But the heritage he has tried to run away from confronts him through the sword. He changed his name from Taro to the Americanized Arthur, while rewriting his father’s story so that he was trying to warn the sailors of the oncoming attack. In the years that followed, he has strived to overcompensate for the sins of his father rather than confront the truth. In a fiery and impassioned monologue, delivered perfectly by Takei, he reveals his father who worked on the base was on the ground signaling the planes where to attack. While Arthur may have only been 4 years old when the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, he was there when it happened. As Serling said this is a story about two men dealing with guilt they experienced during the Second World War in the worst way possible. But rarely has the Twilight Zone tackled such a topic with such bleak and grounded fashion, sure there is a supernatural element tied to the samurai sword MacGuffin, but this is ultimately the story of two men forced into a situation they confront their deepest darkest feelings. Serling himself was a notable activist for civil rights and that was reflected in his works over the course of his career. By the end of the episode Fenton is impaled by the samurai sword and a possessed Arthur leaps out of the window to his own death.ĭuring its five year run the Twilight Zone frequently tackled social and political issues through the lens of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Prejudices, secrets, and emotional issues are laid bare. Without explanation the door, with no lock, swings shut and locks Fenton and Arthur in the attic and the simmering tension inevitably begins to boil over. Considering Fenton had explained every attempt to get rid of the weapon failed as somehow the sword found its way back to him, the seeds of the supernatural have already been planted. When Takamori takes hold of the sword he feels an urge to commit violence on the man who is expressing passive aggressive but blatant racist sentiment towards those of Japanese heritage. Also at his home at the time is Japanese-American landscaper Arthur Takamori who reluctantly agrees to join Fenton in the attic for a beer while they discuss a job at hand. While digging around in his attic, World War II vet Fenton comes across a samurai sword he took as a spoil of war. Featuring Neville Brand and George Takei, “The Encounter” was a particularly dark episode that tackled heavy racial topics head-on and as such was pulled from syndication for over five decades. But there was one episode from the fifth season that after it’s initial broadcast in 1964 was not seen again on television until 2016 during a Syfy Twilight Zone Marathon. These are episodes like “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” “Eye of the Beholder” “Steel” and “It’s a Good Life” just to name a few. A number of episodes from the Zone are so iconic even those who have never seen the show are familiar with them. This brainchild of famed writer Rod Serling welcomed viewers to The Twilight Zone. Darabont recently told Slash Film, "It's such a thin barrier between cooperation and savagery and I just thought it was such a brilliant callback to things like Rod Serling's great Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street." The tension in the film is reminiscent of the early episode, the film's brutal ending also took inspiration from the episode "Time Enough At Last" which differed from Stephen King's original novella ending, but received the writer's stamp of approval.Submitted for your approval series that broke new ground in the television medium and stands to this day as one of the greatest TV shows ever made. The Mist follows a group of shoppers trapped inside a supermarket that is surrounded by a thick fog that contains flesh-eating monsters. RELATED: Essential 'Twilight Zone' Episodes to Keep You Up at Night While the episode paints a picture of Cold War paranoia, the mob mentality depicted has been cited as the inspiration for the 2007 Frank Darabont horror film, The Mist. The episode revolves around a neighborhood that descends into a chaotic mob as the news of an impending alien invasion reaches their street. "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is often considered one of the best episodes of the series.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |