Peter David was promoting the sequel to the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" on his blog for some time. Naturally, I had to tune in to the sequel. But the Sci-fi channel made a great choice and aired the original later that same night. Instead of watching them out of order, hubby-Eric taped them for later viewing. He watched both of them at a party we held at our house the night before I finally got to see them. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead!
Twilight Zone: It's a Good Life: Hubby's only comment on the two episodes before I watched them was that "Rod Serling is a master storyteller" and I have to agree. Instead of giving us every frightening detail, Serling brought us into the tale after much of the damage had already been done. He showed us just a snapshot of what life was like in Peaksville under Anthony Fremont's control. Much of the horror was left to the viewer's imagination (partly because of an inability to do really good special effects, but it worked well nonetheless). The people we see aren't the ones who stood up to Anthony, they are those left, weak and cowed. And we see how even the weak can have moments of strength... before they get turned into jack-in-the-boxes and sent to the cornfield. At some point during the episode I turned to Eric and said, "I wouldn't have lasted long in Peaksville." He said, "No, me neither." At the end of the episode, the fate of the people is left entirely up to the viewers' imaginations. Would the remaining people survive? Would Anthony send them all to the cornfield? Would they go completely bonkers and kill him, only to die off in the lonely corner of reality he'd created? Would he, as he grew older, develop powers that could bring people back? Or create new people? It's all up to the viewer... until a sequel is made 40 years later...
Twilight Zone: It's Still a Good Life: The first, and most valid, complaint about this is that it is a sequel. It could be successfully argued that a classic tale like "It's a Good Life" doesn't need a sequel. That it would be better to leave the fate of Peaksville an open question. Well, if you feel that way, then just ignore the sequel. It didn't have to happen for you. However, if you can get over that hurdle, then this is an interesting look at what could have happened to Anthony Fremont. In the original episode, we don't know how many residents of Peaksville are left, although we know it's more than we see, because other children are referred to, and we see none of them. In this one, there is just a handful of people left, and they must be completely insane after forty years of sucking up to Anthony. In any case, none of them has any spine left, and none can stand up to Anthony, who hasn't really grown much at all. Yeah, physically he's now a man with a daughter, but he's mentally still six years old. Think about it. No one dares correct him. No one dares try to teach him anything he doesn't want to hear. He's a complete ignoramus. He only knows what a country boy would know. As for why there is any people left at all, he appears to realize that if he gets rid of everyone, he'll be lonely. His daughter, on the other hand, appears completely normal, so no one would be scared to teach her. Her grandmother even discusses "shielding" her mind from Anthony with her. It's clear that she's been taught, and has learned. So we have the set-up of a girl that is more educated than her father, and more powerful too. Then she's told to kill her father by the grandmother that she doesn't entirely trust anymore. When Audrey sends everybody to the cornfield, Anthony is shocked, and possibly terrified. He's not scared of Audrey, he's scared of being alone. So Audrey's subsequent revelation that she can bring things back, including the whole outside world that was missing for all those years, was a wonder to Anthony. It's at that moment that Anthony looks the most vulnerable. He's an ignorant farmboy, off to face the world.
The original episode was better. It was creepier, more terrifying. Most of Anthony's actions were hidden, but we could see the reactions from all the adults around him to what he was doing. It rates a solid four starfish
. The sequel was a different approach, but if you think about it, it's almost as creepy as the original. All the people who know what Anthony and Audrey are have "gone to the cornfield" and are unlikely to come back. And those two are loose on a completely unsuspecting world. It rates a good 3 1/2 starfish 
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment