This, as you may recognize, is an ordinary introductory post to a Tumblr blog. It contains what you would normally expect: personal information, rules and boundaries, and the like. The key difference? The blog exists only in... The Twilight Zone.
Name: Rod Serling
Pronouns: He/Him
Location: The Twilight Zone
Ask Box: Open and Encouraged
Rules:
1. The Twilight Zone includes people from all walks of life and does not discriminate or harass people due to their differences.
2. The Twilight Zone is considered a PG show, this blog, however, may not always be
Boundaries:
Asks, replies, comments and reblogs are all fine and encouraged.
I think ghosts are real.
Have you ever indulged in those illusions that have you stare at an inverted image for a long while, then turn to face a blank wall? You are greeted by the negative of the image.
Similarly, when you know someone for a long time, you have seen them for a long time. Not just in form but in action and impact on their surroundings. So, when they abruptly leave, you are left with the negative, they space they once filled in your life now empty.
Couple this with grief, it is completely understandable for people to see long departed loved once still in the places they used to live.
Ghosts are real, because the grief and love that make them up are real.
"Street scene: Summer. The present. Man on a sidewalk named Lew Bookman, age sixtyish. Occupation: Pitchman. Lew Bookman, a fixture of the summer, a rather minor component to a hot July; a nondescript, commonplace little man whose life is a treadmill built out of sidewalks. In just a moment, Lew Bookman will have to concern himself with survival, because as of three o'clock this hot July afternoon he'll be stalked by Mr. Death."
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
On first glance, I thought this was a simple End episode, an episode about a man who tricks death in an attempt to evade it and faces the consequences, but I think it goes deeper than that. Lew's argument that his life isn't complete yet shows his fear of being forgotten, dying before he can make a change, etc. He gets Death to give him more time by claiming he will use it to give his last pitch, one to beat all others, and it's just a struggle to accept death before one feels they did all they wanted to do. Also, looking at how a young girl is almost taken in place feels like it's targeting destruction before potential is realized/destroying with a senseless cause in Lew, and he gives his life instead of hers. Overall, though, I think as a whole this episode is about a man who was afraid of leaving this world before he could leave something he was proud of rather than a man who was simply scared of dying. He goes willingly at the end of the episode, and I think that really shows how it wasn't dying in itself that he was most scared of.
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
Summary + closing narration:
A sidewalk pitchman, Lew Bookman, makes a living selling toys, notions, and trinkets. It's seen that all the children in the neighborhood enjoy this gentle, kindly man. One summer day Mr. Bookman is accosted by Death and told that he is to die at midnight. Lew argues that his life's work as a pitchman is not quite complete, and convinces Mr. Death to give him enough time to give one last, great sales pitch—"one for the angels" as Lew puts it. Once Mr. Death agrees, Bookman announces his intention to quit his profession and find another line of work.
Proud of having outsmarted Mr. Death and now virtually assured of immortality, Lew is informed by Mr. Death that other arrangements must now be made, that someone else will have to take his place. Because of this, Mr. Death chooses a little girl named Maggie, one of Lew's good friends who lives in the same building. When she is hit by a truck, Lew immediately offers to go with Mr. Death but is told it's too late.
Later that night, as Maggie lies comatose, Death comes to claim her. Bookman pleads with Mr. Death to take him instead, despite their agreement. Mr. Death is adamant; a deal is a deal. He must be in Maggie's room at midnight to take her. As the appointed time nears, Bookman distracts Death by beginning a sales pitch. So well does Bookman describe the wonders of his wares that Mr. Death is enticed into purchasing everything: "Gimme all you have.", distracting him from his job. With one minute remaining before midnight, he offers his final pitch, he pitches himself as a servant to Death. Swearing to work under him for eternity to convince Death to take him in Maggie's place. So enthralled is Mr. Death with Lew's eloquence he forgets to claim Maggie's life. The town clock tower tolls midnight before Death realizes that he's missed his appointment. Maggie will live.
In making this marvelous pitch, one so compelling that even Death himself was moved — "a pitch for the angels" — Bookman has willingly sacrificed his own life to save that of his friend, thus fulfilling his original agreement. Before leaving with Death, Bookman packs up his suitcase on legs containing his wares, hopefully remarking "You never know who might need something up there." He repeats, with a note of uncertainty, "Up there?" Mr. Death smiles, "Up there, Mr. Bookman. You made it."
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
Closing narration:
"Lewis J. Bookman, age sixty-ish. Occupation: Pitchman. Formerly a fixture of the summer, formerly a rather minor component to a hot July. But throughout his life, a man beloved by the children, and therefore a most important man. Couldn't happen, you say? Probably not in most places, but it did happen in the Twilight Zone."
for sale: Baby Shoes Stylish Infant Boy Girl Unisex First Walker Shoes Toddler Walking Crib Shoes Lightweight Non-Slip Sneakers For 6 9 12 18 24 Months Baby Shoes New With Tags New In Box Excellent Condition Never Worn
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space, and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call, The Twilight Zone."
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
So, in this episode a man finds himself in a completely empty town. He slowly starts to panic as he fails to find any other people anywhere, and he begins to lose it as his hopes are repeatedly raised and dashed. In the end, it was a hallucination as a result of prolonged isolation, a test to determine how astronauts would fare in lonely flights to the moon.
This episode is quite simply about a man driven close to madness when he is alone for an ungodly amount of time, his fear manifesting into frantically searching for signs of life in his hallucination.
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
Summary + closing narration:
A man finds himself alone walking towards a diner. Inside he finds a jukebox playing loudly and coffee hot on the stove. He hollers to the people in the kitchen, asking if they realize how loud it is, but he receives no response. He turns the music down and attempts to ask the cooks about the town up the road but no one answers him. He inquires for some breakfast, but no chef or waitress is to be found. He hops over the bar and shouts out the backdoor, but no one is to be found. He discovers breakfast food on the stove in the kitchen and a broken clock on the floor. As he helps himself to a cup of coffee, he shouts, hoping to get someone's attention. Finding no one, he leaves. He is not able to remember who he is or how he got there.
After leaving the diner, he walks to the nearby town which also seems to be deserted. He shouts into the bakery, then notices what he believes to be a woman watching him in a car from across the street. He tells her that he is unable to remember who he is and has not seen anyone since he woke up that morning (or rather started walking down the road). Upon approaching the car, he realizes that the "woman" is actually a mannequin who falls out.
He hears a payphone ring and rushes to answer it, but there is no one on the other end or an operator. After inserting coins, the man only gets a recorded operating system. He checks the telephone directory, curious where all of the town's inhabitants and storekeepers are. When trying to leave the booth, he is unable to exit because he attempted to open it the wrong way.
The man grows more and more unsettled as he wanders through the empty town, looking for someone—anyone—to talk to, all the while having the strange feeling that he is being watched. Attempting to find someone, he goes into the police station. He talks into the police radio, joking that a strange man is walking through town, until he sees a smoking cigar in the ash tray. There are no prisoners being detained in any of the jail cells, but he finds a few things in one cell: the faucet is still running, a towel, a razor, shaving cream and a shaving brush. After finding these things, h tells himself that he needs to wake up. As the cell door almost creaks closed, the man rushes out of the prison and into the town square, asking where everyone is.
As he walks down the street, he hears the church bells ring just before entering a drug store. After seeing no one come out of the church, he ducks inside the drug store and asks the invisible patrons if they would like a sundae. He talks to his reflection, apologizing that he cannot remember his name, and tells a tale about Ebenezer Scrooge, then wonders why he can't wake up from the nightmare he is stuck in. He then comes to several racks of books and spins them all around. He looks one of the racks and picks up a book called "The Last Man on Earth". After spinning the rack around and seeing the same book, he is spooked and leaves the store.
That night, he plays a game of tic-tac-toe with himself when several evening street lights switch on. After realizing all of the lights have turned on, he approaches the movie theater and realizes that the man in the poster (a member of the Air Force) is wearing a similar jumpsuit as he is. He comes to the conclusion that he must also be in the Air Force. He excitedly rushes in to tell the moviegoers his revelation, but there is no one to hear the news. The man begins to think that perhaps he is having this dream because of a bomb or another accident. Just then, the film begins to play with a plane being seen flying on the projector screen. He dashes upstairs hoping to find someone in the booth running the pictures, but instead there no one is seen.
Even more spooked by this, the man heads downstairs only to smack into a reflection of himself in the mirror. He then runs outside and trips over a curb, then a bicycle. After tripping over the latter, he believes the picture of an eye on the optometrists office is watching him and screams. He quickly gets up and runs down the street again, only to finally collapse next to a street crossing and presses the button labeled WALK. It is revealed that the walk button is actually a panic button. A group of men is watching the proceedings of this experiment in a nearby room, and after the man panics, they break him up. The broken clock he saw earlier in the café actually the clock, which he has repeatedly pounded, that was counting his time in the simulator.
The man is really a training astronaut named Mike Ferris, confined to an isolation room located within an aircraft hangar for 484 hours and 36 minutes, testing to see if he can stay sane cooped up in a small spacecraft for the duration of a trip to the Moon. The town was a complete hallucination, an escape valve for his sensory-deprived mind.
As Ferris is carried out of the hangar on a stretcher, he asks the doctor what went wrong. The doctor tells him that they are able to fix any problem but the need for companionship. Ferris sees the Moon above him, and says wistfully, "Hey! Don't go away up there! Next time it won't be a dream or a nightmare. Next time it'll be for real. So don't go away. We'll be up there in a little while."
𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹 𓁹
Closing narration:
"Up there, up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the stars waiting, waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting... in the Twilight Zone."
the mandela effect is so funny bc almost all of it can be boiled down to "you were a kid and memory is highly unreliable," "you assumed how a word was spelled based on how it sounded," or "you're confusing two different things"
