Merch Spotlight: Kanamit Cookbook Journal

Here’s a nifty little item.  Need a blank steno book, for journaling or other purposes, but you want something interesting and maybe kinda cool?  Bif Bang Pow!'s Kanamit Cookbook Journal ($9.99 plus shipping) may be just what you need.

Measuring 8” x 5”; it’s really nice looking. It replicates the notorious Kanamit cookbook (the Kanamit language is faithfully rendered on the front cover and, in a cleaver touch, the English translation appears on the back cover,  handwritten as it appears in the episode).

If you're hoping to use it to, say, accompany a Kanamit Halloween costume (which I'm gonna do one of these years), it's unfortunately too small.  A very minor complaint.  It seems a bit pricey at $9.99 plus shipping, but it's pretty damned cool.  Recommended, especially if you want to scrawl some recipes down....

Merch Spotlight: Kanamit Tin Tote

Vintage metal lunch boxes are highly collectible, so it comes as no surprise that we’d be seeing new ones popping up in the vintage style with modern branding. They’re now called tin totes, apparently; I guess most people aren’t using them as lunch boxes, which is probably why they aren’t packing matching plastic thermoses inside.  BifBang Pow! jumps into the tin tote fray with the Kanamit Tin Tote ($12.99 plus shipping), available now.

Back (same as front, unfortunately).

Left side.

 Right side.

 Top.

 Bottom.

Not a whole lot to say about it either way:  it’s a metal lunchbox, so if you grew up in the seventies or earlier, you probably had a few (I remember having a Marvel Super Heroes one, and maybe a Star Wars one too).  It seems a bit small, but I guess my hands are much bigger than they were in the second grade (I have the same problem with Hostess products… well, had, now that they've vanished from the earth).

If I have a complaint (and you know I do; don’t I always?), it’s about the graphic design choice.  It’s frankly a bit loud and obnoxious, nearly identical to the 2013 TZ Calendar that I blasted a couple of months back (perhaps the same person designed it? I dunno).  I get a graffiti vibe from it, which isn't a compliment.  I can think of so many classy, elegant, mega-cool designs for this. For starters, how about a black and white background (say a starry night sky), with the Kanamit on the front, the Kanamit space ship on the back, and the Kanamit language blurb (“To Serve Man”) on the sides?  Bif Bang Pow! has been great about respecting the black and white nature of The Twilight Zone on so many other items… it’s puzzling why they splashed so much blue onto this.

The upcoming Doorway to The Twilight Zone Tin Tote, meanwhile, looks mostly monochromatic (and elegantly classy), so I’ll definitely be ordering it (it’s due sometime in March).

Special Report: The Lost Five

The original five-season run of The Twilight Zone is comprised of 156 episodes.  After the series ended in 1964, 151 of these episodes were assembled into a syndication package and began airing in local markets around the country.

But wait, that’s five episodes short.  What gives?

First, let’s list the missing episodes. 

(originally broadcast 2/21/1963)

(originally broadcast 12/13/1963)

(originally broadcast 2/28/1964)

(Originally broadcast 4/03/1964)

(Originally broadcast 5/01/1964)

Cayuga Productions accepted outside teleplay submissions for consideration; however, they rejected a great many of them.  Unfortunately, there were subsequent lawsuits filed by some of the aspiring writers they’d turned down.  Theoretical example:  Dick Johnson submits a script about a rampaging army of telepathic squirrels, which gets summarily rejected.  Serling then later writes a script that happens to incorporate a telepathic squirrel, which gets produced.  Dick Johnson believes Serling stole his intellectual property, so he screams plagiarism and files a lawsuit.  Of course I’m simplifying this some, but that’s the basic gist of things. At the time the series’ syndication package was put together, three episodes were stuck in mid-litigation (“Miniature,” “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain,” and “Sounds and Silences”) and were therefore held back. 

“The Encounter,” meanwhile, contained some fairly heavy racial content, so it too was omitted (which is kinda odd, since it was allowed to air in the first place).  “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was left out because it wasn’t really a Twilight Zone episode at all… but we’ll delve into that particular story when we get to it (a little over a year from now).

Aside from “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” getting a repeat broadcast during the summer of 1964, these five episodes essentially disappeared.

