Monster of the Day #217

Oops, I guess it’s too late to say “spoiler alert.” Sorry about that.

  • The Rev.

    This was a fun episode.

    A bunch of friends chipped in a few years ago and got this for us, those crazy SOBs. Definitely a high water mark for TV series DVD collections.

  • monoceros4

    This episode stands up better than a lot of the so-called classics of Twilight Zone, probably because of its dark humor. The Really Serious(TM) episodes now look a bit hokey and sometimes painfully contrived (esp. “The Monsters are Due on Main Street”, whose plot only creaks along because it supplies a paranoid kid who says exactly all the wrong things when the script requires him to.)

  • Rock Baker

    I guess I’m less cynical. I always find The Monsters are due on Maple Street to be just as gripping and spooky as intended. That and “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” are probably my favorite episodes. (John Hoyt’s three arms are nearly flawless!)

  • Terrahawk

    Since I now live on Maple St., I am very afraid.

    Seriously though, I tend to agree with mono. The really earnest, socially aware episodes don’t stand up as well. The Maple St. episode just doesn’t make a lot of sense if you think about it. The idea that people are going to crack after a few hours without electricity is naive at best.

  • Rock Baker

    That’s where the music and moody photograghy take over. We’re talking about The Twilight Zone here, a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required, is it not?

  • zombiewhacker

    Both were dumb episodes IMHO, but Maple Street really scraped rock bottom.

  • The Rev.

    I’m in the “like” camp on the Maple Street episode. However, that may be my misanthropic side talking.

  • sandra

    Terrahawk: You’d be in real trouble if you lived at the corner of Maple St and Elm St.