He's Alive

Description: Season 4, Episode 4

Air Date: January 24, 1963

Plot Summary: The leader of a group of neo-Nazis finds himself assisted by a mysterious benefactor.

Review: This is definitely one of the best episodes from season 4 and a powerful episode in its own right. We have a group of wannabe Nazis trying to hype up a crowd with the usual nonsense you'd expect. The leader, named Peter, is played amazingly by a young Dennis Hopper; Mr. Hopper has always excelled at playing interesting villains. After getting food thrown at them, beaten up, and pissing off the cops, Peter and his flunkies retreat home. Oddly enough, Peter's only friend is an old Jewish man. This wasn't executed properly as it makes no sense why Peter would identify with Nazi ideals if his only friend is a Jewish father figure. Regardless, Peter tries to rationalize his hatred and explain the situation to this friend, named Ernst. Later that night, Peter finds himself drawn to the window as a shadowy figure calls out to him. They employ a lighting effect I have always greatly enjoyed (and have touched on before) where a character's face is perfectly obscured in darkness despite the impossibility of the situation. This shadowy figure says he wants to help Peter by teaching him how to properly manipulate a crowd and accentuate their fears and hate.

Through the tutelage of this shadowy figure, Peter uses his charisma to gain a stronger following. One of the best tactics he employs is making a crowd feel a sense of belonging and that anyone who speaks out against them is surely the enemy. With each step in a scheme, the shadowy figure guides Peter as they even kill one of their own allies to create a martyr for their cause. I liked how Peter is not outright evil and slowly becomes more and more heartless. Seeing the evil that is brewing, Ernst tries to nip this nonsense in the bud by humiliating Peter in front of his crowd. Feeling defeated, Peter lashes out against the shadowy figure who reveals he is Hitler himself--now taking the form of an omnipresent, malevolent force. This ghostly Hitler tells Peter to kill Ernst which Peter obliges through great reluctance. Feeling empowered by Hitler, Peter believes himself to be immortal as he tries to kill police who confront him regarding Ernst's murder. Being shot to death, Peter cannot understand what went wrong. Lurking as a dark shadow on the walls, the episode ends with Hitler moving about looking for a new protege to continue spreading hate. Mr. Serling wraps the episode up appropriately as he explains that, as long as such evils exist, this spirit will be there to prey upon the people. That he's alive because people allow him to be. A good introspection to be had there.

If such a notion were true, I would say this evil spirit is alive and well today that's for sure. The Nazis have come and gone--despite pockets of wannabes--but there are always groups that attempt to spread endless hate and fear to gain control over the weak-minded. The ironic part is that, nowaday, the groups pretending to help are the ones pushing these ideals. Just listen to the manipulative tactics from Hitler and you will see public figures employing those very tricks. Even now, it's always fear this or that, give us control, and we will make it all go away at a terrible price. Same song and dance. On top of that, you have all these tools who think that through censorship and PC bullshit that the world will be better. Yes, controlling what humans are "allowed" to think and feel will work out, right? Truly, if hate powers such an evil force, it is stronger now than it has ever been.

Valley of the Shadow

Description: Season 4, Episode 3

Air Date: January 17, 1963

Plot Summary: Taking a shortcut, a man stumbles upon a mysterious town full of shady characters.

Review: While the first couple, hour-long episodes were dragging, this particular story is better fleshed out to fill the time slot. In fact, they were way ahead of their time in regards to the sci-fi aspects. So you have a reporter, named Redfield, who runs out of gas nearby a backwater town. Instead of simply passing through, Redfield's dog is dematerialized, so to speak, by a little brat. Not entirely understanding what he saw, Redfield becomes suspicious when the townspeople act peculiar and seem clueless to reality; they're also terrible liars when Redfield grills them about the shenanigans he sees. When Redfield attempts to finally leave, he crashes into an invisible barrier that is blocking his way. Unsure what to do with the curious reporter, the leaders of the town decide to reveal their secrets. It would seem that an alien scientist, or whatever he was supposed to be, invented numerous technological advancements in the area. Those advancements were entrusted to the people of the town, but the alien forbid them from sharing his inventions with the rest of humanity; well, at least until humanity was ready to handle them. Not sure I agree with you, alien-man. If humanity has reached peace, what makes you think this kind of advancement wouldn't upset that balance? Also, what is the point of inventing these things if you had no intention to use them? Finally, what makes you think these technological advancement wouldn't be just what humanity needs to reach peace? It's strange, the town is in New Mexico and the townspeople are stuck in the '50s. Was this some kind of Roswell connection? But...the common theory that aliens crashed there didn't become mainstream until the '70s or '80s. Hmm...just a coincidence?

The leaders show Redfield some of the inventions which includes the device that can dematerialize, apparently heal people, and teleport in a way. On top of that, they have a device that can create anything using its atomic formula to construct the item. Obviously they have a force field that they used to keep Redfield from escaping as well. As it would turn out, they are revealing these secrets due to the fact that they won't let Redfield ever leave. In fairness, in exchange for his freedom, Redfield gets a life of luxury and they threw in a cute girlfriend to boot. Though, was she really in love that fast?! Of course he can't take the enclosure, and, claiming that it's selfish to keep these advancements from the rest of the world, Redfield tries to escape with the technology. It is later revealed to be a ruse--a kind of virtual reality--as Redfield's true motives were being tested. Failing the test, the leaders plan to kill Redfield though they apparently have neuralyzers too and simply erase his memories. When they put Redfield back to the moment he was going to leave the town, he momentarily hesitates when he sees the girlfriend. Shrugging it off as some kind of deja vu, Redfield does leave the town none the wiser to what had occurred. Overall, this is a decent episode with a lot of cool ideas. Some of the special effects were pretty good for the time like when Redfield crashes his car; that was commendable editing. Although I may not agree with the themes, they do leave you thinking, and, it's funny, because humanity hasn't really come much further despite us being 50 years older since TZ was cancelled permanently.

