Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone

[bassman]

My absolute favorite and all-time classic tv show, The Twilight Zone, is getting it’s third remake next year from Jordan Peele of ‘Get Out’ fame. Today they released a pretty awesome teaser that of course heavily referenced Rod Serling’s original.... I know it could never reach the same level as the original, but I still look forward to it and hope it’s entertaining. Peele is obviously drawing on more inspiration from the original than either the 80’s or 2000’s remakes/reboots, so maybe that’s a good start.

[shootemindehead]

As someone who didn't find 'Get Out' to be all that and think that the praise levelled on it is to an absurd degree, I don't know what to make of this. I suppose if it does a better job than the 80's rubbish, then it'll be ok, I guess. Nothing will ever beat the originals though.

[Neil]

My absolute favorite and all-time classic tv show, The Twilight Zone, is getting it’s third remake next year from Jordan Peele of ‘Get Out’ fame. Today they released a pretty awesome teaser that of course heavily referenced Rod Serling’s original.... I know it could never reach the same level as the original, but I still look forward to it and hope it’s entertaining. Peele is obviously drawing on more inspiration from the original than either the 80’s or 2000’s remakes/reboots, so maybe that’s a good start. Oh fingers crossed for this!!!

[JDP]

Don't know why some people trash the 80s version of this show. It had some good episodes. Overall, I found it consistently better than the 2000s version.

[bassman]

Don't know why some people trash the 80s version of this show. It had some good episodes. Overall, I found it consistently better than the 2000s version. Indeed, both of these adaptations had some good episodes sprinkled throughout. I think what comes off as “trashing” these two series’ really stems from the fact that the original is SO good and nothing has ever, and probably will never, be able to live up to it. But yeah, there are some good episodes in there, some new, some remakes, and some are even sequels to episodes from the original. I also really like Twilight Zone: The Movie from the eighties. It ultimately became infamous for the tragedy on set, but it also has its good parts. The remake of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was probably the best of them all, IMO. As for Peele, its true that he’s only had one film and it was probably being over hyped, but I’m excited for his involvement after reading interviews where he described his love for Serling’s original series. He seems like he loves the original enough to make something that MIGHT be able to stand next to it. Come to think of it, regardless of it being overhyped, ‘Get Out’ was really a good feature length Twilight Zone episode....

[shootemindehead]

Don't know why some people trash the 80s version of this show. It had some good episodes. Overall, I found it consistently better than the 2000s version. Because it was largely shite, with a few good episodes here and there. It cheap 80's soft production does it no favours either. Probably the best episode in the entire run was 'A Little Peace and Quiet'.

[JDP]

Because it was largely shite, with a few good episodes here and there. It cheap 80's soft production does it no favours either. Not sure what you mean by "soft production". If you mean that there were no "twisted" episodes, I have to disagree. In some episodes even child characters would be subjected to cruel and dark plot "twists" (example: The Shadow Man), something that even the original Twilight Zone did not dare to do (different times; in the 1960s such a thing was "taboo" for TV.) Probably the best episode in the entire run was 'A Little Peace and Quiet'. That first episode also had another cool story starring Bruce Willis, the one where he accidentally calls home from a bar and his "other side" answers the phone. That 80s version had many famous and yet-to-be-famous actors in it.

[shootemindehead]

Soft photography. It looks like a cheap 80's production, because it was a cheap 80's production. Yeh, 'Shatterday' wasn't bad and the one involving the couple who were caught between minutes. But, I just cannot watch them any more.

[JDP]

Soft photography. It looks like a cheap 80's production, because it was a cheap 80's production. It looks like other anthology shows of the time, like Romero's Tales from the Darkside or Spielberg's Amazing Stories. Sort of like short films you could see in a movie theater (in fact, I remember seeing a screening of a compilation of 3 episodes of Amazing Stories at a movie theater back in 1988. People who did not know it was a TV show thought that it was an actual movie!) The 2000s version of Twilight Zone looked more like a "direct-to-video" production. Yeh, 'Shatterday' wasn't bad and the one involving the couple who were caught between minutes. But, I just cannot watch them any more. Just like all anthology shows, I let a good amount of time pass before watching the episodes again. I enjoy them more when I only have distant memories of them.

[shootemindehead]

It looks like other anthology shows of the time, like Romero's Tales from the Darkside or Spielberg's Amazing Stories. Yeh. Cheap.

[blind2d]

Wow, I'm so excited for this!!

[bassman]

Simple behind the scenes photo of the clapper board in a diner, but it got me excited! The first episode of the original has scenes in a diner(it’s also all in Hill Valley from Back to the Future! ). Coincidence or remake? Hopefully the former, as I don’t want too many remakes of the original episodes. Wow, I'm so excited for this!! Seems like we’d had a discussion kinda recently and you were saying that you were just recently seeing the original show for the first time? I actually became a fan of the original kinda late in life, too. I’d seen episodes here and there growing up, but sometime in my mid-late twenties I caught the marathon on the SyFy channel and it changed my life! I’ve been a huge addict for the show and collector ever since. Glad to hear you enjoyed it as well!

[bassman]

Adam Scott(Parks and Rec., Piranha) has been cast as the lead in “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet”, which will be a remake of the classic episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, which was written by Richard Matheson, directed by Richard Donner, and starring William Shatner. This story was also adapted for the TZ movie in the eighties, directed by George Miller and starring John Lithgow. I’m still hoping they don’t go too far with remaking established stories, but this IS one of the all-time greats, so it makes sense that it’d be one of them. I can definitely see Scott being a solid casting decision, so here’s hoping they can pull it off!

[JDP]

Adam Scott(Parks and Rec., Piranha) has been cast as the lead in “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet”, which will be a remake of the classic episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, which was written by Richard Matheson, directed by Richard Donner, and starring William Shatner. This story was also adapted for the TZ movie in the eighties, directed by George Miller and starring John Lithgow. I’m still hoping they don’t go too far with remaking established stories, but this IS one of the all-time greats, so it makes sense that it’d be one of them. I can definitely see Scott being a solid casting decision, so here’s hoping they can pull it off! No way they will ever top or even equal the original or the 80s remake.

[bassman]

No way they will ever top or even equal the original or the 80s remake. Oh yeah....nothing can top Serling’s original. No way, no how. The two reboots can easily be topped, but the most this can compare to the original would be as a sort of companion piece. With the right people and effort, they could achieve something related to Serling’s seminal work, but never topping it, I’m sure.