Fast forward 20 years. To celebrate the show’s 25^th anniversary in October 1984, a feature-length syndicated special was aired which resurrected three of “The Lost Five”:  “Miniature,” “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain,” and “Sounds and Silences” (coincidentally the same three that had been previously suppressed for legal reasons; presumably their respective lawsuits had either been dismissed or otherwise dealt with by 1984).  The special was hosted by Patrick O’Neal (who had starred in “A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain”).  Here’s a link to the New York Times’write-up.  

I think the episodes may have suffered some minor editing (we’re talking about syndication, after all), but they seemed relatively unscathed… except for “Miniature,” the fate of which we’ll address later this week.

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “The Encounter,” meanwhile, first reappeared on VHS in 1992 in the two-tape Treasures of The Twilight Zone set.  The set also included “The Howling Man,” “Eye of the Beholder,” “The Masks,” and “Where Is Everybody?” This release was later broken up into two separate DVD volumes in 1999 (Treasures from The Twilight Zone and More Treasures from The Twilight Zone; incidentally the first two TZ DVDs ever released; both "Lost Five" episodes appear on the first volume).

“The Lost Five” formally rejoined the series for the first time when the entire 156-episode run was presented on VHS by Columbia House.  You had to join the club, and wait impatiently as the volumes trickled out once a month but, at the time, this was the only way for a collector like me to acquire the entire series… at a pretty enormous cost (with shipping, I ultimately paid close to $1,000.00 to complete my set; it still amazes me that the entire series can be bought now, in pristine high definition with copious bonus features, for a mere fraction of that… in 2013 dollars, no less!).

Offer no longer valid... but hey, it might be fun to try.

At some point, probably in the early 2000’s or so (I’m totally guessing here), “Miniature," "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" and "Sounds and Silences" were added to the syndication package, reducing "The Lost Five" to "The Lost Two." Despite the fact that "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Encounter" remain MIA from the syndication package to this date, all 156 episodes are easily available on both DVD and blu-ray (and via streaming: all 156 are available for free on Hulu, while paying members of Netflix can view all the half-hour episodes); in other words,“The Lost Five” aren't really lost at all these days.  Their unique history is little more than a footnote now, but for those of us who pre-date the digital age, “The Lost Five” were once frustratingly out of reach, and therefore hold a special unique place in the legacy that is… The Twilight Zone.

*Speaking of plagiarism claims levied against The Twilight Zone… well, stay tuned.  I’m working on a pretty big expose that I hope to publish in the next month or two.  You might find it quite eye-opening.

TZ Promo: "Jess-Belle" (2/14/1962)

Season 4, Episode 7 (#109 overall)

Cayuga Production # 4855

Originally aired 2/14/1963

Fair was Elly Glover

Dark was Jess-Belle

Both they loved the same man

And both they loved him well.

On Valentine’s Day exactly fifty years ago, The Twilight Zone returned to Appalachia to present a bewitching tale of lust, love and tragedy.

Earl Hamner Jr.’s “Jess-Belle” opens with good ol’ boy Billy Ben Turner popping the question to his sweetheart, Ellwyn Glover, during a barn dance.  Casting a bit of a shadow on the proceedings is Jess-Belle Stone (a previous conquest of Billy Ben’s), who suggests that Elly shouldn't buy that wedding dress just yet.  Yup, sounds like a triangle all right, and it sounds like Jess-Belle’s planning to stir up some trouble.

Bubble, boil, toil and trouble.

She visits Granny Hart, the resident witch of these back hills, looking for help. She trades her soul for a love potion that will make Billy Ben blind to every woman but her. It works all too well: he promptly dumps Elly and proposes to Jess-Belle instead. Jess-Belle has successfully landed her man, but now it’s time to pay the price: every night, she transforms into a leopard. Yes, you heard me right.  A LEOPARD.

Meeeeeeeeow.

The two women warring for Billy Ben’s affections are nicely contrasted:  Elly is blonde and affluent, sweet but somewhat dull, while Jess-Belle is dark-haired and troubled, unrefined yet complex.  Billy Ben’s quandary is easy to understand:  Elly represents wealth and status (and gosh, won’t their kids be gorgeous?), while Jess-Belle… well, she puts out.  Billy Ben’s got some wild oats, and he just wants to sow ‘em before he settles down.  Ellwyn is the long haul, while Jess-Belle is right now.

A literal roll in the hay.