The Thirty-Fathom Grave

Description: Season 4, Episode 2

Air Date: January 10, 1963

Plot Summary: A navy ship stumbles across a mysteriously sunken submarine and the connection to one of their crew.

Review: This episode really epitomizes the dragging that I was talking about in the last review. The plot simply is not strong enough to be stretched out for an hour; it would have been a more enjoyable and memorable experience had this been condensed into a half-hour. I'm not saying this episode is bad necessarily, but it had serious pacing issues and a lackluster payoff.

All that happens is a navy ship detects a strange banging noise on the sonar. When they further investigate they discover a sunken submarine that was actually from WWII. I do like when the captain says that whoever is aboard the submarine "dies damn hard." That's a great line--might have to put that one alongside potato pancake. While this is happening, another crew member is going crazy and seeing ghosts. As it would turn out, this particular officer was the only surviving crew member of the submarine when it sank. He believes it was his mistakes that let them die and feels guilty that he was ironically the only survivor. The weakest aspect of this episode is we don't get much in the way of resolution as the officer goes apeshit and seemingly drowns himself as a way of returning with the dead crewmen. Divers explore the sub and find that it was a piece of swaying equipment making the banging rather than any ghosts; they do throw in the caveat that a dead body did look like it was banging too. Ehh...they could have worked this material differently. The mystery is not hard to guess at all and the final act is weak. They appear to have spent a larger budget making this episode, so it's all the more disappointing in that respect. I do like the themes, however, I wish they handled it more intimately and to the point.

In His Image

Description: Season 4, Episode 1

Air Date: January 3, 1963

Plot Summary: A man takes his girlfriend to his childhood home only to discover nothing is as he remembers.

Review: Okay...so I haven't posted a review for a while mostly due to technical difficulties; my season 4 discs are not playing properly so I just downloaded the season. As I mentioned before, season 4 marks a major change for the series as CBS cancelled TZ and brought it back in an hour long format later in the year. Rod Serling and crew definitely did not like the transition to hour long scripts and it shows. Most episode have a certain sensation of dragging since the TZ formula works best with a cool setup and a memorable payoff. Fucking CBS: Complete Bull Shit.

To kick the season off this is a pretty good episode. It has a few problems that I'll address, but it was an otherwise intriguing tale that may not be all that easy to guess where it's heading. We meet a guy, named Alan, as he opens the story by throwing an old lady in front of a train. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! In fairness, she was pretty damn annoying with her bible thumping and that abominable mink scarf. I mean, the head of the animal is still attached and right next to her face--what the hell? I can just imagine the riveting conversations this geezer had with her little mink buddy. Actually, if TZ wanted to really do this episode justice, it should have been a CBS executive that was thrown in front of the train.

Alan doesn't remember this deranged act as he goes to meet his girlfriend, Jess. Apparently they're keeping it seriously old school as they don't want to kiss before they're married later in the week. I can respect that since they have been dating for 4 days--wait, WHAT?! I'd advise against marriage anyway, but marriage after 4 days of knowing someone is some next level insanity shit right there! I just can't get over this...4 days...my goodness. Not 4 years, not 4 months, not even 4 weeks! There is desperate and then there is batshit crazy. And Alan is such an asshole half the time--Jess, baby, you could do better. Whatever, dude. Alan and Jess go to visit Alan's hometown and aunt before the big day (groan), but the town has changed from Alan's recollection. It doesn't take long before Alan is clearly demonstrating why Jess needs to bail asap. Instead, Jess is actually the one to propose maybe Alan has had missing time for 20 years. Oh, for fuck's sake. I'm all for weird speculation, but this is a guy you've known for 4 days! Get the fuck out!

Eventually Alan starts to lose it after finding a grave that mentions a name from his dreams. Alan can't control himself as he wants to kill Jess, but he tells her to go back to her apartment in the city. Shortly after, Alan is hit by a car, and we see that his wound exposes wires and circuits instead of blood. Alan finds the last relative connected to the name from his dream which reveals his creator, Walter, who looks just like Alan. So yes, Alan is a kind of android developed to live the perfect life opposite to Walter's mad genius. Unfortunately for Walter, after many failures, Alan is still flawed in his development which is why he violently lashes out. At the same time, the hazy memory comes from Walter's youth as he imprinted those memories into Walter as a way to make him feel more real. Surprisingly, they spend a lot of time going over the complicated nature and intricacy of what it would take to make a real android. Most sci-fi back then, and even TZ themselves, usually glossed over the difficulty to create a machine that could appear and act human, so I especially enjoyed this step in the right direction.

After Alan and Walter discuss the last week of events, Alan demands that Walter create a newer android. The two get into a fight to the death over this mindless debate as we cut to one of them meeting up with Jess later. As it would turn out, Walter has assumed the life Alan created and plans to live this life as a normal person after all. The final shot is of the destroyed Alan lying in the rubble of Walter's lab. Overall, this is a good episode that showcased the TZ crew's ability to adjust their writing styles quickly. The story can feel slow at times--and I can't get over that 4 days fiasco--but it's interesting enough to keep you wondering. I did want more emphasis on what it means to be human versus what it means to be a machine trying to be human, but what can you do?