In 10th Grade, I had an English class that was Science Fiction focused. Our text book had the scripts for this episode as well as The Hitch-Hiker. I had seen both, but being able to study the teleplays really informed my understanding of how great a writer Serling really was. I have an action figure of Jean Marsh from this episode. I refer to my programmable coffee maker as my "Robot Girlfriend" in her honor.
I hope you pronounce is as "rob-ut"! :) Reading the scripts would be be really interesting. I'd love to see how Serling set his visions out on the page
This episode rips my heart out and I love the whole 50's sci-fi aesthetic of it. Ted Knight also was a terrific voice actor in so many of my favorite cartoons I grew up with. Loving these TZ videos, Tengy!
This is one of the first TZ episodes I saw, at age 10 in 1979. A local TV station showed one episode each Friday night at 10 and my parents let me stay up to watch it when I got into it. The image of Alicia's face shot off was absolutely shocking to me at the time, and every time I watch it today I still feel that shock.
Good thoughts (and questions) on this story. It sure has many grey (and dark grey) areas in this one. I did feel for both Corry and Alicia considering the situation the system had put them in. Corry was awful to her initially but watching their relationship change and grow was a moving relational journey. The scene where they're gazing up at the milky way together accompanied by a lovely piece of scoring by Bernard Herrmann is a beautiful moment. Of course, that all changes with the return of the captain and Corry's pardon, leading to the tragic end. A bit of a sad even grim episode. But I like it. Serling wrote so many wonderful episodes. A truly gifted story teller.
I think what I find so unsettling in this story is, even while it does depict that arc of the relationship growing, and has those lovely poetic moments, gazing at the stars etc, you still have that uneasy feeling about how real it is, in terms of Alicia being an android, etc. Serling never really takes his finger off that button of unease throughout the whole thing, even if if just the implications his set-up establishes in the viewer's mind. There is a lot about this story that is bold and the tone is another bold choice here. The music is great too, as you observe :)
Hello Tengy, if I'm correct, it was this very episode where I was officially hooked into watching "The Twilight Zone" back in the late 60s/early 70s, late at night with my dad. The robot's face being exposed left a stunning and strong impression on me, a then 5 to 7 year old boy with a vivid imagination. In one of my comments in a previous episode review, I had mentioned about my purchasing the TZ series and watching them all again from first to last. This is the first one that has a sci-fi concept to it. Jack Warden's performance was so believable. The concept of sheer loneliness can drive a man crazy. We saw that in the "Where is Everybody?" episode. [SE 1 EP 1] I would think that having a companion, ANY companion, would make him so happy. Instead, he felt cheated, mocked by the thought of having a "woman", who is not a 'true' woman. I put on a big smile when Corey was stargazing, explaining the stars to Alicia and mentioned "Betelgeuse". I instantly saw the image of Michael Keaton's "The Ghost With the Most" Beetlejuice. 👻😆 My heart broke for Corey's dilemma as he was pardoned for his crime. He truly believed that Alicia was a woman and not an artificial being. "It's all a bad dream. Put it all behind you." Oh, the psychological damage he now has to live with upon returning to Earth. I felt so bad for the poor guy. Who wouldn't? 😥 Thanks for another great review Tengy. I look forward to the next one. 📽❤️ P.S. - I'm creating a short list of movies I'm preparing for you to look over, hoping you'd do a review in the future of some of them.
Hi John, I hadn't made the connection to Where is Everybody? But yes, similar themes to be sure. I thought of the Beetlejuice film too when he said that! Psychological damage is right - Serling could almost have written another episode about what happens to Corey next. And what of the next person to land on the asteroid? Would they reactivate Alicia? SO many troubling questions we are left with... I look forward to seeing your list of film suggestions :)
Jeez Tengy... what a predicament to be in. I think I'd of turned into a wobbling jelly after 5 minutes of being left in such a terrifying situation. Robut, or no robut!🤖
The episode is remarkably prescient in envisioning the use of machines as a substitute for human companionship. One thing about this episode: Alicia is portrayed very much as a machine when we first encounter her and when we last encounter her; in between, she becomes human. Is the intent to create an identification between the viewers and Corry, making us share in his delusion that Alicia is a real woman, alive, conscious? Could the middle scenes be viewed as a sort of dream sequence, where Alicia no longer robotically repeats, "My name is Alicia. What is your name?" and transforms into, from our and Corry's perspective, a deeply sympathetic human being?
That's a really interesting question, Lindsay. This story could so easily have been expanded into a feature, I think. Yes, is her emotional development just Corey's projection or is she programmed to evolve this way? If the latter, her brutal destruction seems all the more cruel.
As I see it, the prisoner ended seeing emotions where there were non to be found. He seems a to be a decent man, and that combined with the pain of being lonely he had a mental brake down,ad seeing emotion was his minds way of fighting back to a form of sanity.
Wow, that's such an interesting take on this story. Yes, are Alicia's emotions real? Or does Corey need them so much he takes them as real even though they are artificial? That question adds a really powerful dimension of uncertainty to this story.
Ted Knight shows here what a gifted actor can do with a supporting role. He adds a lot to this episode. I think he was much more versatile than he was later given credit for :)
This is a favorite episode, and an often thought-of / referred-to episode as my own decades piled up. This may also be the reason I often label Jack Warden as the actor who'll turn any film or episode into my favorite... just because of him. Even in a huge ensemble cast of giant favorite actors in TWELVE ANGRY MEN, I end up hanging on Jack Warden's dialog far more than 'star' Henry Fonda. (I'm also like that about Martin Balsam, but I can't explain why these two always seem to almost 'create' a favorite out of any show. An odd example for Warden - I like WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING - it's got favorite Sandra Bullock, favorite Bill Pullman, favorites all thru the cast... yet, when I think of favorite scenes, it's Jack Warden's. Any of them.) This eliminates - HE eliminates - my ability to be evenly slightly objective about this episode - he's just terrific in it. Or was his character and the story so profound in my youth that he carved out this path of 'understanding loneliness'? Who knows...
It's funny how some actors just have that special quality of making anything they're in better. I agree Martin Balsam is another such actor. That quality of being so engaging and sympathetic is a huge asset in shows like this where time is limited. We are automatically on Corey's side here because of Warden's own qualities. Bill Bixby is another one - instantly sympathetic and loveable in anything.
Your acknowledgement at the end of the video nudged me into finding out who the Wurundjeri people are. Are you making the notation out of respect for the people who had the land on which Melbourne sits, or do you live outside of the city? Do the people live on reservation areas as they do in the US, or is all of the continent theirs by default except those areas otherwise colonized? Alicia was Corry's Wilson the volleyball, although a lot more interactive.
Hi Lawrence. "Acknowledgement of country" is a small way of showing respect to the First Nations people on whose land we are now living. The country was never ceded or given in treaty, but unfortunately just stolen from them, and historically, many people were driven out of their own lands, or worse. Acknowledging who the rightful custodians of the land are seems like the least we can do today, as part of facing the truth about our history in this country (which many white people still want to deny or forget about). Great analogy with Wilson the volleyball - yes, it is kind of similar! :)
On a related note, the great Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter Archie Roach died earlier this year. His song "Took the Children Away" is one of the most moving anti-colonial anthems ever written.
Great video about The Lonely 1959 episode of the great series The Twilight Zone. It is another great episode of this great series very interesting and strange, it stars a great actor Jack Warden has been in great films of Sidney Lumet 12 Angry Men as jury member number 7 and in the other great film of trials The Veredict 1983 with an impressive performance by Paul Newman and Jack Warden as well. These great episodes of The Twilight Zone are all of a great quality that you don't see on TV anymore today.
Hi Marco! I agree, the quality of this series really was extraordinary and it stands out so much. Every aspect of the show, from the writing to the acting, photography, was in the highest level. It is very inspiring to see a show that was made with so much love, and such a commitment to the highest standards. :)
@@TengyTalksTVMovies Hello Tengy I totally agree with you about this series, I remember as a child having enjoyed this series and others of great quality so at my parents' house we had a black and white televisor and what I enjoyed watching tv, now it turns out that we have these big color TVs and lots of channels and I never know what to watch anymore there are no such good shows. Greetings.
In 10th Grade, I had an English class that was Science Fiction focused. Our text book had the scripts for this episode as well as The Hitch-Hiker. I had seen both, but being able to study the teleplays really informed my understanding of how great a writer Serling really was. I have an action figure of Jean Marsh from this episode. I refer to my programmable coffee maker as my "Robot Girlfriend" in her honor.
I hope you pronounce is as "rob-ut"! :)
Reading the scripts would be be really interesting. I'd love to see how Serling set his visions out on the page
This episode rips my heart out and I love the whole 50's sci-fi aesthetic of it. Ted Knight also was a terrific voice actor in so many of my favorite cartoons I grew up with. Loving these TZ videos, Tengy!
