, the single most memorable element of this episode is none other than this beautiful and talented individual:

Actress Suzanne Lloyd, in the role of Maya the Cat Girl, has haunted my dreams since I first saw this episode in the 7^th grade. I told her as much in a recent letter to her, which accompanied a purchase order for autographed 8x10s (which she offers on her website). In my letter, I asked her to inscribe the picture with the following: “To Craig, Meow. Suzanne Lloyd.” I thought it might be cute. Her written response, which accompanied the signed 8x10s, suggests that perhaps cuteness wasn’t really appropriate:

“Maya is not a ‘meow’ character. I patterned her after a panther. But (I) will write what you requested.”

You know, she’s absolutely right. I think time had blurred my memory, causing me to confuse her interpretation of Maya with Julie Newmar’s Catwoman on TV’s Batman. Further study of Lloyd’s performance proved just how wrong I was. Maya would purr. Maya would growl. Maya would even shriek like a banshee… but she’d never, ever meow. I stand humbly corrected. Thanks to Ms. Lloyd for setting me straight.

The beautiful Ms. Lloyd as she appears today, no less bewitching.

I’m REALLY hoping Bif Bang Pow! releases either a bobblehead or an action figure (or both) of Maya at some point. A well-done action figure of Maya might just displace my all-time favorite female action figure:

I’m still waiting on Vera Miles to sign and return an 8x10 I sent to her a few months back… If she comes through, I’ll post a similar spotlight.

Bif Bang Pow! Reveals Upcoming Twilight Zone bobbleheads!

Here's a sweet Tweet that's extra neat...

"Kanamit and the Gremlin are scheduled to be our next Twilight Zone bobble heads! Pre-order info coming in early '10. Holiday cheers to all!"

I can't imagine a better holiday surprise. Maybe Jason and the Bif Bang Pow! gang got sick of me constantly asking for a Kanamit...? Here he is, as played by Richard Kiel, in season three's "To Serve Man"...

The Gremlin, meanwhile, appeared in season five's "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Wow, talk about ugly...

(I mean the Gremlin is ugly, not William Shatner!)

That'll make a total of five TZ bobbleheads. Here's hoping the line continues.... I'd love to see the doctor from "Eye of the Beholder," not to mention Maya the Cat Girl from "Perchance to Dream"....

TZ Promo: “Perchance to Dream” (11/27/1959)

Today is my 40^th birthday (but we'll get to that in the next post). Exactly 10 years to the day BEFORE I was born, tonight's episode aired for the first time. Richard Conte and John Larch star, along with the beautiful Suzanne Lloyd as Maya the Cat Girl (meeee-ow). The combination of Robert Florey's direction and George C. Clemens' cinematography, filled with odd angles and shadows, is marvelous. Nathan Van Cleave (who would score a total of 11 episodes) contributes his first Twilight Zone score here, and he hits the ground running: augmenting the studio orchestra with the theramin, he creates music that is eerie, dizzying, and terrifying.

Perhaps the single most notable aspect of "Perchance to Dream" is the fact that Rod Serling DIDN'T write it. Credit goes to Charles Beaumont, who adapted his own short story. Beaumont would go on to write many memorable Twilight Zones before being gradually consumed by Alzheimer's Disease (or Pick's Disease; accounts differ). He died in 1967 at the age of 38.

"Perchance to Dream" is not only one of my 40 favorite episodes of all time (see the list here), it's the first so far to crack my top 10. Needless to say, the opportunity to celebrate its 50th birthday on my 40th birthday is a rare gift indeed.

No, this is NOT a shot from Cat People.

Bill, That's a REAL Good Thing You Did....

Check out the birthday card (I'm turning 40 tomorrow) that arrived in the mail today from my good friend Bill Huelbig. It's one of those awesome musical customizable cards available from Hallmark (previously spotlighted here).

The front:

Inside:

The back:

Gotta love the "Perchance to Dream" reference, not to mention the "It's a Good Life" vibe running throughout. Bill is every bit as obsessed with The Twilight Zone as I am, and that's a good thing... that's a REAL good thing. Thanks Bill!