In Praise of Pip

GOOD

The carnival scenes are all great.

BAD

This is of course not the episode's fault, but it gets a little hard to stay in the mood it wants when it's constantly making me think of a cute little Pokémon that looks like a penguin.

Steel

GOOD

I think the message is that technology will be more powerful than mankind in the future, but it's done in such a subtle way that you could easily watch this and just view it as a sci-fi boxing episode. I love that.

BAD

Battling Maxo is a B2, but they never explain what that means. Is that a thing in real boxing I'm not aware of or is it just something they made up for the android boxing?

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

GOOD

This is one of the show's most iconic episode for a reason. It is as good as all the hype for it makes it seem.

BAD

But the gremlin being so silly-looking can take you out of it a bit.

A Kind of a Stopwatch

GOOD

The ending is similar to that of Time Enough at Last, except way better. The entire world except for him is frozen for the rest of eternity. That's much more intriguing than not being able to read because your glasses broke. I can easily see someone saying this episode's ending sucks because it's such a jarring shift in tone that comes out of nowhere, but I personally found that that made it better because it was more attention-grabbing.

BAD

McNulty suggests they make hot dogs flat so they can be put in hamburger buns. I am disgusted.

The Last Night of a Jockey

GOOD

The way Grady freaks out at the end of the episode and throws everything around is hilarious.

BAD

But boring episode is boring.

Living Doll

GOOD

This episode about a scary doll has a character named Anabelle in it. Ain't that a juicy coincidence?

BAD

Erich: My name is Erich Streator and I'm going to get rid of you.

Talky Tina: You wouldn't dare.

Erich: Oh? Wouldn't I?

Talky Tina: Anabelle would hate you, Christie would hate you, and I would hate you.

But what would it matter if Talky Tina hates him if she's not there anymore?

The Old Man in the Cave

GOOD

The very first thing you see after the intro is a car being pulled by a horse. That alone is enough to get me very intrigued what the world the episode takes place in is like.

BAD

Everyone but Goldsmith is unaware that the door to the cave can open, so why don't any of the characters acknowledge that the old man couldn't possibly check if the food is safe to eat?

Uncle Simon

GOOD

There's a really cool-looking cinematography technique at the beginning. I wish I knew how to describe it to you.

BAD

Rod: There is yet a third member of the company soon to be seen. He now resides in the laboratory and he is the kind of character to be found only in the Twilight Zone.

No other show has a character like this? That's a pretty bold claim to make.

Probe 7, Over and Out

GOOD

I accidentally saw a picture on Google Images that made the twist obvious, and it's not exactly something the show hasn't done before despite what Rod said at the end of the last one, but it's still a good twist to a solid episode.

BAD

Colonel Cook: Do you understand anything I'm saying?

No. Your little speech didn't make any sense to me. Although, to be fair, I'll bet a lot of the things I'm saying aren't understandable either. As I reread them now, even I'm having a hard time remembering what I was talking about.

The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms

GOOD

This episode is really cool, or, as Langsford put it, wild.

BAD

Captain Dennet: If you meet any Indians, will you take it very slow? Because they're all college graduates, and they're probably running tests on the soil.

What? Why on Earth does he make such a oddly specific assumption? Is this something people in 1963 would've gotten?

A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain

GOOD

The Fountain of Youth never actually appears, so the title is just a metaphor. I like that.

BAD

Rod: It happens to be a fact. As one gets older, one does get wiser.

Not necessarily.

Ninety Years Without Slumbering

GOOD

The scene where Grandpa Sam talks to his spirit is great and doesn't go in the direction I think you're likely to expect it to.

BAD

The title is very misleading. Grandpa Sam mentions how he never sleeps, but it's not the main focus of the episode at all.

Ring-a-Ding Girl

GOOD

I- I- I- I can't tell you anything about what I just watched. You need to see it unspoiled.

BAD

Hildy's couch doesn't face her TV. Who does that?

You Drive

GOOD

I thought for sure it was gonna end with a reveal that the hit and run victim's spirit was in the car, but they don't confirm that's what happened and I'm pretty sure it isn't. I enjoyed how it had an unexpected ending.

BAD

What I didn't enjoy was Ollie choosing to leave the lights off for no reason every time he's in the garage. Just turn 'em on, man!

The Long Morrow

GOOD

Robert Lansing gives a good performance in the last scene. You can tell the character he's playing is feeling a mix of sadness and regret and is trying to hide it.

BAD

This episode is super boring, which makes zero sense because it's about traveling through outer space.

The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross

GOOD

The episode doesn't have much variety when it comes to what it does with it, but the concept of a character with the ability to get anything he wants, even if it's physically impossible, simply by convincing someone to trade for it is a great one.

BAD

The pacing of the episode is really weird. Nothing felt like a complete scene to me.

Number 12 Looks Just Like You

GOOD

I forgot I was watching something from the 1960's. It depicts the year 2000 as being the future and yet it feels like it could've been made today. I highly recommend it.

BAD

Especially if you want to see the most disappointing and "Thanks, I hate it" ending of all time.

Black Leather Jackets

GOOD

When the aliens call their leader, he's just a zoom-in of an eye. That's very creative and fits really well.

BAD

The ending is a little anti-climactic. I would've liked to see a little bit of the aliens carrying out their plan. Like maybe they show someone drinking a glass or water and then coughing.

Night Call

GOOD

This episode's really good. It conveys Elva's sense of isolation really well and I felt the feeling of regretting her mistake at the end.

BAD

How is Elva able to call Miss Finch by only spinning the thing on the phone once?

From Agnes—With Love

GOOD

There's a running joke where Jim gives something he doesn't need anymore to a woman who happens to walk by each time. It's stupid and pointless but it got me.