In the hands of a less-capable actor, Jess-Belle could easily come off as villainous and conniving, but Anne Francis imbibes her with so much passion and pathos that she somehow emerges as the heroine of the piece (albeit a tragic one).  It’s pretty apparent that Billy Ben took advantage of her in the past, so her motivations seem sourced more in emotional damage than possessiveness.  We don’t really blame her for her actions, since her all-consuming, aching need for love is portrayed so utterly believably. 

I must mention that Anne Francis is impossibly hot, even more so with that jet black hair (sigh).  We last saw her in season one’s “The After Hours.”  And hey, Forbidden Planet alert!  Francis was delicious to behold as Altaira in the 1956 sci-fi classic whose imagery and props frequently pop up on The Twilight Zone.

Laura Devon is certainly easy on the eyes as well, but the superficial character of Elly Glover doesn't give her a whole lot to work with as far as complexity of character goes.  She truly shines, however, in the all-too-brief scene in which she is possessed by Jess-Belle’s spirit.  She becomes lusty and aggressive, as if some carnal switch was suddenly flipped on inside her.

There’s a great scene in act three in which Jess-Belle encounters Elly in a meadow, picking flowers (I imagine birds and mice help her get dressed in the morning, like the Disney princesses she strongly evokes), and the claws come out:

Jess-Belle:

“Lots of wildflowers around here. Saw a patch of old maid’s fern up on the mountain.”

Elly:

“I notice a lot of vixenwort around here myself.”

Oh, snap.  Cat fight!

“Jess-Belle” is chock full o’ TZ alumni.  James Best (Billy Ben Turner) appears for his third and final episode (we saw him in season two’s “The Grave” and season three’s “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank”).   Jeanette Nolan, last seen in season three’s “The Hunt,” is excellent as Granny Hart.  The town minister is played by Jon Lormer in his fourth and final TZ appearance (we saw him in season one’s “Excecution,” season two’s “Dust,” and in season three’s “The Last Rites of JeffMyrtlebank”).  Luther Glover, Ellwyn’s father, is played by George Mitchell in his third of four TZ appearances (we saw him in “The Hitch-hiker” and “Execution” in season one, and we’ll see him again in season five’s “Ring-a-Ding Girl”).  Ossie Stone, Jess-Belle’s beleaguered mother, is played by Virginia Gregg, who will return for “The Masks” in season five.  And finally, Obed Miller is played by Jim Boles, who also appeared in season three’s “The Arrival.” 

Thank cue (groan).

Nathan Van Cleave contributes a perfectly serviceable score (some cues of which are reminiscent of his earlier “Perchance to Dream” and “A World of Difference” scores), but what’s really memorable is the original song (music by Van Cleave, lyrics by Earl Hamner, Jr.), gradually interwoven throughout the episode one verse at a time.  Note that each verse shares its title with the corresponding cue; however, I prefer to think of the collective song as, simply, “The Ballad of Jess-Belle.”  I've gone ahead and pieced the verses together for your listening enjoyment:  

“Jess-Belle” is one of the better offerings of TZ’s fourth season, elevated considerably by Anne Francis’s tortured performance in the lead.  And did I mention there’s a real live leopard?

Next week:  Robert Duvall finds a tiny little soul mate.

TZ Promo: "Death Ship" (2/07/1963)

Season 4, Episode 6 (#108 overall)

Cayuga Production # 4850

Originally aired February 7, 1963

“Since the beginning, man has looked into the awesome reaches of infinity and asked the eternal questions:  What is time?  What is space?  What is life?  What is death?”

--- Opening narration,

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

The above quote sounds like a Control Voice narration from The Outer Limits, but I’m using it here on my Twilight Zone blog because it fits perfectly:  in different ways, tonight’s episode asks all four of those questions.

Richard Matheson’s “Death Ship,” which turns 50 tonight, finds a crew of three astronauts on a deep space mission, cataloging planets for potential colonization sites. Waiting for them on the 13^th planet of Star System 51 is perhaps the greatest mystery of all, wrapped in the trappings of the deepest horror known to man. “Something glittered down there,” says Lieutenant Mason as he scans the planet’s surface. Lieutenant Carter is excited at the possibilities that may await them, but Captain Ross is reluctant to bother. Protocol demands that they investigate, however, so they land.

Upon landing, the trio discovers a crashed ship that looks identical to their own.  They venture inside and discover a trio of corpses that match themselves in every detail, right down to their ID cards.