It's brutal, isn't it? Uncle Rod could certainly land an emotional punch, and this one hits hard.
Some people spend their entire life trying to achieve the kind of loving relationship that Corey was forced to leave behind.
Yes the ending is really upsetting. The system continues to brutalise Corey even when it is releasing him.
This is one of the first TZ episodes I saw, at age 10 in 1979. A local TV station showed one episode each Friday night at 10 and my parents let me stay up to watch it when I got into it. The image of Alicia's face shot off was absolutely shocking to me at the time, and every time I watch it today I still feel that shock.
Good thoughts (and questions) on this story. It sure has many grey (and dark grey) areas in this one. I did feel for both Corry and Alicia considering the situation the system had put them in. Corry was awful to her initially but watching their relationship change and grow was a moving relational journey. The scene where they're gazing up at the milky way together accompanied by a lovely piece of scoring by Bernard Herrmann is a beautiful moment. Of course, that all changes with the return of the captain and Corry's pardon, leading to the tragic end. A bit of a sad even grim episode. But I like it. Serling wrote so many wonderful episodes. A truly gifted story teller.
I think what I find so unsettling in this story is, even while it does depict that arc of the relationship growing, and has those lovely poetic moments, gazing at the stars etc, you still have that uneasy feeling about how real it is, in terms of Alicia being an android, etc. Serling never really takes his finger off that button of unease throughout the whole thing, even if if just the implications his set-up establishes in the viewer's mind. There is a lot about this story that is bold and the tone is another bold choice here. The music is great too, as you observe :)
Oh, absolutely. That dark pulse or shadow of the reality of it all is always there. It ads an extra layer of unease throughout.
@@Radz-kc5ri Beautifully put! :)
Hello Tengy, if I'm correct, it was this very episode where I was officially hooked into watching "The Twilight Zone" back in the late 60s/early 70s, late at night with my dad.
The robot's face being exposed left a stunning and strong impression on me, a then 5 to 7 year old boy with a vivid imagination.
In one of my comments in a previous episode review, I had mentioned about my purchasing the TZ series and watching them all again from first to last. This is the first one that has a sci-fi concept to it.
Jack Warden's performance was so believable. The concept of sheer loneliness can drive a man crazy. We saw that in the "Where is Everybody?" episode. [SE 1 EP 1]
I would think that having a companion, ANY companion, would make him so happy. Instead, he felt cheated, mocked by the thought of having a "woman", who is not a 'true' woman.
I put on a big smile when Corey was stargazing, explaining the stars to Alicia and mentioned "Betelgeuse". I instantly saw the image of Michael Keaton's "The Ghost With the Most" Beetlejuice. 👻😆
My heart broke for Corey's dilemma as he was pardoned for his crime. He truly believed that Alicia was a woman and not an artificial being. "It's all a bad dream. Put it all behind you." Oh, the psychological damage he now has to live with upon returning to Earth. I felt so bad for the poor guy. Who wouldn't? 😥
Thanks for another great review Tengy. I look forward to the next one. 📽❤️
P.S. - I'm creating a short list of movies I'm preparing for you to look over, hoping you'd do a review in the future of some of them.
Hi John, I hadn't made the connection to Where is Everybody? But yes, similar themes to be sure. I thought of the Beetlejuice film too when he said that!
Psychological damage is right - Serling could almost have written another episode about what happens to Corey next. And what of the next person to land on the asteroid? Would they reactivate Alicia? SO many troubling questions we are left with...
I look forward to seeing your list of film suggestions :)
Jeez Tengy... what a predicament to be in. I think I'd of turned into a wobbling jelly after 5 minutes of being left in such a terrifying situation. Robut, or no robut!🤖
They didn't even leave him with a tv or anything! Just a old car! The more you think about it, the more outrageously awful it is. :0
@@TengyTalksTVMoviesMaybe they left him some old "Goodies" VHS tapes, which of course would be useless without a T.V. and VCR! D'oh!!
The episode is remarkably prescient in envisioning the use of machines as a substitute for human companionship.
One thing about this episode: Alicia is portrayed very much as a machine when we first encounter her and when we last encounter her; in between, she becomes human. Is the intent to create an identification between the viewers and Corry, making us share in his delusion that Alicia is a real woman, alive, conscious? Could the middle scenes be viewed as a sort of dream sequence, where Alicia no longer robotically repeats, "My name is Alicia. What is your name?" and transforms into, from our and Corry's perspective, a deeply sympathetic human being?
That's a really interesting question, Lindsay. This story could so easily have been expanded into a feature, I think. Yes, is her emotional development just Corey's projection or is she programmed to evolve this way? If the latter, her brutal destruction seems all the more cruel.
As I see it, the prisoner ended seeing emotions where there were non to be found. He seems a to be a decent man, and that combined with the pain of being lonely he had a mental brake down,ad seeing emotion was his minds way of fighting back to a form of sanity.
Wow, that's such an interesting take on this story. Yes, are Alicia's emotions real? Or does Corey need them so much he takes them as real even though they are artificial? That question adds a really powerful dimension of uncertainty to this story.
Wow. Didn't realize that Ted Knight was in this episode. He wasn't credited. He should have been. He has a pretty large role in it.
Ted Knight shows here what a gifted actor can do with a supporting role. He adds a lot to this episode. I think he was much more versatile than he was later given credit for :)
This is a favorite episode, and an often thought-of / referred-to episode as my own decades piled up. This may also be the reason I often label Jack Warden as the actor who'll turn any film or episode into my favorite... just because of him. Even in a huge ensemble cast of giant favorite actors in TWELVE ANGRY MEN, I end up hanging on Jack Warden's dialog far more than 'star' Henry Fonda. (I'm also like that about Martin Balsam, but I can't explain why these two always seem to almost 'create' a favorite out of any show. An odd example for Warden - I like WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING - it's got favorite Sandra Bullock, favorite Bill Pullman, favorites all thru the cast... yet, when I think of favorite scenes, it's Jack Warden's. Any of them.)
This eliminates - HE eliminates - my ability to be evenly slightly objective about this episode - he's just terrific in it. Or was his character and the story so profound in my youth that he carved out this path of 'understanding loneliness'? Who knows...
It's funny how some actors just have that special quality of making anything they're in better. I agree Martin Balsam is another such actor. That quality of being so engaging and sympathetic is a huge asset in shows like this where time is limited. We are automatically on Corey's side here because of Warden's own qualities. Bill Bixby is another one - instantly sympathetic and loveable in anything.
Great episode 🎉
It is such a wild premise, executed so beautifully and in a low-key way.
Your acknowledgement at the end of the video nudged me into finding out who the Wurundjeri people are. Are you making the notation out of respect for the people who had the land on which Melbourne sits, or do you live outside of the city? Do the people live on reservation areas as they do in the US, or is all of the continent theirs by default except those areas otherwise colonized?
Alicia was Corry's Wilson the volleyball, although a lot more interactive.
Hi Lawrence. "Acknowledgement of country" is a small way of showing respect to the First Nations people on whose land we are now living. The country was never ceded or given in treaty, but unfortunately just stolen from them, and historically, many people were driven out of their own lands, or worse. Acknowledging who the rightful custodians of the land are seems like the least we can do today, as part of facing the truth about our history in this country (which many white people still want to deny or forget about).
Great analogy with Wilson the volleyball - yes, it is kind of similar! :)
On a related note, the great Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter Archie Roach died earlier this year. His song "Took the Children Away" is one of the most moving anti-colonial anthems ever written.
I felt so bad for this guy.
His whole predicament is just so horrible - first being stuck there and then at the end...
Great video about The Lonely 1959 episode of the great series The Twilight Zone.
It is another great episode of this great series very interesting and strange, it stars a great actor Jack Warden has been in great films of Sidney Lumet 12 Angry Men as jury member number 7 and in the other great film of trials The Veredict 1983 with an impressive performance by Paul Newman and Jack Warden as well.
These great episodes of The Twilight Zone are all of a great quality that you don't see on TV anymore today.
Hi Marco! I agree, the quality of this series really was extraordinary and it stands out so much. Every aspect of the show, from the writing to the acting, photography, was in the highest level. It is very inspiring to see a show that was made with so much love, and such a commitment to the highest standards. :)
@@TengyTalksTVMovies Hello Tengy I totally agree with you about this series, I remember as a child having enjoyed this series and others of great quality so at my parents' house we had a black and white televisor and what I enjoyed watching tv, now it turns out that we have these big color TVs and lots of channels and I never know what to watch anymore there are no such good shows.
Greetings.
@@marcoantonioperez4250 I agree. Lots of choice now but few shows get anywhere near this quality of storytelling.