BAD

Jim: State the first prime number larger than the 17th root of 9,000,355,126,606.

Agnes: Five.

Thank you for giving me a weird math equation to fact check. The calculator I used revealed to me that the 17th root of 9,000,355,126,606 is 5.7811637825702. That's more than five, so five is not the correct answer.

Spur of the Moment

GOOD

The older Anne has quite the epic scream at the beginning, which is repeated in the end.

BAD

Either younger Anne loved David the whole time and was just hiding it, or she didn't love him at first but then loved him later. If it's the first one, there's no reason given for why she's keeping it a secret, and if it's the second one, she falls in love with him seemingly just because the plot demands it.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

GOOD

The most interesting thing about this episode is the fact it exists. The people who worked on the show didn't make it. It's a French short film they bought the rights to.

BAD

There's a weird song in it. I feel it would've been a little better without it.

Queen of the Nile

GOOD

Mrs. Draper: No, I'm not her mother. I'm her daughter.

I saw the second half of that line coming, but it still really liked it.

BAD

Why does Jordan's boss just have two very large high quality photos from old movies in his filing cabinets?

What's in the Box

GOOD

The repairman character intrigued me.

BAD

There is no reason for the title to not have a question mark at the end.

The Masks

GOOD

Once again, this awesome show has predicted the future. This episode has a scene where some people who can't stand wearing masks really want to take them off despite being told wearing them will benefit both themselves and the people around them. Remind you of anything?

BAD

Emily: Oh, father dear. Wild horses couldn't have kept us away.

That's oddly random.

I Am the Night—Color Me Black

GOOD

This episode has a great idea for a plot.

BAD

But I really did not like the execution at all. Way too much time is spent on people giving boring speeches and I'm not sure if all of them even had a point. Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention.

Sounds and Silences

GOOD

The plot is that Roswell loves listening to loud annoying noises but then starts to hate them when they get too loud, which I think is creative and amusing.

BAD

However, the first scene of him hating them has him hate them pretty much immediately. Some more buildup to it would've been good.

Caesar and Me

GOOD

I like the part at the end when Jonathan is begging Caesar to talk.

BAD

Reminding me of when I traded in my Game Boy Advance SP that I got for Christmas in the first minute of the episode by having Jonathan sell something with sentimental value too.

The Jeopardy Room

GOOD

Boris: I did not know there was a- a good death and a bad death.

Have you not been reading any of these, Boris? There's a good and bad for everything. Good line, though.

BAD

I like the idea behind the scene where the main character and villain talk to each other, but it's just so boring to watch.

Stopover in a Quiet Town

GOOD

This episode had me intrigued the entire way through and concluded with a satisfying ending. Is that technically two things?

BAD

Millie: All the drawers stick.

She says after trying to open only one drawer.

The Encounter

GOOD

George Takei stars in this one, so now I know that two Star Trek actors I know of were in this show.

BAD

Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how Arthur figured out Fenton was lying about how he got the sword.

Mr. Garrity and the Graves

GOOD

Rod: But to the scoffers amongst you, and you ladies and gentlemen from Missouri, don't laugh this one off entirely, at least until you've seen a sample of Mr. Garrity's wares, and an example of his services.

I like how Rod speaks to a specific group of people, the people from Missouri. Small touches like that help his narrations feel more like he's actually talking to us viewers at home and giving us a tour of The Twilight Zone.

BAD

I just don't get why he calls out the ladies and gentlemen from Missouri. The episode is set in Arizona and has nothing to do with Missouri at all.

The Brain Center at Whipple's

GOOD

Hanley: And how many men does it replace?

Mr. Whipple: Oh, well this should please you. Only one. Just one. As a matter of fact, Hanley, it replaces you.

Hanley: Well, that's only right, Mr. Whipple, since the point of my coming here today was to give you my notice.

Mr. Whipple: Oh, good, good.

I expected Mr. Whipple to be upset that Hanley was resigning because that's usually how scenes like this go, but having him not care matches everything that's happened in the episode so far because his whole thing is that he wants to replace every single worker with a machine.

BAD

There were several times in the episode where the next plot point just started instead of being flowed into from the last one like you would expect. That style of storytelling can work, but it comes off much weirder in a simple plot like this where everything connects together. Am I making any sense? i feel like I'm explaining it really badly.

Come Wander with Me

GOOD

The episode's song is very simple, but I quite like it. If I were a singer, I would cover it.

BAD

Floyd calls the old man Dad despite the fact it's just a random guy he just met, not his father. Who does that? I was convinced the old man's name was Dan and I was mishearing Floyd every time he said it.

The Fear

GOOD

I love the giant fingerprints that appear on the car. That's a creative and intriguing detail.

BAD

When we finally see the giant at the end, he doesn't look that big, to be honest. I don't buy that his fingerprints and foot print would be as big as they were. I'd show you screenshots from the episode so you could judge that for yourself, but I can't. Sorry about that. With what the twist ending is, it's possible the prints being too big was intentional, but I find that unlikely.

The Bewitchin' Pool

GOOD

Whitt: What do you call somebody who crosses the ocean twice and doesn't take a bath either way?

Aunt T: What would you call him, Whitt?

Whitt: A dirty, double-crosser!

Okay, that's actually pretty funny. I'm so glad the rest of the episode isn't terrible, with it's obvious dubbed lines, terrible acting, strange dialogue, and weird pacing. But even if it were just as bad as I described, at least it wasn't what the original series went out on.

BAD

This is the episode the original series went out on, so it's the last time Rod got to be The Narrator before he died. I'm gonna miss him.


If anyone cares, I'm not done yet. Next time, I'm gonna review Twilight Zone: The Movie.