Final Destination: Twilight Zone?

I saw the Final Destination movies (I and II) on tv a few months ago and thought they were okay, even a little interesting with the whole "Death has a design, and we are all part of it" idea/philosophy. Then last night I saw an old Twilight Zone episode that looked like a "blueprint" for the first F D movie. In the T Z episode, a person has a dream about death that involves an alarm clock like F D and it even "featured" the jetliner that explodes soon after takeoff....thingee.

Rod Serling, what a visionary. Best part? Well, maybe not THE best part, Jonathan Harris as a medical doctor with a laugh that frightened the main character. And if you don't recognize the name Jonathan Harris...don't ask.

If you watch the old TZs, you'll see an awful lot of young starving actors(many, more than once)before they became names. Telly Savalas, Jack Weston, Burgess Meredeth, Agnes Morehead to name a few more.

minimac wrote: If you watch the old TZs, you'll see an awful lot of young starving actors(many, more than once)before they became names. Telly Savalas, Jack Weston, Burgess Meredeth, Agnes Morehead to name a few more.

Don't forget William Shatner. IIRC he did 4 or 5 different episodes.

Im gonna ask, whos Jonathan Harris?

Joey

Jensenman wrote:

minimac wrote: If you watch the old TZs, you'll see an awful lot of young starving actors(many, more than once)before they became names. Telly Savalas, Jack Weston, Burgess Meredeth, Agnes Morehead to name a few more.

Don't forget William Shatner. IIRC he did 4 or 5 different episodes.

There's also a pre-Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery in there somewhere.

There were an incredible number of famous people who were in TZ before they became famous. IIRC, Shatner, Julie Newmar, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Leonard Nimoy, Jack Klugman, and many more.

This past 4th they had Shatner and a bunch of other famous actors during their TwZ early days for a TwZ marathon. The Shatner one, where he goes crazy on a plane, shooting at a dude in a big furry teddy bear suit, is hilarious. Literally, it's a dude with face paint in a cheap teddy bear suit chewing up a DC 9's wing. Too farkin' funny.

Haahaaa... I remember that one. I was just a little kid, it scared me silly.

Lesley wrote: Haahaaa... I remember that one. I was just a little kid, it scared me silly.

" I'm talking Tina, and I'm going to kill you". that's the one that did it for me. My sister had a doll that looked like "Tina" and she terrorized me with it. Joey- did you ever see "Lost in Space"? He was the stowaway, Professor Smith.

The 'critter on the wing' episode was redone for the TZ movie (mid '80's) and the remake wasn't nearly as good as the original was. Like Lesley, I was just a kid when I saw the original and it had me scared good.

mpolans wrote: There were an incredible number of famous people who were in TZ before they became famous.

The old Alfred Hitchcock show was like that, too. My wife watches it every night, and Fridays episode featured a very young Roger Moore, and Alfred, the butler from Batman

Off the TZ subject slightly: there was an old movie called 'The Apartment' showing yesterday PM. It starred a very young Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine.McLaine played Lemmon's boss's mistress. The boss?

Fred McMurray. Of 'My 3 Sons'. Probably the last person you'd expect to be playing the role of an adulterer.

Those old shows were great, and timeless, having great re-watchability. How about the one where a young Robert Redford in the role of Death, posing as a wounded cop to gain entrance to an old woman's apartment in order to "take her home".

Jensenman wrote: Off the TZ subject slightly: there was an old movie called 'The Apartment' showing yesterday PM. It starred a very young Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine.McLaine played Lemmon's boss's mistress. The boss? Fred McMurray. Of 'My 3 Sons'. Probably the last person you'd expect to be playing the role of an adulterer.

Well maybe back then, but not nowadays.

Nowadays you'd expect the role of an adulterer.

I am not sure most people nowadays even knows what an adulterer is.

Being born out of wedlock was the end of the world back in the 50's and early 60's, now it's the norm.

Jensenman wrote: The 'critter on the wing' episode was redone for the TZ movie (mid '80's) and the remake wasn't nearly as good as the original was. Like Lesley, I was just a kid when I saw the original and it had me scared good.

Yeah, we happened to tune into the beginning of Nightmare at 20,000 feet. My 12-year-old watched that and was glued to the TZ marathon for the next 5 or 6 hours. I was impressed that she didn't think they were corny at all. I don't, but of course, I was almost born in time to have seen them in first run on TV.

I remember the plane one. Freaked me out.

Also remmeber one where the dude went crazy because the rest of the world all of a sudden spoke english differently. The meanings of random words were changed.

My wife and still say "Hinge?! Thunder... thunder!" when the phone rings.

Jonathan Harris....in this T Z he played a medical doctor, on the series "Lost in Space" he was called Dr. Smith, but if you see the original episodes, he was really just a lab tech or something. On L I S, "Dr. Smith" is often frightened by the chortling of the robot....heck, Dr. Smith was afraid of EVERYTHING, so it was sort of ironic that his patient was frightened when he (Jonathan Harris as a doctor) laughed.

When the remake of L I S (the movie) was being made, the producers were "told" Americans really like to see the old TV actors in cameos and an attempt should be made to incorporate as many as were willing/still alive. The father/Guy Madison, I think the actor's name, was the only one who had died. Jonathan Harris would not agree to be in the movie, I don't know if all/any of the others were or not. Gary Oldman was nearly perfect as the "new" Dr. Smith.

Remember the one where the guy had an earwig in his head. He went through hell, but it finally came out and he survived. I think it ate its way from one ear out the other. The final line, that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, was the doc saying "It laid eggs"

~~Shiver~~

AAAUUUUGGGGHH. I remember that one. ^^

The one with Burgess Meredith as the last man on earth was pretty good.

Lesley wrote: Remember the one where the guy had an earwig in his head. He went through hell, but it finally came out and he survived. I think it ate its way from one ear out the other. The final line, that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, was the doc saying "It laid eggs" ~~Shiver~~

I thought that was Night Gallery. Same as T Z, but 15 years later.

Hmm. You may be right. Still, pretty icky eh?

I sem to recall that earwig episode being B&W which would make it TZ. Night Gallery was in color. Hey, NG did remakes of TZ stuff as well, could have been both!

Jensenman wrote: The 'critter on the wing' episode was redone for the TZ movie (mid '80's) and the remake wasn't nearly as good as the original was. Like Lesley, I was just a kid when I saw the original and it had me scared good.

I still think of that one on a lot of my flights and I fly at least monthly.

Jack

Jensenman wrote: AAAUUUUGGGGHH. I remember that one. ^^ The one with Burgess Meredith as the last man on earth was pretty good.

"Time Enough at Last," one of my favorites!