Mason and the third crewman, Lieutenant Carter, immediately assume that they are dead. In Matheson’s original short story, this was in fact the truth:  they were essentially ghosts discovering the nature of their own deaths.  In fleshing out the story for The Twilight Zone’s new hour format, Matheson takes things in a different, somewhat more ambiguous direction.

You'll find Matheson's original short story in this collection, circa 1961.

Unfortunately, I’m gonna have to spoil the ending in order for the rest of my comments to make sense.  Without giving too much detail, the reality is that, because of Captain Ross’ iron-willed refusal to accept death, and his intense determination to discover an alternate explanation, he (and his hapless crew along with him) is stuck in an endless loop in time, reliving these events over and over again throughout eternity.  It’s kinda like season one’s “Judgment Night,” but in space.  It’s not necessarily the most satisfying ending, but the real sparks come from the stellar performances by Jack Klugman and Ross Martin.

What can I say about Jack Klugman that I haven’t already said in this blog?  I love the man.  He’s one of my favorite actors of all time (TZ or otherwise), and he was excellent in everything he ever did, period (1957’s Twelve Angry Men, TV’s The Odd Couple and Quincy, M.E., the list goes on and on and on).  He’s visited The Twilight Zone twice before (season one’s “A Passage forTrumpet” and season three’s “A Game of Pool”), and we’ll see him again in September for the season five opener (“In Praise of Pip”).  Captain Ross is a bit of a departure for him; his other three TZ roles find him inhabiting variations on the same type of character: down on his luck, rough around the edges but lovable; here, he’s all stone and steel, tough to love and impossible to defy.  Mason and Carter clearly fear and hate him, but they sure as hell do what he says. 

Klugman passed away very recently (Christmas Eve), and I’m still mourning.  For whatever self-delusional reason, I always thought I’d meet him one day.

Ross Martin visited The Twilight Zone previously in season one’s “The Four of Us Are Dying,” a relatively forgettable appearance, but here he shines in one of my favorite TZ performances.  Watch his face fill with teary-eyed joy as he comes face to face with his deceased wife and daughter, and later, mournful despondency as he realizes the truth behind the episode’s central mystery.  Mason played the creepy-as-hell “Red” Lynch in 1962’s Experiment in Terror, which was recently released on blu-ray from Twilight Time. 

I believe you're going... my way?

Fredrick Beir, playing the slightly-dopey Carter here, played another astronaut the same year on The Outer Limits (“The Man with the Power”).  He and Klugman would cross paths again eight years later on The Odd Couple (“Felix’s Wife’s Boyfriend”).

Martin (as Mason) has a wonderful moment outside the wrecked ship in act one:  after surveying the craft’s hull damage, he imagines the disaster.  Over a close shot of his face, we hear the deafening roar of the engines as the ship descends and crashes (as he imagines it).  It’s interesting to reflect on this after the episode ends.  Is it his imagination, or is it an actual memory echoing through their endless time loop?

This episode undoubtedly inspired "Cause and Effect," one of my all-time favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which finds our intrepid Enterprise 1701-D crew trapped in a “causality loop” in which they meet a catastrophic end over and over again (lucky for them, the android Data finds a way to eventually break them free; our E-89 boys unfortunately didn't bring an android with them).

Forbidden Planet alert!  The United Planets C-57D Space Cruiser makes yet another appearance on The Twilight Zone, this time standing in as the E-89 spaceship.  We get lots of it here, in both pristine and crashed form.  The takeoff and landing footage is very impressive (it kicks up dust and everything!) as is the miniature set representing the surface of the planet. The uniforms worn by the E-89 crew are also Forbidden Planet leftovers.  The E-89 interior, meanwhile, appears to be new (which means no Pac-Man lights, dammit).

There’s an (unfortunately) obvious cut in the shot in which Mason first reveals his duplicate’s corpse in the wrecked ship.  I tried to get a screen capture for illustration’s sake, but there’s too much motion to get a clear shot (it happens at time stamp 11:57; you really can’t miss it). There’s probably no way they could’ve pulled this off seamlessly in a single shot, but it’s a bit disappointing after the marvelous split screen work achieved on “In His Image” a few weeks back.  They could’ve simply blocked the shot differently and avoided the cut (interestingly, we get some great split screen shots mere seconds later).  It’s really the only blemish on an otherwise excellent episode, one that I count among my top 10 favorites.

Next:  The incomparable Anne Francis does some betwitchin.’