02-10-2018, 12:53 AM
[size=x-large][font=Serif]Twilight Zone Double Feature![/font][/size]
The Twilight Zone 3x8: "It's a Good Life" (1961)
[Image: twilight-zone-billy-mumy-go.jpg]
Anthony Fremont (Bill Mumy) is a six-year-old monster with mind-reading and reality-warping powers who's already isolated his small town of Peaksville, Ohio from the world - or has he actually eliminated everything past the interstate? The townfolk and his family, especially his mother (Cloris Leachman), live in terror of displeasing him, and being disappeared themselves. One night, a guest loses it and demands somebody try to kill the boy. Will anyone dare?
The Twilight Zone 1x31: "It's Still a Good Life" (2003)
![[Image: itstillagoodlife2.jpg]](https://johnkennethmuir.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/itstillagoodlife2.jpg)
Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprise their roles forty-two years later. Peaksville is still isolated, and its inhabitants still live in fear of Anthony. Thank goodness, then, that his daughter (Liliana Mumy) didn't inherit his powers... or did she?
...
Though short, these two episodes have got to be one of the most notable sequel gaps featuring original actors in film or TV history. Unfortunately, though the original is available for legal streaming and purchase on several platforms, I had to resort to Netflix DVD to rent part deux. The original is a deserving classic, and its sequel is as perfect a continuation as one could ask, with the bonus of Bill Mumy's daughter looking a lot like her father and being roughly the same age he was at the time of the original. Together, they form a real treat that all genre fans should seek out. (Perhaps Jordan Peele's upcoming third Zone revival can expand the saga once more?)
Grade for both: A
The Twilight Zone 3x8: "It's a Good Life" (1961)
[Image: twilight-zone-billy-mumy-go.jpg]
Anthony Fremont (Bill Mumy) is a six-year-old monster with mind-reading and reality-warping powers who's already isolated his small town of Peaksville, Ohio from the world - or has he actually eliminated everything past the interstate? The townfolk and his family, especially his mother (Cloris Leachman), live in terror of displeasing him, and being disappeared themselves. One night, a guest loses it and demands somebody try to kill the boy. Will anyone dare?
The Twilight Zone 1x31: "It's Still a Good Life" (2003)
![[Image: itstillagoodlife2.jpg]](https://johnkennethmuir.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/itstillagoodlife2.jpg)
Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprise their roles forty-two years later. Peaksville is still isolated, and its inhabitants still live in fear of Anthony. Thank goodness, then, that his daughter (Liliana Mumy) didn't inherit his powers... or did she?
...
Though short, these two episodes have got to be one of the most notable sequel gaps featuring original actors in film or TV history. Unfortunately, though the original is available for legal streaming and purchase on several platforms, I had to resort to Netflix DVD to rent part deux. The original is a deserving classic, and its sequel is as perfect a continuation as one could ask, with the bonus of Bill Mumy's daughter looking a lot like her father and being roughly the same age he was at the time of the original. Together, they form a real treat that all genre fans should seek out. (Perhaps Jordan Peele's upcoming third Zone revival can expand the saga once more?)
Grade for both: A